The most fascinating thing about the science of mindfulness is that many different traditions have been practicing meditation (a form of mindfulness practice) for at least 2000 years and it is only in the last 20 years that scientists have had the capacity, through new technology, to understand the affects of a meditation practice. The science is now proving, what many meditators already know about the benefits of practicing mindfulness.
I started meditating over 10 years ago, when I was introduced to Vipassana meditation. The first time I did the 10 day silent retreat I came out transformed. I felt happier, more alive, joy-filled and content with life. Whereas, at the start of the 10 days I had been irritated, unhappy and discontent. It confirmed for me the power of mindfulness. I then proceeded to attend another six 10 day retreats and meditate everyday over the next 2-3 years. It was like I was going through an meditation intensive. It was tough at times, however the benefits far outweighed any discomfort.
Richard Davidson, who co-authored a wonderfully insightful book called, ‘The Emotional Life of Your Brain’, is one of the pioneers in studying the affects of mindfulness practice. In the early 90’s he went to the Dalai Lama requesting support to study some of the monks in the Northern Indian hills, who had been meditating in almost isolation for on average 15-40 years. He wanted to find out how the brain changes when someone has committed to a long term meditation practice. Many of these monks had 10,000 to 40,000 hours of meditation practice. Unfortunately, on his first trip he didn’t manage to convince any of the monks to undergo his tests, as they felt that measuring the affects of meditation was useless. They told him that you can’t study something that is formless and that if you just meditate you will see the benefits. I think this is hilarious because it is so true! It will probably be impossible to completely study the affects of long term meditation, however it is fascinating to see what is coming out of the scientific journals, provided we don’t forget that the most important thing is to practice mindfulness.
Davidson was able to eventually find some long term meditators in western countries that where more open to and interested in measuring the affects of mindfulness. Many of these meditators had learnt to meditate in the eastern traditions and had come back to the west to continue their practice. He found that meditators had greater level of activation in the parts of the brain that are responsible for:
- attention,
- regulating emotions,
- processing sensory information,
- self awareness,
- empathy,
- compassion,
- optimism, and
- resilience.
This means that the meditators had a great ability to calm themselves down when fear or other strong emotions like anger are triggered (in other words, when the amygdala is triggered). They have the ability to focus there attention in the moment (this ability seems to be connected to the prefrontal region of the brain, in particular the anterior cingulate cortex) rather than being caught in emotional reaction or other distractions. They also are able to be more aware of themselves and sensory information. He particularly noticed that the left prefrontal part of the brain is more activated, which seems to be associated with a greater levels of optimism and resilience.
He also did experiments with short term meditators with only 8 weeks of mindfulness training. Even these results showed increases in the ability to focus attention, regulate emotions, self awareness and process sensory information. Also, he tested immunity with this group and found that participants had a greater level of antibodies, after being injected with the influenza virus, than the control group (who had no mindfulness training).
Other scientists like Dr Craig Hassed from Monash University, has been focusing on the physical and psychological affects of a short term meditation practice. In the book he co-authored with Dr Stephen McKenzie, Mindfulness for Life, he discusses how meditation is being shown to have the following benefits:
- depression-relapse preventation,
- reduced anxiety, panic disorder and stress,
- better emotional regulation,
- greater emotional intelligence,
- management of addictions,
- better sleep,
- better control and less avoidance,
- preservation of brain cells,
- reduced activity in amygdala,
- enhanced attention and self-regulation,
- pain management,
- sympton control,
- coping with a major illness like cancer,
- hormonal changes, and
- reduced incidence of illness.
He has also developed a new performance curve that shows that stress isn’t actually needed to achieve peak performance, instead when you’re in a calm mindful focused space there is very little or no stress and a high level of performance. This is often what athletes will report, when they are ‘in the zone’. They are focusing on the present, not thinking about past or future performance, just being in the here and now. The stress that many of us feel only comes from our preoccupation with the past and future. As an experiment, stop now in the moment, focus on your breath and body, let go of thoughts about the future or past, and notice what happens. If you’re really present in the moment, you will start to feel more calm and focused. However, this might also take time as the mind finds it hard to let go of it’s embedded ways of ruminating and imaging the past and future.
Another expert in the field of mindfulness is Dr Dan Siegel, wrote a book called ‘Mindsight’. His work on mindfulness originated from a client who had gone mute after her mother had been in a car accident. Since the car accident the mother had become distant, disconnected, inattentive to her daughter, and was triggered into reaction easily. Whereas before the accident she had been a loving kind attentive parent. Dr Siegel became interested in the part of the brain, the middle prefrontal region, that had been damaged. As a result he discovered that this part of the brain was responsible for functions like:
- regulating the nervous system,
- regulating emotions like fear,
- empathy and attuned communication,
- insight,
- intuition,
- response flexibility, and
- morality.
He was also fascinated to discover that all these qualities showed up as being qualities of long term meditators and parents that raised happy, healthy children. This list also describes, in my experience, some of the qualities of a masterful coach.
This is just a sampling of some of the main insights about the science of mindfulness. There are many more which I am excited to share with you, in more detail, over the next few months of this blog.