You may think that mindfulness meditation just improves your mental health but you may be surprised to know that there are numerous research bodies of evidence that show that it also improves your physical health. Your brain Meditating literally changes the size & shape of your brain. A study published in Psychiatry Research: Neuroimagining demonstrated that after an 8 week meditation program the part of the brain that is associated with fear, worry and stress (amygdala) had decreased in size and the connections with the amygdala and other areas of the brain had become weaker. Whereas the pre-frontal cortex which is associated with learning, reasoning & emotion regulation had increased in s

Did you know that your brain has it's own alarm system? The amygdala makes up part of your own personal alarm system. It is a tiny almond shaped region of the brain which is important for your survival. When it works properly it does a really good job of helping you avoid/get out of dangerous situations. If the amygdala senses danger it makes a split second decision and invokes the "fight or flight" response to get you out of that situation fast. Unfortunately the amygdala can become over sensitive and alert you to every possible situation that may be a threat to you, no matter how trivial. This means that the fight or flight response can constantly be triggered unnecessarily and can lead to