Monthly Archives: February 2012
Mindful Living: The Power of Change
While mental health professionals often rave about the various therapeutic benefits to incorporating a mindfulness practice into your day, research now indicates that it also produces cognitive and psychological improvements. According to a 2011 study from Psychiatry Research: Neuroimaging, these improvements may be due to changes in your brain structure.
Participants took part in an 8-week Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) Program at the University of Massachusetts Center for Mindfulness, as well as a weekly meditation group. When magnetic resonance (MR) images were examined after the program was completed, researches found the following structural changes that were not found in the control group:
- Increased grey-matter density in the hippocampus, important for learning and memory
- Increased grey-matter in structures associated with self-awareness, compassion and introspection
- Decreased grey-matter density in the amygdala, which is responsible for anxiety
Studies, such as this one are very exciting, as we now know that mindfulness is not just “relaxing,” but also that it allows us to actively change our brains. Read the rest of this entry
Love Connection: An Attachment Perspective
With Valentine’s Day just around the corner, most of us have love on the brain. Whether you’re gushing in anticipation or 
dreading a day filled with chocolate and the color pink, the following will help you use this oh so cheesy holiday to understand the importance of your relationship connection.
While there are individual differences and cultural differences in one’s need for intimacy and closeness, it is inherent in our human makeup to be connected rather than disconnected and isolated. Thus, our need to attach is somewhat universal.
Attachment theory is based off this exact idea; that we innately desire to be in close relationships. John Bowlby and Mary Ainsworth pioneered this theory by studying children’s responses to attachment and bonding with their caregiver. Such bonding behavior is thought to have had an evolutionary advantage, as those who weren’t left to fend for themselves survived longer.
While this may sound a bit prehistoric, we operate from what is called an “emotional brain.” This emotional brain is our limbic system, which is essentially responsible for flight or fight responses.
You can imagine how this emotional brain can feel threatened when our very basic need, attachment, is not met in our primary adult relationship, our romantic relationship. Read the rest of this entry
