The Emerging Mind: How relationships and the embodied brain shape who we are -- We can change how our brain functions. We can change the very structure of the brain. Yup, more on neuroplasticity. This man believes in the very real potential of healing change in our lives and helps inform us about how to do just that.
Thought I'd share this opportunity with you all. Rick Hanson teaching are wonderfully simple and profound both. This should be a really great course and it's FREE. Several of the people joining him for the course are people whose work has inspired me. Some of them I've mentioned on Beyond Meds.
This is why healing our brains, bodies, minds and lives is always possible: Scientists have believed for decades that most of the wiring of the brain is established by the time a person has reached adolescence. Now, a new study published in Neuron reveals that even in adulthood, changes in sensory experiences can cause massive rewiring of the brain.
Essentially every good habit you have will help rewire your brain for health! That is what neuroplasticity is all about. Practices like physical exercise, certain forms of psychological counseling and meditation can all change brains for the better, and these changes can be measured with the tools of modern neuroscience, according to a review article now online at Nature Neuroscience. The study reflects a major transition in the focus of neuroscience from disease to well being, says first author Richard Davidson, professor of psychology at University of Wisconsin-Madison. The brain is constantly changing in response to environmental factors, he says, and the article “reflects one of the first efforts to apply this conceptual framework to techniques to enhance qualities that we have not thought of as skills, like well-being. Modern neuroscience research leads to the inevitable conclusion that we can actually enhance well-being by training that induces neuroplastic changes in the brain.”
Self-compassion and awareness are the qualities we need to start to heal our mind and body. Bringing mindfulness to a problem is the beginning of change. Paying attention to a process is changing the process! Even before any behavior changes.
brain scans show meditation can actually change the size of key regions of our brain, improving our memory and making us more empathetic, compassionate, and resilient under stress.
We can heal through meditation and by using our brains in the right ways. An ongoing sub-theme of this blog. A wonderful message of the nature of our beings -- being that we are healing machines. Richard Davidson's radical claim is that these behavioral strategies are far more effective then medications for both mental and... Continue Reading →
The discovery of neuroplasticity, that our thoughts can change the structure and function of our brains, even into old age, is the most important breakthrough in our understanding of the brain in four hundred years. Dr. Norman Doidge introduces principles we can all use to overcome brain limitations and explores the profound brain implications of the changing brain in an immensely moving book that will permanently alter the way we look at human possibility and human nature.
Yoga can supposedly improve depressive symptoms and immune function, as well as decrease chronic pain, reduce stress, and lower blood pressure. These claims have all been made by yogis over the years, and it sounds like a lot of new age foolishness. Surprisingly, however, everything in that list is supported by scientific research.
Rick Hanson explains how we can boost our positive emotions and positive experiences.
exercise isn't just about physical health and appearance. It also has a profound effect on your brain chemistry, physiology, and neuroplasticity (the ability of the brain to literally rewire itself). It affects not only your ability to think, create, and solve, but your mood and ability to lean into uncertainty, risk, judgment, and anxiety in a substantial, measurable way, even though until very recently it's been consistently cast out as the therapeutic bastard child in lists of commonly accepted treatments for anxiety and depression.
