I want to say yes and I want to say no. Exercise is all about how we’re doing it and why we’re doing it, and most importantly, what’s the intention behind the exercise. Neuroplasticity is really about novel stimuli, and it has to do with how we’re feeling while we’re doing things. Neuroplasticity is about all of our neural networks, including our emotional networks and our thought and mental pathways. It’s not just physically building a muscle.
So, doing lots of repeating of the same exercise every day with the same mindset and with the same emotional landscape will not create neuroplastic change. You’ll just be waking up doing the same thing you do every day and feeling the same thing you feel every day.
The Rock Steady process guides you to stop and think about “what’s really important to me”. This will be different for every person. “Where am I at physically, mentally, emotionally, and spiritually, and how can I be very intentional and very clear about what I want to feel and how I bring that into whatever choice I’m making and whatever exercise I’m doing?” This includes regular and incidental exercise, such as cleaning the house or dropping the kids off at school.
So, it’ll be much more effective to have intentional living with this incidental movement where you have crafted a rock steady way of life. That would be much more effective from a neuroplasticity point of view than going on exactly the same run or exactly the same bike ride or exactly the same yoga class with the same mindset and nothing changing at that deeper neuroplasticity level. Exercise can actually be an inhibitor if we’re not using it with that rock steady mindset that supports neuroplasticity growth and development.
