Benefits of Meditation
Your brain is plastic and can be molded. Rebecca Gladding, MD and author of You Are Not Your Brain wrote, “The brain and how we are able to mold it is fascinating and nothing short of amazing” So, how do we mold and change our brain? Thousands of scientific studies say meditation.
With the help of MRIs, neuroscientists can see the before and after effects of meditation on the brain. Their findings show an increase in grey matter (the stuff that deteriorates as we age or as a result of trauma) around the whole cortex, and an increase of connectivity between the right & left hemispheres of the brain.
The parietal lobe, an area where our sense of connection or isolation originates gets over heated when we feel lonely, which perpetuates the loneliness. When we meditation, that area cools off giving us a sense of connection in our body and in our world.
The hippocampus, the area for short term memory, emotional regulation, sexuality, and spatial orientation significantly atrophies in clinically depressed people. Many studies show that after 8 weeks of meditation, those peoples’ hippocampus had grown in thickness, density and overall size.
When we meditate, the right anterior dorsal insula, an area responsible for our ability to feel compassion for ourselves, others and the world around us becomes very active. Compassion is the trait that enables us to connect with each other at a heart level. It is a trait that moves us to action for the betterment of another making our society a great place to live.
These, and many other benefits are the direct result of meditation. Try a yoga class, or talk to the trainers or myself, a bodymind life coach, to try meditation for yourself. There are also many meditation apps eg./ Insight Timer, Headspace.
I will be facilitating a 90min talk and class on The Science and Application of Meditation Wednesday, March 13, 7-8:30.
Sign up at on Eventbrite. Everyone is welcome.