A new study offers the strongest evidence to date that meditation can change the structure of your brain. The results seem enticing enough to make anyone drop into the full lotus position - until you read the fine print: Much of this research involves people who have meditated for thousands of hours over many years; some of it zeroes in on Olympic-level meditators who have clocked 10,000 hours or more. Pretty daunting. Well, a new study offers some hope - and makes the benefits of meditation seem within reach even for a novice like me. The study, published last month in the journal Psychiatry Research: Neuroimaging, suggests that meditating for just 30 minutes a day for eight weeks can increase the density of gray matter in brain regions associated with memory, stress, and empathy. The researchers tracked 16 people who were participating in the Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) program, the training program developed more than 30 years ago by Jon Kabat-Zinn. Over eight weekly meetings, the program leads participants through meditation exercises meant to build the skills of mindfulness - a moment-by-moment awareness of one's thoughts, feelings, bodily sensations, and surrounding environment. read more...
Saturday, 26 March 2011
A Little Meditation Goes a Long Way
A new study offers the strongest evidence to date that meditation can change the structure of your brain. The results seem enticing enough to make anyone drop into the full lotus position - until you read the fine print: Much of this research involves people who have meditated for thousands of hours over many years; some of it zeroes in on Olympic-level meditators who have clocked 10,000 hours or more. Pretty daunting. Well, a new study offers some hope - and makes the benefits of meditation seem within reach even for a novice like me. The study, published last month in the journal Psychiatry Research: Neuroimaging, suggests that meditating for just 30 minutes a day for eight weeks can increase the density of gray matter in brain regions associated with memory, stress, and empathy. The researchers tracked 16 people who were participating in the Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) program, the training program developed more than 30 years ago by Jon Kabat-Zinn. Over eight weekly meetings, the program leads participants through meditation exercises meant to build the skills of mindfulness - a moment-by-moment awareness of one's thoughts, feelings, bodily sensations, and surrounding environment. read more...