How mindfulness changes the brain?

Mindfulness is the practice of paying attention at the moment, without judgment. It may sound simple enough, but being mindful can be anything but easy in our present culture. With the distractions of constant contact via devices and multiple social media platforms, work that travels with us anywhere we go, and an endless list of stressors and responsibilities, being in the moment may not even feel like an option.

Mindfulness practice was introduced in the United States by Jon Kabat Zinn and other researchers who created the Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction program and the University of Massachusetts Medical Center. Mindfulness has become a popular practice because of its research support, accessibility – it’s a skill everyone has and can cultivate because mindfulness itself requires no money or special equipment. Where meditation or prayer may incorporate religious or spiritual beliefs, mindfulness is a secular and scientific practice.

The research support for mindfulness shows that it helps with depression, anxiety, stress, chronic pain and even helps cope with a cancer diagnosis and treatments. In recent years, as the practice gained traction, scientists wanted to understand the impact of mindfulness practice on the brain. In one study, scientists took brain images of people before starting an eight-week mindfulness program using magnetic resonance imaging or MRI. The results of this study were interesting.

In the MRI images, scientists were able to see that parts of the brain had experienced specific changes in size. The amygdala or the warning system in the brain tends to be larger in those who have experienced trauma or chronic stress. Following the mindfulness course, MRI scans showed that the amygdala had reduced in size for participants in the mindfulness program. Additional scans illustrated that the prefrontal cortex or part of the brain responsible for higher-order thinking and our ability to reason was larger following the eight-week program used for the study.

The brain undergoes some positive changes when using mindfulness. If you’re curious about mindfulness or how it may benefit you, talk with a mindfulness teacher or a licensed mental health professional who is familiar with and utilizes mindfulness in their practice with clients.