Meditation and Your Brain.
I’ll wrap up the “rewards” of meditation series by looking at some of the physical alterations that occur in our brain with a consistent meditation practice.
Like the last few posts, this will be a very zoomed-out look at a complex process.
First though, a quick definition - neuroplasticity is the “capacity of brain cells and neural networks to adapt in response to new information”. Another way to think of it is your brain evolving as a result of life experiences.
Neuroplasticity is an important (and exciting) fact to be aware of as we cruise through life - knowing that we can create experiences that positively influence brain composition and functioning is empowering to say the least. If you can alter your brain, you can alter your entire life experience.
If you couldn’t already guess, meditation is one life experience that positively wires your brain - specifically towards more happy/constructive thoughts and emotions.
Here’s how (using as little neuro jargon as possible):
Meditation decreases negative neurological connections to the prefrontal cortex, minimizing feelings of fear, stress, and anxiety.
Meditation builds new positive neurological connections to parts of the brain responsible for good things like focus and decision making.
Meditation increases the size of our brain’s gray matter - the area responsible for planning, problem solving, and emotional regulation.
Meditation increases cortical thickness - responsible for learning and memory.
Meditation shrinks the size of the amygdala - the part of the brain that regulates fear and stress.
Over time these brain alterations can make deep positive changes to our emotions and our ability to regulate them.
Life becomes less stressful, less scary, and generally more joyful.
Finally, my goal in this “rewards” of meditation series was to outline all of the positive benefits an individual can expect if they are able to develop consistency with a practice. However, as discussed in several other posts, despite knowing a decision or activity is in our best interest, we often have difficulty in implementing it.
Meditation is no different, with folks often repeating the same excuses of “not having enough time” or “not being able to sit still for that long”. In the next post I’ll provide some tangible behavioral change techniques that should be helpful in adopting a practice.
“One should aspire to keep the mind in quietude. The spirit of man, if it is dragged about by the world’s thousand cares, has no way to attain a clear vision of the truth”. - St. Basil