Breathing Meditation and Positive Moods

Do you want your moods to be more positive? Research by Jane Anderson has shown that you can teach your neurons to meditate, which can change your brain. Studies done at the University of Wisconsin have shown that brain activity can be changed in about five weeks with a total of seven hours of training and practice. EEG measurements of the brain’s electrical activity were made before and after the five weeks. Participants were told to close their eyes, relax, and focus on the flow of their breath at the tip of nose. When random thoughts arose, they were just to acknowledge the thoughts and then let them go by gently bringing their attention back to their breathing. Those who had done the meditation training showed a difference in brain activity: a greater proportion of activity in the left frontal region of the brain in response to subsequent meditation attempts, a pattern of brain activity that has been associated in other studies with positive moods.