Evidence builds that meditation strengthens the brain Earlier evidence out of UCLA suggested that meditating for years thickens the brain (in a good way) and strengthens the connections between brain cells. Now a further report by UCLA researchers suggests yet another benefit. Eileen Luders, an assistant professor at the UCLA Laboratory of Neuro Imaging, and colleagues, have found that long-term meditators have larger amounts of gyrification ("folding" of the cortex, which may allow the brain to process information faster) than people who do not meditate. The article appears in the online edition of the journal Frontiers in Human Neuroscience. The cerebral cortex is the outermost layer of neural tissue. "Rather than just comparing meditators and non-meditators, we wanted to see if there is a link between the amount of meditation practice and the extent of brain alteration," said Luders. Of the 49 recruited subjects, the researchers took MRI scans of 23 meditators and compared them to 16 control subjects matched for age, handedness and sex.
Functional MRI Shows How Mindfulness Meditation Changes Decision-Making Process : Sleep Compass You are here: Home / Gus / Functional MRI Shows How Mindfulness Meditation Changes Decision-Making Process ScienceDaily (Apr. 21, 2011) — New research shows that Buddhist meditators use different areas of the brain than other people when confronted with unfair choices, enabling them to make decisions rationally rather than emotionally. If a friend or relative won $100 and then offered you a few dollars, would you accept this windfall? The logical answer would seem to be, sure, why not? “But human decision making does not always appear rational,” said Read Montague, professor of physics at Virginia Tech and director of the Human Neuroimaging Laboratory at the Virginia Tech Carilion Research Institute. According to research conducted over the last three decades; only about one-fourth of us would say, “Sure. Using computational and neuroimaging techniques, Montague studies the neurobiology of human social cognition and decision-making. Journal Reference: Kirk U, Downar J and Montague P.
evolve... Seven Lessons in Six Weeks: Learning to be Mindful in the Workplace - UMass Medical School Finding an MBSR Teacher Don't live near the UMASS Center for Mindfulness? Find the best-trained, most experienced MBSR teachers worldwide with our certified MBSR Teacher Search. Search now Fall Teaching Institute 2017 Four continuous months of exciting mindfulness-based professional education and training starting in September. MBSR in Mind-Body Medicine Participate in a deep immersion in mindfulness-based stress reduction (MBSR) and join in a global network of healthcare professionals and educators from more than 80 countries learning to practice and integrate mindfulness into their everyday lives at work and at home. Mindful Eating Integrating mindful practices with the science behind eating habits and weekly in-person group education Break the cycle of Depression: MBCT at CFM Mindfulness-Based Cognitive Therapy (MBCT) combines mindfulness meditation practices and mindful movement with elements from cognitive therapy. Becoming an MBSR Teacher Start your journey
The Impact of Mind Wandering on Chronic Pain I have written in the past about the power of the mind in the fight against chronic pain: When there is some sort of injury or insult causing pain, the signal conveying pain travels to the brain via a sensory pathway and an emotional pathway. This emotional aspect of the experience of pain travels to the parts of the brain known as the amygdale and the anterior cingulated cortex. The mind-body treatments that involve such activities as meditation and relaxation likely affect these emotional networks. I have also discussed how researchers have used functional magnetic resonance imaging to allow chronic pain patients to "visualize" pain. The issue that has not been addressed is the strength of mind when confronted with such arduous tasks. Daydreaming appeared to lead to unhappiness, not unhappiness leading to daydreaming. But then do we risk becoming automatons? Fear not, the psychological literature comes to the rescue, as does the adage, "moderation in all things".
Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) in Boston | Mindful Purpose Life Coaching Stressed out and overwhelmed? Feel like life is whizzing past you? Living with chronic pain or illness, depression, anxiety, or other medical conditions? Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) helps you find your natural capacity for ease and confidence. Based on Dr. Jon Kabat-Zinn’s pioneering work in mind-body medicine, this program introduces you to the practice of mindfulness as the way to a more fulfilling life. What is Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction? In this eight-week face-to-face program, you’ll learn how to develop the life skill of mindfulness. The MBSR program centers on the ancient practice of meditation, presented in a pragmatic, common sense way. MBSR was created by Dr. The program is challenging and life-affirming. (Click here for videos of Jon Kabat-Zinn speaking about MBSR)(Click here for testimonials from Sunada’s past students) What you’ll gain In numerous published studies on MBSR, the majority of participants report: About the program It includes:
The Power of Concentration Time Life Pictures/Mansell via Getty Images A drawing of Sherlock Holmes by Sidney Paget from 1891 in The Strand Magazine. More often than not, when a new case is presented, Holmes does nothing more than sit back in his leather chair, close his eyes and put together his long-fingered hands in an attitude that begs silence. He may be the most inactive active detective out there. His approach to thought captures the very thing that cognitive psychologists mean when they say mindfulness. Though the concept originates in ancient Buddhist, Hindu and Chinese traditions, when it comes to experimental psychology, mindfulness is less about spirituality and more about concentration: the ability to quiet your mind, focus your attention on the present, and dismiss any distractions that come your way. Now we’re learning that the benefits may reach further still, and be more attainable, than Professor Langer could have then imagined. But mindfulness goes beyond improving emotion regulation.
On emotional healing — moods vs. emotions | Heart of Healing An essential key to emotional healing, or any healing, is the ability to experience our emotions fully. Seems like that should be simple, but it’s not. We’re incredibly complex beings whose past conditioning often makes the experience of emotions complicated. From the point of view of energy medicine, emotions are a form of energy and energy needs to flow freely for health. What happens when the emotions cannot be experienced in this way? I first began to think in terms of moods and emotions when I attended a workshop several years ago with a physician who studied with David Berenson, MD. I haven’t been able to find anything in writing about Berenson’s work and certainly don’t feel I can represent his thinking. It can be very useful to learn to distinguish emotions and moods in ourselves. Moods extend in time and they color our perceptions and evaluation of things.
Why You Should Take Stress More Seriously | Healthy Living Stressed out? That could be dangerous. Photo: Troels Graugaard/Getty ImagesIf you’re someone who frequently declares, “I’m so stressed!” then you might want to pay attention to this: Your risk of heart attack could be double that of folks who don't think they're stressed, according to a new study. More on Shine: The Best Steps to Keep Your Stress in Check The findings, by French researchers and published Wednesday in the European Heart Journal, showed that people who believe that they are stressed—and that the stress is affecting their health—have more than twice the risk of heart attack as those who don’t feel that way. More on Yahoo! “This indicates that individuals' perception and reality seem to be connected pretty well,” lead author Herman Nabi, of the French National Institute of Health and Medical Research, told Yahoo! While the findings may have merit, they offer “nothing new,” according to Dr. Bottom line: Find what’s calming for you and stick with it.
Mindfulness-based stress reduction and health benefits: A meta-analysis Received 5 March 2003; accepted 8 July 2003. Objective Mindfulness-based stress reduction (MBSR) is a structured group program that employs mindfulness meditation to alleviate suffering associated with physical, psychosomatic and psychiatric disorders. The program, nonreligious and nonesoteric, is based upon a systematic procedure to develop enhanced awareness of moment-to-moment experience of perceptible mental processes. Methods Sixty-four empirical studies were found, but only 20 reports met criteria of acceptable quality or relevance to be included in the meta-analysis. Results Overall, both controlled and uncontrolled studies showed similar effect sizes of approximately 0.5 (P<.0001) with homogeneity of distribution. Conclusion Although derived from a relatively small number of studies, these results suggest that MBSR may help a broad range of individuals to cope with their clinical and nonclinical problems.
Mindfulness meditation for the treatment of chronic low back pain in older adults: A randomized controlled pilot study Received 8 August 2006; received in revised form 12 April 2007; accepted 30 April 2007. published online 02 June 2007. The objectives of this pilot study were to assess the feasibility of recruitment and adherence to an eight-session mindfulness meditation program for community-dwelling older adults with chronic low back pain (CLBP) and to develop initial estimates of treatment effects. It was designed as a randomized, controlled clinical trial. Participants were 37 community-dwelling older adults aged 65 years and older with CLBP of moderate intensity occurring daily or almost every day. Participants were randomized to an 8-week mindfulness-based meditation program or to a wait-list control group. Baseline, 8-week and 3-month follow-up measures of pain, physical function, and quality of life were assessed. .004) and SF-36 Physical Function (P .03). Keywords: Aged, Low back pain, Mindfulness, Meditation, Randomized, Controlled trial
Mindfulness meditation improves cognition: Evidence of brief mental training Abstract Although research has found that long-term mindfulness meditation practice promotes executive functioning and the ability to sustain attention, the effects of brief mindfulness meditation training have not been fully explored. We examined whether brief meditation training affects cognition and mood when compared to an active control group. After four sessions of either meditation training or listening to a recorded book, participants with no prior meditation experience were assessed with measures of mood, verbal fluency, visual coding, and working memory. Both interventions were effective at improving mood but only brief meditation training reduced fatigue, anxiety, and increased mindfulness. Keywords Mindfulness; Meditation; Cognition; Working memory; Mood; Attention; Meta-awareness Copyright © 2010 Elsevier Inc.