Tapping into the subconscious mind
Early learnings from "brain retraining"
👋Hello, my friend. This week I started something called the Re-origin brain retraining program. Today, I’m sharing a few things I’ve learned so far about “re-wiring” my brain to achieve better physical and mental outcomes. Sound crazy? Maybe it is. But I’m enjoying it so far. Hope there’s something here you can use. Let’s do it.
Re-wiring your brain
Re-origin was developed by a guy named Ben Ahrens—a former semi-pro surfer and fitness coach who ended up bedridden for three years. He was diagnosed with everything from Lyme disease to autoimmune disorders and even lesions on the brain.
Long story short, he eventually figured out how to heal himself—largely through a practice based in brain retraining and neuroplasticity. The idea here is that our brains are not fixed. We can actually rewire them—especially when it comes to patterns of thought and emotion that aren’t serving us — even ones that manifest in physical symptoms and diseases and disorders ranging from anxiety and depression to lyme disease and fibromyalgia.
I’m only about a week into this program, but I’m super interested in learning more about how the brain works and how I might be able to influence it. Whether that’s encouraging more positive thought loops, managing stress, or even dealing with health issues, I’m curious to see what’s possible. I thought I’d share a few of the early things I’m learning, and I’ll keep bringing more over time as I go deeper.
The Space Between Stimulus and Response
One concept the program touches on comes from Viktor Frankl, author of Man’s Search for Meaning. If you’ve never read it, it’s an incredible story. Frankl was a prisoner in a Nazi concentration camp during WWII, and yet somehow managed to find purpose—even joy—under the most brutal conditions.
Frankl wrote:
“Between stimulus and response there is a space. In that space is our power to choose our response. In our response lies our growth and our freedom.”
That space—that moment between something happening and how we respond—is really at the heart of this whole idea of brain retraining. The Re-origin program encourages you to look closely at your thought loops and ask:
What stimulus is kicking this off for me?
How am I reacting?
Is that reaction helping me—or hurting me?
Stimuli can be physical — like a cold or flu virus, a food, an environmental toxin, or even an intense workout — or they can be mental — like a memory, an argument or even just feeling overwhelmed at work or at home.
Such stimuli often kick off well-worn loops in our brains and bodies. These loops can lead to an array of symptoms, both physical and mental — everything from anxiety and depression, to fatigue, pain, and almost anything and everything else that can physically go wrong in your body.
The idea of brain retraining is to interrupt these loops. To change the response to the internal or external stimuli by intentionally changing our perception and reaction through a variety of techniques.
One of the techniques I’ve been trying is something Re-origin teaches that brings your body into the mix. This sounds a little woo-woo, but stay with me.
When you feel a negative thought loop coming on, the practice is to physically say “Pause” while putting your hands out in front of you—literally creating a moment of space.
Then you imagine whatever emotion you’re feeling—stress, anxiety, tension—as if you’re holding it at arm’s length in a balloon. You slowly squeeze the air out of that balloon, shrinking it down until it fits between your hands. And then you toss it to the side and say, “Release.”
I’ll admit, this felt a little out there to me at first. It still does, to be honest.😬
But the core idea—that we can create space to not let a stimulus own our reaction—is compelling. Adding a physical component to it is supposed to make it resonate more with your body. You’re not just thinking differently; you’re doing something different physically.
If walking around saying “pause” with your hands extended doesn’t sound up your alley, maybe just take the core idea of it with you: pausing, acknowledging an unhelpful thought or stimulus, and intentionally letting it go if you can.
Seeing Where You’re Going
Another practice from Re-origin I’ve been experimenting with is visualization. The theory here is that the subconscious brain doesn’t always know the difference between something real and something vividly imagined. So if you’re regularly visualizing a future you want to step into, you may actually be priming your subconscious to help you move in that direction.
I’ve started building a few of these visualizations—simple scenes I can come back to again and again. One of them is me in my backyard on a warm day, hanging with my wife and kids. Everyone’s relaxed, laughing, having fun. I’m in a bathing suit—maybe too much information—and the sun is on my body, I feel strong, healthy, and content.
The idea is to come back to these scenes regularly. And the hope is that these moments I’m imagining plant a seed. That my mind starts seeing that as the path forward.
Just as important as what is in the image is what’s not. I’m not thinking about being unhealthy. I’m not imagining the version of myself that’s 20 pounds heavier and less mobile, which seems to be a kind of default script that a lot of people my age start adopting.
I’ve seen it in others—this creeping sense that things are only going to get worse from here, especially when it comes to health and fitness. I don’t want to buy into that.
I’m not sure that visualizations like this are the end-all, be-all answer — I’ve never been a big “vision board” of “manifestations” guys — but there is some scientific evidence (presented in the Re-origin program) that putting these images in our brains (especially instead of much more negative images) does, on some level, tell our mind and body that’s where we’re going, and that they should prepare to head in that direction.
If nothing else, it’s not too bad to conjure up a nice, positive thought in your mind even for a few seconds once or twice a day.
Feeding the Subconscious Something Better
One final piece from this first week that stood out: Re-origin has you write out a few short affirmations—positive things you want your mind to absorb.
I know, I know… affirmations… brings to mind Stuart Smalley for me. IYKYK
Anyhow, here are a few of mine:
I am happy and resilient.
I am healthy and strong. And I am getting healthier and stronger every day.
I am grateful that I get to live this amazing life.
These may or may not be the new wallpaper on my phone. I am my father’s son if you knew him! 😂
Again, these are just about putting some more positive ideas into the brain.
It’s crazy, but in the last week, when I’ve really paid attention, I’ve been surprised at how negative some of my thought loops actually are. As someone who considers himself an optimist, this was a bit of an eye-opener.
My conclusion on all of this is that:
1/ probably the most important element here is awareness. Just being more conscious of what’s actually going through your mind and how that might be affecting you mentally and even physically is incredibly helpful.
2/ there are techniques we can practice (some likely to resonate more than others) that can actually interrupt these patterns, and in some cases, lead to pretty incredible positive changes (the Re-origin program is chock full of stories of people who have recovered from just about everything using techniques like these).
If visualizations and affirmations are too woo-woo for you… I get it. The occasional deep breath when things get crazy is also not a bad place to start. The key is trying to make it a habit. And habits require practice. And that’s what all of this is about. Practicing small, repeated behaviors to help nudge us in the right direction when life too often is pushing us the other way.
That’s it for this week. I’ll keep saying “Pause” to no one in particular, and you stay posted, because as I learn more, there will be more to come.
Content Diet
📺How to Achieve Your Most Ambitious Goals
Here’s one worth checking out: a TED Talk from a guy who goes by The Yarn Bomber. His real story is remarkable. He was a lifelong C-minus student who couldn’t focus for more than 5–10 minutes at a time. But once he discovered how to break his work into short, manageable chunks, everything changed.
He went from barely scraping by to becoming a record-setting adventurer, pilot, and finance executive.
If you or someone you know struggles with focus, ADHD, or just has trouble following through, this one’s worth the 10 minutes.
As always, thanks for reading.
See you next week,
—Greg