Extracted from The Globe & Mail, Page L3, February 21, 2011
Wrap your mind around this: Meditation changes the brain
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ADRIANA BARTON VANCOUVER
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Move over cryptic crosswords and Sudoku, and make way for the ultimate mental workout. It's called Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction, or MBSR for short. Recent neuroscience research shows that novices using the method - developed at the University of Massachusetts Medical School in the 1970S - can get results in just eight weeks. Brain-changing results, that is.
A 2010 study found that nonmeditators who had eight weeks of MBSR training were more likely than a control group to access the brain region that provides a bodily sense of the "here and now" as opposed to the region associated with worry.
In other research published in January, brain scans of MBSR participants with no previous meditation experience showed increased grey-matter density in regions involved in learning and memory, emotion regulation, self-awareness and perspective taking.
Scientists don't know whether changes in grey-matter density influence a person's thought patterns or actions, notes Britta Holzel, lead author of the second study and a research fellow at Massachusetts General Hospital. But she adds that decreased grey-matter concentration in the amygdala - the brain region that controls anxiety - was correlated to lower stress levels reported by participants. "This is actually a link [between] changes in the brain and behaviour."
Previous studies suggest MBSR is a boon for overall health. Research by Jon Kabat-Zinn, founder of the University of Massachusetts' Stress Reduction Clinic, established the MBSR program as an effective medical intervention for chronic pain and stress-related illnesses such as high blood pressure. Scientists from the University of WisconsinMadison found that graduates of an MBSR course produced more antibodies after flu shots than did non-mediators, which indicated a stronger immune response. And in a 2010 study, researchers at the University of Toronto concluded that mindful meditation was as effective as antidepressants in preventing relapse from clinical depression.
Mindfulness meditation helps to reduce stress by providing in sight, says Lucinda Sykes, a Toronto physician who has led MBSR courses since 1997. "Sometimes we're having a stress response to situations that is actually more the result of our habits of perception and attitude rather than the circumstances themselves," she explains.
But it may be premature to draw conclusions about the health benefits of MBSR, according to a meta-analysis of meditation research commissioned by the National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine in the United States. The report found that the majority of meditation studies published up
to the year 2005 had methodological shortcomings.
Compared to some forms of meditation, however, MBSR is a highly systematic practice. The program consists of eight weekly group sessions and a full-day retreat. Participants commit to about 45 minutes a day of exercises that include gentle yoga, sitting meditation and a "body scan," which involves directing attention to bodily sensations. Exercises at home are led by experts via CDs and participants are encouraged to contact program leaders in between sessions for extra coaching.
Unlike transcendental meditation and various chanting practices, MBSR is not based solely on focusing the mind, says Zindel Segal, a professor of psychiatry at the University of Toronto who developed Mindfulness-Based Cognitive Therapy to treat depression. Instead, mindfulness emphasizes awareness of thoughts, feelings, sounds and sensations from an internal observer's perspective, without an attempt to judge or alter the experience. "You're watching the moment by moment ebb and flow of emotions," Dr. Segal says. "You're not running away from them but you're also not getting overwhelmed by them."
Because it's a specific method that takes practice, experts discourage beginners from trying MBSR without any guidance. "Most people are going to find it's easier to do this with a group," says Dr. Sykes, adding that MBSR alumni often begin a solo practice once they get the hang of it.
Dr. Segal cautions against attempting to "cannibalize" the MBSR program by experimenting with only one of the activities. Although the body scan, yoga and sitting meditation are all designed to cultivate mindfulness, doing just one robs people of the chance to discover which practice is best suited to them, he says.
Dr. Holzel says it's unclear which exercises contributed to structural changes found in brain scans of MBSR participants, since the program was tested as a whole. "We cannot tease apart the specific effects of each of the components," she says.
After the eight-week course is over, the recommended daily dose of MBSR depends on participants' reasons for entering the program, Dr. Sykes says. Maintaining a new level of insight may be possible in just 10 or i5 minutes a day. But if the goal is to influence a biological variable, such as blood pressure, she says, "it's likely that you're going to get the best results if you practice 20 minutes, twice a day."
Dr. Segal suggests it's better to do mindfulness exercises for a few minutes each day than to be a weekend meditation warrior. A daily practice becomes woven into the fabric of life, he explains, whereas sporadic mindfulness "is not that fully integrated."
Mindfulness exercises are compatible with spiritual traditions including Christianity and Judaism, notes Dr. Sykes. Although it's based on a form of Buddhist
meditation called Vipassana, MBSR is a secular program designed for health-care settings, she said.
"People don't need to become Buddhist to nonetheless benefit from this practice.
The greatest emancipator is truth. The old saying "The Truth will set you free" is true in itself.
Two cornerstones to live by in the Buddhist Bright way, are Wisdom and Compassion.
Like the blue sky, the universe overarches everything.
Buddhism has a good model that can be applied to a Buddhist Bright person. It is the Threefold Aspects of Self.
Don't seek to know things by their external attributes. Dig deeper. Neither form nor attributes are the whole picture of the real thing. There is a modern epigram to illustrate this: "Don't judge a book by it's cover!".
Just as you should know what pavilion of Life that you are living under, you should also know your nature. Know yourself.
Indeed, it is very difficult to understand the world as it truly is, for although it seems real, it is not, and, although it seems false, it is not. Ignorant people can not know the truth concerning the world.
Ignorance is bondage.
The sun rises in the eastern sky and clears away the darkness of the world without prejudice or favoritism toward any particular being, substance or matter.
Rain falls alike on all vegetation.
The code to live by is simple.
The First Rule of Relationships
Life is precious. All life! We are life. Animals are life. Plants are life. On a certain layer of abstraction, we belong to the collection called life. Is is precious, because it is us.
You must protect your own mind.
The depth of human ignorance is bottomless.
A person comes to self knowledge and self realization when they do the things that they should be doing.
One of the hallmarks of a developed, altruistic person is compassion. Compassion is also known by kindness.
Do not vainly lament. Don't worry about the transiency of Life. Learn from having unfulfilled base desires. But do not lament for when you have succumbed to them in the past.
Life is ever changing. None can escape that fact.
Heroism is not confined to people who rush into a dangerous situation to save someone.
This thought is central to living life in a good way.
Respect each other.
What is the definition of Buddhist Bright?
A person's mind may make him or her an enlightened one or a beast. Both are possible. Misled by error, one becomes a demon. Therefore you must control the thoughts running through your mind if you want to stay on the "Noble Path" to altruism and enlightenment.
The point of Buddhist teachings is to control your own mind. Restrain your mind from thoughts of greed. This will keep your mind in balance, your body right and your words will be faithful.
Make of yourself a light. Rely upon yourself. Do not depend on anyone else. Make your enlightenment the path.
The most valuable commodity on Earth is peace of mind. If we have peace of mind, then we are open to happiness. With peace of mind, stress dissolves away. It is a proven scientific fact, that our bodies are healthier and more resistant to disease if we have a positive frame of mind. Our immune system is stronger and we wear the armor of life that allows us to live in a chaotic world where we have the weapons to battle stressors.
