During my first year of teaching, I vividly remember getting so frustrated with my study hall class (because they were basically having a big old party in the middle of my classroom) that I slammed a metal file cabinet drawer shut as hard as I could to get everyone's attention. Then I yelled at them. A lot. My face was red and hot. My arms were waving wildly. I felt like I couldn't breathe. This, my friends, is the lizard brain in action. The students were quiet for the next ten minutes. And then they started partying again. Effective, huh?

At the start of that summer, I stumbled upon a wonderful book by Fred Jones called Tools for Teaching. This book radically transformed my ability to manage a classroom. (If you're a teacher and you haven't read this book, seriously, order it RIGHT NOW.) In this book, Jones explains the flight/flight response and the triune brain. "When we become upset, the brain 'downshifts' from the cortex to the brainstem," he explains. (The brainstem is often called the reptilian brain, or lizard brain.) When we operate from the place of the lizard, we lose all of our power. As Fred Jones says, "Calm is strength. Upset is weakness."

I learned to operate from a place of calm in the classroom, and it changed my interactions with students dramatically. Several years later, when I was struggling with binge eating, I picked up my first book by Martha Beck, The Four Day Win. Surprise, surprise! This same idea was a key concept in her book and proved to be very important for ending my battle with food.

Since then, I've learned to recognize when the lizard brain tries to take over  in other areas of my life. (I'm also darn good at recognizing it in other people, which is possibly annoying for, say, my husband, but also makes me a great coach!) So, what about you? Do you know when your lizard is calling all the shots? Do you know how to quiet the lizard, or are you just a giant, upright reptile?

Here's the deal - your lizard brain is primitive, panicked, and overly protective. Your lizard would prefer you lock yourself in your house and never come out. Your lizard brain has no interest in you achieving any of your dreams or having any fun, cause that stuff is SCARY and DANGEROUS!

Learn to recognize lizard speak. The lizard speaks in absolute terms. The lizard loves to say "but" and "what if". The lizard is a totally worry wart and a terrible nag. The lizard says, "You better not!" and "See, I told you so!" The lizard slams file cabinet drawers and yells.

One of the most powerful ways to quiet your inner lizard is to relax your physical body. This sends messages to your brainstem that you are not in danger. Take deep breaths, relax your shoulders, and find other places of tension in your body to release. You might even try, as Martha Beck suggests, talking to your lizard. Tell him or her that everything is okay. If this idea makes you laugh, great! Laughter sends a strong signal that you aren't in imminent danger.

The more you learn to recognize lizard thoughts and then relax instead of spiraling into panic mode, the happier, healthier, and more successful you will be. It's true. So, the next time you are being chased by a tiger or find your best friend trapped under a rock that you need superhuman strength to lift, by all means, let the lizard rule. But when you step on the scale, or receive your credit card statement, or have a tough conversation with your boss, just give your lizard a little shoulder rub and ask him to kindly keep his mouth shut.

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