Meditation. Mindfulness. Breath-work. After 5 years of learning from an evolving daily practice, its benefits in my own life are clear as CSF (cerebrospinal fluid — ask a Dr, possibly the clearest substance known to man). Sadly, many others find resistance with the idea of meditation, and some even take offence to it. In a clinical setting, I often find myself debunking some of the common myths, and trying to provide an overview of the benefits and applications of this latest wellness craze…so I thought it was time to write on the subject, providing an overview and delving in to the science behind it all.

Scholars claim that meditation finds its roots in some of the earliest Hindu traditions of Vedantism, around 1500 BCE. Other forms of meditation are thought to have been developed in Taoist China and Buddhist India around the 6th & 5th centuries BCE. Precise origins are a widely debated subject among scholars, however it can be said definitively that modern meditation is a resurgence of a series of ancient techniques. All too often the word meditation carries with it a stigma of soul-worshipping, hippy-dancing and tree-hugging; yet its benefits and clinical applications can be transformational to those that form a habit from its practice.

Meditation is a practice that I like to think of as cardio for the brain, except it can require sitting still…perfectly still. Mindfulness is a process of openly attending, with awareness, to one’s present moment experience. Practices commonly consist of focusing the mind on a particular activity, object or thought to achieve mental clarity and emotional calm; these are mind-body techniques. Meditation can also take the form of body-mind techniques, which include yoga and tai chi. I’m sure many that have tried meditation have run in the opposite direction after the irritation of essentially being told to sit still and think of nothing, without knowing the other forms of meditative practice. Importantly though, newcomers shouldn’t expect to achieve a quiet mind in one session. Or 10. Or 100. It takes many hours and many years to even begin to understand what Buddhist monks may actually be tapping in to through their practice.

At this point I find it important to point out that meditation and mindfulness practices do not have to be religious. They do not have to follow any spiritual or religious texts, nor paths. It can follow a modern mindfulness path, by focussing on the breath and the body, without religious chanting or worshiping. Practicing meditation does not detract from any other religion, and it certainly does not make you less of a believer or a bad Christian.

Back to my cardio for the brain analogy — remember the first time you went for a run, or to the gym? In the beginning it took way more effort than it should; somewhere in the middle you questioned why it is you’re doing it in the first place; but if you stuck it out, and formed a habit from it, the benefits became so obvious that you became hooked. So, just like a marathon runner needs plenty of practice to go the distance, a busy mind needs hours of repetitive practice to find clarity…and this is thanks to neuroplasticity.

If you’ve heard of, and have a vague idea of, neuroplasticity — feel free to skip this paragraph. If you’re still reading, prepare for my favourite metaphor in neuroscience. Stripped down to basics, neuroplasticity is the brains ability to change and mould itself through its environmental inputs and its conscious outputs; and it sort of works like sledging (bear with me). Think of a hill covered in snow, forming a perfectly untouched white carpet. The first time you trudge to the top and hurl yourself down, you leave a set of tracks in your wake. Now do this 10 times, from the same starting point, you’ll start to fall in to the same groove, which gets deeper and deeper. After the 100th time it becomes almost autonomous for your sledge to follow these deeply engrained tracks. Now, if on run 101 you consciously choose to start from a new position, facing the opposite direction, you lay new tracks…do this 10 times and your new tracks get deeper, and because it’s still snowing, your old untouched tracks begin to fill in.

In the sledging metaphor, the tracks are neurons (the cells that carry and transfer information in the brain). Connections between neurons are thought to be the basis for memory, repetitive thought patterns and form the basic functional units of the brain. In real life, neuroplasticity decreases with age (i.e. the snow falls more slowly the older you get) and as a result it becomes much harder to learn or change. This is a much simplified explanation for how the brain works to develop, change or delete connections, and patterns…but importantly it highlights the need for intention, conscious choices and mindful repetition in formation of any new habit.

These metaphors are my way of painting you a picture of the challenge that lies ahead of you if you wish to pursue a regular meditation practice. If you do decide to jump in the deep end, it will be a journey filled with many rewards and perhaps even change the way you live and view life in general. Presence is the aim of the game, and the clarity presence provides can be indescribably bliss…especially compared to a chaotic, busy and anxious mind.

Now for the science. For years now studies have been highlighting the psychological benefit of mindfulness-meditation, but neuroscience research in the area is in its relative infancy. Studies have repeatedly shown that the capacity to be mindful is associated with higher well-being in daily life (Brown, 2003), and is associated with benefits in stress reduction, addictive behaviours, mood disorders, HIV pathogenesis, inflammation and chronic pain (Creswell JD, 2014).

Many well designed studies have reliably and repeatedly shown reduced depression relapse rates in at-risk individuals; improved the treatment of drug addiction; reduced anxiety, depression and PTSD symptomatology. Furthermore, there are even some suggestions that some contexts of mindfulness interventions offer similar or additional long-term benefits compared to gold-standard treatments (e.g. antidepressant medication, relapse prevention programmes and CBT) (Creswell, 2017).

The application of mindfulness is not limited to treatment — in healthy populations, compared with relaxation and incentivised groups, meditation has been shown to have superior benefits on sustained attention and working memory (Jensen, 2012).

My personal journey lead me to mindfulness for a chronic pain issue that I had been suffering, while studying for my neuroscience degree. I remember researching about the MBSR program (mindfulness-based stress reduction) developed at the University of Massachusetts Medical School, as this was one of the first interventions in the scientific literature, and was initially used to treat chronic pain patients (Kabat-Zinn, 1982). Davis et al (2015) showed that an 8-week mindfulness training program was superior to cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT) for pain, and Cherkin et al (2016) showed it to be more effective at reducing chronic back pain compared to normal treatments (Davis MC, 2015, Daniel C Cherkin, 2016). This evidence-based approach to something that had previously been so contrary to my way of life, and my beliefs, gave me no choice but to try it out. I was desperate at this point, for no medication could take away the pain I was suffering (and believe me when I say I had tried everything), yet the wealth of evidence of the benefits of meditation was overwhelming. The rest, as they say, is history.

Back to the neuroscience — studies have recently begun highlighting mechanisms involved in the benefits of meditation using imaging and other biomarkers. One recent study has highlighted that meditation leads to increased functional connection between the default mode network and the stress-regulatory region of the prefrontal cortex, while also decreasing stress-related resting-state connectivity between the amygdala and the subgenual anterior cingulate cortex (brain areas often implicated in mood disorders and emotional regulation); the same study showed that these brain changes were found alongside a reduction in cortisol and circulating interleukin-6 (both biomarkers of stress) (J. David Creswell, 2016) (Marsland, 2015).

The evidence base is growing, but the story remains the same: meditation is beneficial for all. I believe that the stigma around the practice is beginning to disappear, and with it a rise in uptake of this amazing intervention. My fascination with neuroscience, combined with my condition, led me to my daily meditation practice…and 5 years later I’ve learned more about myself than I could have imagined. I am a new person in ways people from my past would not even recognise. I have sat, still, listened, worked away and grown…but the journey never ends.

I implore you to try it, for the benefits are clear…but please don’t expect years of habitual thought patterns to change over-night, there is still no miracle pill for that.

My Recommendations (not an ad, just honest advice through personal experience)



Headspace is my go to app, probably because it’s the first meditation app I used. It has 10 days free, but then requires a subscription. Headspace has a library of different ‘packs’, that can be thought of as workshops/classes, lasting over a 10-day or 30-day period; as well as single, one-off, sessions. The meditations can be done over your own specified time-limit, and can be guided or unguided. The app uses nice little animations to help with your journey, especially with teaching of different techniques…incredibly useful for a beginner.



Insight timer is the best free database for meditations that I have found. It caters for the meditation community as a whole, and as such there are many spiritual and religious meditations on the app. However, in the search settings you can refine to hide ‘spiritual’ and ‘religious’ content. It can be difficult to find a series of teachings (like the ‘workshops’ described on headspace), but can be brilliant for free one off guided meditations. It also has a timer for those that want to practice in silence, unguided. Once you find meditations that you enjoy, you can bookmark them to form your own library. As this app is based on community, it does come with the ability of commenting and messaging other users; this can all be turned off/privatised through your profiles settings.

References

BROWN, K. W., RYAN, RICHARD M. 2003. The benefits of being present: Mindfulness and its role in psychological well-being. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 84, 822–848.

CRESWELL, J. D. 2017. Mindfulness Interventions. Annual Review of Psychology, 68, 491–516.

CRESWELL JD, L. E. 2014. How does mindfulness training affect health? A mindfulness stress buffering account. Current Directions in Psychological Science, 23, 401–407.

DANIEL C CHERKIN, K. J. S., BENJAMIN H BALDERSON 2016. Effect of Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction vs Cognitive Behavioral Therapy or Usual Care on Back Pain and Functional Limitations in Adults With Chronic Low Back Pain

A Randomized Clinical Trial. Journal of the American Medical Association, 315, 1240–1249.

DAVIS MC, Z. A., WOLF LD, TENNEN H, YEUNG EW 2015. Mindfulness and cognitive-behavioral interventions for chronic pain: differential effects on daily pain reactivity and stress reactivity. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 83, 24–35.

J. DAVID CRESWELL, A. A. T., EMILY K. LINDSAY, CAROL M. GRECO, PETER J. GIANAROS, APRIL FAIRGRIEVE, ANNA L. MARSLAND, KIRK WARREN BROWN, BALDWIN M. WAY, RHONDA K. ROSEN, JENNIFER L. FERRIS 2016. Alterations in Resting-State Functional Connectivity Link Mindfulness Meditation With Reduced Interleukin-6: A Randomized Controlled Trial. Biological Psychiatry, 80, 53–61.

JENSEN, C. G., VANGKILDE, SIGNE, FROKJAER, VIBE, HASSELBALCH, STEEN G. 2012. Mindfulness training affects attention — Or is it attentional effort? Journal of Experimental Psychology, 141, 106–123.

KABAT-ZINN 1982. An outpatient program in behavioral medicine for chronic pain patients based on the practice of mindfulness meditation: theoretical considerations and preliminary results. General Hospital Psychiatry, 4, 33–47.

MARSLAND, A. A. T. P. J. G. C. M. G. E. K. L. A. F. K. W. B. R. K. R. J. L. F. E. J. A. L. 2015. Mindfulness meditation training alters stress-related amygdala resting state functional connectivity: a randomized controlled trial. Social Cognitive and Affective Neuroscience, 10, 1758–1768.