Meditation is associated with a change in how we see our self. It helps us see how self as not-permanent and reduces the parts of the brain associated with thinking about the self. This reduction is associated with improvements in our health. However, more research is needed to understand how this occurs.

There is a part of the brain whose main job is to watch for threats. You can think of it as your brain’s guardian angel or security guard or light house operator.

It scans your environment and, if it detects a threat, will gear up your body to fight it or run away using your sympathetic nervous system (that we spoke about yesterday).

However, when the security guard gets overzealous and starts jumping at shadows or dodgy looking teenagers, things begin to get tiring. In our stressful lives, with so much vying for our attention and so many stressors in our environment, this can easily happen.

So there is a second pathway. Do you remember the prefrontal cortex,? It is like the CEO of our brains. Scientist believe this is how we regulate our fear response. The security guard sees a teenager and says “OH NO, ROBBER!” and the CEO says “It is okay, that’s just a teenager”.

However, in people who meditate, neuroscientific research has found that their CEO has much better control over the security guard I.e. their prefrontal cortex is more active. their amygdala is less active and their prefrontal cortex is able to inhibit their amygdala.

Meditation helps to train us to focus on our on internal experiences. Neuroimaging studies have found this can lead to an increase the size of the area of the brain associated with emotional awareness and empathy. Thus, through meditation, our brains adapt and we are better able to understand our own emotions and those of others.

If your life is full of things vying for your attention and this is causing you stress. Perhaps try meditation. Over time, it could help strengthen your attention muscle and help you focus on the things that are truly important to you.