Mental Rehearsal
Grow the neural circuitry of a future behaviour by vividly rehearsing it before you act
- Difficulty
- Moderate
- Time to result
- ~weeks to results
- Steps
- 4
- Confidence
- 80%
Dispenza draws on research showing the brain does not know the difference between an external event and a vividly imagined one. When you mentally rehearse an action, putting yourself in the scene and running it through, you lay down the same circuitry as if you had physically done it. The brain stops being a record of the past and becomes a map to the future. Repeating the rehearsal past the point of effort makes the new pattern automatic, so when the real situation arrives you step into a footprint that is already there. He cites piano studies where a group who only mentally rehearsed scales and chords for two hours a day over five days developed brain changes resembling those who physically practised, and could then actually play.
Origin
Dispenza's application of neurogenesis and mental-rehearsal research, including the piano-practice studies he cites, taught through his events as preparation for behaving as the new self.
Core principles
- 01The brain does not distinguish a vividly imagined event from a real one
- 02Experience creates circuitry, so rehearsed experience lays down real hardware
- 03Mental rehearsal maps the brain to the future instead of recording the past
- 04Repetition turns effortful hardware into automatic software
How to run it
- 1
Choose the target behaviour
Identify the specific response you want, such as staying calm around an ex or performing under pressure, so the rehearsal has a clear object.
Pro tip Ask what love or greatness would do in that circumstance to define the behaviour.
- 2
Close your eyes and enter the scene
Put yourself inside the situation in first person and rehearse how you will respond or behave in that circumstance.
Pro tip The more clearly you place yourself in the scene, the more the brain treats it as real.
- 3
Rehearse repeatedly past the point of effort
Run the rehearsal daily; early repetitions take conscious energy, but redundancy installs circuitry that becomes automatic.
Pro tip Keep going past where you would normally stop; that is where the wiring consolidates.
Watch out One good hour of rehearsal is undone if the other fifteen waking hours run the old pattern.
- 4
Step into the real situation
Enter the actual circumstance and let the primed behaviour play out, then reinforce it afterwards.
Pro tip When it is hardest to hold the new behaviour, it matters most.
In the wild
Researchers divided people who had never played piano into two groups. One physically practised one-handed scales and chords two hours a day for five days and developed new motor-cortex circuits. The other only mentally rehearsed playing the same scales and chords, two hours a day for five days, never lifting a finger. Post scans showed the mental-rehearsal group's brains looked as if they had been playing for five days, and when sat at a real piano they could actually play the scales and chords.
→ Imagined practice produced brain changes and real playing ability comparable to physical practice.
Common mistakes
Rehearsing for one hour then living the old pattern
A single good session cannot outweigh fifteen hours of frustration and old behaviour; the default personality returns.
Vague rehearsal with no defined response
Without a clear picture of how you will behave, there is no specific circuitry to install.
Is it for you?
Best for
Performers, athletes and anyone who wants to change how they behave in a specific recurring situation.
Not ideal for
Tasks that require physical skill you have never practised at all and cannot yet represent accurately in your mind.
From the transcript
“when you mentally rehearse doing something the brain does not know the difference between the outside world event and what you're imagining”
“your brain is no longer a record of the past it's being conditioned and mapped into the future”
From the episode
How To Unlock Your Mind & Master Your Life - Dr Joe Dispenza - #741
Dr Joe Dispenza