May 2024 letter - Benefits of meditation
Benefits of meditation
In his book ‘The Biology of Belief’, a stem cell biologist Bruce Lipton talks about the principles of quantum physics and how they are linked to the cell’s information processing systems, how the environment, the signals and information from outside the cell, affects the cells, genes and DNA. This signalling includes messages from our thoughts. Today, epigenetic is one of the most important fields of study.
We all know the saying ‘You are what you eat’, but when looking at science, it is important to notice that you also are what you think. For this reason, we should be much more aware of our thought in our every day lives. As we all know, we all have our own personal limits or challenges in our lives, whether they are related to our health or wellbeing, our ability to create abundance in our life, or inability to stop recreating the same unwanted outcomes in our lives. Could these challenges be a direct outcome from our own thoughts? If so, then can we by stepping beyond these limitations, overcome our old beliefs and ways, and become more unlimited? Could we, for example, heal our body by just changing our thoughts? We would then realise that our genes do not determine our health at all. It’s the environment that affect our genes. We can turn different those genes on and off by our thoughts alone.
What if we were to target the expression of other structures in the body than genes, such as other chemicals or other proteins in our body? Could depressed people for example intentionally elevate their own serotonin levels or those suffering from insomnia increase melatonin in their body or aging people affect their growth hormone levels? Is it possible that individuals with musculoskeletal injuries could purposefully increase collagen and elastin production to repair their tissues? Turns out that the answer is yes.
Our thoughts, the way we think create certain emotions, which again causes a certain chemical reaction in the body, including the release of hormones and neurotransmitters. For example if we have a fearful thought, then feel fear and this leads to our body to release stress hormones such as cortisol and adrenaline which, if it continues for too long, leads to further hormonal imbalances and eventually, if these emotions become chronic, a potential illness, a dis-ease.
Positive emotions have an opposite effect. By why is it so hard to change those negative though patterns?
Negative thinking can easily become habitual and operate subconsciously and the reason for this is thought to be that negative thinking uses less energy than positive thinking. It is easier for us to subconsciously run these automatic programs, unless we consciously change this habit. We can also become addicted to certain chemical reaction in our body and then subconsciously look for reasons from our environment to strengthen our negative thinking. If we are used to getting upset quite regularly over different issues, then we subconsciously look more reasons from our environment to get upset.
To change these destructive thinking patterns and emotions to heal and feel better we should become aware of how we think and feel every day. This is not always easy, because of the learned beliefs and subconscious programming we have been having, and are used to, often since childhood. Meditation is a great tool to do this. It slows down the brainwaves, opening the door to the subconscious and change. As the mind settles down into quieter levels of its own awareness, the subconscious programs that have been playing become less dominant.
A neuroscientist Dr. Joe Dispenza has been looking into this in his work and is even talking about our own inner pharmacist and the unlimited potential that we have to heal and be more resilient in life. His tool and the focus of his studies is meditation. In addition to Dr. Dispenza and his studies, there have been many others too, to show the many benefits that meditation has on our brain and body.
Meditation increases volume in certain regions in the brain, which not only results in reduction of anxiety and depression, but to also in improves immunity. According to studies, the effects are more than from just the relaxation element of meditation – there seems to be something intrinsic about meditation itself that can shift gene expression and lead to significant changes in our health. These include shifts in the expression of genes related to stress, reduced inflammation markers and increased numbers of many cells in the immune system.
Meditation is also found to increase telomerase activity – an enzyme that builds telomeres. Telomeres shorten over time naturally, and shorter length is linked a number of chronic illnesses, so increasing telomere length is thought to indicate healthier aging.
All this happens when in his meditations participants practice opening their heart by feeling heart-centered elevated emotions such as love and joy. During this the body starts naturally releasing an antibody made from the immune cells (white blood cells) called Immunoglobulin A (IgA). Dr Dispenza’ research has found that in less than one week, we are able to strengthen our immune system this way—without the use of any exogenous substance—by as much as 50%. This means that one of your body’s best natural defences against bacteria and viruses is feeling elevated emotions such as love, gratitude, appreciation, compassion, and so on. This is understandable since we know that the opposite emotions to the opposite. When feeling happy, and safe, the body can switch from the fight or flight mode to the parasympathetic nervous system and relax. This is strengthening the immune system, as well as all metabolic systems; enzymes are better released from the digestive system; the cardiovascular system stabilises; the hormonal system moves into balance, and so on.
What Dr Dispenza has also found in his studies is that the data meditators are also able to alter melatonin levels in their blood. As a result, they are in a state of growth, repair, and health since we know the higher the melatonin levels, the lower the stress levels and also, the more serotonin you should have. This is significant since when more serotonin is produced, the better our mood and mental state are, but it also affects our digestion, sleep and even bone density.
Another study found was that those who had been practicing meditation for a long time had increased grey matter in their auditory and sensory cortex as well as many other areas of the brain. Increases in grey matter were also found in a region of the brain linked to the frontal cortex, which is associated with decision-making and memory. It has been said that usually, these cortexes shrink as we age, but in this study, the amount of grey matter in 50-year-old meditators was the same as people twice younger than them - mediation helps you have a younger brain! In addition to increased grey matter, meditation can also cause the brain to grow new neurons, something we used to think was impossible.
These studies were done by neuroscientist Sara Lazar (Havard University). Her brain scans show how meditation can actually change the size of key regions of our brain, improving our memory and making us more empathetic, compassionate, and resilient under stress. In another study, she found that in just eight weeks of meditation, a thickening in several regions of the brain were noted. These included the left hippocampus (involved in learning, memory, and emotional regulation) and the TPJ (involved in empathy and the ability to take multiple perspectives). The amygdala, a region of the brain associated with fear, anxiety, pain, and aggression, also shrank in size.
Our gut microbiome, which processes what we eat, turns out to control a lot about who we are and they are a major control point for our health. For instance, our gut bacteria releases factors that regulate our sleep, mood, food intake, and many other basic functions. In this regard, the gut microbiome functions as a ‘mini brain’. Many studies have been looking at our gut-brain axis that regulates our thoughts and behaviours, and a gut-heart axis that regulates adaptation to stress, and numerous other gut-to-everything axes that regulate virtually every process.
Dr. Dispenza’s recent research has also been looking at the effects of meditations to gut microbiome and says that his early data suggests significant shifts in the gut microbiome of meditators. This effect was independent of the food participants in the study ate, but just seven days of heightened brain activity through meditation did this. This is why he says that it does not matter how healthy your diet is, or whether you are a vegan, gluten-free, ketogenic, organic or other diets and exercise, if you keep programming your mind and body whit negative thoughts, you stay the same.
Imagine the benefits when you combine healthy nutritions real food with meditation?
https://drjoedispenza.com/pages/scientific-research