Dahn Yoga ChicagoChicago Dahn Yoga Community Blog

Habits wear neural pathways through your brain—shortcuts between thoughts and action. This is why after practice you can play a song on an instrument without thinking through each movement. It is also why you find yourself standing in line at a Starbucks the morning after you have

decided to give up coffee or at the low ebb of the day, grabbing for the candy bar instead of going out for a walk. Habit can efficiently take over in less than a second, sometimes leaving you bewildered and wondering who is really in charge.

Changing habits is a natural challenge of growth but you can make it easier by understanding and taking control of your brain processes. Most of us have a magical relationship with our brains. We know its there. We know it does all this cool stuff but we are unsure exactly what is happening in all that gray matter. It’s like “I just had a thought” and that is the end of it. The first step is to be aware if you want to make some changes. This is not just about thinking and noticing; it is about how the brain feels especially when you are active. If you are not aware of what is happening in your body, then no real changes take place in your brain. Ask yourself, “What is the relationship between my body and my brain?” When you are active, how does your brain feel and where in your brain do you feel it? This will give you a better understanding of when you go on automatic pilot.

Next it is important to make your brain flexible. Although we cannot directly exercise the brain, we can exercise parts of our body that affect the brain. We can also challenge our habits and stretch our brain. One way to do this is to switch hands when writing or eating. Being balanced as you walk, helps to activate both sides of the brain not just the predominate one.

Then releasing emotions related to your activities. How many times have you stopped yourself from doing something because you don’t like it? How do you know that in this very moment you don’t like it? Letting go and being in the moment is an important step to changing habits.

Now you are ready to take some conscious action and make choices based on what you want now and not on what you have experienced in the past.

Raise one hand in front of your chest. With your index finger, draw a square in the air. Now raise your other hand and draw a triangle in the air. Try it with both hands now. Draw a square with one hand and a triangle with the other.

Body and Mind Coordination exercises are a good way to improve the brain function, too.