“Test subjects taking part in an 8-week program of mindfulness meditation showed results that astonished even the most experienced neuroscientists at Harvard University. The study was led by a Harvard-affiliated team of researchers based at Massachusetts General Hospital, and the team’s MRI scans documented for the very first time in medical history how meditation produced massive changes inside the brain’s gray matter.
“The participants spent an average of 27 minutes per day practicing mindfulness exercises, and this is all it took to stimulate a major increase in gray matter density in the hippocampus, the part of the brain associated with self-awareness, compassion, and introspection.”
Yves says
1 February 2015 at 15:40Interesting… but then, how do we know that increased brain gray mass in certain areas actually lead to people being more compassionate? How do we measure that? How do we measure that their quality of life has indeed improved, and what does ‘quality of life’ mean anyway? My point is that some effects are felt and lived even if scientists have not yet produced and reproduced experiments and data, and maybe we need to believe our own experiences more than we do at present regardless of what science says. And why. Or why not.
Mattie Porte says
2 February 2015 at 10:54Very true Yves! Perhaps qualitative studies, e.g., phenomenological studies of one’s lived experience, would shed light on this aspect.
Yves says
3 February 2015 at 12:56Hi. I am not too familiar with phenomenological studies, and for all I know, they may be wonderfully interesting. However, I maintain that we need to listen to our own experiences much more than we do at present. Our minds and bodies are wonderfully wise and powerful – if we listen to them. If we ignore them, and instead listen to studies of whatever kind, they never get a chance to realise their potential.
If we only focus on somebody somewhere producing studies and data, we will potentially fill our heads with contradictory and confusing bits of information, and be none the wiser as to what to do in our everyday life to be well, content etc.
If we do listen to our bodies and minds, though, we will understand far more about ourselves – such as what to eat, and when, and why, and how much. We will understand how our views are formed, what is good for us in terms of relationships, sounds, sights, energies, places, seasons, etc. In a word we will learn how we should live in order to be well. This will probably be different for different people, at different points of their lives. The feedback is there all the time… listening is the skill for the future.
Mattie Porte says
4 February 2015 at 08:51Thank you for contributing those wise words Yves. Everything we need to know lies within, accessible in the stillness. Sometimes, we do need to be reminded of that powerful fact.