Meditation helps build stronger brains

Good morning friends.  Do you believe that if you meditate, it helps you build stronger brains.  Yes, it’s true. 

A new study has confirmed what many people believed: meditation helps increase gray matter.

A research team from University of California, Los Angeles scanned the brains of people who meditate and found that certain regions in the brains of long-term meditators’ were larger than in a similar control group.

Meditators showed significantly larger volumes of the hippocampus and areas within the orbito-frontal cortex, the thalamus and the inferior temporal gyrus – all 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,” Luders added.

During the study, the research team looked at 44 people. Half were asked to practice various forms of meditation such as Zazen, Samatha and Vipassana and the other half acted as the control group.

More than half of all the meditators said that deep concentration was an essential part of their practice, and most meditated between 10 and 90 minutes every day.

The brains of the meditators showed larger volumes of the right hippocampus and increased gray matter in the right orbito-frontal cortex, the right thalamus and the left inferior temporal lobe.

Because these areas of the brain are closely linked to emotion, Luders said, “these might be the neuronal underpinnings that give meditators”” the outstanding ability to regulate their emotions and allow for well-adjusted responses to whatever life throws their way.”  - The Times of India

The study is published in the journal NeuroImage.

 

The Ultimate Self-Help Principles

The breakout principle fit in all the health benefits of the stress-reducing “relaxation response,” which measures the cardiovascular and respiratory responses to meditation.  At the same time, it opens up the door to creative breakthroughs, spiritual insights, greater productivity and more.

 

The first stage of the breakout process begins with a hard mental or physical struggle.  It may be concentrated problems analysis, demanding physical training or an involuntary event such as an assault on your emotional well-being.

 

The next stage involves “pulling the trigger.”  The same mind-body device operates in every breakout trigger:  you must first cut completely your previous train of thoughts and emotions.  The critical distraction of prior mental patterns will enable you to shift your focus into new and more productive directions.  This event has been described as a “letting go,” or “backing off” or “releasing” your mind from the hard-work mode.  A wide variety of activities and thought patterns can act as a trigger, including walking, jogging, sewing, meditating or sitting in a beautiful setting.

 

The third stage in the process is the actual breakout, coupled with a “peak” experience.  The breakout is always accompanied by a greater sense of well-being and relaxation and often leads to peak creative experiences.

 

The cycle finishes with your returning to a “new-normal” state—including an ongoing state of improved performance and mind-body patterns. Those who have enjoyed a breakout must always re-enter the world of struggle and stress.  But now they are in a stronger position to rise to greater achievements or generate more deep ideas and insights. – Herbert Benson, M.D., and William Proctor

Make Time to Meditate – 1

Meditation is one of the best things you can do to relax your body, calm you mind, and transform your soul all at the same time:  Make time to meditate!

 

Why meditate?  A better question is,  why dot meditate?  A regular meditation practice is good medicine for body, mind and soul.  Countless studies have explored its therapeutic benefits an found meditation can lower both stress and our risk of heart disease, as well as treat many anxiety disorders.  On a personal level, meditation can help you temporarily shut the door to your outer life and explore what’s happening with you.  What are your feeling?  What are you struggling with?  As Vesela Simic of San Rafael, California, discovered meditation can be your coach, your teacher and your companion.

 

My meditation practice helps me to observe and examine my feelings, especially the undertow of fear, says Simic, 47, who has been meditating for 13 years.  The more I practice, the more layers I uncover about myself, the more I learn about myself.  It seems to have introduced a trusted friends within me, watching out for me and whispering advice into my ear.  Life isn’t perfect, but I’m better with my meditation practice than I imagine I’d be without it.

 

A simple definition of meditation is the practice of focusing your mind and observing yourself in the moment.  There are many styles of meditations, some of the well-known ones taught in the West are Vipassana (also known as Insight Meditation.  Transcendental Meditation, and Zen.

 

Yet you don’t need to join Zen center, study Buddhism, or climb a Tibetan mountain to learn to meditate.  Are you comfortably seated while reading this?  Then you’re already halfway there.  While sitting down with your thoughts may sound intimidating, it’s time well-spent.  You can crow emotionally, physically, and spiritually every time you take a seat.  Meditation is a transformation practice, says Jonathan Foust, co-founder of the Mindfulness Training Institute of Washington and former president of the Kripalu Center for Yoga and Health in Lenox, Massachusetts.  It will challenge you and teach you to be present and compassionate.  There’s no question that meditation can change your life.

 

Ref: fityoga

Enjoy the present by shedding ego -1

Good Morning Friends, I was reading following article and it was so nice, I like to share with you all. Not easy for all to understand I think but it’s really easy to follow once we understand it.

 

An average person always thinks he is above average. The perception of ‘easy and difficult’ is the result of one’s state of being. The self with arrogance is ego.

 

Swatting a fly is ‘difficult’ for some, while killing thousands is ‘easy’ for others like terrorists. Dropping the ego is easy when we realise that we are less than a dot in this vast cosmos. It is foolish to live with the illusion that we are the centre of the cosmos. Dropping ego becomes difficult when we have this illusion.

 

In any circle there is a centre and a circumference. If the centre of your life is hope then you will experience deficiency. If the centre of your life is enjoying the moment, living in the moment, being total in the moment… then hope will be a circumference… then it is not a problem.

 

Let kitchen items be in the kitchen and bathroom items be in the bathroom. If they are placed elsewhere, then there is a problem. There is no problem with ‘hope’ as such, as long as it is in the circumference and not in the centre. Be alive to the present.

 

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