Meditation nourishes the brain

(NaturalNews) What is it about meditation that invokes so much mystery? When asked, people conjure images of difficult lotus positions, strange beliefs and exotic settings. Of course, none of that is necessary and the realities of a person sitting comfortably on their living room floor for a few minutes isn't quite as interesting. Confounding public perceptions even more are the religious connotations that are sometimes connected to meditation. This only serves to further alienate people who could potentially benefit. This is unfortunate since it can easily be argued that prayer in any religion is a form of meditation. The practice of meditation has a long history in almost every major historical civilization and religion, yet there is so much that is not known.

When we look at the past philosophies and beliefs associated with meditation, we can understand the perspectives of the ancients according to contemporary science. Science has not replaced the old views; so far it has mostly served to strengthen many of the ancient beliefs. However, modern science has been able to fill in essential details of underlining processes.

It has been shown that meditation can increase pain tolerance (see below for sources). One study, published in the Journal of Neuroscience (2011), showed that meditation caused a 40% lowering of pain intensity and a 57% lowering of pain unpleasantness. That is impressive when you consider that morphine and other pain relieving drugs only lower these symptoms by about 25%. This relief came from subjects with no previous meditation experience who were taught basic meditation in a total of four 20 minute classes.

A number of studies that have utilized modern imaging technology, such as fMRI, have clearly shown that meditation increases blood flow to the brain and, with extended practice, actually makes significant changes to the brain's physical structure. These changes can lead to increased efficiency and function in certain parts of the brain, such as heightened visuospatial processing and increased focus.

A Harvard Medical School study (2011) put subjects on a two-month course of meditation and then used fMRI to compare the brains of the mediators with the average brain. The results showed that the subjects had increased gray matter density "in brain regions involved in learning and memory processes, emotion regulation, self-referential processing, and perspective taking."

In 2010, a University of Pennsylvania Medical Center study used SPECT (single-photon emission computerized tomography) to map out the differences in blood flow in the brain between people who meditate regularly and people who do not meditate at all. Specific regions of the brain were found to have more blood flow than those of the average person. "The observed changes associated with long-term meditation appear in structures that underlie the attention network and also those that relate to emotion and autonomic function."

Meditation can also foster positive emotions and give practitioners an increased ability to deal with emotions in general such as those associated with stress and anxiety.

A 2009 study published in Neuroimage from UCLA used MRI to compare long-time meditators with novices. In the veteran meditators, they found significantly larger gray matter volumes in the right orbito-frontal cortex, the right thalamus and the right hippocampus. "Both orbito-frontal and hippocampal regions have been implicated in emotional regulation and response control. Thus, larger volumes in these regions might account for meditators' singular abilities and habits to cultivate positive emotions, retain emotional stability, and engage in mindful behavior."

The most researched and clearly established benefit to mediation is the increased ability of attention and self-awareness. Although meditation is not yet fully understood, one thing is certainly clear: meditation nourishes the brain.

SOURCES

Increased Pain Tolerance

http://www.thedoctorwillseeyounow.c...
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/...
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http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/...

Structural Brain Changes

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/...
http://www.health.harvard.edu/newsl...
http://www.sciencedaily.com/release...
http://psychcentral.com/news/2011/0...
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/...
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/...
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http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/...
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http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/...

Emotional Effects

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/...
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/...
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/...
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/...
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http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/...
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/...

Increased Blood Flow

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/...
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/...
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/...

Increased Efficiency

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/...
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/...
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/...
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/...
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/...
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/...

Increased Attention / Awareness

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/...
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/...
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/...
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/...
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/...
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Miscellaneous

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/...
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Cancer and stem-cell

(NaturalNews) Cancer stem cells are what drive cancer growth and spread. To heal cancer you must cause the cancer stem cells to differentiate back into normal cells. This can only be accomplished if the proper internal environment is produced. This environment must address both physical and mental/emotional factors. When chemicals and toxins are introduced into the body, this makes cancer stem cells develop more cancer cells even quicker. Only when an environment that produces health is achieved will the cancer stem cells revert back to normal healthy cells.

The answer to cancer is found in the cancer stem cell. A cancer stem cell is the foundational cell that produces all the other cancer cells that give a malignant tumor its size. The majority of these cancer cells are called non-stem cancer cells. Cancer can be analogous to a bee hive. In the hive the queen is responsible for the growth of the hive. If you killed all the bees but left the queen, she would lay more eggs so that more bees would be produced. The queen represents the cancer stem cell and the rest of the bees in the hive would be the non-stem cancer cells. You will never get rid of the hive until you get rid of the queen. So it is with cancer. Unless you cause the cancer stem cell to differentiate back into a normal cell, no matter how much chemotherapy or radiation you do, no matter how much tumor shrinkage or cancer reduction you achieve, the cancer will return and be even more aggressive, growing faster.

What causes a normal cell to dedifferentiate into a cancer stem cell? A negative change in the internal environment around the cell will cause the change. When the chemical or toxin load builds up to a peak level, this triggers a survival mechanism in the cells. The homotoxicology disease model demonstrates: cancer forms when toxicity builds up to the point that it spills over from the blood to the space between the blood and the cells called the extracellular matrix and then finally spills over into the cell itself and enters the nucleus of the cell where the DNA and genetic material are made. When toxins enter into the nucleus, the cell has one final attempt to survive: it dedifferentiates into a stem cell to try to adapt to a toxic environment.

Chemotherapy does not kill cancer stem cells; it only kills the outer layers of the tumor made up of non-stem cell cancer cells. Your normal cells have an innate wisdom to transform into cancer stem cells to adapt to a toxic environment. When you do chemotherapy, it will cause more cancer cells to be produced in order to survive an even more toxic environment. The only logical answer to heal cancer would be to decrease the toxic load and to naturally support the function of all systems, glands and organs.

Cancer cells should not be seen as a foreign invader that needs to be destroyed. They are your cells that have adapted to survive. To get them to change back into normal cells calls for a change in the internal environment. Cancer cells grow rapidly in high toxins, low oxygen, high sugar and an acidic environment along with certain mental/emotional traumas or shocks. Cancer cells would have no reason to reproduce rapidly and spread if this environment was reversed. If you change the environment, you can cause the cancer stem cells to revert back into normal cells. This is the first step in healing cancer. Any alternative cancer treatment must understand this basic premise in order to be successful.

Sources:

Tumour Biol. 2011 Jun;32(3):425-40.
Cancer stem cells and cancer therapy.
Soltanian S, Matin MM.

Curr Pharm Biotechnol. 2011 Apr 6.
Metastatic Cancer Stem Cells: New Molecular Targets for Cancer Therapy.
Leiros GJ, Balana ME.

American Academy of Anti-Aging Medicine
Integrative Cancer Fellowship 2010 May
Antihomotoxic Bioregulation - O'Byrne, MD





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