Unplug

Unplug is your guide to utilizing meditation to enhance your brain, deal with stress, and become happier, explaining the basics of this practice, how to get started with it, and what science has to teach about its many benefits.

When I was younger I remember adults telling me that your brain is unchangeable after about age 25. I’ve since learned that this is not true. You can actually mold your brain however you like, no matter your age.

The only trick is learning the right techniques and using tools like meditation to intentionally shape it instead of letting the world do it for you.

Two studies by Sara Lazar, a neurologist at Harvard, prove this point. Both studies compared the brains of people who meditate and those who don’t.

The results of her experiments showed that people who practice mindfulness regularly have more gray matter in their frontal cortex. This is the part of your brain that controls decision-making and memory.

What’s more, while the frontal cortex usually gets smaller as people age, this isn’t the case for people who meditate regularly.

In one of Lazar’s studies, participants that had never practiced mindfulness tried it for eight weeks straight for 30-40 minutes each day. Afterward, their brains had grown. They performed better on tasks related to concentration, learning, memory, and emotion. And they were happier, too!

Lazar’s research also discovered that the parts of the brain responsible for fear and anxiety become smaller through meditation.

And if this isn’t enough to motivate you to try meditation out yourself, other research confirms that this practice will reduce your stress levels!

Now that you know the science behind what meditation can do for your brain, it’s time to learn how to actually do it. To make it easier, the author has broken it down into six simple steps: Pick something to focus on. Your breath is a common one because you take it with you everywhere you go. But you can also use an object or even a mantra, which we’ll talk more about in a moment. Get into the rhythm so that you’re not focusing on anything at all. Recognize the period of time where you’re free of thoughts and can relax in a feeling of peace. Let thoughts enter this headspace you’ve created, but don’t follow them. Recognize the thought, let it pass, and return to your initial point of concentration. Repeat steps two through six for the rest of your meditation session. Let’s talk about a way to make this process a little easier on you. If you’re struggling to focus on your breath, a mantra is especially helpful. This is a phrase or word you repeat in your…