The Feel Good Way

Suppose you read about a pill that can make you happier and temper your anxiety. Would you take it? Suppose that pill has a number of other positive side effects, such as more empathy and more focus. Finally, suppose that this pill is completely natural, costs nothing and you can take it every day. Would you take it?
This pill exists, it’s called meditation.

Jonathan Haidt

Am I getting your attention here? 

Meditation does to your brain what sports does to your body

Steven Laureys, neurologist

Even though today mediation is more accepted than it was a couple of decades ago, it still has a long road ahead to full acceptation and general practice, even though science is now capable of proving the benefits it has on your brain, just like science proves that sports are good for your physical body.

What do Bill Gates (Microsoft), Jeff Bezos (Amazon), Richard Branson (Virgin) and Oprah WInfrey have in common? Right. They all meditate!

We, humans, have an extreme survival instinct. When we spot a lion coming at us, stress hormones immediately make our heart beat faster, orders us to drop everything and run for our lives. Nowadays we hardly ever see a lion running wild, but our stress hormones didn’t go away; they have evolved but are still doing their jobs. When we get certain phone calls or e-mails, when we are stuck in traffic, when we (or someone else) are late, when we watch the (always depressing) news. When we are faced with a deadline at work, or when we need to organize a family holiday. Oh! And the grass still needs mowing and the car needs a wash.

Nowadays, the majority of the Western world lives with a constant elevation of that survival hormone, call it the stress hormone. The impact this stress has on our body and brain is huge. Our immunity goes down, we don’t sleep well, we are constantly tired, we get sick, it even shortens our life!

There is this thing called neuroplasticity, the brain is capable of changing, mainly due to practice or a specific use of the brain. Think of the blind man who hears much better then average, or the deaf one who sees much better. But this works both ways, your brain changes for better or for worse!

Each part in your brain has a specific task, as we all know, and scientists know which part ‘grows’ and becomes over active when stressed. It is called the Amygdala, it is the center where emotions get processed. Enlarged Amygdala are associated with depression and anxiety. Your heart races, your hands get sweaty and you can’t think clearly.

Now the good thing is that we can reverse this situation. When you meditate, you rewire your brain, and your Amygdala slows down and shrinks. After a few weeks of meditation the difference is already noticeable.

Here are some the things that meditation does to you –

• It calms you
• it reduces stress
• it enhances focus
• it lengthens your attention span
• it boosts your energy
• it improves your general health
• and so much more!

What meditation does not do –
No it does not solve your problems, it does not change certain situations, but it does change the way we look at them, the way we perceive them and the way we deal with them. It changes the way you react on stress, and that makes all the difference in your life.

Through meditation you are able to break the habit of constantly being in that survival mode, which affects your brain and then also your body.

‘Meditation’ is the word that collects all types of ‘sports of the brain’, there are a lot of different types of meditation, and just like sports it is up to you find out which one is good for you. It can go from simple breathing exercises when your watch tells you to (a couple of minutes), to mantra meditation (an hour or longer), there are unlimited options… Just like looking for the sport that fits you best, you must look for a type of meditation that fits you best. And maybe this will become life changing, as it has become for me!

If you want to know more about the science behind meditating, read the book by the award winning brain scientist and neurologist Dr Steven Laureys, called ‘the no nonsense meditation book, a scientist’s guide to the power of meditation‘, or watch this video summary.

Photo by danilo.alvesd on Unsplash