My Jumbled Neurons*

Do you think that what you remember is accurate?  Well, yes, of course it is, isn't it?   
 
There's been an injustice in your past.  Big.  It periodically reinserts itself into your thought process and you can feel your blood pressure rise as you replay the whole enchilada again and again.  You may even be retelling the story for the umpteenth time to some new, unsuspecting acquaintance.  It's just as if it had happened yesterday.  But is your story accurate?  Most likely no--sorry.  You just told a story that probably isn't very close to how events really happened.

Memories are stored away in fragments and when they're recalled we fill in gaps with our own personal beliefs, new information and biases.  Every time you pull up a memory and put it away, it doesn't always get stored in the same part of the brain.  According to Sir Frederick Bartlett (1886-1969), "we omit information regarded as irrelevant, change the emphasis to emphasis points considered significant, and rationalized the parts that do not make sense, to make the story more comprehensible to themselves."  So the next time you're indignant about how something went down in the past, you might want to lower the rhetoric. 

Lots of new brain research is suggesting our minds aren't so accurate at receiving or recalling information.  It turns out that we are constantly being deluded by a manipulative, self-serviing, and overly protective mind.  If you want tosee a dozen ways the mind's recall is flawed, look at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_memory_biases.  Now wonder if any memory is accurate.  
 
A. J. Jacob's new book The Guinea Pig Diaries--My Life as an Experiment has a section on how our mind is filled with "false assumptions and warped memories, it's a master of rationalization, overreacts,and incapable of distinguishing between fact and fiction".  He spends a month trying to rid his mind of it's biases, irrationality, and false assumption.  I downloaded the audio and it's a hoot.      
 
So,what's the point?  Here's what I think.  We need to get off our "I'm right, you're wrong" high horse attitude.  How we see, interpret, remember and recall experiences is not static.  It's always changing. Try not to hold on soooo tightly to what your mind thinks.  Lose the rigidity.  If our lives are the creation of our minds (hello Mr. Buddha) then it's useful to understand and study our minds (heh meditation).  It's a fascinating, if flawed, jumble of neurons, synapses and gobbledygook.    

I love the response of students to their first or second or hundredth restorative yoga experience.  It's the moment when their nervous system shifts from "yikes!" to "ahhhhhh."  They leave with relaxed shoulders and brightened attitude.  

It's easy to forget that the body knows exactly what to do.  The relaxation response is a built in function of our amazing central nervous system.  We just have to let relaxation happen.  I know, it seems impossible sometimes. Thus, the popularity of restorative yoga where we learn to put the body in positions and let it do it's thing.     

In these workshops you will be allowed to relax and let go while your body is supported with bolsters and blankets and lots more.  We will do a bit of movement, chat about stress and the relaxation response and then spend 90 minutes in positions that we will hold for 15 to 20 minutes.  This practice is for everyone.   Go ahead and put the dates on your calendar now so you won't forget.  And, while you're at it, invite a friend.

Sunday,December 18, 2011**

3:30 - 5:45 p.m. 

BodyWorks in Petaluma  

**The third Sunday of each month