Self-Directed Neuroplasticity
"What flows through your mind sculpts your brain. Thus, you can use your mind to change your brain for the better." - Rick Hanson, PhD
As a human, you’re uniquely capable of deliberate mind training.
No other animal has this ability.
Of course, other animals learn, and their brains undergo neuroplastic changes (forming new neural circuits). But none can do so consciously.
This process is called self-directed neuroplasticity, and it’s your ticket to a fit mind.
What is Self-Directed Neuroplasticity?
First, let’s briefly look at regular old neuroplasticity.
Until a couple of decades ago, neuroscience was unaware that the adult brain could change. The consensus at the time was that your brain steadily declines once it reaches maturity.
More recently, it’s become clear that your brain continues to wire itself up until your last breath. It’s always adapting.
According to Hebb’s Law, “neurons that fire together, wire together,” meaning that your brain forms new neural connections depending on how you use it.
Hebb’s Law: Neurons that fire together, wire together.
The human brain contains 85-100 billion neurons, which are constantly receiving chemical messages from other neurons and passing them on.
When you repeat an action, like swinging a tennis racket, the related neural synapses form stronger connections. So next time you swing a racket, that movement requires less energy. Neuroplasticity is science’s term for this structural and functional change in the brain as it adapts.
Self-directed neuroplasticity, then, is your ability to change your own brain by applying it in a particular way. The “self-directed” piece refers to your ability to intentionally choose how your brain models itself.
For example, thinking positive thoughts has been shown to produce epigenetic changes in the brain.[1] Whatever is on your mind today is building your brain of tomorrow. That can be good or bad depending on the mindset that you’re engraving into your brain.
Since the brain creates thousands of new neurons every day, constantly rearranging its neural connections, it becomes critical to shape it in helpful ways.
So how do you take full advantage of self-directed neuroplasticity?
How Meditation Trains the Brain
Meditation is a system of mental training. You can build positive qualities of mind like focus, vitality, and joy.
The main mechanism behind meditation’s transformative potential is self-directed neuroplasticity.
You’re using your mind to change the brain, like a child crafting Playdough. It’s empowering to know that you’re in control of your own mental fitness.
Let’s say you want to improve your attention muscles. If you practice a concentration meditation technique, repeatedly bringing your wandering mind back to your breath, for example, you’ll begin to sculpt a strong attention.
[Note: For guided self-directed neuroplasticity exercises, check out the FitMind meditation app.]
Repeatedly applying your mind in a particular way strengthens those neural connections. Soon, your mind effortlessly and habitually takes on those mental states.
You know those people who seem so naturally attentive, happy, and full of energy? We all have access to this way of being. Your mind is not a fixed entity.
That’s the most inspiring part about self-directed neuroplasticity: it means you can shape your mind any way you’d like. Each of us has the power (and even responsibility) to create the mind we want.
The Brain of an Olympic Meditator
Indeed scientists have found that experienced meditators’ brains look different.
They exhibit an enlarged prefrontal cortex (responsible for rational decision-making),[2] smaller amygdala (the fear center of the brain),[3] thicker hippocampus (key for learning and memory),[4] and overall increased grey matter (brain cell bodies important for processing power and linked to intelligence).[5]
Meditations masters showed significant alterations in their brains from years of self-directed neuroplasticity.
This rewiring doesn’t happen overnight, of course, but you can start the process with as little as five minutes per day, which has been shown to create neuroplastic changes.
What few people realize is that anyone can sculpt their mind, improving their perception of the world in each moment.
P.S. — If you’re serious about learning methods of self-directed neuroplasticity, check out the FitMind meditation app.
Sources:
[1] See: Blackburn, E., & Epel, E. (2017). The telomere effect: a revolutionary approach to living younger, healthier, longer. Hachette UK.
[2] Lazar, S. W., Kerr, C. E., Wasserman, R. H., Gray, J. R., Greve, D. N., Treadway, M. T., ... & Fischl, B. (2005). Meditation experience is associated with increased cortical thickness. Neuroreport, 16(17), 1893.
[3] Taren, A. A., Creswell, J. D., & Gianaros, P. J. (2013). Dispositional mindfulness co-varies with smaller amygdala and caudate volumes in community adults. PloS one, 8(5), e64574.
[4] Hölzel, B. K., Carmody, J., Vangel, M., Congleton, C., Yerramsetti, S. M., Gard, T., & Lazar, S. W. (2011). Mindfulness practice leads to increases in regional brain gray matter density. Psychiatry research: neuroimaging, 191(1), 36-43.
[5] Luders, E., Cherbuin, N., & Kurth, F. (2015). Forever Young (er): potential age-defying effects of long-term meditation on gray matter atrophy. Frontiers in Psychology, 5, 1551.
Image Credits:
pre-post synaptic connected by khanacademy
synapse and neuron cells by Andrii Vodolazhskyi
meditation and the brain by UA Magazine