Brain Candy

BY LORI BROTHERS

I just finally discovered what’s wrong with my brain; on the left there’s nothing right and on the right, there’s nothing left!

This humorous observation captures how the brain can appear to be at odds, with opposites appearing to cancel each other out. Yet, it is precisely when the parts of the brain learn to work together through meditation that a better connection for your well-being emerges. Meditation alters the electrical activity of your brain. Those waves produce a flood of healing that benefits.

Just like we have “a gas pedal” and “a brake” in the nervous system, we have a similar balancing system in the brain. In the nervous system, the sympathetic branch is the gas pedal. It’s the driver and the "get up and get going," along with being responsible for flight, fight, or freeze – survival mode. The parasympathetic branch is the braking system that allows recovery, repair, and rejuvenation of the body. We have to create conditions that tone and stimulate the braking system of the nervous system because it is not hard-wired like the survival branch is, into the body.

Similarly, there is a part of the brain that modulates emotional responses that originates in the fear “survival” center. This is also the part of the brain that allows you to look at things from a logical, rational, and balanced perspective – more associated with the left brain. And there is a different center that processes the way you reference yourself and form a personal perspective. It is the subjective, more right brain dynamic, and also includes how you perceive and have empathy for others.

During meditation, the brain showers theta waves though the whole brain. They are associated with a relaxed state of mind as compared to alpha waves, which are associated with an aroused state of mind. Through the practice of regular meditation, you improve your ability to cut through reactivity patterns to  “see more clearly.” There is a discernment that arises from daily meditation that allows you to view feelings, worries and judgments from a more balanced perspective. Your ability to ignore anxiety is enhanced. The yummy theta waves feed your brain and all of your systems peace, calm, flexibility, and increased spaciousness. This brain candy is what allows you to grow and change creatively.

Committing to sitting every day for 15 to 30 minutes is a worthwhile practice in developing how you respond to your inner and outer life personally, and how you interact with others. When you are able to witness the gas and the brakes in your mind patterns, in your feelings and in your body sensations, you create empowerment and a sense of calm.

Your brain changes the longer you meditate. Key ways meditation changes the brain includes:

·      Helping preserve the aging brain

·      Increasing the volume (growth/density of brain matter) of the brain

·      Improving concentration

·      Reducing activity in the “Fight or Flight” center of the brain

·      Developing resiliency, creativity and memory

Besides these effects directly improving the brain, it has been clinically proven that regular meditation actively shifting brain waves speaks to the DNA to repair telomeres (the tails at the end of the chromosomes), and turns off bad DNA and turns on good DNA. It stimulates the relaxation response which lowers blood pressure, is effective in pain management, and is helpful in managing eating disorders.

However, the brain easily reverts to old patterns if you don’t remain faithful to your meditation practice. Relaxation produces an enhanced brain state, stress and survival produce a declining brain state. “Neuroplasticity is the capacity of nerve cells to biologically adapt to circumstances—to respond to stimulation by generating new tendrils of connection (synapses) to other nerve cells, and to respond to deprivation and excess stress by weakening connections,” per PyschologyToday.com.

Meditation helps you turn on the good waves to flood your systems with peace and calm -- like brain candy. Especially if you have a tendency towards anxiety, worrying, racing thoughts, or you have been diagnosed with post traumatic stress, it is essential that you make meditation a daily self-care appointment for your health and well-being.