The brain and mindfulness
Mindfulness has grown more and more in the world of therapy. Doing mindfulness in a regular basis will make you become more aware of what happens here and now and you will be able to be in the present more. If you watch a child, you will notice that he/she turns a simple leaf and observes it from different angles. All of us have the capacity of being mindful but we train it away by trying to be effective. In the modern world everything has to go fast and we want to do several things at the same time. We become so goal oriented so that we miss things that happen here and now and we often miss what we are feeling since we think that we don´t have time for feelings, they are just in the way. The thing is that we have got feelings for a reason and one of them is to give us clues about in what direction we should act. If we repress the feelings we will run forward until we suddenly can´t go on because we feel too tired, anxious etc. At that point it´s not enough just to stop running over our feelings and needs. At that point we need to start taking care of our need for a long time in order to regain balance. You will find mindfulness a great tool in doing this.
John Arden writes in his book ”Rewire your brain” what happens in the brain when you do mindfulness. The more you practice mindfulness techniques, the more you activate you parasympathetic nervous system and you get a more relaxed state of mind. So, you could say that the opposite of the fight and flight response is activated, the relaxataion response in the brain gets activated as a response to doing mindfulness.
Also when you engage in stressful behavior, a lot of energy is used to maintain muscle tension which makes you feel tired. In that way, doing mindfulness will save energy which will in the long run give you more energy.
You can start with stretching your muscles and focus on your muscles when they are stretched, just for a few minutes, then you can return to whatever you were doing.
Arden writes about seven principles of parasympathetic meditation:
1. Rhythmic breathing: Take deep and focused breaths (I usually tell my patients to put a hand on their stomach and feel that it´s moving in and out).
2. Focused attention: Focus on your breathing. This activates the prefrontal cortecx (the front part of the brain), which inhibits the overactivity of amygdala (where the feelings are) and the sympathetic system (with adrenaline, cortisol etc.).
3. Quiet environment: If you try to practice this in a quiet environment, it will help you to avoid distractions.
4. Accepting a nonjudgmental attitude. Try to comment on things without judging that it´s bad or good.
5. Relaxed posture.
6. Observation. Try to be aware of things in your envorinment and describe them to yourself when you observe them.
7. Labeling: Labeling things in an accepting manner will ativate your left frontal lobe (your experiences activate that part and its positive emotions).
Cognitive Behaviour Psychologist Monica Emanell