Knowing the theory and putting it into practice are two different things, aren't they? We all know what's good for us and what's not, we've all heard how beneficial meditation is to maintaining positive mental wellbeing. As a counsellor in training and wellbeing practitioner, I try extremely hard to practice what I preach, but meditation was something I hadn't been practising. Inspired by a connection on Linkedin sharing that he'd been meditating for 500 consecutive days I decided it was about time I gave it a go.
I'm a big picture thinker, in order for me to understand something I am always interested to understand the reasons 'why' - so I did some research to understand why meditation helps to reduce stress and I thought it would be good to share for any other big thinkers out there.
The brain stuff
Our brains evolved when the world was very different - at the time us humans were nomadic hunter-gatherers, living in tribal communities some 200,000 years ago. Our society and technology has evolved quickly - much quicker than the evolution of our bodies and brains.
Sometimes, our brains cant keep up with the demands and sensory inputs of modern life and so responds to protect us as if we are under threat, the same reaction to if our lives were in danger and we were being chased by a bear. Alone our poor brains can't distinguish between a minor annoyance vs a life threatening situation. Our nomadic brains are just reacting to whatever we are inputting - 'I've got a presentation in 1 hour and I'm not prepared' might bring about the same feeling of panic that we might feel if we had just spotted a bear approaching from the distance, so our brain kicks in to protect us. This is completely normal, or brains are just doing its job - when we are in danger, it automatically responds to help us stay safe. This is what we hear about our fight/flight/freeze response.
When we have a stress/anxiety response three parts of our brain are involved.
Our brain stem - also known as our reptilian brain - this is the part of our brain responsible for keeping us alive. It controls heart rate, breath, body temperature, sleep/wake cycle, movement. When we are stressed this part of our brain prioritises some survival functions eg our heart beats faster so we can get more blood to our limbs, our breathing becomes shallower to take in more oxygen and all of this powers us with extra energy enabling us to run or to fight for our survival (very important if there is a bear) Sleeping makes us vulnerable to said bear and therefore there isn't any time for that. (Sound like any of the physical reactions you might experience during stressful times?)
Another part of our brain mobilised during times of stress is our limbic system, which includes our hypothalamus, hippocampus and amygdala. This is the part of the brain responsible for regulating emotions. When under stress our emotions become more intense, ensuring we take action and quickly.
The third part of the brain engaged in the stress response is the frontal lobe - also known as our 'neocortex'. This part of our brain is responsible for higher functioning and deep thinking. It controls our communication processing, reading, writing, talking, listening, critical thinking and problem-solving.
Busy day? Feeling stressed? Wondering why you are finding it difficult to complete simple tasks or to think clearly? Well, based on brain science it's no wonder as during times of stress our frontal lobe temporarily goes 'offline' - it doesn't matter if you can translate 20 languages or that you are an expert in quantum physics - if you are in danger the energy that your frontal lobe would normally use to process all that clever stuff is sent to other parts of the brain and body systems as a priority to help you through this 'life-threatening' incident.
The good news is, once our brains recognise that we are safe all the systems return to normal. Too busy to relax is no longer a viable objection because brain science says prioritising relaxation lifts us out of survival mode and speeds up the return of our higher functioning, our creativity, critical thinking and problem-solving skills.
So how do we remind our brains that we are in fact safe and that there is no bear to be concerned about? By activating a different part of our brain - our parietal lobe - this is the part of our brain that processes sensory input. It is through our sensory input that we can signal to the brain that we are safe, our environment is not a threat, there are no threatening noises or smells, and there is nothing that we can see that we need to run away from. Signalling to our reptilian brain that we are safe and that it can stand down, by also engaging in deep breathing we are also signalling that it is safe to relax (something that we can't do if actually running away from a bear)
A good way to engage our senses and to practice deep breathing is through meditation. I've been using Headspace every day for the past two weeks and have noticed a huge difference in my reaction to stress and my focus and creativity, and now I understand why. It takes practice if like most of us we have we have been reacting to stressful situations rather than learning to respond appropriately. Give it a go, give yourself 10 minutes a day and let me know what differences you notice! This is a good one to start: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sG7DBA-mgFY
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