The brain rule you’re accidentally ignoring

"Brainy What-Why-How"

Your weekly nibble of science-backed goodness to help you move better and feel unstoppable.

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What (the TL:DR)

If you're not challenged, you're not changing. 

And you may not need more reps. 

You may need more novelty. 


Why (the geeky neurology)

Your brain is not your cheerleader.

It’s a survival-obsessed, energy-saving, slightly lazy little efficiency queen.

And under everything you do, it’s constantly asking:

“Will I actually need to get better at this?”

If the answer is no? It’s not spending the budget.

So: your beautiful, consistent, disciplined routine? If it's predictable, your brain has already filed it under: "handled, babe." 

Let's get geekier...

Neurogenesis (the making of shiny new brain cells) is metabolically expensive. So your brain places bets. 

If your movement, thoughts, and patterns are predictable...

it assumes your future will be too. 

Efficient. No energy spent. But also boring and...slightly tragic? 

But what if you continually introduce complexity, variability, and challenge? 

That tells a different story: 

Now your brain's like wait, what's this? 👀 

And the brain leans in to that change.

Put simply: 

Change what you do ➡️ 

Change what your brain expects ➡️ 

Change what your brain becomes. 




How (apply it to your life) 

Movement and cognition are linked. How you move = how you think. 

So if you're doing the same yoga flow, the same transitions, you're not messing up, wobbling, saying "wait that's not right..." 

Then respectfully...your brain is bored. Let's fix that: 

1️⃣ Spy on yourself (aka mindfulness): Notice how you already move, even in one simple transition (like stepping to lunge from downward dog): 

  • what feels automatic?

  • where do your eyes always go? 👀 

  • what's your default speed of movement 

  • how is your head positioned?

  • what breath feels habitual? 

2️⃣: my favourite tool for creative sequencing: 

Do anything BUT what feels familiar.*

Not a big change. It could just be 3%:

  • move through a different plane (e.g. swing your leg out to the side, or across your body, instead of stepping it straight from downward dog to lunge) 

  • move your eyes to the left or the right

  • slow down to 1/2 your normal speed

  • tilt your head to one side

  • exhale where you normally inhale

That tiny disruption = your brain goes: "Okay fine, I'll adapt." 

Optimise your brain for the unpredictable future.

If you want more ways to sprinkle this kind of chaos on purpose, my ​Brain Based Creative Sequencing course​ is your go-to.

It'll help you:

  • create way more interesting movement

  • get out of autopilot

  • and actually use your brain while you train

There's a 30-day refund policy, and you get lifetime access to it all. ​Check it out!​

Don't let your brain get too comfortable. It gets lazy fast,

Adell 💋 



*Every time I teach my Creative Sequencing workshop, yoga teachers tell me "I love moving creatively, but my students hate it. They just want to keep doing the same thing over and over." 

My answer: at least change the ORDER of the familiar movements. 

For example: get them to do their vinyasas backwards: downward dog, upward dog, chaturanga, then plank. 

Even this change challenges the part of the brain that learns and plans through sequences (the supplementary motor area 🤓 ) 

And you can even do a test/retest:
-Have them test their range of motion in something simple, like a forward fold.
-Then ask them to do a familiar sequence, such as a vinyasa, in as many different orders as possible for one minute.
-Then ask them to retest.
Often their range of motion will increase simply because they challenged their brain, not to do new movements, but just to put them in a new order! 

If that went down well, then you could test/rest by making their prefrontal cortex work hard too, alongside movement:

-Have them say "D" when they move to Downward Dog, and "U" for Upward Dog
-Then make them switch to "U" for downdog, and "D" for updog
-You could even ask them to say any word that starts with D or U, while they move to these positions
-Then do another retest.

See if it's made their brain pay attention more. The results often show in greater range of motion or better balance.

☝️ clearly I have a lot to say on this topic because that's a long-ass footer 😂 My ​Brain Based Creative Sequencing Course​ has it all covered. 50% off!! 

Want to go way deeper with me? 👀 ​

• Check out my upcoming​ IRL events​ 
• Sign up to ​my next NeuroYoga TTC​ where I teach YOU how to blend yoga + neurology
• Join me on Move With Adell -- your brain-based yoga hub -- ​Click here​ to start your FREE trial.
• Check out the courses from Z-health, where I started my education in brain-based approaches: ​Click here​ for my discount codes on their first 3 courses! • Get my book ​"Too Flexible to Feel Good: A Practical Roadmap to Managing Hypermobility"​

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