MRIs Show that Meditation Literally Builds Brain “Muscle”

New scientific research makes me thrilled as sh!t about what I’m doing with more and more of my time!  Yaaaaay science!

Quote:

Push-ups, crunches, gyms, personal trainers — people have many strategies for building bigger muscles and stronger bones. But what can one do to build a bigger brain?

Meditate.

That’s the finding from a group of researchers at UCLA who used high-resolution magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) to scan the brains of people who meditate. In a study published in the journal NeuroImage and currently available online (by subscription), the researchers report that certain regions in the brains of long-term meditators were larger than in a similar control group.

Specifically, meditators showed significantly larger volumes of the hippocampus and areas within the orbito-frontal cortex, the thalamus and the inferior temporal gyrus — all regions known for regulating emotions.

“We know that people who consistently meditate have a singular ability to cultivate positive emotions, retain emotional stability and engage in mindful behavior,” said Eileen Luders, lead author and a postdoctoral research fellow at the UCLA Laboratory of Neuro-Imaging. “The observed differences in brain anatomy might give us a clue why meditators have these exceptional abilities.”

–via  Science Blog – How To Build a Better Brain

Now, the follow-up question:  How to meditate? This was a sticking-point for me too, for quite a while — many of the (what I’ll call) Hippie Proscriptions on Meditation are cluttered with a lot of  unnecessary, distracting baggage; having to do with deities, visualizations, affirmations, and whatnot.  Just like with physical exercise, almost everybody’s got “a system” they like — and just like physical exercise systems, types of meditation tend to work in inverse proportion to their commercialization.  ;)

So.  Public service time!

These instructions are stripped of even the Shaolin/Buddhist trappings I use myself (though we can talk about some of the more intriguingly badass stuff later, if you like).  The essence of exercise is “motion”, and that’s the important part.  The essence of meditation is “awareness”, and here’s the simplest, plainest way to get it:

Ultra-Simple Meditation Instructions!

1. Sit in a comfortable position with your back straight and your jaw parallel with the floor.  (Note, if your back is injured or doesn’t comfortably straighten, get as close as you comfortably can.  You don’t want the distraction of being in pain.)

2. Don’t force your breathing to be uncomfortably deep or slow, but do breathe into your stomach (fill the bottom of your lungs first), and strive to relax all your muscles (as long as your back stays straight) so that your breathing slows naturally.  Don’t exhale or inhale 100% fully; leave a comfortable 10% margin so you don’t feel like you’re straining.

3. Close your eyes.

4. Focus your attention on your body.  Notice where there’s any tension.  Feel the inner energy (also known as “life”) flowing through you.  Try to just feel it–be actively aware of it–without thinking anything about it.  Don’t judge, seek, or label anything, and try not to let your mind wander (when it does, just gently bring it back).  Strive to make your mind quiet so that you can “feel” the widest area you’re able — at first it may just be your hands, but eventually you’ll be able to feel your whole body, and then the area immediately around it, and so on.

…That’s it!

…I could add a lot to that, from cool Qi-building techniques I’m learning that can make you feel like you’re a battery building up a charge; to techniques for unearthing and neutralizing unconscious emotional crap — like physical exercise, there are many and varied ways to expand on the basic idea.  But let’s keep it simple for now.  The important thing is to just meditate, preferably daily.  If all you’re doing is the mental equivalent of taking a walk, that’s fine. 

Getting the exercise is what’s important, and just as with physical exercise, no amount of talking about it, thinking about it, or doing it half-arsed will get you the results that simply doing it regularly will.

Meditation is healthy exercise for your brain, and what it strengthens in you will surprise you!