Biohacking Your RAS (Brain) With Your Body

My Irish fellow and I spent a couple of years in a long distance relationship. He lived in Ireland and I lived in New Zealand – could we have been further apart? The extreme distance made a relationship really difficult. 

On a visit to Ireland, he picked me up from the airport and on the way home, we noticed a couple of white Minis on the road, or pulling out in front of us, maybe parked up as well. My Irishman suggested that they were hugs and that when we were apart every time I saw a Mini, it was a hug from him. Wow! What a beautiful suggestion. We saw Minis everywhere over those following five weeks. It was crazy! Seeing one had quickly become very important to me.

RAS - Reticular Activating System. It is a part of the brain that quietly and unconsciously goes about its job alerting and bringing focus to what is important to you. And mine was suddenly switched on and doing its job, running its tasks and unconsciously searching for those Minis because…… Minis were truly important me. For they represented so much at heart level.

It is the same is when you decide to buy a particular model of car and suddenly it seems that everyone else decided to do so as well. We all know what that is like.

So how can this be used for your advantage? How can you biohack your RAS? Why would you even want to?

During the process of mBraining the client figures out what is important to them about the issue with regards to what it is that they want (in the positive). And not so surprisingly, these are the values of the heart. Knowing that these elements are truly important to their heart, we ‘take’ them and show them to the head brain. The head brain is able to mull it over, figuring out the logical or creative avenues it could use to support those values of the heart. And is given permission to figure out what it may not know yet.

Then, because we are a mind/body system, we show the intelligence centre of the gut what the heart and head have been discussing. This is where the gut can decide whether it is up for the motivational aspect of the objective, whether it fits with the identity of the person and whether there are any safety aspects to consider. 

At all three intelligence centres, there can be blocks. The heart may not really have it figured out and be chasing the latest sparkly idea. The head may have so many options that the analysis of them leads to paralysis. The gut may not trust what the head has as ideas, so not feel a need to act, or maybe just doesn’t feel that the action fits the identity of the person. And so on. Each client has their own unique ‘blocks’ - if they didn't, there would have been no problem in the first place. 

Over the next days and weeks, things seem to jump out at that client regarding their value. Little notes in windows, overheard conversations, people that seem to step into their path that have the right thing to say. It is uncanny and actually fun!

And here is a tip. ‘Just Do It’ may not be enough to actually get ‘it’ done. We all know of a time when we just couldn't be 'arsed'. Like keeping the new running habit going, sticking to a healthy eating program, you probably have your own example.

Why don’t people ‘just get more exercise’? Do they not place enough value (heart) on the activity? And we all know what it is like to ‘Lose Heart' in something. Do they carry a fear of injury (fear is held in the guts) or something left over from years (and years) ago about being called lazy thus identifying with a couch potato. Or they can’t figure out how it will fit into the hours they have in the day – creativity (head) overwhelmed. And so on.

And here is another saying. ‘Push through the fear’.

In this modality of mBraining as I mentioned, fear is a function of the gut’s intelligence. As is courage. And courage happens to ‘sit’ at the back, close to the spine, whilst fear is more to the fore. Yes as well as pushing through the fear which feels like an actual step forward, courage does push through the fear in the gut!

I enjoy that the linguistics that we have been speaking are now explained by neuroscience. Not only the linguistics, but those wisdoms and knowings that we all have but can’t explain. mBraining is the link and without doubt the most transformative modality I have used in coaching. Developed by Grant Soosalu and Marvin Oka it can be applied to personal growth, problems, decisions, relationships, work, communication, stuckness and other technical words! I have a particular interest in health and every time, my client (and I) are surprised at what is discovered during a session. Once we let the heart speak up with it's values, the RAS in the brain then knows what to look for. And fear is commonly discovered which is holding back the client from health.

My own RAS constantly finds things that represent important people or things to me. I can find concrete mixing trucks anywhere which represent progress (well to me they do!). I pick up screws in utterly random places (even one an hour ago on a riverside walk) and they represent my father, telling me I am on the right track. It sounds a little weird yet it is a lot of fun as well.

So after five weeks I was back in New Zealand and ….. yep….. I saw Minis all over the place! On the road, in a magazine, a showroom, a billboard or on the back of trucks. I even found one with the number plate ‘PAULA’ on it. That was a special bear hug! They would make me smile with warm fuzzies, often cry with an aching heart, missing my hugs, but it was jolly nice to have a small representation of something important to me that my RAS was finding for me - without me actually even trying. 

And the cool thing was that back in Ireland my Irish fellow was finding them as often as I was. They were from me. ;)