Neuroscience

Last week I was invited to a podcast interview with the IAPC&M.  The ‘Both sides of the Coin’ format focuses on what a particular coach specialises in. I chose to focus on Leadership and NeuroCoaching (Applied Neuroscience for Wellbeing).

Unusually, the format then flips to the other side, that being the view of one of my coaching clients.  With confidentiality a key ethic for coaching, I wasn’t sure if any of my clients would be willing to partner with me in the interview.  As it turned out, I didn’t have to look far.  I’d like to thank Nick Shrimpton of Sixth Sense Marketing for joining me and sharing his insights of our coaching experience and tips for us coaches to keep in mind.

As a coach serious about keeping my standards high and my business growing, the view of the coachee is invaluable and I thank him for his honest comments.

If you would like to know more about how the practice of Neuroscience and Neurocoaching can help achieve performance under pressure, contact me on 07703 564451 or by email: dominique@reachnewheights.co.uk

What I have noticed when people are struggling with stress and anxiety, is how hard it can be for them to get ‘out of their heads’ and retain a connection with others.  The example that come to mind involves a friend who can get so absorbed in how they are feeling and their difficulties, that when presented with a situation where another expresses feeling ‘off colour’, for example, they struggle to empathise.  Instead they come across as ‘competing’, with responses such as ‘I bet it’s nothing compared to how I feel everyday…’

What can we do to help shift focus from themselves to others? 

As a Neuroscience Practioner who provides NeuroCoaching, I came across this useful document from the MentalHealth.Org.uk.  It resonates with my work of providing knowledge of how a person’s brain is operating with solutions to building mental strength and new neural pathways, to increase resilience to face real or perceived stress and anxiety situations.

With the image as reference, I’ll focus on 4 areas and link to the brain’s chemicals and applied neuroscience and brain health.

Talk about your feelings

With time to talk day on Thursday 6^th February – Having trusted people to share feelings and experiences with helps to put words to feelings.  From a brain perspective if we have people we trust in and who care for us, this stimulates oxytocin and our sense of belonging.  A key part of being human.  It is also an opportunity to help connect people to other resources that can help their situation.

Keep Active

Movement is an essential tool for shifting brain chemicals.  If you are in a state of high anxiety moving will help shift the cortisol.  10 minutes of exercise will boost endorphins and dopamine.  Exercise that takes concentration (e.g. climbing, yoga, a team sport) will also distract you from the stress situation.  Playing a musical instrument and or listening to uplifting music will help to shift mood positively.

Eat well

Brains use enormous amounts of our energy – it will work as well as it can with the fuel you provide it.  It loves: Greens, Salmon or Tuna, Berries, Tea and coffee (not too late though) and nuts.  The least processed food the better.  Eating with others enables social interactions which support a sense of belonging and stimulates those ‘feel good’ chemicals.

Care for others

An essential for humans is to feel connected, part of a group, accepted.  Doing something kind for others has an enormous impact on feeling positive, valued and important.  By helping others, or giving a complement or smiling at someone, you enable yourself and them to feel connectedness.  This triggers serotonin and oxytocin for both parties.  

There is so much more to add, but lastly, it’s really important to acknowledge achievements, successes and pleasant experiences.  The brain will then be more likely to store these in your memory of positive reference points to draw on in the future.  Dopamine is the chemical that helps this and physical recognition – high fives, fist bump, a pat on the back can send a shot of dopamine that links to that event.  Your brain likes dopamine and so the more you acknowledge the positive moments the more you will find them.

To understand more about the brain’s chemicals and how to control them at times of anxiety or stress, do not hesitate to contact me.

I have been coaching in the traditional sense for almost 20 years, in more recent years I noticed I was being faced with more and more clients with increasing levels of overwhelm, pressure and anxiety.  As a leadership coach and facilitator, I was finding that this aspect of a client’s situation (real or perceived) was an area that I wanted to build knowledge and application.  I trained and studied Applied Neuroscience and Brain Health under Dr Sarah Mackay* and now bring this insight to my coaching practice.  I now have access to papers and research on how the brain works and how we can help it to change to build our mental strength and to keep it as healthy as possible.  One of those papers is below and taken from a blog article of Dr Sarah Mackay.

Based on Kandel’s paper, researchers at the Yale School of Medicine proposed seven principles of brain-based therapy for psychiatrists, psychologists and therapists. The principles have been translated into practical applications for coaches.

1. Both nature and nurture win.

Both genetics and the environment interact in the brain to shape our brains and influence behaviour.

Therapy or coaching can be thought of as a strategic and purposeful ‘environmental tool’ to facilitate change and may be an effective means of shaping neural pathways.

2.  Experiences transform the brain.

The areas of our brain associated with emotions and memories such as the pre-frontal cortex, the amygdala, and the hippocampus are not hard-wired (they are ‘plastic’).

Research suggests each of us constructs emotions from a diversity of sources: our physiological state, by our reactions to the ‘outside’ environment, experiences and learning, and our culture and upbringing.

3.  Memories are imperfect.

Our memories are never a perfect account of what happened. Memories are re-written each time when we recall them depending on how, when and where we retrieve the memory.

For example, a question, photograph or a particular scent can interact with a memory resulting in it being modified as it is recalled.

With increasing life experience, we weave narratives into their memories.  Autobiographical memories that tell the story of our lives are always undergoing revision precisely because our sense of self is too.

Consciously or not, we use imagination to reinvent our past, and with it, our present and future.

4. Emotion underlies memory formation.

Memories and emotions are interconnected neural processes.

The amygdala, which plays a role in emotional arousal, mediates neurotransmitters essential for memory consolidation. Emotional arousal has the capacity to activate the amygdala, which in turn modulates the storage of memory.

5. Relationships are the foundation for change 

Relationships in childhood AND adulthood have the power to elicit positive change.

Sometimes it takes the love, care or attention of just one person to help another change for the better.

The therapeutic relationship has the capacity to help clients modify neural systems and enhance emotional regulation.

6. Imagining and doing are the same to the brain.

Mental imagery or visualisation not only activates the same brain regions as the actual behaviour but also can speed up the learning of a new skill.

Envisioning a different life may as successfully invoke change as the actual experience.

7. We don’t always know what our brain is ‘thinking’.

Unconscious processes exert great influence on our thoughts, feelings, and actions.

The brain can process nonverbal and unconscious information, and information processed unconsciously can still influence therapeutic and other relationships. It’s possible to react to unconscious perceptions without consciously understanding the reaction.

*Dr Sarah McKay is a neuroscientist and science communicator who specialises in translating brain science research into simple, actionable strategies for peak performance, creativity, health and wellbeing.

Sarah grew up in Christchurch, New Zealand, and she completed BSc (Hons) at Otago University before heading to Oxford University for her Masters and PhD training. She sums up her thesis with the words, ‘Nature, Nurture or Neuroplasticity’. After moving to Sydney, Australia, she completed five years postdoctoral research in brain plasticity and injury research.