Imagine your brain not as a passive observer of reality, but as a prediction machine -- constantly making its best guess about what’s happening in your body and environment, and adjusting based on those guesses. Emotions and sensations like pain aren’t hardwired reactions that live in specific parts of your brain like we've long assumed. Instead, they’re constructed experiences. Your brain draws on your past history, context, and sensory input to make meaning and experience, and pain is one of those experiences. Keep reading to learn more about what leading-edge neuroscience has taught us about how the brain creates pain.

Working to create more space & ease from pain or challenging emotions? Slow down, tune into your body & mind, and get to know the little details about what you’re experiencing in the moment. When you slow down in mindfulness and get into the granular details of your experience, the activity of two important neural networks shifts significantly, helping your nervous system move from “fight or flight” to “rest & digest.” Learn more here about how a specific mindfulness practice can turn down the volume on intense feelings, and the neuroscience behind why it works so well.

When everything looks shitty it’s really hard to feel hopeful about your health, the world, or otherwise. But if you’re armed with a little knowledge about how our nervous systems construct our reality — and, more importantly, how you can actively influence that — the possibility for seeing, perceiving, and then feeling something wildly different is suddenly right there. To stay afloat, you need to have some core, daily practices that help you get grounded and clear. So this post is a throwback to an elemental practice to keep you afloat in the alot-ness of life.