Can we use movement as a distraction from gloomy thoughts?
I have a little story for you. (With geeky brain stuff.)
For most of my life growing up, I stuck to what I was good at and I stayed out of the way, small and unseen. This kept me safe from criticism and any risk of annoying or pissing off other people. But it also kept me from growing.
I was really good at being agreeable and meek, not speaking up for myself, and hiding my true emotions. This led me right into the arms of an abusive narcissist, who I moved in with, and stayed with, for almost 5 years. He wiggled his way into my psyche, utterly convincing me that I was wholly unlovable.
This isn't a story about that though.
This is a story about how in the year that followed me leaving him and getting out of the clutch of his emotionally abusive grip, (🎉🎉🎉) I finally learned to step up to tasks that were outside of my comfort zone, to say yes to things that scared me, to stand up for my views. For the first time in years, I began to grow again.
It also put me in the firing line of criticism and scrutiny from others. Which really isn't a bad thing -- we all need feedback in order to learn, and sometimes feedback doesn't taste like cherry pie.
But, I was new to this, plus I was still rebuilding my self-esteem.
And, what I didn't realise at the time, but which I'll explain in further detail, an area of my brain called the posterior singulate of the default mode network was out of sync with other areas of my brain.
What this meant was a whole lot of self-critical thoughts were taking over my mind.
This is when I found that the mindful movement and focused breathing of yoga created a peaceful pause in my woebegone thinking.
It is exactly why I got so hooked on yoga. I used that time on my mat as a distraction from my dark and troubling thoughts.
Should we use movement as a distraction from dark, troubling thoughts?
But as I learned, there is ABSOLUTELY a profound power to sitting with those dark thoughts — befriending them if you will — to understand whence they arise so we can deal with their origin.
As I'm sure you know, to run away from our uncomfortable emotions will only prolong the inevitable turmoil that they can and will cause.
But let's go back to that Default Mode Network. This allows us to go into that state of day dreaming, letting our minds wander, not really focusing on anything in particular. This is where a lot of creative thought and problem solving occur.
Conversely, we also have the Task Positive Network. This is what's activated when we're in flow state, when we're focused on a task, maybe to the point of obliviousness to the world around us.
Within Default Mode Network, there are two sections:
First is the posterior singulate: this is an area of the brain that is responsible for our memory; it creates our stories of the past. It allows us to look backwards.
Conversely, when we look forwards (future thinking) we are using the Medial Prefrontal Cortex.
Typically the brain toggles back and forth between Task Positive Network and Default Mode Network (DMN). And within the DMN, we typically toggle back and forth between forwards thinking (planning) and backwards thinking (memory).
However, in our increasingly distracted, distractible, and distracting lifestyles -- screens all around us, etc -- we are spending less and less time simply FOCUSING (Task Positive Network stuff) and that means more time in the default mode (Default Mode Network stuff).
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And what can happen with some people -- depending on their individual brain (nature and nurture both play a role) -- is that the posterior singulate -- that's memory and past thinking -- then becomes overactive. Past trauma is one thing that can cause the normally rhythmic cadence of these two brain areas to become a clumsy cacophony.
What this means is an endless onslaught of over-thinking and overanalysing every error you’ve made.
If this sounds familiar, guess what one of the BEST things you can do to help your brain get its groove back: MOVEMENT!
If you catch yourself in a loop of critical thinking, taking 10-15 minutes to MOVE YO BODY is highly effective!
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