9 Daily Science Practices for Lifelong Integration Pt.1 by Anthony Sosa, CNSF

Integration is the cornerstone of well-being. You can keep yourself well integrated across your whole life journey. With an integrated brain, you have healthy a mind and healthier relationships.

Are you interested in scientific studies of neuroplasticity for simple supportive brain-mind practices that anyone can do that will keep your brain growing well like a well-tended thriving garden across your lifespan?

Here are the first 5 of 9 daily science-supportive practices based in Interpersonal Neurobiology that you can begin today:

1. Focus Time

You are only successful at any endeavor as your ability to focus on said endeavor. The first key to opening the door of brain plasticity is to bring focus, a concentrated beam of attention, to the specific process you are experiencing.

Focus involves minimizing distractions in your environment, arousal in your brainstem that creates alertness, and moving through a window of agitation as your mental focus will follow your visual focus from your eyes concentrating on a location of your endeavor. Engage your eyes, minimize blinking, and work in about 90-minute intervals to optimize focus.

2. Time In

By practicing interoception (awareness of your internal state) by taking time to focus inwardly in a reflective, introspective, and meditative way you increase integration of the brain circuits related to self-awareness, emotional regulation, and attentional control. Because there tends to be an imbalance between being overly focused on the outward world, we all need to balance this with time focused inward to integrate our brain.

To know thyself, even if as little from a few minutes a day, with time in is a universal wisdom axiom.

3. Downtime

After focusing intensely, our brain and mind needs as a non-negotiable this downtime to pause and do nothing! By letting the brain be awake without planning with the mind, you honor the neuroplasticity principle of rest for ultimate consolidation; the irony is giving pause time makes focus time more productive and creative.

Walking, looking at the sky, or simply resting your eyes will enhance your art of living integrated. The key is moving from focus to natural relaxation so in downtime you reset and consolidate your experience.

4. Physical Time

Simply give your body physical time for movement. To be in motion benefits not just your body-self but your brain and mind’s health. We have evolved to move. This can come from bi-lateral whole-body forms of movement from walking for walking’s sake, running, dancing, yoga poses, or whatever physical motion brings you consistent joy.

5. Conscious Breathing Time

Breathing affects every system of the body. Breathing is simple. Thus, simple changes to your breathing will have transformative effects in your life. Start with finding “your” natural breathing that tends to be from your nose, through your lower belly and diaphragm in 360 degrees like a balloon expanding, and non-forced silent sound. Allowing time for conscious breathing that will impact your lungs, heart, brain, and mind will be a lifelong integrative necessity for well-being.

If you make the one thing you do in every moment better, then everything you do can become better. Breathe.

“Anthony Sosa serves as the Neurosculpting Institute’s onsite psychotherapist with his M.A. in Clinical Mental Health Counseling from Naropa University and his B.S. in Physics with research in the neuroscience of mindfulness meditation. He also is a Certified Neurosculpting Facilitator (CNSF), SOMA Breath instructor, and yoga teacher. “