Mindfulness To Tame the Wild Brain

How do mindfulness and meditation tame our wild brains?

Could these practices help you become more mentally fit?

Questions you could ask yourself often. Oh, yeah, and me, too.

I often wonder if I am qualified to write about mindfulness.  I can be as mindless as anyone; maybe more so.  And I can also get rigid at times.  I meditate and often think I’m the worst meditator.

And then …

sometimes …

I notice tat I don’t react quite so quickly.  When I am lose my center, I seem to notice it more quickly.  Maybe I’m a little more patient.

Taming the Wild Brain

So, what happens in mindfulness meditation?

Naming

When we time to sit still long enough, our brains may settle down enough to get a little quieter.  The idea that meditation’s purpose is to be without thought is a popular myth.  Thoughts don’t go away; however, with practice, we begin to see enough space between them to see them as individual objects.  It works a little like sitting at a crossing watching a train.

The next time you are stuck at a crossing by a long train, begin to look at the space betwen the cars.  If the train is moving fast, it may be hard to discern that space at first, but gaze for a while, you may begin to see the opening enough so that you can then choose. Look at the cars or look at the space.  You will still notice the graffiti and the Burlington Northern sign on each box car, but the sky and landscape on the other side will be visible as well.

Reaching this point with our active brain, you may notice the spaces enough to begin to name them -

“Ahh, stress thought”

“… angry thought”

And even begin noticing aches, pains, and feelings -

“Ah, there’s that twinge in my knee again, and there’s an itch on my back.”

“I notice my brows squeezing in tension.”

Naming our thoughts and feelings is powerful.

In many major religions, there is a taboo against saying – sometimes even knowing – the “name of the god” of that tradition.  Why?

Because to name something is often to take away it’s power.  If you have read or seen any of the Harry Potter stories, you may remember the person “whose name could not be spoken.”  It was, of course, Voldemort, and saying his name brought him into the open.

Other than helping those in power to retain their power, the secret of the name also kept the followers in place.

When we are able to name these shadowy internal voices and pressures we are able to take a step back from thoughts and see them for what they really are. We give ourselves a little space. Naming a thought, naming a feeling in mindfulness brings them out of the realm of magic and power over how we behave.  Naming allows us to live more powerfully even with so-called negative emotions -

“When you put feelings into words, you’re activating this prefrontal region and seeing a reduced response in the amygdala,” he said. “In the same way you hit the brake when you’re driving when you see a yellow light, when you put feelings into words, you seem to be hitting the brakes on your emotional responses.” News-Medical.Net

In the next post, we look at taming the amygdala …

What type of mindfulness or meditation practice have you had (or do you have)?

If you have noticed changes, what have they been?

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Photo by supremewisdom101