Overriding Lizard Brain: 5 Ways to Go Beyond Fear, Anger and Negativity

Editor’s Note: This post is written by yoga teacher and life coach Lindsey Lewis who blogs at www.libreliving.com.

THE WAY IN

The mind has a way of taking control. Scientists and life coaches call our Amygdala—the region of our brain pretty much in charge of feelings of anxiety, fear, anger and negativity—our “lizard brain.” Why lizard brain? Because this area of our brain evolved a loooong time ago, back when our primal lizard-ish concerns were much more prevalent. This is why our biological stress response to, say, a looming deadline, is still as dramatic as it was when we were facing, say, a looming tiger.

The Amygdala, two small organs in the brain each about the size of a small almond, can become overstimulated by ongoing stressors and begin to run the show—our lives. The more we feel the stress response, the more the Amygdala are activated. The more the Amygdala stay activated, the more we begin to feel that this state is normal. Fear, anger and negativity become our primary modus operandus. The lizard brain takes over.

THE WAY OUT

Life Coach revolutionary Martha Beck teaches clients to not only identify their inner lizards, but to name them. Queen B, Mack, Merv and Miss Thang. Just some options to get you thinking about what you might call yours. Where’s the benefit in naming your lizard? We work with thoughts and label them as “planning” “rehashing” “fantasizing” or “imagining” in order to help us remember we are separate from our thoughts and don’t have to jump on board with them all the time. Naming our lizards helps us let them do their thing, so we can continue to do ours.

And what’s ours? Finding our freedom. Living our dreams.

Examples? You got it.
“You might not make any difference as a life coach.” (This is what my inner lizard says)

Here’s some examples from other people’s lizards that I’ve heard them report along the way:
“If you quit the job you hate you’ll be poor and living in a box on the street.”
“You can’t start your own business. It will ruin you.”
“Saying ‘no’ to that invitation will make that person stop asking you.”
“If you act as smart as you are, people won’t like you.”
“If you rest, your competition will pass you by.”

5 Ways to Work With Your Inner Lizard Brain

1. Name him or her. Giving your lizard a name helps us to remember these thoughts are coming from an area of our brain, not our whole self. They are not necessarily “Truths.”
2. Treat them with compassion. Compassion is the only way through. Resistance breads persistence. Treating our lizards with love and compassion helps them feel they can calm down—and maybe take a nap long enough for us to do what we really wanted to, anyway.
3. Witness what they have to say. From the compassionate place, we can witness and hear what our inner lizards have to say.
4. Breathe deeply. Our breath is the greatest connection we have to our nervous system. Breathing deeper is the fastest, quickest, scientifically-proven way to get our nervous system back into a place of balance; and help ourselves come back to a place of less stress, anxiety, anger and negativity and more neutrality.
5. Act. Practice doing it anyway. Act as if the fear, anger or negativity your inner lizard is feeling about whatever it is you want to do was never there. You haven’t ignored it. You’re not pretending you don’t feel it. You’re simply acknowledging its presence, and taking the leap anyway.