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ScienceDaily (Jan. 21, 2011) — Participating in an 8-week mindfulness meditation program appears to make measurable changes in brain regions associated with memory, sense of self, empathy and stress. In a study that will appear in the January 30 issue of Psychiatry Research: Neuroimaging
Meditation group participants reported spending an average of 27 minutes each day practicing mindfulness exercises, and their responses to a mindfulness questionnaire indicated significant improvements compared with pre-participation responses. The analysis of MR images, which focused on areas where meditation-associated differences were seen in earlier studies, found increased grey-matter density in the hippocampus, known to be important for learning and memory, and in structures associated with self-awareness, compassion and introspection. Participant-reported reductions in stress also were correlated with decreased grey-matter density in the amygdala, which is known to play an important role in anxiety and stress. Although no change was seen in a self-awareness-associated structure called the insula, which had been identified in earlier studies, the authors suggest that longer-term meditation practice might be needed to produce changes in that area. None of these changes were seen in the control group, indicating that they had not resulted merely from the passage of time.
What are your experiences with meditation? Do you think it has changed your brain and do you notice an effect of that? What changes did ocure in your life since you started meditating?
Originally posted by mysticnoon
reply to post by GypsK
It was good to read this report the other day, as I think it may encourage more people to be open to the idea of meditation and the ensuing benefits.
Originally posted by Aliensun
I see by your personal statement in your avatar that you "Don't need any of them, Heaven or Hell." Very succinct and very correct.
I'll wager that most readers of this thread won't know that meditation need not be religion-based. True, many religions approach it to some degree, some fully and some only in an un-appreciative manner. But there need not be a Zen monk, priest or any more learned person than yourself to find the way.
Explore!
It is a growth experience.
White matter is the tissue through which messages pass between different areas of gray matter within the nervous system. Using a computer network as an analogy, the gray matter can be thought of as the actual computers themselves, whereas the white matter represents the network cables connecting the computers together.