Meditation Does Far More Than Calm Anxiety
Research findings and personal experiences show that meditation transforms brains and can improve health in multiple ways
I don’t know much about meditation, but
does. He has studied and practiced it for decades, and his insights fascinated me. I’m sharing excerpts from his far more thorough post.All of the words bordered by purple lines are quotes from Dr. Yildiz’s post.
We now understand that our thoughts, behaviors, and actions can indirectly improve brain function. This is where mindfulness and meditative practices become potent tools for boosting brain health, enhancing neurobiological performance, and sharpening cognitive function.
Through over three decades of mindfulness and meditation, I learned to leverage my thoughts, emotions, behaviors, and physical actions to positively impact the brain structure and improve cognitive abilities like working memory, procedural memory, attention, focus, task switching, intention, intuition, problem-solving, creativity, and decision-making.
I conducted countless experiments sensibly and methodically and even documented the distilled version … in a story titled How I Train My Brain Daily for Mental Clarity and Intellectual Productivity
Meditation Affects the Brain Physically
Let me start by explaining some key brain areas that meditation can affect. One important part of the brain is the cortex, which is made up of layers of neurons.
These layers help process what we see, hear, and feel, control how we move, and support higher-level thinking. …
Cortical thickness refers to how thick or deep the brain's outer layer (the cerebral cortex) is. This part of the brain manages important functions like attention, memory, perception, and language. While the thickness of the cortex differs from person to person due to genetics, age, and life experiences, thicker areas of the cortex are often connected to stronger cognitive abilities and better mental health.
While some thinning is normal as we age, too much thinning can be a warning sign of issues like Alzheimer’s or other forms of dementia. It can also show up in people with mental health challenges, such as depression or schizophrenia.
After citing multiple research studies, Dr. Yildiz summarizes the findings:
Many research studies show that meditation can increase cortical thickness in brain areas related to attention, sensory processing, and self-awareness. This effect is especially noticeable in older adults, suggesting meditation may help slow down age-related cortical thinning.
The thickening of these regions is linked to better attention control and improved memory. Meditation also supports neuroplasticity — the brain’s ability to adapt and reorganize — and encourages neurogenesis, the growth of new neurons, particularly in the hippocampus, a critical area for learning, memory, and emotional balance.
By strengthening these brain regions, meditation enhances the connections between areas responsible for attention and memory. It also reduces stress, curbs mind-wandering, and promotes emotional regulation, all of which may help maintain cortical thickness and protect cognitive abilities.
Meditation Tips from Dr. Yildiz
Based on his experience of meditating several times a day for decades, Dr. Yildiz offers 12 wise suggestions, including these:
Start with short (5-10 minute) sessions
Make meditation a consistent part of your daily routine
Focus on your breath to anchor your attention
Explore different meditation techniques to find what works for you
Honor your well-being above all; meditation isn’t for everyone
As noted above, Dr. Yildiz’s original post provides more detailed information and links to multiple research studies. Read it and other outstanding articles in his “Health and Wellness” newsletter:
When I was a graduate student in a Master of Arts Program at Central Washington State College, Ellensburg, WA, a fellow graduate Student in the graduate Painting and Drawing Program there at Central gave me a copy of the book "Autobiography of a Yogi", written by Paramahansa Yogananda. At the time I read the book, and it partially made sense, and partially did not make sense to me. I was 23 years old with little life experience when I read the book. ( I had gone to an undergraduate school-Pacific Lutheran University, in Tacoma, WA, and had started having my own adult ideas about the Vietnam war, religion,etc., and yet didn't feel confident in my own identity as an artist, and confident as my own person). I was at Central Washington State from 1973 to Fall of 1975. I sought out a Therapist at Central Washington State because I had realized i was deeply upset about a situation in my family. I went home at Christmas of 1973, and my mother seemed to be depressed, more depressed than I had ever seen her before. To backtrack, I was the oldest of six kids and my sister (fifth child) was mentally handicapped (mentally age of five years old in a teenage body of a 13 year old). Before I went to college I had "helped" my mother with this sister for years. This sister I will call Nelly. Nelly had ADHD, mental retardation, and was acting out rebellious teen hormonal rages. So when I saw how depressed my mother was at home at Christmas of 1973, dealing with Nelly I sensed something needed to be done. So in January I sought out a psychologist to talk to at Central about my family's situation back in Alaska. I concluded after talking to him in several sessions that I would send my parents a letter, and a cassette tape of a session with my Therapist. In the cassette tape I basically said to my parents that they needed to have Nelly put into a specific institution to meet Nelly's needs because at that timeAlska didn't have the ability or the institution to handle Nelly. I cried on the cassette tape stating to Mom and Dad that I knew that Pastor Groth would be the one to help them find a "Lutheran Institution" that would be appropriate for Nelly. My parents did get lots of support from pastor Groth and his wife, and they did send Nelly to a Lutheran Institution for the Handicapped in Nebraska. After this happened I realized that I had to grapple with my own anxiety about succeeding in a graduate program in ART at age 23 to 24. I was alone and on my own. I had taken care of my parents, and had not learned to take care of myself. When I realized that I went into the first and only full blown panic attack I have ever had. (I have partial ones at various times in my life because I have an anxiety disorder. Was I going to succeed? I was beginning to like my two main art professors, but had not found my own unique "voice/ visual handwriting". So for about twenty four hours I could not eat or sleep. I checked myself into the medical clinic overnight. And when I was there in my bed there I gradually calmed down. I realized God was with me and was going to help me. I didn't read the "Autobiography of a Yogi", then. I read about a year later...It was not until 1984 that I read " Autobiography of a Yogi" for the second time, ten years after I had read before, that it made sense to me. I had completed another Masters of Art Therapy in 1982 and had been hired as an Art Therapist, at a "Day Program for Group and Recreational Therapy of Schizophrenics and Bipolar clients.. I was fired from my first job as an Art therapist. I learned later from a coworker that my boss had fired the previous art therapist before me. That night I looked at my bookshelf and I saw that book "Autobiography of A Yogi". I picked it up and this time when I read it it all made sense to me. I started taking the lessons from Self Realization Fellowship in 1984 on meditation techniques. By 1993, I was ready to taking the Kriya Yoga Meditation lessons. I find that all the SRF meditation lessons help me become calmer, and feel the love of Jesus, and other saints. By the way Mahatma Gandhi was one of Paramahansa's Students, and he took the Kriya Lessons. His story is in "the Autobiography of a Yogi."
There is a book that I would like to read by a Richard Davidson, Professor of Psychology and Psychiatry who began measuring Tibetan Monk's brainwaves. He studied eight long term Monk practitioners of Traditional Tibetan Meditation. I don't know the year or years he did this. He also wrote a book called "The Emotional Life of Your Brain, " by Richard Davidson and Sharon Begley, which I noticed in Amazon Books. I do not know how good that book is. I am intrigued and want to read this book.