Even As You Read This, Your Brain Has Rewired Itself

[venu (Dr. Venu)]

“The adult brain is dynamic rather than neurologically frozen.”

In this ground breaking study by Nature “Human hippocampal neurogenesis in adulthood, ageing and Alzheimer’s disease.” which flipped the scientific understanding of human brain ascertaining that “new neurons continue to be generated in the human hippocampus during adulthood and ageing.” Weakening the old textbook idea that the adult human brain is a completely fixed neurological structure.

Why this is important for me is because so far, there was no conclusive evidence at least not that I was aware of which said that neurogenesis was possible in adults. The understanding was we had a certain number of neurones by a certain age and there was no new growth after it.

For much of the 20th century, neuroscience operated with a remarkably rigid assumption, once the human brain had matured, the neurons we possessed were essentially the neurons we would have for life. Damage might be compensated for, connections might change, but the adult brain was generally not thought to produce meaningful numbers of new neurons.

But yes with the works of Dr. Ramachandran we knew that Neuroplasticity was possible even in adults. In simple terms
before we go further, a quick check on what these two terms actually mean:-

Neuroplasticity is our brain’s ability to reorganise itself. Existing neurons can alter their connections, strengthen or weaken synapses, reorganise networks and change the way information is processed.
Neurogenesis means the actual formation of new neurons.

In this dizzyingly changing world (Earth orbiting the Sun at about 29.8 km/s and our Solar System orbits the centre of the Milky Way at roughly 220–250 km/s!) how can the brain be a constant. If it was so why would a wife who chose to fight everyone in her family want to get married to someone to only leave him in a few years!

Neurogenesis attracts attention for me because the idea of creating a completely new neuron sounds extraordinary!

But the more profound discovery may actually be neuroplasticity, which is an already established phenomenon even scientifically, due to which
we can help our clients understand that they do not necessarily need an entirely new brain in order to become different.
The same brain can learn differently.
The same neurons can form different relationships.
The same stimulus can acquire a different meaning.
The same memory can evoke a different response.
And what was once automatic may eventually become a choice.
That is why one of the most important principles emerging from modern neuroscience is remarkably simple, that

Even the adult brain is not fixed.

That leads to an important therapeutic possibility which is

A remembered or symbolically represented experience may remain historically unchanged while the person’s present relationship with that experience changes.

this changes everything, isn’t it?

[satishsinghthakur (SATISH)]

Sir, thank you for sharing such a thought-provoking perspective. I found the distinction between neurogenesis and neuroplasticity particularly fascinating, especially the deeper therapeutic meaning you have drawn from it.

What stayed with me most was the idea that the experience may remain historically unchanged, while our relationship with that experience can change.

Perhaps this is where the deeper dimension of PLRT begins to reveal itself.

We may not be able to alter what happened—or even establish the historical status of an experience encountered in regression. But we can explore how that experience is represented, interpreted and emotionally carried in the present.

घटना शायद वही रहती है, लेकिन उसके साथ हमारा संबंध बदल सकता है।
And perhaps, sometimes, that shift in relationship is where healing begins.

A trigger that once produced an automatic reaction may gradually become an opportunity for awareness. A familiar emotional pattern may become observable rather than inevitable. And what was once experienced as “this is who I am” may slowly become “this is something I have learned to experience.”

यहाँ मुझे एक बहुत गहरा प्रश्न दिखाई देता है:

क्या transformation का अर्थ अतीत को बदलना है, या अतीत के साथ अपने संबंध को बदलना?

For me, this also raises an important therapeutic distinction. In PLRT, perhaps our task is not to prove or disprove the historical reality of every regression experience, but to carefully explore what meaning the experience holds for the client in the present and what happens to that meaning through the therapeutic process.

शायद healing में अतीत मिटता नहीं है—उसकी पकड़ बदल जाती है।

And this brings me back to the beautiful insight in your post:

“What was once automatic may eventually become a choice.”

For me, this is where neuroscience, therapy and the exploration of consciousness begin to meet—not as identical disciplines, but as different lenses through which we can contemplate human transformation.

Thank you, Venu Sir, for opening this reflection. As a learner in PLRT, I find this perspective both scientifically stimulating and philosophically humbling.