How God Changes Your Brain by Andrew Newberg;M.D.;Mark Robert Waldman

Author:Andrew Newberg;M.D.;Mark Robert Waldman
Language: eng
Format: mobi
Tags: Nonfiction, Psychology
ISBN: 9780345503428
Publisher: Ballantine Books
Published: 2009-03-23T07:00:00+00:00

BEGIN WITH A SIMPLE GOAL

When learning meditation on your own, it is wise to begin with simple goals, then work your way up the ladder to more complex tasks. At that point you can even work in some of the loftier ideals of forgiveness and compassion. But if you ultimately want to promote world peace, start by generating a few minutes of peacefulness during a coffee break. Then extend it into your lunch hour. Yawn a few times and take several deep breaths when you find yourself stuck in rush-hour traffic, and send a small blessing to the driver who just cut you off. At first you'll feel some resentment, but soon you'll notice an overall lessening of frustration.

Pick a simple goal for today—right now. It doesn't matter what you choose, because if you focus on the three main principles—relaxation, focused awareness, and intention—your brain will stimulate neurological circuits to help you accomplish that goal. The key to reaching any goal is conscious commitment, and the first step required is to stay focused on the idea. Focused awareness teaches you to ignore competing goals or desires, and relaxation will teach you patience, something that is essential to help you over those moments when you think that the meditation is doing nothing at all. Whether you are aware of it or not, neuroscience demonstrates that benefits are unconsciously taking place.

Beginners often find it frustrating to stay focused on something as simple as relaxation or the breath. Irritating thoughts intrude, so if you find that you can't turn them off, shift your goal to passively watching them. I mentioned it earlier, but it bears repeating: By training yourself to observe your thoughts, you are learning to subdue the emotional reactivity that normally governs the neural activity of the brain. Sitting quietly and watching your thoughts and feelings may seem boring, but for people who ruminate on anxious or depressing thoughts, it turns out to be a profoundly therapeutic process. In fact, rumination on negative thoughts and emotions intensifies and prolongs the experience,9 and it stimulates the amygdala to generate increased anxiety and fear.10

Still, if you are like most beginning meditators, it can drive you nuts to just sit there and watch your mind telling you that you're a fool to be sitting there, doing nothing. After all, your frontal lobes are inclined to induce you to do something—anything, for that matter. It's a powerful incentive, driven by parental and societal norms and maintained by all the beliefs you have melded together over the years. In fact, your mind can generate so many distracting thoughts and reasons to dissuade you from doing these exercises that a few good books may be needed to keep you on the mindfulness path. Meditation and relaxation CDs are particularly helpful since the instructions are easier to follow when you listen to a spoken voice. In fact, when we conduct our research with initiates, we often send them home with an audio-recorded exercise. (In Appendix C you'll find a list of recommendations for a variety of books, CDs, and training programs.

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