Most of us grew up being told that we only
use a small part of our brain.
And imagine if you used all of your brain
what you could be.
Well the fact is that all the parts of our
brain are active.
All the nerve cells are being used.
But the question is, if you could somehow
adapt yourself in terms of how you use your
brain, rather than letting your brain use
you, could the potential for your brain activity
and your mental accomplishments be even greater?
Chopra: So Rudy, most people think that their
brain is in charge of them.
And we totally differ here.
We say we are in charge of our brain.
And you make the point in the book very clearly,
right up front, that you are not your brain.
What do you mean by that?
Tanzi: Well I think if you just carry out
the simple exercise of saying my brain, you
have to ask who asked that.
Who said, who's the 'my?'
Who asked my brain?
And the brain is an organ, a great organ that
serves you, which is different than saying
you serve your brain.
As soon as we identify with the activities
of our brain—thoughts and feelings—then
we are no longer in charge of ourselves; we
are just serving the functions of an organ.
It's similar to saying when you're hungry,
and your stomach's telling you to eat, that
I'm my stomach.
It doesn't make any sense.
Chopra: So just like I am not my stomach and
I am not my skin or I am not my hair follicles
or my toenails, I'm not my brain either, and
that gives me influence over the form and
structure of the brain.
The brain is an activity.
And it's influenced by every experience.
So right now we are having this experience
of conversing with each other.
Is this experience of me talking to you and
you talking to me, is this influencing the
form and structure of our brains?
Tanzi: The brain is wired always in a plastic
way.
Plastic meaning it's adaptable, it's malleable,
it's flexible.
There's no hard wiring so to speak.
Yet there are certain pathways that need to
be hard wired so that you can breathe and
swallow your food.
But for the most part when you have a new
experience, you are changing your neural network
of your brain at various levels.
You’re changing the neurochemistry.
What type of chemicals are being made in the
brain that are being shunted between nerve
cells to create electrochemical signals to
create memories, learning experiences.
Chopra: Okay so now as we are having this
conversation, which is a bit of a reflective,
intellectual conversation, our frontal cortex
is getting activated, our cortical brain,
right?
Tanzi: On one hand I'm excited to speak about
it.
So my emotional center, my limbic center is
saying this is great, let's keep talking about
this.
My frontal cortex, the more recently evolved
part of the brain is saying whoa, slow down.
Don't get carried away.
What you want to say has to be reasonable
and...
Chopra: Scientific?
Tanzi: And scientifically sound.
So there's this constant battle in the brain
between the limbic emotional system and the
parts that are involved with logic, learning.
And what’s beautiful is that as you experience
new things, the neural networks in all these
parts of the brain are changing even how they
interact with each other.
So you're getting changes in connections,
between nerve cells within certain regions
like the limbic region for emotion, at the
same time within your cortex where there's
thinking and reasoning, and how those regions
interact with each other.
So this happens at every moment you're interacting
with the world, seeing a beautiful forest
or trees and birds in the forest, or when
you're at a scientific lecture being stimulated
by some new topic.
Chopra: This is fascinating to me because
most of us don't think about it this way.
We think oh there's a brain, and it does its
thing.
But right now there are lots of people who
are actually watching us on YouTube.
Are we influencing their brains, the structure
of their brains right now?
Tanzi: All of this input is influencing the
brain of the listener.
Chopra: So the listener's brain is being influenced
by our conversation, and certain parts are
being activated, neural networks.
And that activation requires the manufacture
of proteins.
So that requires certain genes to be activated.
So we're not only influencing each other's
DNA and genes, but all those people who are
listening to us.
Tanzi: Right now as people are listening to
us, if they’re being stimulated by what
we say and relating to it, their chemicals
are changing.
As a result, the connections between nerve
cells are actually changing.
If you picture almost like little worms that
are extending and growing and now connecting
in different places, because of the experience
for example of the viewer of us speaking right
now.
Chopra: And this is called neuroplasticity,
right?
Tanzi: Neuroplasticity.
Chopra: That the brain is plastic.
The form and structure of the brain can be
influenced by every experience including a
conversation.
