The Mind Map: The Spectrum Of Mind States
Signals we constantly receive from our environment can cause a shift towards a state of mind, which can be either a healthy or an unhealthy one. All experiences leave an imprint on the brain—Negative experiences can create long-lasting “neural scars,” while positive ones can lead to the development of highly positive and lasting altered traits. Different types of meditation produce different positive effects.
Healthy vs. unhealthy states of mind
In our daily lives, signals or stimuli from the environment trigger our reaction/response. These inputs from the environment can cause a shift towards a state of mind, which can be either a healthy or an unhealthy one. Examples of healthy states of mind are kindness, patience, even-mindedness, composure, ongoing mindfulness, realistic confidence, humility, integrity, buoyancy, flexibility, adaptability, pliancy, etc. Examples of unhealthy states of mind include self-centeredness, sluggishness, agitation, etc. One strives to have “healthy” states of mind as predominant traits.
According to Dalai Lama, “The true mark of a meditator is that he has disciplined his mind by freeing it from negative emotions.” Most people who are new to the practice of meditation only temporarily overcome or suppress the unhealthy states of mind. As long as they stay in a meditative state, they experience peace, tranquility, and equanimity. However, as soon as they ‘re-enter’ their daily life, they realize that they quickly slip back into an unhealthy state of mind. In Buddhist psychology, the meditators are advised to engage in repeated meditation and continue to deepen their mental training through insight practice, to achieve a radical transformation and stabilize the healthy state of mind.
Neuroplasticity: a science-based framework for inner transformation
When tested in a neuroscience lab, the brain imaging data of advanced meditation practitioners display distinctive brainwave patterns corresponding to various altered states of consciousness. In the last few decades, there has been mounting scientific evidence that experiences can leave an imprint (a mark) on the brain. Negative experiences, such as stressful events, can create long-lasting “neural scars” and can shrink parts of the brain that play a key role in attention, self-regulation, etc. For example, trauma lowers the threshold of the amygdala (the brain center that detects threat/danger), causing our body to respond to minor environmental stimuli as if one were in a state of emergency. On the other hand, individuals whose dominant state is within the positive range of the mind map spectrum develop highly positive and lasting altered traits, such as empathy and equanimity.
Neuroplasticity is a characteristic of the brain—repeated experiences change and shape (rewire) the brain. For example, musicians who daily engage in playing a musical instrument have corresponding brain areas enlarged. This enlargement is in direct proportion to the duration of their activity. A striking example of neuroplasticity is the wider peripheral vision among individuals who are deaf. Deaf people rely on sign language for communication, and many gestures within the sign language involve the periphery of the visual field. Repeated engagement in this activity—the interpretation of the sign language—strengthens the neural circuitry involved in peripheral vision.
A flourishing life through mindfulness and meditation
From the ancient spiritual teachings of Asia to the philosophy of the Greco-Roman world to modern psychology, the ideal of human life has been a state of flourishing or well-being. This is a state abundant with positive, altered traits, and characterized by self-acceptance, personal growth, autonomy, mastery, satisfying relationships, and a sense of life purpose.
Distinct types/styles of meditation enhance the capacity for these features of a flourishing life. Several scientific studies (although done on small groups of participants and rarely replicated), support this claim. For example, one such study has reported that, after a 3-month meditation retreat, there was a lasting increase of telomerase in the participants’ immune cells, which can lead to a longer lifespan. Another scientific study has reported that 8 weeks of mindfulness practice enlarged a brain stem region that correlates with increased well-being.
A far more robust and reliable approach toward researching the benefits of meditation, stillness, and mindfulness practices is to minimize the expectation bias and the failure-to-replicate of the scientific findings. Also, researchers need to rely less on soft measures (such as self-assessment or stated feedback) and use more hard measures (physiological measures such as heart rate, sweating rate, brain imaging, etc.). Research based on such principles provides stronger support for the claim that meditative techniques produce a wide range of benefits and boost the overall sense of well-being.
Different types of meditation produce different effects
Furthermore, the shift in the mind map, i.e., the cultivation of specific altered traits depends vastly on the type of practice the individual engages in. Not all meditation or mindfulness tools and techniques have the same effect. A sustained practice of certain techniques over a longer period can have one type of benefit, while other techniques may be more effective at developing a different set of altered traits.
For example, in 2015, a group of scientists from the Max Planck Institute for Human Cognitive and Brain Sciences in Germany1 compared the effects of three types of meditation practiced over a few months: breath-focused meditation, loving-kindness meditation, and monitoring thoughts without engaging with them. They found that only breath meditation had a calming effect on the participants.
Source
~Based on the book “The Science of Meditation: How to Change Your Brain, Mind and Body” by Daniel Goleman and Richard J. Davidson. Penguin Life. UK, 2017.