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 […]
Improve the Brain for Better Emotions with Mindfulness By John M. de Castro, Ph.D. “meditation affects the brain. . . four regions of meditators’ brains associated with healthy brain function become more substantial, while one of the areas associated with undesirable behavior actually shrinks.” – Mindworks Mindfulness training has been shown to […]
Change the Brain with Mindfulness Apps By John M. de Castro, Ph.D. “Rather than treating the usage of smartphones and mindfulness as oxymorons, we should consider ways to use our smartphones as a tool to aid our mindfulness practices.” – Courtney Ackerman Mindfulness training has been shown through extensive research to be effective […]
Unique Brain Activity Registers Internal Attentional States During Meditation By John M. de Castro, Ph.D. “Your brain is actually shaped by your thoughts and your behaviors. . . meditation can help boost attention and keep the brain sharp. . . mindful breath awareness may improve attention and help curb impulsive behavior” – Grace Bullock There […]
Content Free Awareness is Associated with Increased Brain Attentional Activity and Decreased Self-Awareness Activity By John M. de Castro, Ph.D. “While scientists do not yet fully understand the true origin of consciousness, many agree that it can be measured within the brainwave patterns of the individual.” – EOC Institute In meditation there […]
Focused Meditation Changes Clustering of Brain Systems 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 G. Walton […]
Reconfigure the Brain for Improved Executive Function with Meditation By John M. de Castro, Ph.D. “So, what’s the best way to build a better brain? Backed by 1000’s of studies, meditation is the neuroscientific community’s most proven way to upgrade the human brain.” – EOC Institute The nervous system is a dynamic […]
Change the Brain to Reduce Chronic Pain with Mindfulness By John M. de Castro, Ph.D. “While many experts recommend mindfulness-based practices to manage pain, the goal of those practices is typically not to remove pain entirely, but to change your relationship with it so that you are able to experience relief and healing […]
Treat Depression with Tai Chi By John M. de Castro, Ph.D. “A 12-week program of instruction and practice of the Chinese martial art tai chi led to significantly reduced symptoms of depression in Chinese Americans not receiving any other treatments.” – Science Daily Clinically diagnosed depression is the most common mental illness, […]
Structural and Functional Changes in the Brain Produced by Meditation Training By John M. de Castro, Ph.D. “Measurable changes in brain regions associated with memory, sense of self, empathy, and stress start to appear in subjects who practice mindfulness meditation for only eight weeks.” – Deepak Chopra There has accumulated a large […]