MEDITATION

We might observe certain thoughts that repeat when passing through a particular phase of a tidal cycle within our body. This might have something to do with the way our posture changes throughout the tidal cycle, and how that body shape reminds us of a particular encounter or incident in our life.

Bringing awareness to respiratory breath movements can help to anchor our attention in the present and not become swept away in a mental fantasy.

Our thoughts have momentum, and a neural circuit will continue to fire for as long as we feed it with our attention. Anatomically this happens by neurons generating electric pulses in a certain pattern, particular to that thought. If that circuit touches a part of our brain that releases dopamine, or serotonin, we might feel a tickling sensation, or a surge of energy, and the thought neural circuit will repeat, empowering its axons and eventually flooding the respective synaptic clefts with neurotransmitters. This in turn enables continued neural firing much like continually adding popcorn kernels into a hot pot.

Bringing our awareness back to our breath can discontinue the neural firing, shifting attention to a nerve connection or a biological process. This takes the pot off the stove and stops adding more kernels. We must take control of our own attention. Attention is susceptible to being hijacked. Beings who know how to do this deliberately and selectively might be rare, but the possibility exists for our awareness to become distracted by sensory input that detracts from our intention. Think about the information fed to us in our media, or agendas pushed by politicians. This form of hijacking is crude. The only intention is take your mind off its own beautiful potential and to make you feel weak, from there they do their work. If we tune in, we can potentially influence the particular thought connections of another person, and choose new connections that we prefer them to think. We can do this for the good of people we love. But if we open the possibility for an outside person to influence our thoughts, it will always be for the benefit of the influencer, and this diminishes our individual power.

When the body transitions through its tidal cycle, it may again enter a configuration that reactivates the neural circuits that created the repetitive thought. 

The body and the brain are connected, and the posture or position of our body can influence our thoughts.

By focussing on the movement of breath in our abdomen we accomplish two things. Firstly we take the energy of awareness out of our head and direct it to an area of the body that does not usually receive informed attention. Secondly we selectively disempower overactive, and underproductive, neural circuits. This enables astroglia to clear out excess neurotransmitters from synaptic clefts (according to the tripartite synapse hypothesis), which decreases the ability of this neural circuit to spontaneously begin firing and again distract our attention from the breathing movements. 

It takes time for all these neurotransmitters to be reprocessed, but any time afforded this part of our brain is helpful to break an unconstructive habit.

Subjectively it feels that space is being created inside our Mind, and in this space our body is able to recruit energetic supplies and neural cells required to firstly reconstruct damaged cell communities, and secondly create more sophisticated thought neuron circuit patterns if they are required.

After this begins the process of weaning the brain off whichever reward chemicals, or neurotransmitters, were being generated by this repeating thought pattern. While this might conjure images of addicts writhing in agony from withdrawal, it actually is not so difficult. Your brain is replenishing energy reserves by directing its resources away from repetitive thoughts—astroglia produce lactate from recycled neurotransmitters, and lactate is a source of energy for neurons and brain cells—and this brain and body both actively repair disorganised structures while not engaged in active thought.

It almost seems that thought, if not detrimental to our very physiology, is at least not necessary for us to live a healthy and content life. All the reward neurotransmitters will be released in balanced ratios, at appropriate times, when we live according to natural rhythms and do not flood our brain with thoughts of planning, reflection and analysis. These neurotransmitters can still generate all the sensations of excitement, satisfaction, elation, and when required, sleepiness, that can be experienced through daily activities, with the added benefit that the “come down” associated with depleted mental reserves will not arise, but it must be remembered that “wanting” is what got us started on this path, and “wanting” is a thought process.

Through wanting to become better, we learned how to meditate. It might be that “wanting” is simply a vehicle to lead us into quiet observation, a vehicle to be discarded like a raft used to paddle to an offshore reef that needs to be let go of so that the person can dive deeper and look at the coral.

For some people, letting go of one destructive thought pattern is enough. This may be all that is needed to become released from the repeated neural firing that leads to epilepsy. For other people, creating the “space” or neural capacity for more constructive, complex and/or harmonious thought patterns or neural circuits is perceived as a higher goal and can lead a person to live a more enriched life existence. 

How far to take the meditative journey is a personal choice depending on lifestyle requirements, but making meditation a part of your daily life will do more good than harm.

Find a Vipassana meditation centre near you.

References:

 Figley, C. R. (2011). Lactate transport and metabolism in the human brain: implications for the astrocyte-neuron lactate shuttle hypothesis. Journal of Neuroscience, 31(13), 4768-4770. 

 Pellerin, L., Pellegri, G., Bittar, P. G., Charnay, Y., Bouras, C., Martin, J. L., ... & Magistretti, P. J. (1998). Evidence supporting the existence of an activity-dependent astrocyte-neuron lactate shuttle. Developmental neuroscience, 20(4-5), 291-299. 

Image:  http://greenarea.me/en/67144/a-buddhist-monk-shows-unheard-of-brain-activity-during-meditation/

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