What Is The Subconscious Mind And Why Is It Important part when navigating change in your life?

The subconscious is a powerful part of the mind that can often act as a portal to true transformation. Journey with me into our complex inner world and discover ways to rewire your mind. 

What is the subconscious mind? 

The subconscious mind exists or operates beneath or beyond our consciousness and can be defined as "of or concerning the part of the mind of which one is not fully aware but which influences one's actions and feelings."  

"According to cognitive neuroscientists, we are conscious of only about 5 per cent of our cognitive activity", with the other 95% controlled by our subconscious. This part of the mind controls our physical functions, from breathing to digestion. But it is also responsible for our decisions, actions, emotions and behaviours. 

In Bruce Lipton’s Biology of Belief, he describes how the subconscious mind is able to process 20 000 000 bits of information per second, 500 000 times more than the conscious mind. This indicates that only around 0.01% of all the brain’s activity is experienced consciously. While the subconscious controls automatic functions like breathing, other actions and feelings are formed through habit. In learning to drive a car or ride a bike, we create an automatic subconscious programme by putting in hours of practice until we can do it almost on autopilot. 

The same can be applied to our habits, attitudes, beliefs and behaviours. The subconscious mind is subjective; it simply receives information and obeys the commands the conscious mind delivers. According to Joseph Denis Murphy, author of The Power of your Subconscious Mind, "You are the gardener of your subconscious mind; you are planting seeds of thought in your subconscious mind every day. Your subconscious mind will give results from your thought which you have planted". 

Limiting thoughts and beliefs are thus a result of information being repetitively sent to the subconscious that helps feed and reinforce these beliefs. 

Why working on the subconscious mind is important?

Accessing and working on the subconscious mind is important as it allows us to reprogramme or rewire our mind, allowing us to shift from negative to more positive thoughts, beliefs, habits and behaviours. This work can also help facilitate healing within our internal worlds, allowing us to access memories and emotions that sit beneath the surface.  

Due to our subconscious fears and beliefs, we often operate from a very limited place instead of consciously creating the life that we desire. Anything is possible, we just need to know the right tools to access the subconscious and rewire our minds.

How can you work on reprogramming the subconscious mind?

Reprogramming the subconscious mind is a matter of accessing it through different modalities and methods. 

CHANGING BRAINWAVES

It is believed that a lot of our subconscious programming happens before the age of seven. In adulthood, we spend much of our waking life in a beta brainwave state, which relates to the world of the conscious in which we use logic and rational thinking. However, in our childhood, our sensory systems are more fully engaged, and the brain operates in a theta or alpha state, which is connected to our subconscious or 'inner world'. "In theta, our senses are withdrawn from the external world and focused on signals originating from within."  

So, one way to connect to and rewire our subconscious is by altering our brainwaves, moving from beta to alpha or theta states. This can be done through a variety of modalities and practices, including yoga, meditation and breathwork. 

Research has shown that "Meditation practices such as mindfulness meditation, non-directive meditation, and breathing mediation increase the alpha and theta waves activity in the frontal region of the brain as well as results in extensive changes in gamma waves frequency. In addition, yoga has been found to contribute to a prominent level of increased alpha and theta waves activity in the brain."

The two-step Pranayama breathwork technique that I use helps lower your brainwave state and access deeper levels of your subconscious mind, and it is here that you can access limiting beliefs, trauma or unprocessed emotions that are holding you back. 

These practices, and the resulting change in brainwaves, allow us to our journey into the subconscious, where we are able to rewrite our subconscious programming and process suppressed emotions and trauma.

CREATING NEW HABITS

As mentioned, subconscious programmes are a result of habitually feeding your subconscious the same information until it begins to function on autopilot. 

Breaking a habit of creating a new habit can often feel like a challenge. This is because when we decide to change or break a habit, our subconscious mind, which makes up 95% of our cognitive activity, will often overpower our conscious mind. It has become hardwired based on the information it has been continually fed.

The good news is that research has shown that new habits can be formed with time and dedication. Based on a study entitled "How habits are formed", Phillippa Lally, a health psychology researcher at University College London, was able to work out how long it takes to form a habit. According to her findings, it takes an average of 66 days for a new behaviour to become automatic.

We are often unaware of the habits and behaviours we are creating and the information we send to our subconscious, so by actively and consistently enacting a new habit, we are slowly able to reprogramme our minds.

While there are growing number of modalities and methods, working with a practitioner, incorporating yoga, breathwork or meditation into your daily routine or actively creating new habits are excellent ways to start connecting to and rewiring your subconscious mind.