MEDITATION
Recently read this book called The Peak Mind by neuroscientist Amishi P. Jha, Ph.D. and provided great insight on the science of attention and how to strengthen it. She studied in labs and from brain-imaging studies to show that we are attentive only 50% of the time and the remaining we're either mind wandering or distracted. She mentions from evolution stand point back in our ancestors time we had to have our attention on full swing to doge threats in the wild. However, today in our modern day society social media, notifications on phone to interruptions in every day activities hijack your attention and drain your mental resources for you to not focus on any given task. The author points out that attention is the new currency and if you are not the product then you are the product!
I enjoyed reading this book because the author does a deep dive based on neuroscience research and provides the breakdown of how attention is captured and the skill needed to mastering your attention is Mindfulness Meditation. Author posed scientific questions such as "Can the mind’s ability to pay attention be improved? And if so, by what means?” In her research and studies it showed that a practice of meditation for 12 minutes a day for 4 to 8 weeks can show improvement in focusing and concentration. As cliché as it sounds the more often you practice the better you get.
I have practiced meditation before but I was curious to understand the scientific breakdown on how and why meditation improves focus, concentration and ability to stay in the present moment. The first step in meditation is an environment to sit quietly in a upright posture and focus on the breath going in through your nose and out through your nose/mouth. Breathing from your nose releases a chemical called nitric oxide into your body. Breathing deeply activates the hypothalamus and triggers the parasympathetic nervous system (area where your body relaxes and calms the body). After a few seconds your mind will wander by natural which the author mentions that mind wandering happens (50%). Mind Wandering happens when we are stuck ruminating about the past, imagining the future, or getting lost in our thoughts; our attention is in a time travel machine always jumping from one thing to the next. The key in meditation is to be aware of the mind wandering and bring it back to the breath. The concentration on breath is important and mostly emphasized in meditation because it is a single focus point of attention. The brain cannot focus on multiple things at a time and the author talks about how the cost of multitasking or switch cost effect where it causes mental fatigue, reduced task performance, and a loss of concentration when trying to do more than one activity at a time. That's why it is important to focus on the breath by doing more repetition it helps one focus on the single activity of the breath going inside of your nose and exhaling through your mouth. Your training your mind to re-direct your attention to the task at hand (the notice of breath) each time your mind wanders strengthening your attention and present moment. Your attention is your mental cognitive resource think of it like a gas tank for the mind. Things such as stress, threat and poor mood take up cognitive resources.
The author points that to strengthen our cognitive focus we need to find our "Flashlight" which is a metaphor to focus the light (attention on a single thing), body-centered awareness “Body Scan” which is focusing on the sensations of your body whether its cold, warm or no sensation, meta-cognition which is awareness of where your awareness is focused “River of Thought” being aware of river flowing but not getting caught up with stories, and ability to connect with the self and others “Connection Practice”also known as Loving Kindness Meditation where you say well wishes to select people you love and care for. Finally, the author mentions how science and research was used to show that physical exercise such as running on treadmill going nowhere improved people's health decades ago and now her take is meditation for 12 minutes a day for 4 to 8 weeks could provide mental health benefits such as focused attention and aware of present moment. In addition, meditation has been associated with neuroplasticity where the brain's neural network structure are changed with each new connections like for example learning something new and the brain will make a new synaptic connection. Hence, why the term "growth mindset "stems from. (Side note: Another good book to read is "Mindset" by Carol Dweck. The brain regions impacted shown in research are prefrontal cortex - where higher processing of key information (meta-cognition), hippocampus - where critical memory and emotional learning happens, and insula - where focus is on body awareness (temperature, sensations and breath). Through the practice of meditation allows one to make more rational decisions by considering the information available in the present moment as opposed to having a scattered mind.
Currently, I am practicing meditation the first thing in the morning and last thing before going to sleep. Hoping to continue my practice. I am starting to see some benefits like when I play pickleball or doing an activity I am aware physically and mentally of my surroundings. Especially, when I play pickleball I don't replay last play or think about where the ball is going to go next rather I am naturally present and react to the present moment in one. Attention is the highest form of love you can give to someone so better to use the resource wisely.
