How You Can Use Imagination to Change Your Brain

Hey there everybody. Today we're going to talk about how you can use imagination to change your brain. And I'm going to give you a tip where you can start using it immediately. No matter where you are and what you're doing, you can start to use this technique to actually change your brain. I'm going to start by telling you a story. The story goes back to before COVID a couple years ago where we took my 11 year old nephew to Disney World. And as he was working his way up to getting closer to the date is he was really anxious, he was really worried. He was afraid that the rides were going to be really scary and that something bad was going to happen. And so he was just working himself up into this almost frantic state of anxiety worrying about these roller coasters and these rides. But I'm really proud of him. And when we got to Disney World, he made the choice and he actually got on a roller coaster and the experience was totally safe. He had a blast. And he wanted to do it again in just two minutes the way he had imagined. It had been completely replaced by a new experience and one that wasn't scary at all. And so here's the fun question that we can ask is what if he had imagined a safe experience before he had gotten on the roller coaster? Could he have changed his entire experience going up to the stay at the park? Could he have changed the way that his brain was preparing for this experience? And that's what we're going to talk about today. I'm Dr. Nicole Cain and I am an anxiety freedom warrior turned anxiety freedom rebel. And, and I have a naturopathic medical degree and also a degree in clinical psychology. And today you're going to learn about imagination. And this is just one of 14 tips that you're going to learn from the Anxiety Freedom Challenge on helping you get your life back from anxiety or panic. Did you know that about one in three people in the United States have an anxiety disorder that's actually diagnosed? And this includes phobias, post traumatic stress disorder and, and PTSD in terms of a big chronic traumatic event or even what we call micro T's or small traumatic events. And the mainstay of modern medicine is the pill for an ill model. But you're going to learn about this amazing, powerful technique that you can, like I said, use almost anytime and anywhere. And to start, I want you to do me a favor. I want you to close your eyes. I want you to imagine a creepy little spider crawling up the back of your arm. Really get into it imagine its fuzzy little feet tickling up your skin, all of its legs quickly running up your shoulder and then up to your neck, and. Okay, I'll stop here, because if you're anything like me, you're probably getting the heebie jeebies right about now. And that is because, according to research, real and imagined exposure to a stimuli or threat are not a whole lot different at the brain level. In fact, according to research out of the University of Colorado Boulder in the Kai Keahan School of Medicine, imagination works just as well as experience to convince the brain is something. And the implications of this are absolutely amazing in the treatment of anxiety, phobias, traumas, and other emotionally related concerns. In fact, the research suggests that imagination can be a powerful tool in helping you overcome your anxiety and your phobia at a fundamental brain level. And so what that means is if you imagine that furry spider or any other perceived threat, but if you imagine it repeatedly in a safe environment, your phobia and your brain's response to that will subside. Let me show you a little bit more from that SO school research study that I was telling you about. What they did is they took 68 volunteers, and they trained the 68 volunteers to associate a specific sound with an uncomfortable electric shock. And they measured this response with functional MRIs, which is a brain image that can actually look at how the brain is responding in time. And so then they separated these 68 volunteers into three separate groups. And one of the groups was exposed to the sound. The next group were told to imagine the sound. And then the control group were just asked to imagine pleasant bird and rain sounds. Nobody received any further shocks. And so then the scientists looked at the three groups and they looked at the functional MRIs, and they looked at how the brain responded in the group that imagined hearing the sound and the group that heard the sound. There was almost no difference on the functional MRI when they actually had the shock paired to them. The brains responded almost identically to as though they were getting the shock even though they were just imagining it. And the brain paired those two stimuli together. So our brain can be very associative. And then they continued to have them imagine the sound or they continue to play the sound. And in both groups, they found that the formerly fear inducing sound no longer caused fear and panic. The brain actually learned how to become unafraid. So how can you start applying this right now? And the first step is to clear up a common misconception, and that is that one might assume that the way to reduce fear and negative emotions is to imagine something good. But the truth is the opposite. Actually, the more effective strategy is to imagine the threat, but without negative consequences. And so that means that if you have a memory or a trigger that's no longer serving you, or if it's getting in the way of you living your life or writing the next chapter of your story, you can actually use your imagination to tap into that brain time capsule and change it. You can literally change the way that your brain is wiring and responding to a memory or trigger. So let's do this quickly together to practice. I want you to bring up something that is just only mildly disturbing or mildly distressing, whether it's a moment or an intruder of thought or a memory. And then I want you to imagine that you go to that self. So, for example, I had a client recently who she was talking about being at work several years ago, and she got embarrassed of meeting. And so she keeps having that memory come up, and it's bothering her because it's making her anxious to go to meetings now. So what we did is we imagined her now self going to that time, going to that memory. And she imagined a totally different outcome. She imagined that she didn't get embarrassed. She imagined that she said what she wanted to say in the way that she wanted to say it. And then she even imagined herself standing up, picking up her laptop and all of her papers, and walking out with her dignity. And so we practiced that exercise. And as she did that, she found that the trigger, the intrusive thought, the memory became less and less and less bothersome. So for you, imagine going back to a memory or a moment that's mildly disturbing, mildly distressing. And then I want you to get creative on how you want to change it. Maybe you bring a helper with you. Maybe that could be a friend or a mentor or a beloved animal or a higher guide, spiritual power. And whatever it is, go to that moment, bring with you your helper, and then get creative with how you would have wanted it to play out and start to imagine that. And the more that you can fill in the blanks with imagination, the more effective the imagination exercise is going to be. And so one thing that I've done when I've done this work is when I go back and I'm working on my little self and my little parts, I'll often, like, catapult her. Like, I'll put her in an air balloon, and then we'll leave where we were and we'll go and see beautiful scenes and. And I'll take her somewhere wonderful and magical. And this is a technique that we've been using for decades in trauma informed therapy, but we just didn't know the neuroscience behind it very well. So your homework over the next couple of weeks is to practice imagination. Practice going back to memories that are bothersome and disturbing for you and then imagine a different outcome. Imagine a different way of feeling in that moment. And I promise you that if you practice this that your brain will start to respond, your brain will start to change. Change, and the symptoms of anxiety and panic will start to subside. If this is interesting for you, you should check out our Anxiety Freedom Challenge. This like I said, it's just 1 out of 14 tips that you're going to get and you can feel like yourself. There's so much amazing information out there and it's just a matter of getting it to you and you're worth it. So show up for yourself. It's totally free. There's no obligations for anything. It's just my gift from me to you. And so Haley will put the link in the group, in the comments and so just simply go to the group, give us an email that works for you and then we're going to send you the book, lots of videos and you can get started on changing your life and writing your story the way that you want it. It's been so great to see you. I'm Dr. Nicole and if you want to learn more about my practice, make sure to go to my website, www.Dr.nicolecane.com and then also like this page, share this video if there's anyone in your life that you think would benefit from it. And I will be here every Wednesday and Friday, 1 o' clock Eastern. And so check back next time. Time. It's been so great to see you, sending you so much love. Take care. Bye.