Canada

Long-term meditation leads to changes in brain organization

May 25, 2012

Via Université de Montréal Nouvelles

People who practice mindfulness meditation learn to accept their feelings, emotions, and states of mind without judging or resisting them. They simply live in the moment.

Several studies have shown that this type of meditation may have beneficial effects on long-term emotional stability and, consequently, on disorders such as anxiety and major depression. A new study reveals that this mind training has an influence on the default brain network of experienced meditators when they are at rest. Differences in the brain indicate that meditation contributes to better concentration and more objective self-thought.

“We studied the brains of 13 meditators with over 1,000 hours of practice and 11 beginners by analyzing functional connectivity,” says Veronica Taylor, the lead author of the study published in the journal Social Cognitive and Affective Neuroscience Advance Access in March 2012.

Functional connectivity refers to the synchronization between two or more brain regions that changes over time during a specific task or at rest. This method of analysis can be applied to data from functional magnetic resonance imaging. “Participants remained in a CT scanner for a few minutes and were asked to do nothing,” explained Taylor, who is currently completing her Ph.D. in psychology under the supervision of Professor Pierre Rainville at the Université de Montréal.

These analyses enabled the researchers to identify subjects’ default brain network, i.e., the set of regions activated at rest when the person is not performing a particular activity.

“We wanted to assess whether the effects of mindfulness meditation persisted beyond the practice,” said the doctoral student. “We hypothesized that the default brain network of meditators is structured differently. The default network is associated with daydreaming and self-thought when one is doing ‘nothing.’ In fact, we thought we would find a different organization because these individuals are used to being in the moment, and their thoughts do not go in all directions when at rest.”

Indeed, the results show weaker synchronization between the ventral and dorsal medial prefrontal cortex. “The dorsal part is involved in cognitive processes associated with the self, while the ventral part is associated with emotional self-evaluation,” says Taylor. Because these areas are less interrelated, it shows that these people think about themselves more objectively.” She adds that the more participants had experience with meditation the weaker the connection, which, according to her, “gives weight to the results.”

A curious and interesting fact: the subjects had greater synchronization between areas that all converge in the right parietal lobe. This area is known for having a role in attention, suggesting perhaps a long-term beneficial effect of meditation, but which remains to be proven by research specifically studying attentional processes,” says the student.

Although the subjects were tested at rest, Taylor has first-hand knowledge of the tangible benefits of mindfulness meditation in everyday life. “I have practiced meditation for several years and have noticed that my attention is longer and steadier when I concentrate.”

“There is still much to discover about the power of meditation,” she says. In the meantime, she suggests everyone take it up. “It doesn’t cost anything and you can meditate anywhere and anytime… and the benefits are real. ”

Simple meditation helps students concentrate: researcher

February 17, 2012

Janet Steffenhagen, Vancouver Sun: One of my fondest memories from a recent visit to Seymour elementary in Vancouver was joining the students in Carrie Gelson’s Grade 2 class in morning meditation.

Sitting cross-legged on the floor, we concentrated on our breathing and listened to the fading tone of a bell sounded by Gelson. It brought a few moments of blissful calm in an otherwise bouncy room of little kids.

This breathing exercise is a regular event at Seymour, one of several B.C. schools that practices the MindUP program created several years ago by Goldie Hawn. Seymour teacher Janice Parry, a Mind Up trainer with the Hawn Foundation for several years, says the program is popular in Metro Vancouver. “It’s changed lives,” she told me when I interviewed her for a feature story a few years ago.

My colleague Gordon Hoekstra recently interviewed neuroscientist and author Richard Davidson and wrote the following:

Simple meditation techniques, backed up with modern scientific knowledge of the brain, are helping kids hard-wire themselves to be able to better pay attention and become kinder, says neuroscientist Richard Davidson….

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Ten days meditating in search of enlightenment

January 31, 2012

Maarten Dankers, Globe and Mail: I never thought I’d look forward to brushing my teeth. It’s not a task I consider particularly exciting. But late last November, it came to that. After eating an apple for dinner, I found myself rushing toward the bathroom for some quality dental hygiene time. That’s what happens when you’re not allowed to partake in many activities of ordinary life.

For 10 days this past fall, I subjected myself to a meditation retreat. Along with about 70 other souls, I was confined to a basic compound in the woods along the shore of Shawnigan Lake on Vancouver Island. We were left without the freedom to speak, read, write or exercise, among other things. There were no cellphones, no e-mail and basically no communication allowed.

These are the rules of Vipassana, an ancient Buddhist meditation technique that aims to purify the mind by eliminating the root causes of suffering. I had dabbled in meditation before, but nothing more than a few hour-long sessions, so this was a big leap. I first heard of it about five years ago after meeting someone who described it as a life-changing experience. Other people told me it gave them increased mental clarity, focus and patience.

Since finishing a master’s program in sustainability last summer, I had been in a prolonged and uncertain state of transition. Unemployed and unsure what to do with my life, I decided a Vipassana retreat would be the perfect opportunity to tame my wild mind and have a break to focus. Plus, I always like a good challenge…

Wildmind is a Community-Supported Meditation Initiative. Click here to find out about the many benefits of being a sponsor.

Calgary writer explores ‘flash mob’ meditation to draw people to practice

January 7, 2012

Mario Toneguzzi, Calgary Herald: Writer Megan Bishop-Scott has had this one idea percolating in her mind for some time now.

What she calls a “flash mob meditation” in Calgary where people get together for the spiritual practice.

The challenge, she says, is helping people understand what meditation is all about.

One of her main contracts is writing life histories for foster children.

“Because of that, I’ve actually been asked to go to group homes where some of these really hard foster kids are,” she says. “I’ve taught them how to meditate. And they get it in a second. Basically what I explain to them is that life is like a video game and your body is the controller. But if you’re not meditating, the controller is not plugged into the game. They just get it.”

She’s also been in discussions with the Calgary Drop-In Centre to offer meditation to its clients.

Meditation “balances people. It just helps them de-stress and get rid of the anxiety and stop that panic mode that seems to run everybody,” she says.

Bishop-Scott says she wants to do a mass meditation so it can expose the average person to a technique – to help give them a tool to calm themselves and be more aware.

“And what comes from that is health, wealth. It just resolves everything in your life when you have a tool like that,” she says.

Bishop-Scott says a few years ago she went through the wringer in her personal life in California.

It was then that she discovered Vedic meditation practices.

“What hit me is that life is like a whitewater rafting trip,” says Bishop-Scott. “When you’re meditating, you’re in a raft, and when you’re not meditating, you’re in the rapids. Getting smashed around. Caught in whirlpools. When I started meditating, it was like very slowly I started recreating who I was. And I realized that the way I had been raised in Calgary wasn’t who I was.

“There were all these preconceived notions and expectations. Your parents and society. When I went to California, I basically stripped that all away and started from scratch, and that’s when I became a writer. . . . Then miracles started happening. Since I had nothing, all I could do was meditate. So every day, I’d take care of business. I was working in greenhouses. That’s how I made cash.”

She ended up being hired to write an artist’s memoirs.

“The universe starts aligning with you. It sort of knew who I was. Knew what I was aiming for, but it was like I had to move the chess pieces around the board until I could make my move,” Bishop-Scott says.

“It’s like existence knows why you were born, and when you meditate, you keep lining up with what your original intention had been, that’s when you just let everyone else tell you who you are and let your mind chatter away at you, you get off track. Some people are very good at knowing who they are.

“Most of us let our minds be like an answering machine. It just keeps replaying crap all day. . . . The meditation just stops that answering-machine portion of your mind so that you just become way more efficient, way more still.

“By being very still, then everything else just handles itself. Some of the books I liked reading when I first got going in all this were Life Was Never Meant To Be a Struggle. Don’t Worry Be Happy.

“There’s all these throwaway phrases, but you don’t know what that means until you can get your mind to shut up. That’s what meditation is doing.

“It’s just getting you back to Square 1, and then when something is in your best interest and it lands on you, it’s really clear. You’re not confused.”

Wildmind is a Community-Supported Meditation Initiative. Click here to find out about the many benefits of being a sponsor.

Calgary campus centre mends the mind

December 17, 2011

ctvcalgary.ca: It is a stressful time for university students who are in the middle of writing final exams but now a little relief can be found on campus.

Staff at the University of Calgary’s Wellness Centre say students are all feeling the pressure of finals and dealing with the holiday season.

To help students cope, they have converted a dance studio in the Kinesiology Department on campus into a stress free zone.

The overhead lights are turned off and soothing music is played and a labyrinth is laid out in the middle of the floor for walking meditation.

“Sometimes they don’t even need to do anything, it’s just providing a space that is separate from what they associate with school, and with exams and studying and stress, so sometimes it’s just having that relaxing atmosphere, having the nice music, the dim lighting, and options for them to relax,” said Adriana Tulissi from the Faith & Spirituality Centre.

Tulissi says some days there are as many as 20 students in the centre who are there to simply relax and let go of their stresses.

The facility also has mats so students can take a nap and lamps for studying in a quiet environment and is also open to faculty and staff.

The program has been running for the past eleven years and is open from December 13th to the 20th from 11:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m.

Wildmind is a Community-Supported Meditation Initiative. Click here to find out about the many benefits of being a sponsor.

Relax, kids: Meditation touted as stress buster for children

November 11, 2011

Tralee Pearce: I haven’t studied enough. I’m going to fail the test. My mom’s going to be mad. Maybe I’ll skip class.

Thoughts like these can quickly gallop out of control in kids’ minds, but what if there was a way they could clear them away? Enter the three-minute breathing meditation, which can be done anywhere, whether it’s on the bus or in a school hallway.

It’s one of the cornerstones of the increasingly popular practice of mindfulness, a blend of Buddhism-inspired calm and cognitive-behavioural therapy. Used as a therapy for adults for about 30 years, it’s now moving into the world of kids …

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Meet the spirit junkies

October 23, 2011

Denise Ryan: Gabrielle Bernstein wants to talk about your soul. Maybe even to save it. She wears five-inch heels, an electric-blue, strapless silk dress and one priceless accessory: a glow so radiant it is almost incandescent.

On a rainy Vancouver night, several hundred young women – and one man – have turned up to hear the New York Times bestselling author of Spirit Junkie speak about her journey from hot mess to cool guru.

A glitz-addicted, coke-snorting Manhattan club promoter in thousand-dollar shoes whose holy grail was access to the VIP room, Bernstein was physically, emotionally and spiritually gutted by the time she hit 25.

She …

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Occupy Vancouver protest had a peaceful buzz

October 17, 2011

Charlie Smith: Yesterday’s Occupy Vancouver demonstration differed significantly from most protests held in front of the Vancouver Art Gallery.

One of the most striking aspects was the lack of any hierarchy. The event opened with a speech outlining how people could give their consent for various activities. Later, I observed the crowd being asked if it would prefer to hear more speeches or go on a march through downtown Vancouver.

The unions, for the most part, remained at the back of the crowd, along with the Communists and groups like No One is Illegal. And tucked away on the northwest corner of the site…

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The fourth R — helping stressed-out students relax

June 22, 2011