Saturday 15 February 2014

You're already awesome. Just get out of your own way!

Judson Brewer MD, Ph.D. details how his clinical research has found that techniques that help us get out of our own way, such as mindfulness training, can have large effects. He also describes the brain processes behind getting in our own way, which involve a network of brain regions dubbed the "default mode network" because of how often it gets activated - for example, when we are regretting something we did in the past or worry about something in the future.

Importantly, he details some of the neuro-imaging research his laboratory at Yale University has performed using experienced meditators, and how he found that a key region of the default mode network, the posterior cingulate cortex, gets deactivated during meditation. This work suggests that the posterior cingulate cortex may be a key brain marker for both getting in our own way and stepping out. 

He finishes by listing some simple ways that we can pay attention, so we can get out of our own way in our everyday lives.

Judson Brewer MD, Ph.D. at TEDxRockCreekPark

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