According to MRI scans, long-term meditators have brains that look quite different to non-meditators. One of the most fascinating findings of meditation studies is that the practice synchronises the left and right sides of the brain. While the different brain hemispheres clearly have an intimate working relationship, they work somewhat independently, the left brain being associated with language and logic and the right being associated with creativity and intuition. Any activity that increases coherence between these two spheres gives major boosts to cognition. In his bestseller “The Effortless Mind”, Will Williamson describes this as “peak performance thinking”, when your brain is firing on all cylinders, creativity is flowing, and brainstorming, problem-solving and decision-making come easily. When the mind is relaxed in an alpha wave state, our brain capability is significantly enhanced, which means we can focus better, think sharper and process more information. Interestingly, of all the cognitive functions, Williams explains that meditation has the biggest impact on creativity. This is because the corpus callosum (the bridge between the two hemispheres of the brain) becomes thicker and stronger the more meditation we do, which in turn helps to increase brain connectivity. Because of this, researchers have found that meditation cultivates what could be thought of as a “creative brain dance” of spontaneous connections, eureka moments, divergent thinking (thinking outside the box), and openness to new ideas and possibilities.
Studies have discovered that meditation changes the physiological structure of the brain in other ways, too. Research by Harvard Medical School found that it shrinks the amygdala (responsible for the flight-or-fight response) and thus reduces people’s reactivity to stressful situations. Meditation really does make us feel more “zen”. It also increases cells in the hippocampus (responsible for learning and memory), in the prefrontal cortex (responsible for reasoning, emotional regulation and empathy), and in the limbic system (which processes emotions). Meditation not only makes us sharper learners and thinkers, it makes us kinder, more emotionally intelligent people, too. Another key finding is that meditation makes us feel good. Because it floods the brain with the happy hormones serotonin, dopamine and endorphins, it creates positive moods, which can increase self-esteem while reducing anxiety and depression. In Candace Pert’s latest book “Everything you Need to Know to Feel Go(o)d”, she asserts that we are “hardwired for bliss,” which is why the body makes its own natural opiates in the first place, drenching the prefrontal cortex (the highest, most intelligent part of our brain) with receptors for endorphins. Science has proven the old yogis right—one of the best ways to experience a blissful life is to meditate.
Meditation also reduces activity in the brain’s “me centre”, what scientists call the “default mode network”, responsible for mind-wandering—also known as the “monkey mind”. Harvard University researchers have found that, incredibly, the mind wanders almost half of all our waking hours—and, according to the author, “a wandering mind is an unhappy mind.” The monkey mind plays a major role in feelings of self-consciousness and social awareness, as well as in emotions such as anger, fear and disgust. The monkey mind thus has a bad reputation for rumination, worrying and other potentially destructive thought patterns. Regular meditation is instrumental in dialling the monkey mind down, allowing us to be less self-absorbed and more emotionally intelligent.
The healing effect of meditation doesn’t end there. Will Williamson describes how meditation allows us to process layers of accumulated stress, not just from our normal daily routines but from the backlog of negative experiences and trauma from our past. As the nervous system “de-excites”, it gives the body the bandwidth it needs to rid itself of old baggage stored in our cellular memory. When the nervous system is in its least excited state, it goes to work like a computer, deleting old files and creating order in our system. This allows the brain to use more of its computing power for the task at hand because we are no longer using up our precious energy, keeping a lid on built-up stress and repressing emotions. Meditation thus gives us more “adaptation energy”, which means we are better able to go with the flow and roll with life’s ups and downs. Meditation really does allow our nervous system to become a 'chill out system.'
*This is a short exert from my upcoming book 'The Ripple Effect: Healing Ourselves, Healing Our Planet', to be released November 23, 2024
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