How God Changes Your Brain - Andrew Newberg, M. D_ [85]
You can experiment with this technique right now. Because your attention is focused on reading, you'll notice that you aren't aware of the book that you are actually holding in your hands. But the moment I bring your attention to it, other sensations become conscious. Notice how heavy the book feels. Now notice the texture of the cover. What does the smoothness feel like? Is it warm, or cool? And what about the paper on which these words are imprinted? How thick is it? How dark or light is the ink? What happens if you focus on the spaces, rather than the words? Now do one more thing: Take in ten very deep breaths and watch how your sensation of the book changes.
Each of these shifts in awareness intensifies the experience of the book, which is what meditation is designed to do. It heightens the quality of the experience and reminds you that there is so much “experience” in everything we do. Meditation broadens your scope of conscious experience, and this strengthens important circuits in your brain. Furthermore, it neurologically helps your frontal lobes become more focused and organized. Research confirms that advanced meditators have a greater cognitive ability to recognize subtle changes, not only in themselves, but in the environment as well.2
There is another neurological benefit, for as you become aware of your mental processes, you learn to watch them and not react. You simply observe your thoughts and feelings as they constantly flow through your mind. Some refer to this as “mindfulness.” If an anxious, irritable, or depressing thought pops up, you note it, then immediately return to your breathing or relaxation, watching what the next thought or feeling will be. Frontal lobe consciousness increases to the point that it begins to neurologically suppress the emotional circuits in your brain. When this happens, feelings of anxiety, irritability, or depression subside, which has a profoundly beneficial effect on every other aspect of neural functioning.
WHAT HAPPENED TO GOD?
Even though some of the following exercises grew out of different religious traditions, the neurological benefits are primarily associated with intention, relaxation, and awareness. So, for the purposes of reaching the broadest audience, we have removed the religious inferences. However, if you incorporate your ethical, spiritual, or religious beliefs into these exercises, they can become even more meaningful and experientially rich. For example, we recently studied the religious practice known as the Rosary, which involves the repetition of specific prayers as you count a string of beads, and we found that performing it is associated with lower levels of anxiety and stress. Furthermore, you can bring many of the following techniques into your church, temple, or mosque and integrate them into the rituals of the religion. In fact, Eastern meditation has been widely adapted by many sects of Christianity.
This brings us to the question of religious involvement in general. Does it have a meaningful effect on your health? The answer, briefly put, is yes. The data on religious involvement consistently shows that those who regularly attend religious services live longer and have fewer problems with their health.∗4 Even those who attend once a month have a 30 to 35 percent reduced risk of death.3 The numbers are equally consistent for Caucasians, African Americans, and Mexican Americans, and for older individuals, religious activity is even more beneficial.4 Those who attend weekly are significantly less likely to have a stroke, but interestingly, religious involvement did not have an effect on heart attacks.5 Nor does it protect a person from abusing drugs.6 Overall, it appears that religious activities and beliefs have only a minor effect on an individual's use of drugs.
Are there any drawbacks to religious involvement? Yes, but it mostly involves issues concerning anger