Using Neuroplasticity To Change Myself for Good

Introduction

This philosophy has been around for ages. There was once a depiction of a plant being scolded at and eventually wilted more than the control. So what I was looking for in this book was real subject and analysis. While I like the motivational speech of believe in yourself and so on, I had sought harder evidence.

Fungi

The first passage I come across is about fungi. I was reading the reviews online before reading this and found that there was a lack of subject.

The passage dates back to a 1970s study of fungi in petri dishes. Similar to the loving kindness meditation, this uses a term called “send negative intentions.” The study was outlined as such: Ten volunteers were assigned ten petri dishes (5 experimental and 5 control.) Each subject was sent with intentions to slow the growth of the fungi in the experiment dishes. Results were: Of the 195 dishes involved in the negative, 151 were smaller than the average size of the controls. A 77% decrease. Furthermore, this study was replicated at the University of Tennessee and the subjects were “sending intention” from over 15 miles away with similar results.

Muscle Memory

In one of the reviews it said that simply thinking about exercise can increase muscle size. In the book it says this: 

Cleveland Clinic Foundation in Ohio - Those who visited the gym regularly increased their muscle strength by 30% whereas those that ran through a mental rehearsal in their armchairs of the weight training increased muscle strength by almost half as much (~15%) tO BE SPECIFIC volunteers between 20-35 imagined flexing one of their biceps and researchers verified no physical training was taking place and saw an increase in 13.5%.

Chester College - replicated this and found that participants achieved 30% in physical training  and those that performed the intention training achieved a 16%. 

This idea is long believed to be true where people can use conscious control to direct the blood flow to the brain, lower blood pressure and raise temperature as well as slow heartbeat and breathing. While none of those are recommended it just helps illustrate the above example

Visualization

It is very difficult to find this third topic, and while I am tempted to go back to reviews on the book, or post some sort of exercise where “You can too!” I won’t. I will look for what interests me not to judge but to give the reader insight into this book or to learn something cool.

So for the last part I found this in the book, which could lead to another blog post. Imagining and sending out intentions could be the same thing, but first let’s talk about imagining. Is it always best to imagine just the final success where there is a cheering crowd as an athlete would or would you rather imagine things going wrong and pulling through adversity. That would be a form of worry wouldn’t it? So it leads to the questions where imaging would be useful and how would one most benefit from it? So if something such as a moment of difficulty pops into their head, would someone be adept at changing the internal movie to imagine success. They say the most important aspect of the intention is to rehearse the victory. Techniques differ for everyone so once you feel comfortable with that maybe try then going one step backward. Or approaching from the first step. Either way it’s important to get better at visualizing. And the end of the book leaves the reader with this exercise:

First get into a meditative state and imagine as much as you can down to the sights and smells. Try imagining a recent meal, the smell of your bedroom, your kinesthetics of your body, your favorite music. After this it’s said to be right to the desired result. IMagine it already existing. Let;s say for an artist, instead of a final artwork. Maybe you would have to find some connection to send intention to such as a pencil. It goes without saying you should be nice to the object - even if “it” is just plastic, a photo, or computer.

Reference:
 

The Intention Experiment Book

Using Your Thoughts to Change the World and Your Mind