Is your Amygdala driving?
What does it mean when I ask you consider the question ‘Is your Amygdala driving?’ Well, this is clearly a metaphor, but if you are experiencing chronic anxiety, stress, depression, chronic digestive issues, or even chronic pain, then the likelihood is, your Amygdala may be the one driving your vehicle.
The Amygdala, or if you would like to go one step fancier, and call it it’s Latin name, ‘Corpus Amydaloideum’, is an almond like shaped set of neurons located deep inside the medial temporal lobe of the brain.
There is a wide range of evidence showing that the Amygdala plays a key role in the processing of emotions. This small subcortical brain structure is linked to both pain and pleasure, and is the main driver for both.
Anatomically it forms part of the limbic system, along with other structures such as the hippocampus, thalamus, hypothalamus, basal ganglia, and cingulate gyrus. These nuclei work together to form a harmonious and elegant mechanism to permit emotional expression.
If we were to consider your body as the ‘vehicle’, and your mind as the ‘driver’, when we are driving well, we feel calm and comfortable; we have access to all our wonderful resources, and can take the time to appreciate just how incredible our vehicle actually is. When we are driving well, ‘Life Just Is’, we have the flexibility of mind to deal with all of what life has to offer, and we can do it in a way that allows us to stay true to who we are and to be able to express our individualism to the world.
When we are driving well, we have… Infinite possibilities.
So what happens when we aren’t driving well? What happens if we haven’t actually ever been taught how to drive this vehicle of ours in a way that gets the best out of it? What happens when we feel we like we aren’t even driving anymore? Just a passenger watching it all unfold, and left to deal with the consequences?
Who is driving then?
When we aren’t driving well, we will usually encounter some trouble at some point. Now for a Ferrari, not driving well may manifest in a way such as a dint in the side, a puncture, or the alternator going hay wire. For us human beings however, when we aren’t in control of driving our vehicle, our body and mind will express ‘dis-ease’. This results in the physical manifestation of symptoms.
When an individual is involved in an event or incident, which has a strong emotional component, our mind will create a representation of that event in the form of an ‘Emotional Memory Image’ (EMI). This EMI is stored in a below conscious area approximately 18 inches in front of, and 6 inches above our eyes, and this conceptual area is known as ‘The Screen’.
Although below our conscious awareness (so we don’t even know it’s there), a part of the visual cortex of the brain, known as Brodmann Area 19 (BA19), CAN AND DOES register the image. BA19 communicates with the Amygdala, and the strong emotional component of the EMI causes the Amygdala to initiate the stress response.
This means that the Amygdala primes the body ready for action by stimulating the secretion of the neurotransmitter norepinephrine and the neuromodulating hormone cortisol into the nervous system, resulting in one of the Amygdala stress responses (Fight, Flight, Freeze, Flock, Fawn, Frigid, Feast, Famine, Fornicate etc).
As the Amygdala is constantly scanning the environment for real and perceived threats, whenever we are in an environment or context that the mind can link the EMI to, the response continues. It is this stimulus response mechanism and resulting surges of norepinephrine and cortisol that leave the options of potential health conditions enormous.
Countless research has shown the effects of long term over exposure to norepinephrine and cortisol, affecting the circulatory system, endocrine system, muscular system and digestive system, and having an overall negative impact on the immune system.
Due to this mechanism, the internal chemistry of the brain and body changes, setting up the internal conditions that ‘wires’ a brain to be in a constant state of readiness (Van Der Kolk 2016), with the Amygdala priming the body ready for action as a consequence of the aforementioned EMI. The knock on effects are a decrease in blood flow to our ‘smart brain’ or Prefrontal Cortex, which prevents us from thinking things through clearly.
So if you are experiencing a chronic health condition, feel like your body is always primed for action and won’t relent, or have experienced these symptoms for so long that fatigue is now your everyday life, your Amygdala may be driving.
Fortunately, just like when we are driving on the road poorly, we can learn to drive better.
The human mind is the ultimate learning machine, and with a little help, you can learn to get back in control of the driver’s seat.
The Hudson Mind Process© is an educational and therapeutic tool that helps you to learn how your mind works. It helps you to learn how you can clear Emotional Memory Images from your screen. A Body Mind Worker helps you to interact and engage with your screen, to help you set it up ready to really take this vehicle for the ride of your life!
The therapeutic benefits of this process are clear. The resolution of an EMI episode allows the Amygdala to disengage the stress response, halting the chemical surges, allowing for optimal blood supply to return to the brain, and to allow the nervous system to return to balance.
When the mind, brain and body are in sync with each other, or put in other words when you are driving well, this creates the internal conditions for health to be restored. And when we are in that state of balance, or state of grace for want of a better term, it is then that the infinite possibilities of a human being can begin to unfold.
Message me here or email me at info@dannygreeves.com to start learning how to drive your vehicle better.
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