Power Up Your Brain (16 page)

This means that you don’t have to use old and well-worn neural networks of distrust, struggle, or victimization. Instead, you can direct your focused attention to creating functional neural networks for well-being, happiness, patience, trust, compassion, and all of the other positive emotions—but this requires a still mind which can be attained through meditation practice and the enlightenment techniques presented in this book.

You no longer have to live your life operating from the dark recesses of your limbic brain’s flawed perception that the world is a hostile and foreboding place. Rather, you can establish new neural circuitry that will let you break free of a self-perceived destiny crafted by your family of origin, by early life trauma, and even by the states of health or disease that, according to the old, faulty medical paradigm, are preordained by your genes.

The discovery of neuroplasticity has become a focal point of unified interest in discourse among philosophers, scientists, and theologians alike. As Jeffrey Schwartz and Sharon Begley propose in their book,
The Mind and the Brain,
“The time has come for science to confront the serious implications of the fact that directed, willed mental activity can clearly and systematically alter brain function; that the exertion of willful effort generates
physical force
that has the power to change how the brain works and even its physical structure. The result is directed neuroplasticity.”
⁸

FILLING THE GLASS

This is where we explore the effect of mental attention
not
associated with any physical activity or dedicated to memory— that is, mental attention directed onto itself in such a way that we facilitate the experience of grace or enlightenment.

Andrew Newberg, M.D., director of the Center for Spirituality and the Mind at the University of Pennsylvania, uses sophisticated brain mapping and imaging techniques to examine how meditation changes both the structure and function of the brain. In his book
How God Changes Your Brain,
Newberg states that meditation not only modifies specific areas of the brain but helps the meditation practitioner behave and express emotions in a more positive manner.

Newberg’s work shows that meditation enhances blood flow as well as function in an area of the brain called the anterior cingulate, an evolutionary newcomer that mediates empathy, social awareness, intuition, compassion, and the ability to regulate emotion. This structure sits in the front of the brain and wraps around the anterior of the corpus callosum, which is the thick network of neurons that bridges the two hemispheres. In addition to these functions, the anterior cingulate acts as communications conduit between the amygdala, which, as we’ve already stated, is one of the most primitive brain structures, and the prefrontal cortex.

The anterior cingulate thus stands at the crossroads. Its functionality, or lack thereof, helps determine whether our day-to-day behavior is reflexive and fear-motivated or is a manifestation of our uniquely human ability to recognize a wide array of choices, implications, and consequences. Newberg has quite graphically shown that meditation and other spiritual practices strengthen the anterior cingulate while also calming the primitive amygdala.

As might be expected, anger produces an effect quite the opposite from meditation. Anger shuts down communication to the prefrontal cortex. Emotion and fear determine and dominate behavior. As Newberg states, “Anger interrupts the functioning of your frontal lobes. Not only do you lose the ability to be rational, you lose the awareness that you’re acting in an irrational way. When your frontal lobes shut down, it’s impossible to listen to the other person, let alone feel empathy or compassion. . . . When you intensely and consistently focus on your spiritual values and goals, you increase the blood flow to your frontal lobes and anterior cingulate, which cause the activity in emotional centers of the brain to decrease.”
⁹

Bridging our primitive emotional response area, the amygdala, with our highly evolved contemplative prefrontal cortex allows the anterior cingulate to mediate how we perceive ourselves and our actions in relation to others and the rest of the world. Based on the fact that meditation enhances the functionality and capability of this circuitry, Dr. Newberg establishes a very important link between the physical brain and spirituality. He says, “We believe that there is a coevolution of spirituality and consciousness, engaging circuits that allow us to envision a benevolent, interconnecting relationship between the universe, God, and ourselves.”
¹⁰

Neuroplasticity is the link between contemplative practices and enlightenment. You train your brain to open the portal to wisdom when you turn your attention away from the everyday world and gaze within. In the past, it was thought that this ability belonged only to a few enlightened individuals, a belief system perpetuated by priests and religious hierarchies who had a vested worldly interest in protecting their privileged status.

In truth, every human being has the brain hardware needed to take this giant leap in consciousness. Our brains evolved to provide us with this equipment long ago. And if we look to the past, we can see the extraordinary feats of creativity and innovation that humankind has achieved by relying on the software that came preloaded in the prefrontal cortex.

Alberto:
Madre de Dios

Madre de Dios, the “Mother of God” River, fed by Andean meltwaters, lazily snakes its way to the Atlantic, 4,000 miles away to the east. The old man and I are lounging by the muddy bank, taking in the pink and orange sunset, the squawking of parrots a backdrop to our conversation. Our passion for the study of the brain has cemented our friendship, and our fascination with the human mind has brought us to the headwaters of this tributary in the great Amazon River system to meet the jungle shamans.

“It’s baffling to me that nature compromised so much in the pursuit of consciousness,” I say. “Think about how salamanders can grow back an entire leg after it has been cut off. It seems that nature has forsaken this ability in exchange for a brain that can become aware of itself.” As I finish, I turn to look at the jungle shaman sitting next to me and see a smile come over his face. “And what makes you think that the brain created awareness?” the old man asks. “If anything, it is consciousness, or what we call
espíritu,
that creates the brain.”

CHAPTER 8

NEUROGENESIS:
GROWING NEW
BRAIN CELLS

On top of the finding that we can create new neural pathways into adulthood, a virtual revolution in neuroscience has been launched by the recent discovery of the process of neurogenesis, the ability of the brain to actually grow new neurons. Stem cell therapy, a hot button of political debate and the focus of leading-edge research, holds the promise of offering a powerful tool in neurodegenerative conditions. We now understand that the human brain is constantly undergoing its own “stem cell therapy” through the process of neurogenesis. Every moment of our lives, several critically important areas of our brains are being replenished with stem cells that are destined to become fully functional brain cells, and there’s a lot we can do to enhance this process.

NEUROGENESIS IN ANIMALS AND HUMANS

Because neurogenesis had been noted in various other animals, scientists in the 1990s were hard at it, trying to demonstrate that humans indeed retained the ability to grow new brain neurons. In 1998, the journal
Nature Medicine
published a report by Swedish neurologist Peter Eriksson titled “Neurogenesis in the Adult Human Hippocampus.” Dr. Eriksson had finally succeeded in launching what was to become a revolutionary paradigm shift.

As Sharon Begley remarked in
Train Your Mind, Change Your
Brain,
“The discovery [of neurogenesis in the adult human brain] overturned generations of conventional wisdom in neuroscience. The human brain is not limited to the neurons it is born with, or even the neurons that fill it after the explosion of brain development in early childhood. New neurons are born well into the eighth decade of life. They migrate to structures where they weave themselves into existing brain circuitry and perhaps form the basis of new circuitry.”
¹

Dr. Eriksson discovered that within each of our brains there exists a population of neural stem cells that are continually replenished and can differentiate into brain neurons. Simply stated, we are all experiencing brain
stem cell therapy
every moment of our lives, a concept that remains iconoclastic in a number of scientific circles. His Holiness the Dalai Lama has stated, “It is a fundamental Buddhist principle that the human mind has tremendous potential for transformation. Science, on the other hand, has, until recently, held to the convention not only that the brain is the seat and source of the mind but also that the brain and its structures are formed during infancy and change little thereafter.”
²

The revelation that neurogenesis was occurring in humans and that we retain this ability throughout our lifetimes provided neuroscientists around the world with a fresh and exciting new reference point with implications spanning virtually the entire array of brain disorders. Alzheimer’s disease, characterized by a progressive loss of brain neurons, had long eluded researchers seeking to develop ways to slow the inexorable decline in cognitive function that so devastates patients and families. But with the idea of actually regenerating brain neurons, a new level of excitement and hope was raised in scientists who were dedicated to studying this and other neurodegenerative disorders.

So, now that neurogenesis was proven to be ongoing in humans throughout our lifetimes, the question became clear: What influenced this activity? Moreover, what could be done to actually enhance this process? And the fundamentally important question: What can we do to grow new brain neurons?

David:
Journey into Neurogenesis

During my college years, I had the opportunity to explore the brain using technology that was just in its infancy. It was in the early 1970s when the Swiss began to develop microscopes that could be used by neurosurgeons to perform delicate brain procedures. While this technology was evolving and eager surgeons in the United States were anxious to adopt this new approach to brain surgery, a problem soon became evident. Although learning to actually use the operating microscope was relatively easy, the neurosurgeons soon found they were becoming somewhat lost when it came to understanding the anatomy of the brain from this new microscopic perspective.

I was 19 and just starting my junior year in college when I received a phone call from Albert Rhoton, chairman of the Department of Neurological Surgery at Shands Teaching Hospital in Gainesville, Florida. Dr. Rhoton was leading the way for the expansion of the use of the operating microscope in the United States and wanted to create the first anatomy text of the brain, as seen through the microscope, to better aid surgeons as they began to embrace this new technology. I had applied for the position of student researcher and was surprised and gratified when he invited me to spend the following summer studying and mapping the brain. It was from this research that we eventually published a series of research papers and book chapters that gave neurosurgeons the needed roadmap to more carefully operate on the brain. In addition to anatomy, we also had the opportunity to explore and develop other aspects of microneurosurgery, including developing innovative instruments and procedures. Spending so much time behind the microscope, I had become quite adept at manipulating and repairing extremely small blood vessels that, prior to the use of the microscope, would have been destroyed during brain operations, often with dire consequences.