At The Regenesis Project, we use cutting edge neuro-imaging to better understand brain function.
In this video, Dr. Jordan and Victoria Venkatraman partnered with Buzzfeed and Goodful to see how 6 weeks of meditation affects brain function.
Check out the final results!
Key takeaways:
- Advanced MRI (fMRI) can show how the brain is working and how different regions are functionally connected, rather than just the shape and size of the brain
- Anxiety is related to a particular part of the brain called the amygdala (you have two amygdalae) that has to do with the flight or flight mechanism
- When people become anxious, the whole brain gets caught up (frontal lobe gets engaged in anxiety response) and the amygdala can become hyper-connected to other brain regions.
- Before her 6-week meditation practice, her amygdala was much more activated compared to same-aged peers.
- After her 6-week meditation, her whole brain quieted down and there is much less activation in her frontal lobe, and her amygdala is no longer hyper-connected in comparison to age-matched peers (statistical analysis).
- fMRI clearly shows how meditation changes yours brain!