Oakville Zen Meditation
Positive evidence-based impacts of mindful breathing on our
critical brain functions.
We talk many times about the importance of mindful breathing not only during formal meditation as a perfect tool to anchor our mind, but also during the day as a temporally stress release technique.
However, I never went in detail into the sophisticated functional neuro-imaging evidence-based findings discovered over the last few years. One can visualize on the computers how breathing is affecting many of our key neuro circuits through induced neuroplasticity.
Here we go: Slow mindfulness breathing ( 6 to 8 /min) has two major simultaneous and opposite effects: Suppression and 2is Stimulation of the neural activities of key neural networks.
1 Suppression / deactivation of:
a Our Default Mode Network (DNM) is our auto-pilot thinking representing the majority of our 24/7 mental activity.
When our brain is not engaged in a specific goal-directed task, the DMN is automatically activited. It is responsible of day-dreaming, self-centered inner monologues, rumination
and negative feelings such as regrets of the past, anxiety regarding the future, et….
During actual neuro-imaging, slow, mindful breathing slows down the activities of several
complex “ neural hubs” composing the TMN.
b Our stress generated neural hubs:
Localized mostly in our reptilian brain, ( amygdalia), our emotional output is weakened, and does not react as usual while facing negative thoughts or negative self-talks, and stressful situations.
c Decreasing pain sensitivity and intensity has also been proven.
2)Activation / enhancement of:
a Cognitive functions:
By dampening the DNM, its opposite, that is our neural hubs responsible for focusing, analytic, and rational thinking are stimulated . We become more aware of what is genuine factual reality and what is mind-made fiction.
b Peripheral nervous systems:
Mindful breathing causes the autonomic peripheral nervous system to shift from sympathetic ("fight-or-flight") to parasympathetic ("rest-and-digest"). Lower heart rate and reduced cortisol signal to the brain that there is no active threat, removing therefore the chemical triggers that usually fuels anxious, defensive internal talk. In other words: this is an anti-stress effect.
Awareness of the present moment, and factual reality. It is called “anchoring”:
Slow, mindful breathing pulls attention away from abstract temporal self-centered narratives
(mostly past guilt or future anxiety) and grounds our awareness toward immediate
sensory physical sensations of the moment , where negative self-talk cannot easily
sustain itself.As we can see, mindful breathing interacts in synergy with our various neural networks to create appropriate, less emotional reactions while facing restlessness and stressful thoughts and . activities. It took many centuries to scientifically confirm the beneficial effects of mindful breathing described over thousands years ago. These effects are obviously transient but they can be repeated many times when needed.
