The article puts together scientific experiments being done in some top universities of USA on the effects of simple meditation techniques on the brain thus resulting in profound changes in the very being of a person.
There is a lot of experiential evidence on how simple meditation makes people feel peaceful, joyful with increased efficiency levels in mental capacity.
Now there is stunning scientific evidence to prove these experiential claims.
Here is some scientific evidence on how simple meditation techniques can have far reaching effect on the functioning of the brain. The touch word here is simple techniques which can mean just 3-10 minutes of simple awareness plus relaxation techniques, known as Mindfulness Meditation, Zen Meditation,etc.
Now, research by various universities in the USA have found that simple meditation results in "amazing neurological benefits right from changes in gray matter volume to reduced activity in the 'me' centre of the brain to enhanced connectivity between different brain regions." ( Forbes, Feb 9, 2015.) A point to be noted is that most of the subjects under study had practised few weeks or months of simple meditation techniques for the changes in the brain to show up.
Here is the list of changes tracked with the help of MRI & EEG
1. Sara Lazar, Researcher, Harvard University, subjected people to 8 weeks of mindfulness meditation and found increase in cortical thickness in the hippocampus, which governs learning and memory. Also, it affected certain areas of the brain that plays role in emotion regulation and self referencing.
2. Sara's team also found decrease in brain cell volume in the amygdala, the centre for fear, anxiety & stress.
3. Madhav Goyal, Researcher, John Hopkins, found that the effect-size of meditation on patients of depression, anxiety, pain was 0.3. This is impressive considering that effect size of anti-depressant drugs is also 0.3.
4. A Yale University research was both amazing & significant. They found regular simple meditation decreases activity in the "Me" centre of the brain. The default mode network (DMN) also (in)famously known as the 'monkey brain', is responsible for our wondering brain jumping from one thought to another when we are not particularly focussed on anything specific. Meditators are able to snap out of this because of decrease in activity in the 'me' brain and also new connections in the brain that inhibit the monkey brain activity which can be pointlessly exhausting.
5. UCLA School of Medicine, Eileen Luders, a researcher in the department of Neurology, published the following findings in the journal Neurolmage, stating several differences between the brains of meditators and non-meditators. They made comparative study of the brains of 22 meditators and 22 non-meditators of similar age group and found that long term meditators had better preserved brains than non-meditators as they aged.
6. Meditators have increased gray matter- making it more powerful & efficient at processing information, increased attention, better management of their emotions resulting in mindful choices.
7. Last but not the least, these clinical findings of changes in brain mass, structure and new connections matched with the subjective positive changes reported by the people under study.
There is a separate write up on simple mindfulness techniques for meditation on this blog.
There is a lot of experiential evidence on how simple meditation makes people feel peaceful, joyful with increased efficiency levels in mental capacity.
Now there is stunning scientific evidence to prove these experiential claims.
Here is some scientific evidence on how simple meditation techniques can have far reaching effect on the functioning of the brain. The touch word here is simple techniques which can mean just 3-10 minutes of simple awareness plus relaxation techniques, known as Mindfulness Meditation, Zen Meditation,etc.
Now, research by various universities in the USA have found that simple meditation results in "amazing neurological benefits right from changes in gray matter volume to reduced activity in the 'me' centre of the brain to enhanced connectivity between different brain regions." ( Forbes, Feb 9, 2015.) A point to be noted is that most of the subjects under study had practised few weeks or months of simple meditation techniques for the changes in the brain to show up.
1. Sara Lazar, Researcher, Harvard University, subjected people to 8 weeks of mindfulness meditation and found increase in cortical thickness in the hippocampus, which governs learning and memory. Also, it affected certain areas of the brain that plays role in emotion regulation and self referencing.
2. Sara's team also found decrease in brain cell volume in the amygdala, the centre for fear, anxiety & stress.
3. Madhav Goyal, Researcher, John Hopkins, found that the effect-size of meditation on patients of depression, anxiety, pain was 0.3. This is impressive considering that effect size of anti-depressant drugs is also 0.3.
4. A Yale University research was both amazing & significant. They found regular simple meditation decreases activity in the "Me" centre of the brain. The default mode network (DMN) also (in)famously known as the 'monkey brain', is responsible for our wondering brain jumping from one thought to another when we are not particularly focussed on anything specific. Meditators are able to snap out of this because of decrease in activity in the 'me' brain and also new connections in the brain that inhibit the monkey brain activity which can be pointlessly exhausting.
5. UCLA School of Medicine, Eileen Luders, a researcher in the department of Neurology, published the following findings in the journal Neurolmage, stating several differences between the brains of meditators and non-meditators. They made comparative study of the brains of 22 meditators and 22 non-meditators of similar age group and found that long term meditators had better preserved brains than non-meditators as they aged.
6. Meditators have increased gray matter- making it more powerful & efficient at processing information, increased attention, better management of their emotions resulting in mindful choices.
7. Last but not the least, these clinical findings of changes in brain mass, structure and new connections matched with the subjective positive changes reported by the people under study.
There is a separate write up on simple mindfulness techniques for meditation on this blog.
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Yoga teachers training in Rishikesh
ReplyDeleteIf you want to learn yoga, so the one of the best yoga teachers training in Rishikesh is Sattva Yoga Academy, Here you will learn with a very basic and then goes to advance level. Here you will become perfect in yoga as well fitness.