A Neuroscientist Explains How Meditation Changes Your Brain
Do you struggle, like me, with monkey-mind? Is your brain also a little unsettled, restless, capricious, whimsical, fanciful, inconstant, confused, indecisive, or uncontrollable? That’s the definition of “monkey mind” I’ve been given! If you need more motivation to take up this transformative practice, neuroscience research has shown that meditation and mindfulness training can cause neuroplastic changes to the gray matter of your brain. Sara Lazar, Ph.D., the study’s senior author, said in a press release, “Although the practice of meditation is associated with a sense of peacefulness and physical relaxation, practitioners have long claimed that meditation also provides cognitive and psychological benefits that persist throughout the day.” To test their idea the neuroscientists enrolled 16 people in an eight-week mindfulness-based stress reduction course. Britta Hölzel, the lead author on the paper says, Sarah Lazar also noted, Credits: **This was originally featured on MindBodyGreen.
18 Things Highly Creative People Do Differently
This list has been expanded into the new book, “Wired to Create: Unravelling the Mysteries of the Creative Mind,” by Carolyn Gregoire and Scott Barry Kaufman. Creativity works in mysterious and often paradoxical ways. Creative thinking is a stable, defining characteristic in some personalities, but it may also change based on situation and context. Neuroscience paints a complicated picture of creativity. And psychologically speaking, creative personality types are difficult to pin down, largely because they’re complex, paradoxical and tend to avoid habit or routine. “It’s actually hard for creative people to know themselves because the creative self is more complex than the non-creative self,” Scott Barry Kaufman, a psychologist at New York University who has spent years researching creativity, told The Huffington Post. While there’s no “typical” creative type, there are some tell-tale characteristics and behaviors of highly creative people. They daydream. They observe everything.
Can't Stand Meditation? This Technique is For You.
A consistent meditation practice is a struggle for even the most experienced of meditators. For some reason it’s difficult to bring yourself to sit down and quiet the mind despite knowing that it’s the best thing for you. I was talking about this phenomenon with my good friend Phil Drolet of The Feel Good Lifestyle and he replied with a novel solution. “When you go to the gym, do you just do bench press the entire time?” I said “No, I do 5-7 different exercises depending on what muscles I’m working on.” “Exactly! The Method Instead of doing 20 solid minutes of meditation, Phil breaks it down into 5 4-minute intervals of different practices. 1-4 min — Breathing Focus 5-8 min — Your Favorite Mantra 9-12 min — Loving/Kindness 13-16 min — Gratitude 17-20 min — Intention Visualization This not only makes your session go by quickly, but also allows you to energize many different parts of your psyche and energy body. Is this a cop out? Yes and no. The Takeaway
Expanded Consciousness: The Six Phase Guided Meditation
Part of our #PurposeFairyMeditation – Saturday, here is your Six Phase Guided Meditation by the wonderful Vishen Lakhiani. This is by far one of the most beautiful and most powerful meditations ever. I did a 30 day challenge once with this meditation. Remember to first, find a quiet place where you won’t be disturbed for the next 16 minutes. P.S. 1. With all my love, Like this post?
How to Stop the Negative Voices in Your Head from Ruling Your Life
March 20, 2014 | Like this article? Join our email list: Stay up to date with the latest headlines via email. Loser! Sound familiar? It’s that know-it-all, bullying, mean-spirited committee in your head. We all have voices inside our heads commenting on our moment-to-moment experiences, the quality of our past decisions, mistakes we could have avoided, and what we should have done differently. Some psychologists believe these are residues of childhood experiences—automatic patterns of neural firing stored in our brains that are dissociated from the memory of the events they are trying to protect us from. If left unchecked, the committees in our heads will take charge of our lives and keep us stuck in mental and behavioral prisons of our own making. The Schema Therapy Approach Psychologist Jeffrey Young and his colleagues call these rigid rules of living and views of the world made by the committee in our heads “schemas.” We behave in ways that maintain them.
How The Brain Works During The Two Main Types of Meditation
During meditation the mind may wander, but is that necessarily a bad thing? A new study on what happens in the brain when you meditate finds that more thoughts and emotions may be processed in ‘non-directive’ forms of meditation. All the different types of meditation can be split into two main types: In non-directive types of meditation, people focus on their breathing or a sound, but also allow their mind to wander where it will.In concentrative types of meditation, people try to focus closely on their breath, or something else, in order to suppress other thoughts and feelings they experience. To examine the differences, a Norwegian study had some meditators practising concentrative meditation and others non-directive meditation, while their brains were scanned (Xu et al., 2014). One of the study’s authors, Svend Davanger, explained the results: “The study indicates that nondirective meditation allows for more room to process memories and emotions than during concentrated meditation.”
Meditation 101: The Neuroscience of Why Meditation Works | Ashley Turner
As yogis have known for centuries and scientists can now prove, the benefits of meditation are profound. Meditation is perhaps the most crucial instrument to harness the power of thought, cultivate more peace, clarity and happiness. Learning to train the brain and focus our attention is crucial to thriving and cultivating a peak performance in any endeavor. Long-time psychotherapist Dr. Ron Alexander, author of Wise Mind, Open Mind, speaks of MIND STRENGTH, or the resiliency, efficacy and emotional intelligence that arise as we begin the process of controlling the mind. Mind strength is one of the most empowering tools we can employ to impact and improve all aspects of life. There are five major categories of brain waves, each corresponding to different activities. Slower wavelengths = more time between thoughts = more opportunity to skillfully choose which thoughts you invest in and what actions you take. 5 Categories of Brain Waves: Why Meditation Works 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. How to Meditate:
Here’s How The World’s Most Brilliant Minds Scheduled Their Days
Sources: RJ Andrews Infowetrust.com Mason Currey’s Daily Rituals:
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