Neuroplasticity – Neurons that fire together, wire together
Plasticity is a term that we use around something which is malleable, something which is changeable. Neuroplasticity was just beginning to come into Neuroscience about 30 years ago, now it is much better understood and with high electron microscopy we can see some beautiful imagery of neurons actually starting to wire together, fire together and also, importantly, neurons that no longer fire together and actually separate.
Neurons that don’t have a purpose anymore can die off or be superseded – this plasticity really underlines the principles of learning, habit formation, potentially even addiction.
The ability for neurons (when we provide a stimulus) to start to grow together can facilitate particular pathways. This can have healthy or unhealthy adaptive or maladaptive elements to it. In terms of learning to play an instrument or learning to drive, we had to really concentrate when learning a new skill in the beginning, but then we don’t think about it when we’ve been doing it for years. It becomes a pattern in our body and nervous system so the ability to create that change also allows for the potential for change in our health.
The ability to make plastic changes within our central nervous system and our peripheral nervous system extends even through into the vagus nerve affecting the gut microbiome. There is a plasticity that is possible if we do the work but we can only make that happen by acknowledging that it is possible and to choose to practice. We can’t become a concert pianist if we have the inertia of, “I’ll never be able to do it”.
Well, guess what? Make an appointment with an integrated teacher, put in the work and goodness knows what might happen.
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