Meditation Sculpts The Brain
“Meditation will bring about a huge difference in your personality, behaviour and the way you approach life”
The multifaceted benefits of meditation help with all aspects of the mind and body and sitting daily for 15 to 30 minutes to meditate will bring about a huge difference in your personality, behaviour and the way you approach life. Mediation enriches you with compassion and brings in a soothing and calming effect on your personality.
There are also some amazing facts that show an interlinking between meditation and the brain and how it alters the science behind the brain. Hence, the effect of meditation can’t be overlooked in sculpting the brain and these factors serves as great motivators to stimulate interest.
Areas Of The Brain That Control Emotion
Lateral Prefrontal Cortex
This part of the brain is commonly called the assessment center for it deals with the rational and logical thinking capacity of a human being. It allows a person to see things from a rationale and logical perspective. It also modulates emotional responses and controls various tendencies of the brain.
Medial Prefrontal Cortex
This portion of the brain is called the me centre as it is involved in analyzing and processing your perspective and experiences. This part controls feelings like daydreaming, thinking about the future, social interaction and personal expression.
It has two sections and both are separately involved in processing information relating to oneself. The ventromedial medial prefrontal cortex (vmPFC) processes information about you and the person you consider similar to you. This part is responsible for enhancing depressive thoughts and feelings.
The dorsomedial prefrontal cortex is another section that processes information about people whom you regard as dissimilar to you. The feeling of empathy is controlled by this portion of the brain.
- Insula – This part of the brain monitors bodily sensations. Coordinating with other brain areas, it guides how the body should respond to a particular sensation the person feels.
- Amygdala – This is the fear centre of the brain that is responsible for controlling some emotional responses and reactions.
How The Brain Is Altered With Meditation
By mediating on a regular basis, a person can bring several positive changes within himself/ herself. The strength of a neural connection between the me centre, specially the vmPFC section and fear centre’ that monitors bodily sensations, gradually breaks down. As the connection wanes, a person’s feelings of anxiety go down. Hence, he/she will no longer regard any sensation or instant feeling of fear as a problem.
Meditation also forms a healthier link between the assessment centre and the fear/sensation centre. This enables a person to look at a problem from a more rationale perspective, instead of unnecessarily becoming anxious about it. The enhanced link of the ‘me centre’ and the assessment center also makes the feeling of empathy stronger.