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THE Neurobiology OF We
in intentional rather than automatic
behavior, activating a different brain cir-
cuitry. Not only did he introduce a new
treatment for mental illness, he also
Patty de Llosa provided hard evidence that the mind
can control the brains chemistry as
he demonstrated how refocusing
literally reprograms the brain, and
mindfulness gives people more control
over their lives.
On another front, the millennial inner
science of meditation became the focus
of experiments by Dr. Richard Davidson,
a pioneer in contemplative neuroscience
at the University of Wisconsin at
Madison. With the cooperation of the
Ramon y Cajal. Drawing
of a neuron, 1899 Dalai Lama, he made MRIs of Tibetan
monks in such meditative states as visual-
ization, one-pointed concentration, and
The mind is its own place, and in itself The breakthrough in imaging tech- the generation of compassion. According
niques led Dr. Jeffrey Schwartz, now a to Davidson, the brain can be trans-
Can make a heaven of hell,
research psychiatrist at the School of formed through engagement with purely
A hell of heaven. Medicine at the University of California mental practices derived from the
John Milton, PARADISE LOST at Los Angeles and author of THE MIND & worlds great religious traditions. The
THE BRAIN, to wonder two decades ago, brain, more than any other organ in our
DID YOU EVER WONDER, somewhat apprehensively, whether What kind of internal experience is gen- body, is the organ built to change in
your true inner Command Center rests in the complex bio- erated by the neuronal activity captured response to experience.3
mechanics of your brain or the vast reaches of your mind? It on a brain scan? Even more important, When the Dalai Lama was asked what
always seemed to me as inscrutable as asking which came first, how can we use scientific discoveries greater benefit he hoped for from this
the chicken or the egg. But the study of neuroplasticity is chang- linking inner experience with brain func- line of research, His Holiness replied:
ing the way scientists think about the mind/brain connection. tion to effect constructive changes in Through training the mind, people can
While theyve known for years that the brain is the physical sub- everyday life?1 A student of Buddhist become more calmespecially those
strate for the mind, the central mystery of neuroscience is how meditation, he developed a form of ther- who suffer from too many ups and
the mind influences the physical structure of the brain. In the apy to change the faulty chemistry of a downs. Thats the conclusion from these
last few decades, thanks to PET and MRI imaging techniques, well-identified brain circuit: that of the studies of Buddhist mind training. And
scientists can observe whats actually going on in the brain while patient with Obsessive Compulsive thats my main end: Im not thinking
people sleep, work, make decisions, or attempt to function under Disorder. (OCD is a prime example of how to further Buddhism, but how the
limitations caused by illness, accident, or war. pathological brain processes in which Buddhist tradition can make some con-
around us, or what he calls the neurobi- it on all the sciences. Were looking for est interpersonal experiences may have
ology of we. 5 Siegel is Clinical what we call consilience. If you think of created detrimental repetitive patterns,
Professor of Psychiatry at the UCLA the neuroscientist as a blind man looking new patterns are formed all through our deeply troubled or traumatized person
School of Medicine, co-director of the at only one part of an elephant, we are life span. We can liberate ourselves from who tries to sit in meditation feel more
Mindful Awareness Research Center, and trying to discover the whole-elephant those old patterns through new neural pain, even with an effort at I am here?
view of reality.6 connections. And Siegel believes interper- He said, With mindfulness youre not
In a tele-class on Clinical Applications sonal relationships are key to new forms of trying to get beyond the pain. Its just
of Interpersonal Neurobiology, he mental flow that shape the focus of our the opposite. Youre trying to deeply
explained that For a person to change, attention and what we envision. Since accept the pain. So the resistance when
the mind must change. He added that the mental processes of attention and you try to get beyond the pain is actu-
we now know mind is coming both imagination change the firing in the brain, ally creating more suffering. If pain is
from interpersonal processes and from the brain can be changed by the mind.10 there, your job is to accept it, and the
brain structure or neurobiology. The Siegel is convinced that the develop- relief from the desire and drive and
brain is the social organ of the body, ment of attention through meditative urgency to get rid of it actually power-
where one hundred billion neurons exercises is a crucial aspect of inner bal- fully reduces the suffering, even though
reach out to other neurons. The release ance. He recommends it to his patients, the pain remains.12
of neurotransmitters will excite or telling them mindfulness helps people
inhibit, fire or not fire. Its the firing pat- regulate their internal states, including
We is what me is!
terns that lead, in part, to the experience their immune system, their emotions,
of mind.7 their attention, and even their interper- OUR NERVOUS SYSTEM has two basic
Heres an example he gave of how sonal interactions. Now, for me, he modes: it fires up or quiets down. When
neural firing leads to mental experience adds, thats not a surprise. Because were in a reactive state, our brainstem
and how mental experience creates neu- mindfulness promotes the growth of signals the need for fight or flight. This
ral firing. When someone says the words, integrative fibers in the brain, which are means were unable to open ourselves to
Eiffel Tower, you have an immediate whats needed for regulation across all another person, and even neutral com-
visual experience because when you hear these domains. Integration is the funda- ments may be taken as fighting words.
the word, an electrical current running mental mechanism of self-regulation.11 On the other hand, an attitude of recep-
through the acoustic nerve fires, sending I asked him how meditation could tivity activates a different branch of the
a message to the left brain, where it is help a soldier returning from Iraq deal brainstem as it sends messages to relax
The human nervous system decoded. A visual image is then created with traumatic experiences. Wouldnt a the muscles of the face and vocal chords,
between two brains, mine and yours, and SHAMBHALA SUN (March). 12 MINDSIGHT, p. 224. 23 Mind that Changes.