, Sept. 18, 2012
One of the hottest forms of stress reduction today is actually
one of the oldest: meditation. But the kind making the rounds of
hospitals, community centers, and even schools in increasing numbers
doesn't involve chanting "Om" while sitting on a cushion with closed
eyes; instead, participants are trained to pay attention to their
thoughts, emotions, and bodily sensations, and to view them neutrally,
"without assigning an emotional value that they are strongly positive or
negative," says University of Wisconsin–Madison neuroscientist Richard
Davidson, coauthor of
The Emotional Life of Your Brain.
The idea is to allow parts of the prefrontal cortex to lessen
activity in the amygdala, which is responsible for evaluating threats.
This helps reduce the likelihood you will overreact and enhances your
ability to see potential solutions to problems, Davidson says.
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