For thousands of years, Buddhist meditators have claimed that the simple act of sitting down and following their breath while letting go of intrusive thoughts can free one from the entanglements of suffering.
Now, scientists are using cutting-edge scanning technology to watch the meditating mind at work. They are finding that regular meditation has a measurable effect on a variety of brain structures related to attention.
A team of Emory University scientists reported that experienced Zen meditators were much better than control subjects at dropping extraneous thoughts and returning to the breath.
The Emory team tested Zen meditators and non-meditators. They discovered that the meditators, once distracted were able to quickly return to focus. The non-meditators were easily distracted and had difficulty returning to and maintaining focus.
It is widely known that people lose neurons (gray matter) and have more trouble concentrating as they age, the study published last year by the Emory team found this wasn't true of the Zen practitioners.
What they saw in the meditators was pretty much a straight line. There was no decrease with age in their gray-matter volume.
So meditate today; your mind is a terrible thing to waste!
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