The Neuroscience behind Meditation

[Tom Pitt]

Meditation can make us better. Or at least that is what the research indicates.

About 8 months ago, I stumbled across a book titled Buddhas Brain, which detailed, in overly scientific and bland fashion, how Meditation literally changes the physical structure of a persons brain. I was fascinated by the concept and since then have been devouring all research based articles on the subject.

Essentially, studies have found that meditation shrinks certain parts of the brain while growing other parts. This is an excerpt from an article in Forbes magazine:

"In 2011, Sara Lazar and her team at Harvard found that mindfulness meditation can actually change the structure of the brain: Eight weeks of Mindfulnes [Meditation] was found to increase cortical thickness in the hippocampus, which governs learning and memory, and in certain areas of the brain that play roles in emotion regulation and self-referential processing. There were also decreases in brain cell volume in the amygdala, which is responsible for fear, anxiety, and stress – and these changes matched the participants’ self-reports of their stress levels, indicating that meditation not only changes the brain, but it changes our subjective perception and feelings as well."

Additionally, research overwhelmingly suggests people who meditate have changes in the region of their brain associated with compassion and empathy. Furthermore, studies found that meditators were naturally more compassionate than non meditators. I'm very interested in this, especially because I think as humans compassion and empathy is something we must get better at to improve our interpersonal relationships as well as the world in general.

One encouraging article I read illustrated how couples who meditate were more positive in their feelings and language toward each other even well after meditating. The premise all around is that the changes that occur in brain activity impact a person long after meditating.

There are so many other benefits. From increased creativity, calmness and focus, to greater meaning in life, and less anxiety, fear and depression, it seems like such a no brainer. For those of you who may be skeptical, I'd encourage you to dive into the research. You'll probably be surprised at what you find.

I have not started daily mediation yet, but I'd like to. But what I have found is that I've had a few days over the past 2 months in particular where I've meditated and my perception of life is quite dramatically altered in a positive way. I won't bore you with all the details. You'll have to find out for yourself if your interested. Regardless I think that 15-20 years from now, meditation will be practiced widely throughout the U.S and hopefully the world. The research is so indicative of positive results and thus far my experience is that for something so seemingly simple, it really does work. It will surprise you.

Does anyone else here meditate or have any thoughts on the practice? I'd be interested to hear.

Btw, here are some links if your curious in looking into it.

https://news.harvard.edu/gazette/story/2012/11/meditations-positive-residual-effects/

https://news.harvard.edu/gazette/story/2011/01/eight-weeks-to-a-better-brain/

https://www.sciencealert.com/watch-here-s-what-meditation-is-doing-to-your-brain

https://www.forbes.com/sites/travis...ur-brain-reduce-stress-and-boost-performance/

BTW, I also read Dan Harris' (he's the Co anchor of Nightline) book 10% happier. It's basically about how meditation changed his life. I'd recommend it.

 

[Dr. Jones]

It makes complete sense to me.
My wife has suffered from bad anxiety her entire life.
She would get so overwhelmed, so easily, even with only a couple of things that needed to be done that were nothing to be overwhelmed about.

We saw doctor after doctor, prescription after prescription, and nothing really ever seemed to help.

I am exactly the opposite. Never overwhelmed, never have anxiety... so I began trying to analyze how maybe we handle or process "life" differently. After years of doc visits I came up with the simplest of plans within just a few days of pursuing a remedy. And it was so simple.

When she would have an anxiety attack (daily), I would calmly suggest we move to a room in the house with no kids and no tv noise. I would grab a pen and a single sheet of paper. Then calmly ask her to tell me what is causing her panic attack. She would, excitedly, ramble about all the things that have to be done and NO WAY to get them done. In tears. I would calmly write them down. Then I would turn the paper for her to see, without saying a word, and let her read/process it. It would read something like;

- get clothes out of dryer and put them away
- pick up kids from school at 3:00
- call mom and wish her happy birthday
- start getting ready by 5:00 to go out to dinner at 6:30

She would just stare at the list, dumbfounded... thinking surely I had missed half of what she had to get done... And I could visibly see the peace come over her.

It would take a month or so of me doing this for her before she learned to get calm enough to do it for herself. Now after about a year or so, she is almost completely cured of panic attacks.

It was a weird journey for me because I had never had that particular problem. I can confidently say that it wouldn't surprise me in the least that something physical changed within her brain structure. Regardless, she's a happier person all around and although it's not meditation, per se, I can see it paralleling to some degree.

Thanks for the OP.

 

[LogGrad98]

I meditate daily to help deal with severe depression (anxiety included). That and a miracle drug called gabapentin (which is not an anti depressant, it is to treat moderate to severe nerve damage) have GREATLY helped me control my symptoms. I still have anxious thoughts and feelings and still feel the weight of clinical depression weighing on me but without mindfulness meditation and gabapentin I probably would have taken my own life by now. I recommend reading Eckhart Tolle. He does an excellent job of helping one embrace their religion in their mindfulness.....or not of that's what you choose. I think some of his stuff and changing my thought processes through mindfulness saved my life. I highly recommend it to anyone.

 

[The Midnight]

How do you guys meditate?


I'm curious cos growing up in Thailand as a buddhist we were taught to meditate in schools since we were 8-9 years old.

 

[LogGrad98]

I practice mindfulness. To me that is not just meditation. It is learning to block out the future thoughts and past thoughts and be present in your life, in the "now". This can be done at any and all times as it actually increases your focus and awareness of the current moment. I practice this a lot while driving during my commute. It simply involves being acutely aware of what's going on around and within got right now. It REALLY helps with anxiety. Tolle basically teaches that anxiety comes from living in the future, or the unknown, and depression comes from living in the past, or the unchangeable. Peace comes from living in the "now".

Then about 3 to 5 times per week I do a real meditation session. 10 to 30 minutes. I have tried lots of kinds of meditation and developed my own which involves diving deep into myself and the "now", focusing intently on breathing, head to toe body focus, then moving outward and slowly bringing the world around me into my consciousness. Being aware, but not "there". I take a couple of minutes to let my mind run wild and just let any thought that enters come and go like watching clouds go by on a calm summer day, no judgements. Just let them come and go, then I try to let my mind just go blank, finishing by bringing my attention back to my breathing and body overall. I find this intensely relaxing and rejuvenating at the same time and often do a 5 minute version of this at lunch. The primary idea is to separate myself, or my identity or personal view of who I really am from my thoughts, as Tolle points out most people believe they are their thoughts but there is a "real" you under all that. I've seen it in myself and been able to separate and watch my thoughts almost like a movie and learned to turn them off and on almost the same way. I think this is what most older religions called "enlightenment". All I know is it helps me feel in control when my clinical issues make everything feel chaotic and out of control.

That's partly my experience anyway.

 

[The Midnight]

I practice mindfulness. To me that is not just meditation. It is learning to block out the future thoughts and past thoughts and be present in your life, in the "now". This can be done at any and all times as it actually increases your focus and awareness of the current moment. I practice this a lot while driving during my commute. It simply involves being acutely aware of what's going on around and within got right now. It REALLY helps with anxiety. Tolle basically teaches that anxiety comes from living in the future, or the unknown, and depression comes from living in the past, or the unchangeable. Peace comes from living in the "now".

Then about 3 to 5 times per week I do a real meditation session. 10 to 30 minutes. I have tried lots of kinds of meditation and developed my own which involves diving deep into myself and the "now", focusing intently on breathing, head to toe body focus, then moving outward and slowly bringing the world around me into my consciousness. Being aware, but not "there". I take a couple of minutes to let my mind run wild and just let any thought that enters come and go like watching clouds go by on a calm summer day, no judgements. Just let them come and go, then I try to let my mind just go blank, finishing by bringing my attention back to my breathing and body overall. I find this intensely relaxing and rejuvenating at the same time and often do a 5 minute version of this at lunch. The primary idea is to separate myself, or my identity or personal view of who I really am from my thoughts, as Tolle points out most people believe they are their thoughts but there is a "real" you under all that. I've seen it in myself and been able to separate and watch my thoughts almost like a movie and learned to turn them off and on almost the same way. I think this is what most older religions called "enlightenment". All I know is it helps me feel in control when my clinical issues make everything feel chaotic and out of control.

That's partly my experience anyway.

Yah, you're doing it perfectly right. Good on ya

 

[Siro]

How do you guys meditate?


I'm curious cos growing up in Thailand as a buddhist we were taught to meditate in schools since we were 8-9 years old.

You're Thai and you never mentioned it? I love Thai food.

 

[The Midnight]

You're Thai and you never mentioned it? I love Thai food.

I thought it's pretty much common knowledge by now.. LoL... originally born there but moved to NZ with family when I was 12. Have been living here ever since but I do go back there for holidays every year.. my trips and how they went are usually known all around the board.. (asian condoms episode... etc..) I'm pretty much an open book in that respect.. planning to move back to thailand permanently in about 2 years' time.


What's your favourite Thai food?

 

[Dr. Jones]

I thought it's pretty much common knowledge by now.. LoL... originally born there but moved to NZ with family when I was 12. Have been living here ever since but I do go back there for holidays every year.. my trips and how they went are usually known all around the board.. (asian condoms episode... etc..) I'm pretty much an open book in that respect.. planning to move back to thailand permanently in about 2 years' time.


What's your favourite Thai food?

Panang Curry
Tom Yam Goong

 

[The Midnight]

Panang Curry
Tom Yam Goom

Great choices.. although they are probably more popular overseas than in Thailand for Thai people.. they don't eat those very often for some reason.. lol..

 

[Siro]

I thought it's pretty much common knowledge by now.. LoL... originally born there but moved to NZ with family when I was 12. Have been living here ever since but I do go back there for holidays every year.. my trips and how they went are usually known all around the board.. (asian condoms episode... etc..) I'm pretty much an open book in that respect.. planning to move back to thailand permanently in about 2 years' time.


What's your favourite Thai food?

Green Curry
Pad Kra Pao
Tom Yum
Po Taek

 

[Dr. Jones]

Great choices.. although they are probably more popular overseas than in Thailand for Thai people.. they don't eat those very often for some reason.. lol..

tell me what Thai people eat, please. srs
recipes even better

 

[Dr. Jones]

Leo Beer
Beer Chang
Singha

 

[The Midnight]

tell me what Thai people eat, please. srs
recipes even better

So Thai people like to eat Pad Krapao which is what Siro mentioned. It's a simple stirfry of meat of your choice and a spicy basil based chili paste (which you can buy) also add in fresh basil. They just eat that with a fried egg for a quick meal .. like for lunch.

Other variations of this would be Pad Ped of various kinds (Pad = fry, Ped = spicy).. Goong (prawn) Pad Ped is simply fresh prawns stir fried with vegetables of your choice together with red curry paste that you can get from a chinese supermarket. Add fresh chilli for extra kick.

Their most common dish by far would be Kang Jued which is a pork or chicken broth and you simply add to it fish sauce, mince pork and cabbage or soft tofu. They often eat this with Pad Ped that I mentioned earlier or Pad Krapao and may be a plate of thai omlette (i.e. just oil no cheese, add fish oil to beaten egg).

Tom Yum Goong they sometimes cook but not often as to do it properly at home you need fresh kaffir lime leaf, ginger and galangal. They also prefer to eat Green curry but not often as it has added coconut milk which is fattening. An alternative would be the yellow curry which doesn't have the added fat.

Pad thai we dont cook at home because it's cheaper just to buy and it's yummier that way too.

Overall it's kinda sad but thais dont cook a lot at home anymore as it's sometimes cheaper just to buy it pre-made.

Noodles dishes of any kind for example you can buy for US$1 so why bother making one? Noodle dishes are Thai's equivalence of fast food in the west except they are a bit lower in calories.

 

[Tom Pitt]

How do you guys meditate?


I'm curious cos growing up in Thailand as a buddhist we were taught to meditate in schools since we were 8-9 years old.

I've found that most all the research that has been done centers around mindfulness meditation, so I'm most interested in that. And the focus is on the breath. Sitting in silence and focusing on the breath. Obviously your mind will wander but I try to just acknowledge the thought and then return my attention to my breath.

 

[Tom Pitt]

I meditate daily to help deal with severe depression (anxiety included). That and a miracle drug called gabapentin (which is not an anti depressant, it is to treat moderate to severe nerve damage) have GREATLY helped me control my symptoms. I still have anxious thoughts and feelings and still feel the weight of clinical depression weighing on me but without mindfulness meditation and gabapentin I probably would have taken my own life by now. I recommend reading Eckhart Tolle. He does an excellent job of helping one embrace their religion in their mindfulness.....or not of that's what you choose. I think some of his stuff and changing my thought processes through mindfulness saved my life. I highly recommend it to anyone.

Thanks for sharing your experience. That's awesome meditation had had a positive impact in your life.


Harris talks a lot of Tolle in his book because h interviewed him multiple times, read his stuff and was sort of fascinated by what he was saying. He did say he didn't buy all of it, but I'd be interested in reading his work.

I read a study a couple months ago that stated meditation is equally as effective in battling depression as anti depressants which I find quite encouraging. I've had high anxiety before in my life but I don't think I've ever had depression and from what I understand depression has nothing to do with being sad, but it can be terribly debilitating. Much love and respect to you man for fighting through it.

 

[The Midnight]

Leo Beer
Beer Chang
Singha

Lao...

There is a whole nother category of Thai food that is influenced from Lao I believe they are as popular to thai people as the typical thai dishes that I have just mentioned.

These are dishes that you eat with sticky rice. They are often more spicy and tasty. They are called "Isaan" food.. and some thai restaurants do make and sell these but only thai people would know about them so you have to ask for it but usually 1-2 restaurants in a town would sell these so if you get a chance you should give it a try.

Such dishes are Papaya salads.. thai grilled chicken.. thai grilled pork... eaten with special Thai-Lao sauce.

 

[Tom Pitt]

It makes complete sense to me.
My wife has suffered from bad anxiety her entire life.
She would get so overwhelmed, so easily, even with only a couple of things that needed to be done that were nothing to be overwhelmed about.

We saw doctor after doctor, prescription after prescription, and nothing really ever seemed to help.

I am exactly the opposite. Never overwhelmed, never have anxiety... so I began trying to analyze how maybe we handle or process "life" differently. After years of doc visits I came up with the simplest of plans within just a few days of pursuing a remedy. And it was so simple.

When she would have an anxiety attack (daily), I would calmly suggest we move to a room in the house with no kids and no tv noise. I would grab a pen and a single sheet of paper. Then calmly ask her to tell me what is causing her panic attack. She would, excitedly, ramble about all the things that have to be done and NO WAY to get them done. In tears. I would calmly write them down. Then I would turn the paper for her to see, without saying a word, and let her read/process it. It would read something like;

- get clothes out of dryer and put them away
- pick up kids from school at 3:00
- call mom and wish her happy birthday
- start getting ready by 5:00 to go out to dinner at 6:30

She would just stare at the list, dumbfounded... thinking surely I had missed half of what she had to get done... And I could visibly see the peace come over her.

It would take a month or so of me doing this for her before she learned to get calm enough to do it for herself. Now after about a year or so, she is almost completely cured of panic attacks.

It was a weird journey for me because I had never had that particular problem. I can confidently say that it wouldn't surprise me in the least that something physical changed within her brain structure. Regardless, she's a happier person all around and although it's not meditation, per se, I can see it paralleling to some degree.

Thanks for the OP.

That's a fairly interesting anecdote. I think the Brain is always going through changes in our life, sometimes natural changes, other times related to changes in our diet, stress level, perspective. I think sometimes people can get into a dark place psychologically and not know how to get out. In any case, glad your wife is doing better.

 

[Tom Pitt]

Lao...

There is a whole nother category of Thai food that is influenced from Lao I believe they are as popular to thai people as the typical thai dishes that I have just mentioned.

These are dishes that you eat with sticky rice. They are often more spicy and tasty. They are called "Isaan" food.. and some thai restaurants do make and sell these but only thai people would know about them so you have to ask for it but usually 1-2 restaurants in a town would sell these so if you get a chance you should give it a try.

Such dishes are Papaya salads.. thai grilled chicken.. thai grilled pork... eaten with special Thai-Lao sauce.

Guess I should have added "and a cursory understanding of Thai Food" to the title haha

 

[The Midnight]

Guess I should have added "and a cursory understanding of Thai Food" to the title haha

Haha.. sorry for hijacking the thread...