You’ve probably been told that once your brain is damaged, that’s basically it. The old medical "truth" was that the adult brain is hardwired and fixed. If you had a stroke, or chronic pain, or a learning disability, you just had to learn to live with the deficit. But then along came Dr. Norman Doidge. His second book, The Brain's Way of Healing, blew the doors off that rigid way of thinking by showing how the brain can actually use energy—light, sound, and movement—to rewire its own damaged circuits.
It isn't magic. It's biology.
When Doidge released his first book, The Brain That Changes Itself, people were shocked to learn about neuroplasticity. But that was just the "what." The Brain's Way of Healing is the "how." It dives into specific cases where people who were written off by mainstream medicine actually got better. We’re talking about people with Parkinson’s disease walking normally and blind people "seeing" through their tongues. It’s wild, honestly, but the science backing it up is increasingly robust.
How Energy Actually Heals the Brain
The core idea here is that the brain is an electrical organ. Doidge explains that many symptoms of brain injury aren't because the cells are dead, but because they are "dormant" or firing out of sync. They’re basically stuck in a permanent state of shock. By using specific types of sensory input, we can nudge these neurons back into a healthy rhythm.
Take the work of John Pepper. He’s a guy Doidge writes about who was diagnosed with Parkinson’s. Most people with Parkinson’s experience a slow, painful decline. But Pepper developed a method of "conscious walking." He forced his brain to bypass the damaged basal ganglia—the part of the brain that usually handles automatic movement—and instead used the conscious motor cortex to control his steps. It took incredible focus, but he eventually reached a point where his tremors vanished while he walked.
It sounds like a miracle, but Doidge is careful to note that it requires thousands of hours of effort. This isn't a "quick fix" book. It’s a book about the grueling, fascinating reality of how the brain adapts.
The PoNS Device and the Tongue Connection
One of the most mind-bending parts of The Brain's Way of Healing involves the PoNS (Portable Neuromodulation Stimulator). It’s a small device that you put on your tongue. Why the tongue? Because it’s packed with nerve endings that lead directly into the brainstem.
👉 See also: Finding a Hybrid Athlete Training Program PDF That Actually Works Without Burning You Out
Doidge describes the case of Cheryl Schiltz, who lost her sense of balance due to an antibiotic reaction. She felt like she was constantly falling into an abyss. By using the PoNS device, which sends tiny electrical pulses to the brain through the tongue, her brain was able to "reset" its balance signals. The stimulation acted like a reset button for a scrambled computer.
This isn't just theory anymore. In the years since the book was published, the PoNS device has undergone clinical trials and received FDA clearance for specific uses in gait deficit for Multiple Sclerosis. It proves Doidge’s point: the brain is way more "plastic" than we ever gave it credit for.
Laser Therapy and the "Living" Brain
Then there’s the light. Low-level laser therapy (LLLT) or photobiomodulation.
Doidge introduces us to Fred Kahn, a surgeon who used light-emitting diodes to treat everything from torn ligaments to traumatic brain injuries. The light photons actually penetrate the skull and are absorbed by the mitochondria in the brain cells. This boosts ATP production—basically giving the cell more "gas" to perform repairs.
Think about that. We can literally shine a light on the brain to help it heal itself. It sounds like sci-fi, but it’s just physics applied to biology. The book highlights how this can reduce inflammation and help people with chronic concussions regain their cognitive function when nothing else worked.
What Most People Get Wrong About Neuroplasticity
There’s a common misconception that neuroplasticity is always a good thing. It’s not.
✨ Don't miss: Energy Drinks and Diabetes: What Really Happens to Your Blood Sugar
Doidge is very clear: neuroplasticity is neutral. It’s just the brain’s ability to change. Your brain can "plasticize" itself into chronic pain or phantom limb syndrome just as easily as it can heal. If you repeat a bad habit or a painful thought pattern, your brain gets better at being in pain.
This is why The Brain's Way of Healing focuses so much on the "stages" of neuroplastic healing.
- The Neurochemical Stage: Cleaning up the toxic environment around the neurons.
- The Structural Stage: Rebuilding the physical connections between cells.
- The Functional Stage: Teaching the brain how to use those new connections.
If you skip the first stage and try to jump straight to "brain training," you’ll likely fail. You have to quiet the "noise" in the brain before you can teach it new tricks.
Sound and the Feldenkrais Method
A huge chunk of the book is dedicated to Moshe Feldenkrais. He wasn't a doctor; he was a physicist and a judo master. He figured out that by moving in very small, mindful ways, you can retrain the motor cortex.
Doidge relates stories of children with cerebral palsy who were told they’d never walk. Through the Feldenkrais method—which uses the brain’s own "awareness" to find new neural pathways—these kids made gains that defied their initial diagnoses.
Similarly, the book looks at sound therapy. Dr. Alfred Tomatis discovered that certain high-frequency sounds can "charge" the brain and help with everything from autism to depression. By listening to Mozart or Gregorian chants that have been filtered to emphasize specific frequencies, the tiny muscles in the ear are retrained, which in turn stimulates the vagus nerve and the brain’s higher functions. It’s about using the senses as a "back door" into the central nervous system.
🔗 Read more: Do You Take Creatine Every Day? Why Skipping Days is a Gains Killer
Is This Too Good to Be True?
Look, Doidge gets some pushback. Some critics argue he’s too optimistic or that his "case studies" are just anecdotes. And yeah, it’s true that what works for one person might not work for everyone. Biology is messy.
However, the sheer volume of evidence Doidge presents makes it hard to ignore. We are moving toward a "second medical revolution." The first was about drugs and surgery. This one is about using the brain’s own natural energies.
The limitation, of course, is accessibility. Many of the treatments mentioned—like the PoNS device or specific laser therapies—can be expensive or hard to find. And they require an immense amount of "work" from the patient. You can’t just take a pill and get a plastic brain. You have to engage with the process every single day.
Practical Steps to Apply These Insights
If you’re dealing with a brain-related issue or just want to optimize your cognitive health, you don't necessarily need a high-tech lab. You can start applying the principles found in The Brain's Way of Healing right now.
- Prioritize "Quiet" Time: Before your brain can rewire, it needs to stop being in a state of constant alarm. This means sleep, meditation, and reducing sensory overload. Chronic stress is the enemy of neuroplasticity.
- Move With Awareness: Instead of just zoning out on a treadmill, try movements that require focus. Yoga, Tai Chi, or Feldenkrais-style movements force the brain to pay attention to where the body is in space, which builds new neural maps.
- Use Sound and Light Wisely: Be mindful of your environment. Use natural light during the day to regulate your circadian rhythms (which affects brain repair) and consider "brain-healthy" auditory environments. Even just reducing white noise and listening to complex music can help.
- Adopt a Growth Mindset: The most important takeaway from Doidge is that the brain is not a machine. It’s a living organ. Believe that change is possible, because the science shows that it is.
- Consult Specialists in Neuro-Rehab: If you’re dealing with a serious injury, look for practitioners who specifically mention neuroplasticity, functional neurology, or the methods Doidge discusses (like the Feldenkrais Method or LLLT).
The old era of "neurological nihilism" is over. Whether you’re recovering from an injury or just want to keep your mind sharp as you age, understanding the lessons in The Brain's Way of Healing gives you a roadmap for a more resilient brain. You aren't stuck with the brain you have today; you have the power to influence the brain you’ll have tomorrow.