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By Root 642 0

you will find that they can have a very powerful effect on your life. They will boost the responsiveness of your immune system, sharpen your productivity at work, and enrich the quality of your relationships—not just with family and friends, but with strangers whom you might casually meet. Empathy and compassion will be enhanced, and you'll even find it easier to interact with those who hold beliefs that differ from your own. That's a lot to promise, but we feel that the thirty-plus years of research into the underlying mechanics of spiritual practice is so conclusive that we are planning to incorporate these exercises into various programs at the University of Pennsylvania's Center for Spirituality and the Mind.∗2

INTENTION

The exercises in this chapter center on three main interconnecting principles: intention, relaxation, and awareness. Intention refers to the goal you want to manifest in your life, for everything we do has an underlying intention, whether we are conscious of it or not. We use our intention to determine what we want to focus on, and the goal can be anything you choose: money, power, peace, insight, romance, or a closer connection to God. Before you sit down to practice any of the following exercises, clarify what your intention is. Better yet, write it out on a slip of paper and keep it posted in a prominent place. When you clearly articulate your intention or goal in writing and speech, your frontal lobes can more efficiently direct your motor cortex to carry out your desire as you actively engage with others in the world.

It's an extraordinary process: You begin with a goal-oriented thought, and the more you focus on it, the more your brain begins to plot out strategies to carry that thought into the world. Other animals, even primates, can barely do this because they have far fewer neural connections that run from the frontal lobe to other parts of the brain.

RELAXATION

Relaxation is the second principle, and it is found in most contemplative practices and stress-reduction programs. Thus, one begins the intention by consciously relaxing the body. Usually this involves focusing on the breath, but as we mentioned in the previous chapter, yawning may be a faster way to achieve deep relaxation and alertness.

Breath awareness serves another function, because it trains your mind to stay focused on a natural—and essential—body process. By focusing your conscious intention on your breath, you begin to slow down mental “busy-ness.” Your thoughts become fewer and more integrated, and your body begins to relax. In an fMRI∗3 experiment we just completed, when we compared a breath-based meditation to a meditation that focuses on a word or phrase, we discovered that breathing awareness increases activity in the limbic system while activity in the frontal lobe decreases. Thoughts recede, but the emotional intensity of the experience increases.

Relaxation is a key element in meditation—for keeping your body and brain tuned up—but for many people, focusing on one's breath will not achieve the deep state of relaxation associated with neurological health. That is why we've included several different kinds of relaxation exercises, and I strongly recommend that you try them all. Use the ones that feel best, but it's also a good idea to alternate between them. Over time you'll realize that the same technique affects your body in different ways.

AWARENESS

Once a deep state of relaxation is reached, the next step involves becoming aware of your body in relation to the world. Focused breathing enhances self-awareness by increasing activity in the precuneus, an important circuit that regulates consciousness in the brain.1 But in mindfulness practices, this is only the first step in generating greater awareness and attentiveness. For example, you might be asked to observe a simple activity like eating or walking. Usually, you will do it in slow motion, paying attention to every tiny movement you make. If you put some food in your mouth, you'll pay attention to every muscle that is used when chewing,