How to Get a Bigger Brain

The history of meditation dates all the way back to ancient times with most scholars agreeing that it is at least a 5000 year old practice. There's only a handful of other things that humans were doing 5000 years ago and continue to do today, so it must produce some pretty profound benefits, eh? Meditation is thought to have originated in Asia by hunter gatherers and passed down from generation to generation. It wasn't until much, much later that the art of meditation became popularized by Buddha, who ultimately paved the way for our modern understanding of meditation. 

If you've ever contemplated the idea of sitting around contemplating ideas for a while, read on for a few reasons why you should take the plunge into your mind and out of your surroundings. 

1) Studies show that meditation can cause neuroplastic changes to the gray matter of your brain, and they change after only eight weeks of practice. 

2) In addition to tranquility and physiological relaxation, meditation can provide cognitive and psychological benefits that persist throughout the day. 

3) People who practice meditation claim that it can increase their awareness in the present moment (mindfulness), leading to a non-judgmental outlook on life. 

4) Brain regions involved in learning and memory, emotion regulation, sense of self, and perspective taking showed increases in gray matter concentration. 

5) By practicing meditation, we have the power to literally alter our brain's structure and size, as well as our general sense of well-being. 

6) Meditation allows us to perceive our thoughts and reactions from a more level perspective; in essence, we teach ourselves to observe our emotions instead of allowing them to relentlessly control us. 

7) ANYONE can do it, ANYWHERE, ANY PLACE, ANY TIME. It's like free therapy. (But I'm definitely not saying that it should replace your therapy sessions. Not yet at least).

8) Physiological benefits: lower blood pressure; reduced activation of certain brain regions associated with anxiety; a thicker brain leading to faster processing; better memory formation; enhanced decision-making skills; better immune system; and greater longevity.

9) One study found that practicing loving-kindness meditation  can reduce stigmatizing and discriminating attitudes toward people who are superficially different from you. 

10) Dr. Robert Schneider conducted a study in which one group practiced transcendental meditation for 20 minutes twice daily and the other researched their health for 20 minutes a day. After five years, the group who meditated saw a 48% decreased risk of strokes, heart attacks, and even death!

I hope this will at least inspire you to implement just five minutes of meditation into your daily routine. Look out for a future post that will help you to design your personal meditation practice. 

Stay zen!
--Keely