The benefits of meditation have received newfound evidence from
neuroscience in the last five years, as researchers are finding
real physiological changes due to a sort of formally practiced
introspection.
Recently scientists from Massachusetts General Hospital had 16
participants take an eight-week mindfulness meditation program.
This sort of meditation focuses on nonjudgmental awareness of
sensations and feelings. Subjects practiced for about 30 minutes
a day.
Brain images were taken of each subject before and after the training.
Scientists found increases in gray-matter density in the hippocampus
-an area responsible for learning and memory. And they saw decreased
density in the amygdala-which is responsible for our anxiety and
stress responses.
One area that did not change is the insula, which is associated
with self-awareness. The researchers speculate that longer-term
meditation might be necessary to affect that area.
All this reminds us of two things: 1) The brain is much more plastic
than scientists thought even just a decade ago and 2) the way we
feel-calm or anxious-can be correlated with real structural indicators
in our brains.