Meditation and Mindfulness, Demystified

with 21st-century science

Meditation and Mindfulness

Climbing on the mindfulness bandwagon is hard not to do these days. Meditation has gotten so popular that you can’t really ignore it anymore. And, to be honest, mindfulness DOES work. 

But maybe it all seems kind of dumb or woo-woo to you. Maybe you’re somebody who thinks critically, and likes to know exactly how your tools work. Maybe you just feel a little skeptical because it’s such a fad.

You’re totally right.

Here’s why.

Most of the stories you’ll hear about how meditation and mindfulness work are based on outdated neuroscience.

All of those stories are based on a so-called emotionally-reactive survival brain, and a rational, prefrontal cortex that you can build through meditation and mindfulness practices. 

To be blunt, those ideas have outlived their usefulness. There’s zero question that these ideas about survival/emotional/rational parts of your brain are completely outdated science fiction—and that neuroscientists have known this for decades.

Busting the myth of meditation and mindfulness

Unfortunately, a lot of psychology celebrities just keep telling these stories, which keeps the general public ignorant as well. To be more effective at managing your emotional life, you’ll need the best science has to offer today. Here goes:

Meditation and mindfulness don’t work because you’re gaining some kind of rational control over the hijacking attempts of your reactive brain.

No, mindfulness and meditation work because you’re installing a new behavioral program in the library of choices used by the predictive part of your brain.

That allegedly reactive part of your brain, including the infamous amygdala (often called your brain’s “fear center”), doesn’t actually react to anything. 

That part of your brain actually generates every possible choice for what your next action(s) could be. That part of your brain issues commands based on the distribution of energy in your body so that you can make your next move.

It does this before you ever even reach the next moment.

You see, there’s nothing reactive about that part of your brain. At ALL.

It follows that thinking about meditation and mindfulness as “building control over your emotions” or over your “reactive brain” cannot even begin to be true.

But does it really matter HOW mindfulness works, as long as it DOES work?

Maybe not.

But if you’re the kind of person who cares about how your tools actually function, I’ve got some news you’ll want to hear.

Let’s say you have a habit of reacting without thinking, or you feel like you’re constantly hijacked by your own emotions.

What’s actually happening at that moment is that, in that particular context, your brain has chosen an action program that says “A lot of energy is required RIGHT NOW!!” 

That was probably often true in your past. You probably identify as a high-energy, high-strung, or jumpy person.

When your brain puts your body in action mode like this, you act in such a way that it looks and feels like a “reaction”…which it isn’t.

It’s actually a prediction. Your brain predicted you would need a lot of energy in that situation, so it chose that action plan, AKA that prediction.

Fast forward. Picture this:

You’ve established a practice of meditation or mindfulness. Your brain now has a program that casts you in the role of a “watcher,” rather than as someone actually taking action.

Your brain has a new behavioral option that says: “I’m just an observer of this energy. I’m not taking unhelpful actions or arguing or exploding, like I’ve always done before.”

It’s not about controlling yourself, it’s about acting differently. It’s about your brain preemptively recategorizing the situation, which actually dials down the amount of energy your brain decides you’ll need for the next moment.

This makes you like a spectator in the stands of a game, rather than a player on the field. As a spectator, your brain predictively commands your body to produce less energy. This calms you down—and not in a reactive, controlling way. 

Here’s the big reason you’ll want to practice mindfulness or meditation somewhat regularly. Unless you’ve run those “watcher” programs and drills many (many!) times before a “real” highly charged moment shows up, they won’t be automatic. 

Think of yourself as a mental athlete training diligently every day, so that when the big game finally comes, you’ll be ready.

Mindfulness Resources if You’re Allergic to Woo-Woo

To teach your brain new programs it can run during the most intense moments of your life, check out this comprehensive course.

To learn more about how the new cognitive science can help you finally get a handle on your emotional life, watch this video.