Science of Mindfulness/Meditation

Dan Siegel: From an article in the Kripalu Newsletter:

   “To investigate this question, I went on an expedition into the mind to see how mindfulness promotes well-being, and I began to see a fascinating convergence in the domains of relationships, brain function, and mindfulness.

Studies in parent-child attachment suggested that several important processes, including how we balance our emotions and how we have insight into ourselves, are the outcome of attuned, healthy relationships. Studies of the brain revealed that a form of neural integration that takes place in the regions of the prefrontal cortex was essential in attaining healthy attachments and perhaps mental health in general. Amazingly, when I discovered the science of mindfulness, it seemed that these very same experiences of neural integration and healthy interpersonal relationships were also found in mindfulness meditation!

The desire to understand this fascinating overlap drove me to immerse myself in the direct experience of mindfulness practice in retreats. This experience led to the proposal that mindfulness practice was more than attention training, and perhaps even more than emotional regulation exercises, which is what existing studies were examining. It seemed to me that mindfulness practice could be instead considered a relational process–except the relationship is between your observing self and your experiencing self. ”

” Mind: The embodied and relational process regulating the flow of energy and information in an individual.”

The key concept for us to observe in the moment to moment flow of our own mind is that of a ‘mind state’. ” Dan Siegel proposes that a state of mind is “a pattern of activation of recruited systems within the brain responsible for (1) perceptual bias, (2) emotional tone and regulation, (3) memory processes, (4) mental models, and (5) behavioral response patterns. He goes on to say that a state of mind “can have enduring clusters of activation of each of these basic elements.” Also, “a state of mind does two fundamental things: It coordinates activity in the moment, and it creates a pattern of brain activation that can become more likely in the future.” That is, states can become traits and these patterns are carried in the conective tissue matrix.

emotion (mediated by limbic structures) helps coordinate the clusters (efficiently or not so) cohesive, adaptive states

acute stress can lead to disorientation and chaotic, disorganized states… what are the ‘hot buttons’ that can trigger sudden state of disregulation

there are zones of convergence in the brain where neurons from multiple regions come together.

representations are ways of encoding information, ie visual, auditory, conceptual, etc., through specialized information processing systems

a state of mind can be shared with another(s)

We can say mindfulness is an intentionally cultivated state of mind, which includes the activation of the aspect of mental activity  which can examine other elements and clusters of activity in the brain. These clusters of activation include:

(1) orientation to the environment through various sensory modalities

(2) autonomic tone (emotional / sympathetic/parasympathetic balance)

(3) postural tone

(4) access to memory

(5) conceptual processes

In a developing child, we see the continuing emergence of more and more complex patterns of interaction of the child with the environment.

The three basic activation states are deep sleep, dream sleep and waking. These are the autonomic states mediated from the brain stem. We are interested in refining our understanding of the waking state.

The two basic states of waking are “I am safe” and “I am in danger”, so the external environment, and the meaning we give to our experiences, play a major role in activating mind states.

The first step of the waking state is orienting to the environment: To ground, through the vestibular sensing of the inner ears and to the space around us.

“Pathways to Well-being”

 9 pre-frontal cortex correlations with secure attachment and mindfulness: (From Dan Siegel)

1. Regulation of the Physiological Systems

2. Balancing Emotions

3. Attuning to Others

4. Modulating Fear

5. Response Flexibility

6. Insight into one’s own inner functioning

7. Developing Empathy

8. Strengthening Intuition

9. Cultivating Morality  (Dharma)

ipseity: Connection to pure being, as opposed to a narrative self

attention

amygdala

sensory integration

neuroplasticity: “The Brain that Changes Itself”

the emotions and emotional intelligence

psychotherapy

10 domains of integration: ( 9 from Dan, 1 from Arthur)

1. Integration of Conscious Awareness: this is the foundation, the beginning, middle and end of all integration preocesses.

Somatic Trinity; Traveling through the body

2. Vertical Integration: Up / Down, Head to tail, all sensations

3. Horizontal Integration Right / Left, Rt Brain / Left Brain etc

4. Front / Back: cerebellum, movement integration

Temporal Trinity: Traveling through time

5. Memory Integration: From implicit to explicit or autobiographical memory

6. Narative Integration: The story of the evolving self

7. Temporal Integration: dealing with uncertainty, impermanence, death

Now Trinity: Attuning to the Here and Now

8. State Integration: attunement with the many possible needs and expressions of our selves

9. Interpersonal Integration: attunement with another, aligning with another being

10. Transpirational: Attuning to the Cosmos/Kosmos

Notes from ” Big Brain” the origins and future of human intelligence”           by Gary Lynch and Richard Granger 2008

Brain evolution: birds from an expanded visual cortex, (direct mapping) mammals from an expanded olfactory cortex (random access info) dinosaurs highly successful , first bipedal, some triple relative brain size,

mammals have capacity to generate mulitsensory unified representations of the external world. these take place in the neo-cortex

if a cell were the size of a small bird, the cortex would cover the entire eastern us

4 crucial brain structures just below cortex, carrying out their own operations, answering specific questions about inputs received through the senses:

Striatum: sends outputs to brain stem areas connected to muscles and spinal cord, play muscles like music, movement

Amygdala: outputs to hypothalamus – glandualr control system eliciting primitive responses and strong emotions

Hippocampus: encoding memory, new memories: olfactory system sends its largest output to here

Thalamus: Thalamo-cortical loops