Shadowing Practice: Neuroscientist's Guide To 10X Your Focus & Memory | Dr Sahar Yousef | FO559 Raj Shamani - Learn English Speaking with Video

Why cutting off a habit is more difficult than making a new habit?

Do you have a whiteboard?

Yeah.

All right.

Okay.

So, we were talking about neural networks before, right?

So, neural networks, again, are patterns of electrical activation.

So, let's say, for example, you have some pattern of electrical activation here in the brain.

And let's say this represents your craving for something you don't want to crave anymore.

Watching reels, like binge watching random stuff.

Oh, wow.

Binge watching.

Okay.

Mindless scrolling.

Yeah, great.

I'll even draw a little phone, you know.

Okay, there you go.

All right.

So this is the craving for it, though.

Okay.

This is not the behavior.

This is the craving.

So if this dot here represents the actual craving for it,

what that, let's say, ends up getting connected to is a set of patterns of electrical activation here

that represents the complex behavior that ends up being you grab the phone and you start scrolling.

Okay.

So it starts with the craving.

The craving is not, by the way, usually to binge watch.

Usually the craving is something else.

Usually, and this is where we can get a little more emotional here It's a feeling What do you mean by that?

Well, let's So craving is not for binge watching Well, that ends up becoming the behavior for you to satisfy a

craving The craving you think is actually for binge watching

But it's a craving to binge watch in order to satisfy

some feeling That's usually what's happening Like something I'm missing Something you're missing

or something that you want to disassociate from numb from usually usually the feeling

that people have is overwhelm Stress Let's say If you're overwhelmed you're stressed out You're tired you lack motivation Right?

Right.

You're looking to solve for these feelings.

And your brain has decided a nice thing to do.

If you have these feelings, you're like, I don't nobody wants to feel this, by the way, right?

These are bad feelings.

So if you have these feelings, your brain goes, let's get out of this.

How do I solve this?

there's a few different things you can do

but let's say you accidentally develop this addiction this habit

because by the way the word habit is a common one

we're all interested in habits yeah it's pretty much the same

thing as addiction it's the same thing people hear the word addiction

and they think it's like scary like it's some moral you know yeah it's a bad thing it's a bad thing

What about when people are addicted to exercise Or addicted to feeling healthy Or addicted to being kind Right?

Because you can I've met people who definitely are Addicted to those things

And I know you probably have met Lots of these kinds of people

Because these are the people you collect People addicted to their own success Absolutely, yeah Yeah

So it's not a bad thing Addiction just means habit that's it okay

so we can demystify dethrone you know uh these words really

they're coupled together they're the same thing they're the same thing

so what is a habit was also an addiction it's also the same thing as just a behavior

that you do over and over i would just say

that you do a lot right

so what ends up happening is you have a feeling there is some brain state some cognitive

or emotional brain state and then what ends up happening is you want to move away from

that feeling if it's

if it's a bad feeling like this right you want to

move away from it your your brain wants to help you

solve it it doesn't want to let you sit in there in

that bad feeling so whatever it is

that you did let's say you did binge watching one time when you felt that way You're like, let me distract myself, you know, go somewhere else.

We don't need to think that.

We don't need to feel that.

So then you start binge watching and what's going to happen in the beginning?

In the beginning, you're distracted, right?

So it feels good.

Yeah.

Okay.

So what you ended up doing is you ended up doing the actual binge watching.

So you scrolled.

And then what happens at the very end?

Let's say now you're done scrolling and you put the phone away.

This is a bit of a trick question because let's say you were overwhelmed about a work deadline.

Thank you.

And then you started binge watching for 45 minutes in the evening instead of working on the thing that's overwhelming you.

So then you did the binge watching and then afterwards you put the phone down.

Did you deal with the thing that you were actually stressed about?

No, I get guilty.

Yeah.

So now you have this, you have the overwhelm and you have shame.

Yeah.

So the person is super sad now.

We're just super sad.

So now that you have overwhelm and shame, you know, that's even worse than before.

No. Yeah.

So guess what I want to do again?

Watch again Go around the circle again.

So okay, let's say you've done this one night, but come on, let's be honest I've done this even like at least 100 times.

Yeah, do you know what I mean?

Yeah Here's the answer to your your original question every single time you do this you go through this path

every time you traverse this road and you do it again and again

100

and again do you see what's happening here we're making it

101

darker no we're making it maybe even bigger stronger deeper this

102

neural network starts to become like a tree trunk like the roots of a tree

103

That is how A behavior if you do it one time, that's fine.

104

You do it 100 times 1000 times a million times That's a behavior that you do a lot.

105

That's the same thing as addiction.

106

It's the same thing as a habit It's all the same so

107

Habits addictions and behaviors that you do a lot Are just really entrenched and strong associations between a feeling,

108

a craving, and a behavior.

What is the Shadowing Technique?

Shadowing is a science-backed language learning technique originally developed for professional interpreter training and popularized by polyglot Dr. Alexander Arguelles. The method is simple but powerful: you listen to native English audio and immediately repeat it out loud — like a shadow following the speaker with just a 1–2 second delay. Unlike passive listening or grammar drills, shadowing forces your brain and mouth muscles to simultaneously process and reproduce real speech patterns. Research shows it significantly improves pronunciation accuracy, intonation, rhythm, connected speech, listening comprehension, and speaking fluency — making it one of the most effective methods for IELTS Speaking preparation and real-world English communication.

Shadowing Practice: Neuroscientist's Guide To 10X Your Focus & Memory | Dr Sahar Yousef | FO559 Raj Shamani - Learn English Speaking with Video

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What is the Shadowing Technique?