Yoga - Meditation and the Brain

New research at major universities shows that meditation has a powerful effect on how we function. The research studies and illustrates the connection between meditation and the brain.

Last year researchers at UCLA took brain scans that showed people who were able to verbalize their negative emotions could calm the brain. This explains in part the powerful connection between meditation and the brain and why meditation has such a powerful emotional benefit. People who meditate sit until they are able to put a name on their negative emotions in order to let them go.

The UCLA psychologists connected 30 people to magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) machines. MRI machines show which parts of the brain are active--although there is a slight time delay between when the image is taken and when the emotion is felt.

The psychologists asked the test subjects to examine photos of people making emotional expressions. People who were able to name the emotions without reacting were able to calm the activity in their brain. The theory then continued that those who meditated and took time out of their day to name their own emotions and name of emotions of others without acting would be able to calm themselves under duress.

The results showed a striking connection between the importance of meditation and the brain: people who use meditation and other mindfulness techniques (mindfulness techniques are part of Western dialectical behavioral theory practices and Eastern meditation which help people stay present with their emotions and name them without reacting to them).

UCLA psychologists suggest that the findings help explain why meditation and improves psychological mood. Doctors and psychologists also note that those who use meditation to become calmer have better overall health. For example, if you are able to keep your cool during the day in the face of stress your physical health benefits as well. You feel less of a need to use negative drugs like caffeine and nicotine as coping devices. In addition, you are more likely to sleep better and enjoy a greater overall state of well-being.

Similarly, researchers at the University of Wisconsin worked with Tibetan monks to illustrate more positive crossover between meditation and the mind. Psychologists found that practitioners of meditation experience brain activity at a level they had never seen before. The mental practice seem to have a similar effect on the brain in the same way that repeated physical practice for golf or tennis enhances the body's performance. The result was a demonstration that the brain could be trained through meditation in ways people in the Western world have not formally acknowledged.

The University of Wisconsin's research clearly showed that meditation generated more gamma waves in brains of trained monks than in the brains of volunteers who were untrained in meditation. While novices were only able to present a slight increase in brain activity while meditating, some of the monks showed gamma wave activity that was much more intense than had previously been recorded in a healthy person.

Anne Clarke writes numerous articles for Web sites on gardening, parenting, fashion, and home decor. Her background also includes teaching, yoga, and heath and fitness. For more of her useful articles on yoga, visit breatheyoga.wordpress.com/2008/07/28/meditation-and-the-brain-yoga-benefits Meditation and the Brain.