By John M. de Castro, Ph.D. “Dostoevsky described his seizures in a letter to a friend: “I feel entirely in harmony with myself and the whole world, and this feeling is so strong and so delightful that for a few seconds of such bliss one would gladly give up 10 years of one’s life, […]
Improve Brain Function in the Elderly with Mindfulness By John M. de Castro, Ph.D. “Most people think that aging is irreversible and we know that there are mechanisms even in the human machinery that allow for the reversal of aging, through correction of diet, through anti-oxidants, through removal of toxins from the body, […]
Increase Brain Grey Matter with Mindfulness By John M. de Castro, Ph.D. “meditating can give you the brain of a 25-year-old. Too bad it can’t also give you the body of one.” – Melanie Curtain Mindfulness training has been shown through extensive research to be effective in improving physical and psychological health and particularly […]
Focused Meditation Changes Brain Activity Differently Then Open Monitoring Meditation By John M. de Castro, Ph.D. “It’s like asking a sport expert ‘what does sport do to your body’. The expert would say, do you mean swimming or horse-riding? You can imagine mental training being as complex.” – Tanya Meditation training has been […]
Increase Brain Activity with Brief Exercise and Meditation By John M. de Castro, Ph.D. “Meditating for a few minutes might help rein in those wandering thoughts and help you stay focused throughout the day. But meditating can have an even bigger impact. Some studies show that it affects the brain in various ways, […]
Meditation Changes the Brain Areas Underlying Executive Function and Mind Wandering By John M. de Castro, Ph.D. “meditation nurtures the parts of the brain that contribute to well-being. Furthermore, it seems that a regular practice deprives the stress and anxiety-related parts of the brain of their nourishment.” – Mindworks Mindfulness training has […]
Change the Brain to Improve Chronic Pain with Mindfulness By John M. de Castro, Ph.D. “we should consider one’s level of mindfulness when calculating why and how one feels less or more pain.” – Fadel Zeidan We all have to deal with pain. It’s inevitable, but hopefully it’s mild and short lived. […]
Spirituality Activates the Brain Networks Underlying Other-Than-Self Attention By John M. de Castro, Ph.D. “Understanding the neural bases of spiritual experiences may help us better understand their roles in resilience and recovery from mental health and addictive disorders.” – Ephrat Livni Spirituality is defined as “one’s personal affirmation of and relationship to a […]
Change the Brain for Greater Happiness with Meditation By John M. de Castro, Ph.D. “meditation. . . appears to have an amazing variety of neurological benefits – from changes in grey matter volume to reduced activity in the “me” centers of the brain to enhanced connectivity between brain regions.” – Alice Walton There […]
Meditation Changes the Brain Differently in Adolescents By John M. de Castro, Ph.D. “The benefits of meditation are many with few, if any, drawbacks. If your teen is struggling, it’d be worth it to give it a try.” – Tyler Jacobson There has accumulated a large amount of research demonstrating that mindfulness has significant […]