Mindfulness' Effects on the Brain

I have been very quiet on here for over two weeks, however I have been working nonetheless! At the moment I am drafting out illustrations to be featured on the webpages and trying to make them non-textbook-sciency, as is seen in a lot of art which is used to explain mindfulness (more on that later). While doing research for an illustration about mindfulness' benefits to the body, I found this article, which is an ideal introduction to the science-led side of things.  Last week involved a lot of reading up on mindfulness and meditation in science journals online, and the language was typical of a science paper so at times was hard to grasp.  By contrast, this article by Scientific American explains the concept in a very straightforward way and covers the neurological effects as well as psychological, which I love (at times the biological side of mindfulness is a complex one to digest if you're not familiar with neurology terms).   In time I will write up my findings from the science journals, but for now the article would be a great introduction to the science writings for anyone following this blog.

"Now, as the popularity of mindfulness grows, brain imaging techniques are revealing that the ancient practice can profoundly change the way different regions of the brain communicate with each other - and therefore how we think - permanently." (Ireland, 2014).  The article covers the main benefits of practising mindfulness meditations for both the brain's neuroplasticity and the body's reaction to stress and some physical ailments and diseases, generally making a very strong case for the practice of mindfulness to remedy them.  I won't go into depth about it as it is an article that doesn't really need extra elaboration, but I can note that the closing quote of the article really summed up part of my own approach to mindfulness within this project.

"Perhaps its new-age, quasi-spiritual connotations of meditation that have so far prevented mindfulness form being haled as an antidote to our increasingly frantic world.  Research is helping overcome this perception, and ten minutes of mindfulness could soon be an accepted, stress busting part of our daily health regimen, just like going to the gym or brushing our teeth." (Ireland, 2014)

As I said I am currently working on a bunch of illustrations and roughing out the content of the website prototype, so I hope to post about those in the coming week.  Until then, give the article a read!

References:

Ireland, Tom. 2014. Scientific American website. "What Does Mindfulness Meditation Do To Your Brain?" [online article] Available at:  http://blogs.scientificamerican.com/guest-blog/2014/06/12/what-does-mindfulness-meditation-do-to-your-brain/

[Accessed 07 Feb 2015]