MEDITATION AND EMOTIONAL HEALTH

 

MEDITATION AND EMOTIONAL HEALTH

Good and correct meditation movements and methods can have a calm and relaxing effect on all nervous tissue.

The autonomic nervous system coordinates activity between the brain and lower body, while the central nervous system functions as the overall command center in the brain and spinal cord. Until recent decades, it was difficult to measure the impact of behavioral practices such as meditation on brain function and structure. However, the increasing availability of tools such as functional MRI in research has now made it possible to detect short- and long-term changes that occur in the brain in response to meditation.

Areas of the brain important for the fight-or-flight response—like the amygdala, for example—appear to shrink with regular meditation practice. This reduction in the amygdala region may explain why meditators show reduced reactivity to emotional stimuli and decreased anxiety and depressive symptoms.

The central nervous system changes improved by meditation are also important for physical health through their effects on blood pressure, inflammatory processes, stress hormones, and other biological processes associated with cardiovascular disease,