How meditation affects the brain

What is the first thing that comes to your mind when you hear the word "meditation"? Surely, this is calmness, serenity, zen … We know that meditation helps to clear our minds, improves concentration, calms, teaches us to live mindfully and provides other benefits to both the mind and body. But what does meditation actually do to our brain from a physiological point of view in order to get such an effect? How does it work?

You may be skeptical about how others sing the praises of meditation and extol its benefits, but in fact, it is the case that daily meditation for 15-30 minutes has a huge impact on how your life goes, how you react to situations and how you interact with people.

It's hard to describe in words if you haven't tried it. From a technical point of view, meditation allows us to change our brain and do just magical things.

Who is responsible for what

Parts of the brain affected by meditation

Lateral prefrontal cortex. This is the part of the brain that allows you to look at things more rationally and logically. It is also called the "Appraisal Center". It is involved in modulating emotional responses (which come from the fear center or other parts), automatically redefining behaviors and habits, and reducing the brain's tendency to take things to heart by modulating the part of the brain that is responsible for you.
Medial prefrontal cortex. The part of the brain that constantly speaks to you, your point of view and experience. Many people call this the “Self Center” because this part of the brain processes information that relates directly to us, including when you dream, think about the future, reflect on yourself, communicate with people, empathize with others or try to understand them. … Psychologists call this the Auto-Referral Center.

The most interesting thing about the medial prefrontal cortex is that it actually consists of two sections:

Ventromedial medial prefrontal cortex (VMPFC). She is involved in the processing of information associated with you and with people who, in your opinion, are similar to you. This is the part of the brain that can make you take things too close to your heart, it can make you anxious, anxiety or stress you. That is, you stress yourself when you start to worry too much.
Dorsomedial prefrontal cortex (dmPFC). This part processes information about people whom you consider to be different from yourself (that is, completely different). This very important part of the brain is involved in empathy and maintaining social connections.

So, we have an islet of the brain and a cerebellar amygdala:

Island. This part of the brain is responsible for our bodily sensations and helps us keep track of how strongly we will feel what is happening in our body. She is also actively involved in experiencing in general and in empathizing with others.
Cerebellar tonsil. This is our alarm system, which, since the time of the first people, has launched the "fight or flight" program in our country. This is our Fear Center.

The brain without meditation

If you look at the brain before a person begins to meditate, you can see strong neural connections within the Self Center and between the Self Center and the regions of the brain that are responsible for bodily sensations and fear. This means that as soon as you feel any anxiety, fear, or bodily sensation (itching, tingling, etc.), you are more likely to react to it as anxiety. And this is because your Center of Self processes a huge amount of information. Moreover, the dependence on this center makes it so that in the end we get stuck in our thoughts and fall into a loop: for example, we remember that we already felt it sometime and whether it could mean something. We begin to sort out situations from the past in our head and do it over and over again.

Why is this happening? Why does our Center I allow it? This is because the connection between our Assessment Center and the Self Center is rather weak. If the Assessment Center were working at full capacity, it could regulate the part that is responsible for taking things to heart, and would increase the activity of the part of the brain that is responsible for understanding other people's thoughts. As a result, we would filter out all unnecessary information and look at what is happening more sensibly and calmly. That is, our Assessment Center can be called the brakes of our Ya Center.

The brain during meditation

When meditation is your constant habit, several positive things happen. First, the strong connection between the Self Center and body sensations is weakened, so you stop being distracted by sudden feelings of anxiety or physical manifestations and do not fall into your thought loop. This is why people who meditate often have less anxiety. As a result, you can look at your feelings less emotionally.

Second, stronger and healthier connections are formed between the Assessment Center and the body sensation / fear centers. This means that if you have bodily sensations that could mean potential danger, you start to look at them from a more rational point of view (rather than start to panic). For example, if you feel painful sensations, you begin to observe them, for their recessions and renewals, and as a result, make the correct, balanced decision, and do not fall into hysterics, starting to think that something is definitely wrong with you, drawing in your head. a picture of almost his own funeral.

Finally, meditation connects the beneficial aspects (those parts of the brain that are responsible for understanding people who are not like us) of the Center of Self with the bodily sensations, which are responsible for empathy, and makes them stronger. This healthy connection enhances our ability to understand where the other person came from, especially people you cannot intuitively understand because you think or perceive things differently (usually people from other cultures). As a result, your ability to put yourself in the shoes of others, that is, to truly understand people, increases.

Why daily practice is important

If we look at how meditation affects our brain from a physiological point of view, we get a rather interesting picture - it strengthens our Assessment Center, calms the hysterical aspects of our Self Center and reduces its connection with bodily sensations and strengthens its strong parts responsible for understanding. others. As a result, we stop reacting so emotionally to what is happening and make more rational decisions. That is, with the help of meditation, we do not just change our state of consciousness, we physically change our brain for the better.

Why is constant practice of meditation important? Because these positive changes in our brain are reversible. It's like maintaining good physical shape - it requires constant training. As soon as we stop practicing, we again return to the starting point and it takes time to recover again.

Just 15 minutes a day can completely change your life in ways you can't even imagine.