From the time we are born our brain stores so many memories. Some of those memories are positive and some others negative and even traumatic. The most traumatic experiences many times, change the way we interact with the events in our life many years after the event.
According to Cahil, Prins, Weber and McGaugh in a 1999 article on Nature “Emotional events tend to be recalled with more frequency and clarity than memories not associated with extreme emotions.”
In a world with people suffering so much after car accidents, combat, rape or even the loss of a family member, doctors are looking for ways to alter those memories and even work with some of the phobias that patients experience and limit their lives.
If you watched the Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (2004) you may get a little uneasy about the idea of replacing memories. We are far from that, today doctors are trying instead of erasing a traumatic memory, to follow a method to reduce or eliminate the fear that comes with that memory. No one really knows how we store our memories, nevertheless in a recent article on the matter on the Wall Street Journal, Shirley S. Wang mentions that “lately doctors think that memories are stored like individual files on a shelf, each time they are pulled down for viewing, they can be altered before being put back into storage.”
How do they do that? One of the simplest ways is to allow the patient to recall, modify and store the experience over and over again. Every time the patient recalls the incident (sometimes doctors use some drugs to relax the patient) there will be less emotionality coming from that memory. As you can see the memory is still there but the emotions will lessen to a point that people can start living a “normal” life.
For those of us that don’t suffer from phobias or those traumatic memories but would like to improve our sense of being and become less emotional, yoga offers meditation.
In the yoga tradition, meditation (Dhyana) is one of the 8 limbs of Yoga. In meditation we hold a space where not only we can see the mind and all its craziness but also after a while we can get to the point where the mind becomes quiet and the emotionality disappears. At that point in the words of Sri Goswami Kriyananda: “there is an expansion of awareness to an understanding of the totality of things”
Is it possible to alter our memories? Yes! When we practice meditation we have the opportunity to see our mind in an objective way and make the choice to change and respond less and less to events and situations that come to our life.
Here is a simple technique that you can do two or three times a day.
1) If you have an asana practice, after Savasana sit on your mat for 20-30 seconds with your back lengthen and without paying attention to your breath, be quiet and enjoy the after effects of your practice and the calmness of your mind.
2) During the day try to come to that feeling of peace and stillness. If you don’t practice asana daily, then as soon as you wake up, seat on your bead close, keep your back straight and close your eyes; allow the mind to be quiet for 20-30 seconds, open your eyes and get ready for your day.
3) Go back to that place in your mind throughout the day just for 20-30 seconds.
4) With time you will be able to extend the time you can keep the mind still without putting effort on it.
Whether you use meditation or the new doctor's procedures to recover from a traumatic episode, remember that is the practice and time that will make the practice fruitful. Little by little you are removing the emotionality that the event triggers and you will regain control over the responses of the mind.
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