Uncategorized
From Jackie with love: Your brain on meditation
Published
9 years agoon
By Jackie Rainford Corcoran
Explore Big Sky Health Columnist
If you’ve considered practicing meditation, here’s a compelling reason to start today. A 2012 study by Harvard University and Massachusetts General Hospital found that meditation had lasting affects on the brain.
“This is the first time that meditation training has been shown to affect emotional processing in the brain outside of a meditative state,” wrote Gaëlle Desbordes, corresponding author of the report in her conclusion.
The participants were healthy adults with no prior meditation experience. They were split into three groups. One group was taught mindful attention meditation, which brings awareness to breath, thoughts and emotions. A second group studied compassion meditation, which develops loving kindness and compassion for oneself and others. And the third was a control group that took a basic health education course.
Before the start of the classes and after they concluded, 12 participants from each group had a total of 216 MRI brain scans apiece. Meditation was never mentioned to them in the instructions before the MRIs, and it was confirmed that they didn’t meditate while scanning took place. This is significant, as prior studies using MRIs looked at the brains of participants while meditating. The primary conclusion was that the brain does in fact have a lasting change from meditation, especially in the amygdala.
The amygdala is found at the base of the brain and is part of the limbic system, which controls basic emotions like fear, pleasure and anger and drives such as hunger, sex and nurturing of offspring. It’s highly specialized for reacting to stimuli and triggering a response in the body when we feel fear to help us prepare for action – fight or flight.
In both the mindful attention group and the compassion meditation group, the brain scans done after training showed a decrease in activation of the amygdala in response to positive or neutral images. This supported the research team’s theory that meditation improves emotional stability and response to stress.
Participants from the compassion meditation group who reported practicing the most frequently had increased activity in the amygdala when shown negative images of human suffering. This reveals that compassion was heightened in these subjects. The mindful attention group’s brains did not change when shown negative images. No significant changes were seen in the control group.
“Overall, these results are consistent with the overarching hypothesis that meditation may result in enduring, beneficial changes in brain function, especially in the area of emotional processing,” Desbordes wrote.
Not finding time for meditating is a regret I often hear from clients and colleagues. Hopefully, this type of research encourages us to carve out the time and make it a priority. It’s free, you can do it anywhere, and there are no harmful side effects. Visit santoshabigsky.com or bozemandharmacenter.org if you’re looking for a class to get you started on this journey. Your brain will thank you!
Jackie Rainford Corcoran is an IIN Certified Holistic Health Coach, an NASM Certified Personal Trainer, a public speaker and health activist. Contact her at jackie@thetahealth.com, or find more at thetahealth.org.
Megan Paulson is the Co-Founder and Chief Operating Officer of Outlaw Partners.
Upcoming Events
april, 2024
Event Type :
All
All
Arts
Education
Music
Other
Sports
Event Details
Children turning 5 on or before 9/10/2024:
more
Event Details
Children turning 5 on or before
9/10/2024: Kindergarten
enrollment for the 2024-2025 school year can be completed by following the
registration process now.
Children
born on or after September 11, 2019: 4K enrollment is now open for
families that have a 4-year-old they would like to enroll in our program for
the 2023-2024 school year. Please complete the 4K Interest Form to
express your interest. Completing this form does not guarantee enrollment into
the 4K program. Enrollment is capped at twenty 4-year-olds currently
residing within Big Sky School District boundary full time and will be
determined by birth date in calendar order of those born on or after September
11, 2018. Interest form closes on May 30th.
Enrollment now is critical for fall preparations. Thank you!
Time
February 26 (Monday) - April 21 (Sunday)
Event Details
Saturday, March 23rd 6:00-8:00pm We will combine the heart-opening powers of cacao with the transcendental powers of breathwork and sound. Together, these practices will give us the opportunity for a deep
more
Event Details
Saturday, March 23rd 6:00-8:00pm
Time
March 23 (Saturday) 6:00 pm - April 23 (Tuesday) 8:00 pm
Location
Santosha Wellness Center
169 Snowy Mountain Circle
Event Details
We all are familiar with using a limited palette, but do you use one? Do you know how to use a
more
Event Details
We all are familiar with using a limited palette, but do you use one? Do you know how to use a limited palette to create different color combinations? Are you tired of carrying around 15-20 different tubes when you paint plein air? Have you ever wanted to create a certain “mood” in a painting but failed? Do you create a lot of mud? Do you struggle to achieve color harmony? All these problems are addressed in John’s workbook in clear and concise language!
Based on the bestselling “Limited Palatte, Unlimited Color” workbook written by John Pototschnik, the workshop is run by Maggie Shane and Annie McCoy, accomplished landscape (acrylic) and plein air (oil) artists,exhibitors at the Big Sky Artists’ Studio & Gallery and members of the Big Sky Artists Collective.
Each student will receive a copy of “Limited Palette, Unlimited Color” to keep and take home to continue your limited palette journey. We will show you how to use the color wheel and mix your own clean mixtures to successfully create a mood for your paintings.
Each day, we will create a different limited palette color chart and paint a version of a simple landscape using John’s directives. You will then be able to go home and paint more schemes using the book for guidance.
Workshop is open to painters (oil or acrylic) of any level although students must have some basic knowledge of the medium he or she uses. Students will be provided the book ($92 value), color wheel, value scale and canvas papers to complete the daily exercises.
Sundays, April 14, 21 and 28, 2024
Noon until 6PM.
$170.
Time
14 (Sunday) 12:00 pm - 28 (Sunday) 6:00 pm
Event Details
Everyone is invited to join us in celebrating 2 years of arts education in the BASE Art Studio with us! Take a tour
Event Details
Everyone is invited to join us in celebrating 2 years of arts education in the BASE Art Studio with us! Take a tour of the studio, meet our instructors, and meet other artists of all levels in our community. We’ll be getting creative and you’ll have the chance to make your very own artful button pin.
Stick around for our Volunteer Appreciation and Social beginning at 6:30 p.m.!
Time
(Thursday) 5:30 pm - 6:30 pm
Location
BASE
285 Simkins Dr