4 Ways a Secret Sunrise Experience Will Improve Your Brain: The Neuroplasticity of Unleashing Joy
You are standing on the beach immersed in nature, just before dawn; with eyes closed you hear the gentle sensation of music and a soothing voice inviting you to breathe and just be.
The breeze brushes your skin and the sensation of the first rays of sunshine tickle your cheeks. You are about to embark on a journey with uplifting music, playful imagination and powerful human connection that will leave you breathless, speechless and feeling a deep sense of belonging.
What is Secret Sunrise?
Secret Sunrise is a global movement on a mission to change the world through music, dance, nature, and connection. Our global mission is to have 1 million people move with joy each month!
There is something special about attending a Secret Sunrise session; it is difficult to explain because there is nothing else quite like it. I say Secret Sunrise is like chocolate - you can’t describe the pleasure of it; you need to experience it for yourself.
Our unique blend of facilitated sessions, the playlists we create, and most importantly, the authenticity of our intention to spark joy in the lives of others is a magical formula that I have seen transform lives.
This global guided dance and meditation community spreads joy in over 14 cities around the world, using wireless headphones in beautiful natural settings. Facilitators are specially trained in hosting these unique experiences for the public, for corporate teams and for loved ones in private sessions.
This unique concept was born under African skies by Daniel Cameron Becker and Grant Ross. It has spread throughout South Africa and rippled out to the rest of the world, the founders of each new city sharing the same passion for this heart-led movement as Dan and Grant.
So why is this crazy concept of a group of people dancing around at Sunrise and Sunset growing around the world? What is it about this movement that keeps people coming back for more compared to other activities that are similar?
It is a multi-layered and powerful practice, that may not look like much on the surface, but for those of you sitting on the side of the joy-dance floor, hesitating to dip your toe in, perhaps the science behind it might convince you.
Dr. Tara Swart, Senior Lecturer at MIT Sloan and author of the best-seller “The Source”, has shown in her "Neuroscience for Business" course at MIT Sloan the combination of three factors help the brain form new neural pathways: new experiences, aerobic exercise, and the power of intense emotion. All of which stimulates new neurons and strengthens the communication between existing neurons.
The good news is that a Secret Sunrise experience combines all three of these in one session, creating the perfect recipe to build positive, new neural pathways!
Before we delve into these factors, it is important to understand what Neuroplasticity is:
Dr Tara Swart says, “it is the ability of the brain to adapt itself in response to new experiences, situations, or changes in the environment. This means that you can either improve a skill or learn a new one by accessing the power of neuroplasticity. “
She continues to explain that, “By understanding this ability of the brain to adapt and reorganize itself, you can harness neuroplasticity to improve your thinking and modify old assumptions and beliefs.”
Let’s delve deeper into the three ways the brain can form new neural pathways:
Aerobic exercise:
Aerobic exercise has been shown to be an effective way to maintain and improve the cognitive functioning of the brain (Hwang et al. 2016). Research has shown that participating in one acute session of aerobic exercise can lead to immediate cognitive behavioural benefits (Loprinzi and Kane 2015).
According to researchers, aerobic exercise promotes the release of a protein (BDNF) that is related to nerve growth, this stimulates cognitive functioning, specifically in the prefrontal cortex (Yanagisawa et al. 2010; Griffin et al. 2011).
Secret Sunrise Johannesburg: Aerobic exercise
When we bring oxygen to our brain through exercise, we stimulate nerve growth and enhance the capabilities of our Prefrontal cortex (the executive function of our brain). The prefrontal cortex is responsible for higher cognitive functions, such as learning, decision-making, and problem-solving.
In the context of a Secret Sunrise session: Mindfully and consciously dancing in the fresh air is a way of performing this aerobic-type exercise, without even realising it.
Making it accessible to all ages and body types, we invite participants to do as little of as much as they can, while having fun and being playful in this facilitated boogie. It increases your heart rate, raises your endorphins (the happy hormones) helps relieve pain, reduces stress and evokes feelings of euphoria which improves your sense of well-being and lifts your mood.
Somatic movement also assists in releasing blocks in our physical body that have built up over time at a cellular level from past trauma.
2. New Experiences:
Exposing the brain to novel experiences promotes neuroplasticity. (Swart 2019, 104).
Dr. Marian Diamond at University of California Berkeley proved that the number of cortical cells in the brain increases with a novel experience (Diamond et al. 1972).
Secret Sunrise Amsterdam: New experiences
Cortical expansion is a key process in brain development and evolution, leading to increased intellectual performance and problem solving.
Most people's first Secret Sunrise experience is one they'll never forget. It’s a completely unique experience for most. The novelty of each session, however, means that even for regular participants, it provides an opportunity to foster neuroplasticity.
Secret Sunrise offers a safe space to be creative and playful, guided by facilitators in imaginative ways, participants can step out of their comfort zone and feel mentally and emotionally stimulated.
Each experience brings in something new; new music, new facilitation, creative play, different venues, new participants and new sensations of heart felt joy.
3. The power of intense emotion
“Intense emotion stimulates the growth of neurons and strengthens the communication between existing neurons. The more intense the emotion associated with an experience, the more powerful its impact on the brain” (Swart 2019, 105).
Intense positive or negative emotional experiences increase the neural communication between our hippocampus and our amygdala, thus encoding the experience into our cellular memory. In the event of an emotional trigger, these two brain regions interact to translate the emotion into an outcome, whether in context to the current situation or not.
Secret Sunrise Singapore: The Power of intense emotion
This explains why traumatic experiences can trigger someone much later in life. In addition, shared traumatic experiences can bond people together. The same is true for positively intense experience
Antonio Damasio (2003) argues that upbeat moments signify a neurological state of maximal cognitive efficiency— a brain ready to learn at its best.
At some stage during a session many participants experience a sense of emotional freedom, an unleashing and expansion of their heart: pure joy. Often expressed through tears and emotional release.
By focusing on the sensations of the heart and connection to others through smiling, eye contact, playful interaction and inspiring music, whilst being guided in a supportive and safe environment by trained facilitators, participants are hitting the sweet spot for creating more positive neural connections in the brain.
It fills my heart to see an expansion of emotions in participants, when they experience tears of joy and release when that moment arrives! So even as a facilitator, I leave each session feeling uplifted, energized and so joyful, having created another positive emotionally intense experience, even for myself.
When triggered by music that was played at a previous session, my mood automatically improves as it relives that positive experience.
4. My own fourth factor - I believe this is the “Secret” in Secret Sunrise:
Connection: As human beings we are wired to be in community, to feel the need to belong.
Daniel Goleman (Psychologist and author of “Emotional Intelligence”) talks about The Social Brain and how emotional states are contagious, brain-to-brain. Our brain attunes itself to the state of the person with whom we are interacting and adjusts our own feelings and actions to get into sync with the other person (Winkleman, & Harmon-Jones, 2006).
“Empathy and recognition of another person creates an interpersonal understanding, this stems largely from mirror neuron activity”, he explains.
Secret Sunrise Cape Town: The power of connection
Using specific techniques, facilitators help to build this brain-to-brain activity.
Creating connections gives people a sense that they are part of a shared common purpose that makes them proud. This stimulates emotional and social intelligence, which improves self-awareness, stress and anger management, empathy, humility, and decision making.
The human brain is phenomenal and complex; daily our brain learns new skills, creates new neural connections, remembers, and strengthens old patterns. This all happens whether we are aware of it or not.
By bringing awareness to our brain’s capabilities, we can harness the true strength of the mind. Understanding that we have the power to override negative experiences and responses, with positive ones, is so powerful.
We have the capacity to recognise our brain’s potential thereby adapting to changing environments, breaking bad habits and creating more positive neural connections
There is no doubt that many things work for many different people. I always say, you can’t be everyone’s medicine.
However, since the Secret Sunrise combines all these factors and it’s values are based on being accessible to all (through the wide variety of music choices, playful innocence, and eclectic mix of facilitators), there is something to be said about this phenomenon that was naturally and organically created by three beautifully conscious men just sharing the rhythms of their hearts at one glorious sunrise on African soil.
I know, both scientifically and in the depths of my heart, that this movement will change the world for the better. I have seen the powerful impact in my own life as well as the lives of others, and I can’t wait to see what happens next…
Do you want to find out for yourself? Join us at a session and see the magic happen. Sign up to be a part of the Vibe Tribe for updates on upcoming events.
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The Secret Sunrise Experience
References:
Swart, Tara. The Source: Open Your Mind, Change Your Life. Random House, 2019
Yanagisawa, Hiroki, et al. "Acute moderate exercise elicits increased dorsolateral prefrontal activation and improves cognitive performance with Stroop test." Neuroimage 50.4 (2010): 1702-1710.
Kensinger, E. A. (2009). Remembering the Details: Effects of Emotion. Emotion Review, 1(2), 99–113. https://doi.org/10.1177/1754073908100432
Goleman, Daniel. "The socially intelligent." Educational leadership 64.1 (2006): 76-81.
Diamond, M. C., Krech, D., & Rosenzweig, M. R. (1964). The effects of an enriched environment on the histology of the rat cerebral cortex. Journal of Comparative Neurology, 123(1), 111–119.
