Recommended Reading from Mind Coach NOLA: The Scientific Results of Mindfulness on Your Brain

There’s been a lot of talk lately about mindfulness and how we should all be practicing it. I found the article "What Does Mindfulness Mediation to For Your Brain?" at the Scientific American that explains the biology behind it in an easy way. I know that I, for one, like to know the science behind something if I’m going to jump onboard with a new habit. So here is an explanation as to how mindfulness strengthens the connectivity between the pre-frontal cortex and the amygdala, and how this increases your attention and concentration. And we can all use that. Ready, set, focus!

Here's my favorite excerpt from the article:

"MRI scans show that after an eight-week course of mindfulness practice, the brain’s “fight or flight” center, the amygdala, appears to shrink. This primal region of the brain, associated with fear and emotion, is involved in the initiation of the body’s response to stress.

As the amygdala shrinks, the pre-frontal cortex—associated with higher order brain functions such as awareness, concentration, and decision-making—becomes thicker.

The “functional connectivity” between these regions—i.e. how often they are activated together—also changes. The connection between the amygdala and the rest of the brain gets weaker, while the connections between areas associated with attention and concentration get stronger."