Home
Meditation Boosts Brain Activity in Hours << Previous Next >>
"Just 11 hours of learning a meditation technique induces positive structural changes in brain connectivity by boosting efficiency in a part of the brain that helps a person regulate behavior in accordance with their goals, researchers report. The technique -- integrative body-mind training (IBMT) -- has been the focus of intense scrutiny by a team of Chinese researchers led by Yi-Yuan Tang of Dalian University of Technology in collaboration with University of Oregon psychologist Michael I. Posner."Using a type of magnetic resonance called diffusion tensor imaging allows researchers to examine fibers connecting brain regions.
"The importance of our findings relates to the ability to make structural changes in a brain network related to self regulation," said Posner, who last fall received a National Medal of Science. "The pathway that has the largest change due to IBMT is one that previously was shown to relate to individual differences in the person's ability to regulate conflict."
The new research is published online the week of Aug. 16-21 ahead of regular publication in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences
Click to read the full article, "Chinese meditation IBMT found to boost brain connectivity."
Explore your meditation, contemplative practice, and prayer life when you meet regularly with a spiritual director. To locate a spiritual guide near you, visit the online Seek and Find Guide at the Spiritual Directors International Web site.
What is your experience of meditation? Please comment...
08/17,2010, at 01:29
I find that yogic meditative exercises assist me in centering myself so that I can make better decisions and act from a place of mindfulness rather than reaction.
08/18,2010, at 02:18
I am a Quaker. As a result I have over the years, like my fellow Quakers sat in a largely silent Meeting for Worship every Sunday, and centred in silent waiting and at times finding at over times. For a period of five years I used a diary tracking what happened during the week, and at the beginning, during and after Meeting for Worship. Even after the Meetings that felt a struggle, perhaps because of my own inner struggle, or at times because the Meeting group as a whole were struggling to centre, I found that I was changing, my approach to life was calmer, more resilient and perceptive.
09/01,2010, at 15:54
Once in deep prayer "comforting the Father over the death of His Son," I sensed the Father sitting beside me, leaning on my shoulder, so that I could stroke the venerable head. After a while He stirred and I was stroking the head of Jesus, who smiled at my surprise and said,"Don't you remember that the Father and I are One?"