Your Personal Trainer for the Brain
By
I recently attended Julie Bjelland’s class, “7 Steps to Embody the Gifts of Your Sensitivity” and I have to say, it has caused some major positive shifts in me.
Rarely has anything had this kind of effect on me so quickly. Putting into practice just a couple of Julie’s suggestions has also helped my husband (who is also Highly Sensitive). So I just have to tell you about this.
Julie calls herself a “personal trainer for the brain,” and it’s refreshing to see her science-based approach. In the first class, Julie explained how the HSP’s brain is different (more activity in amygdala and insula, which is why we process things so deeply, feel and perceive everything), and how to activate the calming centers in the brain.
She gave us very specific but easy things to do to “drain the container” of all we take in–which is much more than non-HSPs. She explained why we need to process our experiences, how to do that–and what will happen if we don’t.
This was very helpful for me concerning an HSP loved one with memory issues. I asked Julie if such issues can be caused by “sensory overload” and she explained how it’s possible. If the “emotional brain” is overloaded, then it “switches off” the cognitive brain. Nothing gets in (no new memories form), and the person can’t access what’s there as well either.
Julie’s approach is very positive: this trait of High Sensitivity has challenges, but also many gifts if we can just get rid of the layer of overwhelm that can obscure those gifts. That was the goal of her course, and the goal of her new global membership group for Highly Sensitive People, Sensitive Empowerment.
Julie gave us some very specific exercises to do, which I started: keep a “positive journal,” and ask 3 people what they appreciate about you. (Then you return the favor.) Julie explained why it takes 5 positives to overcome one negative (it’s the way our brains are wired, called “negative bias”), and told us that while a negative registers in the brain immediately, it takes 5 seconds for a positive to “stick.” So what you need to do is really take the time to let the positive in “all the way down” (letting that “depth of processing” aspect of the trait work for us).
Of course, these are practices that can benefit anyone, but for an HSP they can make all the difference between stress and overwhelm, or peace and joy.
This is just a taste of what you’d get if you sign up for her membership site.
I am really enjoying the Sensitive Empowerment group. It’s so validating to see other HSPs with the same struggles. Validation is something HSPs often lack, since we’re only 20% of the population. When you’ve grown up with messages like–
- “You’re too sensitive.”
- “What’s wrong with you?”
- “Toughen up” (males got this a lot)
–validation that you really are “normal” (for an HSP) is like a glass of cold water to a thirsty person.
You can listen to a preview of the course I took from a webinar Julie did prior to the course. In that webinar, Julie also gave some practical tips you can start using right away, such as the breathing technique that came out #1 in my Heart Rate Variability test.
You can view all Julie’s courses and books here. But if you sign up for the Sensitive Empowerment membership group, you can get all Julie offers and more, in the interviews and it all and more.
To sign up for my list on healing for HSPs, go here.
