Transforming Minds

Learning is making synaptic connections; instruction gets the body involved in order to have a new experience, which further enriches the brain. When we also pay attention and repeat our new skill over and over again, our brains will change.

Meditation is not the only way in which you can use attention to change your neurophysiology and experience, but at present, these practices are the best understood, most accessible, and most clearly beneficial regimens.

I heard a number of psychologists compare the experience of “mind” or “self” to watching a movie. When we watch a movie, they explained, we seem to experience a continuous flow of sound and motion as individual frames pass through a projector. The experience would be drastically different, however, if we had the chance to look at the film frame by

Research has shown that after just eight weeks of consistent mindfulness meditation, the amygdala — the part of our brain known as the “fear center” — noticeably shrinks. And the prefrontal cortex — the part of our brain that deals with decision-making and awareness and concentration — becomes thicker.5