client services specialist spd appellate division justin...
TRANSCRIPT
The Neuroscience and Application of Mindfulness
Justin Heim, M.A.Client Services SpecialistSPD Appellate Division
Tibetan Buddhism, Grad program in Contemplative Counseling Psychology
Staying calm and making decisions during highly stressful situations.
It’s an ongoing PRACTICE. I’ve been off and on for 10 years. That’s how I know it works...
My Experience
Not Religious, but based on mental training practiced in Buddhism and other traditions.
2,500 years of anecdotal evidence suggests that these practices are associated with health and happiness.
It’s a mental exercise that cultivates wellbeing.
You Don’t have to Believe Anything
Don’t assume it will be a “positive” experience.
It’s not about replacing bad thoughts/feelings with good thoughts/feelings.
Intention: Commitment, Practice, Discipline
Attention: Breath and the 5 Senses
Attitude: Curious, Open, Accepting
“...on purpose, in the present moment, and nonjudgmentally”
being aware of what is happening right now without wishing it were
different.
Enjoying the pleasant withoutholding on when it changes.
(which it will)
Being with the unpleasant without fearing it will always be this way.
(which it won’t)
Mindfulness is simply
Take a mindful posture.
Awareness of the sensations of breathing.
Notice when your mind goes somewhere else. Acknowledge it in a non-judgemental way.
Return to the sensations of breathing.
Mindfulness Meditation
Mindfulness in ActionPractical application
Intentionally attending to daily (routine) experiences.
Thinking mode → Sensing mode
Body (5 senses) as gateway to the present moment.
Past Present Future
Your body is present. Is your mind?
Mindfulness in Action
Dealing with difficult situations and experiences.
Emotion Regulation and Emotional Intelligence
Staying grounded/centered under anxiety-provoking circumstances.
This is your Brain on Mindfulness
Ability of the brain to reorganize itself through behavior and experience.
Relatively new model of the brain.Neurogenesis happens in adulthood.
Changes in gray matter and white matter.
Taxi drivers, Juggling, Learning a 2nd language
Neuroplasticity
“Neurons that fire together wire together”
Huge scientific interest in the effects of meditation on the brain.
Research is still preliminary and there are limitations.
But what they are finding is very promising...
Contemplative Science
DISCLAIMER
I am not a neuroscientist! (duh)
I took from meta-analyses, and have not included individual studies.
If you’re interested, visit goamra.org
Amygdala“Fight or Flight.” Stress response, alerts us of danger (real or perceived).
Many problems associated with an overactive amygdala.
Mindfulness practice is associated with decreased gray matter in this area, and inactivity during meditation.
Prefrontal CortexExecutive functions such decision making, planning, abstract thinking, emotion regulation, and moderating social behavior.
Mindfulness practice is associated with increased size and activation of the PFC.
The PFC shrinks as we age.
Study found that the 50 year old meditators had the same amount of cortex as 25 year olds. Mindfulness may slow down the age related decline in cortical structure.
Rostrolateral Prefrontal CortexIntrospection and metacognition.
Integration of multiple separate cognitive processes in the service of higher-order behavioral goals.
Mindfulness meditation trains metacognitive awareness.
Huge implications for the treatment of depression.Mindfulness Based Cognitive Therapy (MBCT) for Depression
Orbitofrontal Cortex (Ventromedial Prefrontal Cortex)Connected to the primary sensory regions of the brain and the limbic system.
Determines a more precise relationship between stimuli and motivational outcome.
Rather than the automatic, inflexible associations reflecting past experience (amygdala), the OFC makes more flexible, “online”, assessment of stimuli and experiences.
Involved in emotional “down-regulating” and reappraising negative emotional states.
Meditative training may lead to more reliance on the dynamic predictions of the OFC to guide behavior, instead of fixed associations from the past.
Insular CortexInteroceptive Awareness: sense of what’s happening in the body (“map” of the body).
Involved in emotional self-awareness and metacognitive awareness.
Many psych disorders (depression, anxiety) linked to problems with interoceptive signals, and structural declines in the insula.
Increased insula size in those who meditate. (consistently well-replicated)
Somatomotor Cortices
Process tactile information, such as touch, pain, and conscious proprioception (awareness of body position)
Long-term meditators shown to have higher pain tolerance (or lower sensitivity?).
Mindfulness shown to reduce perceived unpleasantness of painful stimuli.
(Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction - MBSR)
Anterior Cingulate Cortex
Executive attention and general process of “self-regulation”
Crucial for self-control, focused problem solving, and adaptive behavioral responses under changing conditions.
Decision-making, selecting actions based on anticipated outcomes. Activated during reward-processing, conflict monitoring, error detection, and pain.
Important during times of uncertainty/change and when multiple pieces of information must be considered.
Mindfulness practice may lead to more conscious (less automatic) action selection and greater attention to thoughts and other information entering the decision-making process.
Posterior Cingulate Cortex
Associated with “mind wandering”
“Default Mode”
Through mindfulness practice, the ACC works with the PCC to increase focus, and therefore decrease mind wandering.
HippocampusLearning, Memory, Contextualized emotional learning (takes into account the situation, not just one salient cue)
Those with anxiety, depression and PTSD have shown atrophy in this area.
Involved in the arising of spontaneous thoughts, generation of creative ideas, and the simulation of imagined future scenarios.
Anterior PrecuneusBody image, attentional shifting, the experience of agency, and self-related processing.
Higher-order integration of interoceptive and exteroceptive attention.
Mindfulness practice may lead to greater present-centered awareness and a transformed view of self.
Temporo-Parietal Junction
Incorporates info from the thalamus, limbic system, and somatosensory systems.
Perspective taking, Theory of Mind
Morality and Compassion
Changes in White Matter Pathways
Corpus Callosum: connects the two hemispheres of the brain. Facilitates “communication”.
Superior Longitudinal Fasciculus: a pair of long bi-directional bundles of neurons connecting the front and back of the cerebrum.
Growing evidence that mindfulness practice impacts brain structures involved in:
1) Attention Regulation2) Body Awareness3) Emotion Regulation4) Experience of Self/Other
The Gist
Being Mindful creates space. Replace impulsive reactions with thoughtful responses.
The Mindful Pause
AutopilotBeing Mindful
STIMULUSSTIMULUS
REACTION (Habits) RESPONSE
PAUSE
Our brains are shaped by our habits, and habits carried out by our brains.
What if we got into the habit of being mindful?
