How to Rewire Your Brain for Healing
Watch the podcast episode on Youtube.
What if one of the most powerful tools for healing has been with you all along—your mind?
In a recent episode of Wellness Warriors, Dr. Justin Lane and mindset expert Michelle Schroeder dive into the fascinating connection between mindset, biology, and healing. Their message? Your thoughts are not just passive background noise—they’re active participants in your health.
Let’s unpack some of their most empowering insights and practical tips so you can start using “mindset as medicine” today.
Your Mindset Sets the Healing Stage
Most of us think of healing as purely physical—treatments, medications, supplements, or procedures. But according to Dr. Lane and Michelle, your mindset accounts for a huge portion of your overall healing potential.
Many people know what they don’t want (pain, fatigue, anxiety), but few take the next step: identifying what they do want.
“Your brain hooks onto specificity,” Dr. Lane explains.
“The more clearly you can define your desired outcome, the more powerfully your body moves toward it.”
Try This:
If you don’t yet know what you want, start by writing down what you don’t want. Often the opposite reveals your true desire.
Your Cells Are Listening: Thoughts Shape Biology
Michelle brings in an important concept from epigenetics: your genes are not your destiny.
Only about 10–20% of health outcomes are hardwired. The other 80–90%? That’s your internal “environment”—your choices, habits, emotions, and yes, your thoughts.
She reminds us:
“Cells move toward love, gratitude, and nourishment, and away from toxicity—whether chemical, emotional, or mental.”
That means your beliefs and daily thought patterns can either invite healing… or shut it down. The Placebo Effect: Not Just a Trick
Surprisingly, the placebo effect isn’t a fluke—it’s evidence of the mind’s healing power.
Across medical research, placebo responses hover around 33% effectiveness. That means belief itself can trigger biochemical changes that improve health.
Dr. Lane notes that when patients fully accept a dire prognosis like “You have six months to live,” they often fulfill it—not because it’s inevitable, but because belief influences biochemistry.
On the other hand, those who reject that script often defy the odds.
Neuroplasticity: Your Brain Can Rewrite Its Own Story
Everything from your habits to your identity can be reprogrammed thanks to neuroplasticity—your brain’s ability to create new neural pathways.
Michelle breaks it down beautifully:
- Habits are conditioned—not permanent.
- Beliefs can be changed.
- Mindsets can be rewired.
And it doesn’t require years of therapy. It begins with small, intentional shifts in language, focus, and daily patterns.
Your Words Create Biochemistry
Your body responds to the words you use, even silently.
Try saying:
“I’m fine.”
Now try saying:
“I’m awesome,” “I’m magnificent,” or “I’m triumphant.”
Feel the difference? That’s physiology responding to vocabulary.
Michelle even used this technique to stop anxiety in its tracks while driving—repeating words like peace, serenity, and calm until her body shifted out of the anxiety response.
Interrupt the Pattern, Change the State
One of the most powerful healing tools?
Interrupting a negative state.
When you catch yourself in a fear spiral or stuck in survival mode, your job is to shift gears.
Michael, the podcast host, shared his own method: picking up his guitar and playing for 10–15 minutes. Movement, music, creativity—all of these “pattern interrupts” can reset your brain chemistry.
Other ideas:
- Put on a song and move
- Step into the sunshine
- Do 10 deep belly breaths
- Repeat calming words
- Use a physical anchor (like Michelle’s finger technique)
- Change your posture
- Smile intentionally
When you shift your physiology, your emotions follow.
As Dr. Lane puts it:
“Emotion is motion.”
Breaking Free from “Learned Helplessness”
Many people have been told that their illness is hereditary or unchangeable.
Michelle knows this firsthand—she was once told there was “nothing she could do” about her lupus.
But epigenetics says otherwise.
Your genes are like piano keys; your lifestyle, beliefs, and environment determine which keys get played.
Meaning: you have far more influence over your health than you’ve been led to believe.
So, How Do You Start Rewiring Your Brain for Healing?
Here’s a simple roadmap inspired by the conversation:
1. Identify what you actually want.
Be specific, sensory, and emotional.
2. Change your language.
Use uplifting, empowering, life-giving words.
3. Interrupt negative states quickly.
Move your body, shift your focus, breathe deeply.
4. Anchor positive states.
Pair a gesture or word with a peak feeling and use it often.
5. Surround yourself with healing influences.
People, music, environments, habits.
6. Believe in your body’s ability to heal.
Because belief itself has measurable power.
Final Takeaway
Your mindset is not a fluffy add-on to healing—it’s a biological force.
It shapes your thoughts, which shape your emotions, which shape your behaviors, which shape your health.
You have far more control than you realize.
Healing begins with a single empowering question:
“What do I truly want for my health and my life?”
And then—step by gentle step—you train your mind and body to move toward it.