Engaging positive emotions can rewire the brain.
KEY POINTS
- Neuroscience based meditation can identify practices important in shifting the brain for mental wellness.
- Open heart styles of meditation can be a powerful tool in recovering from depression.
- Neuromeditation offers individualized, versatile, and accessible forms of practice beyond seated meditation.
Depression is a pervasive mental health issue affecting millions worldwide. Despite advances in treatment, many individuals continue to struggle with its debilitating effects. Traditional therapies like medication and talk therapy are effective for some but fall short for others. Emerging research suggests that neuromeditation—a fusion of neuroscience and meditation—holds promise as a complementary approach to alleviating symptoms of depression.
Neuromeditation represents an innovative approach to mental health that integrates principles of neuroscience with various meditation practices. It combines insights from neuroimaging studies with traditional meditation techniques to target specific brain regions and neural pathways associated with emotional regulation, attention, and self-awareness. By harnessing the brain’s neuroplasticity—the ability to reorganize and form new connections—neuromeditation aims to promote adaptive changes in neural functioning that support emotional well-being (Tarrant, 2017).
The Brain and Depression
Neuroscientific research has identified key brain regions and networks implicated in depression, including the executive, salience, and default mode networks (DMN). Dysregulation within these neural circuits contributes to mood disturbances and cognitive challenges often observed in depression. Meditation styles such as open-heart practices may be the perfect counterbalance to these brain disruptions based on their ability to modulate neural activity in the same brain regions. Open heart styles of meditation include any practices that strive to embody a positive emotional state, such as joy, compassion, loving-kindness, or gratitude. Typically, in these practices, once the feeling state is achieved, there is an intention to direct these feelings toward self or others.
The Research
One study compared and contrasted the impact of three different types of meditation after three months of practice. When the participants engaged in the open heart style (referred to as Affect), they found significant growth in brain areas associated with empathy and emotion regulation, including the right anterior and mid-insula (key regions in the salience network), which was associated with enhanced compassion ratings (Valk, et al., 2017).
Other research has demonstrated that interventions focused on open heart styles of meditation can be effective in reducing depressive symptoms. One 12-week program utilized a lovingkindness-compassion (LK-C) intervention for veterans with PTSD. The results indicated a medium effect size for depression at 3-month follow-up (Kearney, et al., 2013). In another 12-week program focused on open heart practices, clients with depressed mood showed a large effect size in mood change (Hofmann, et al., 2015).
Getting Started
One of the key advantages of neuromeditation is its versatility and accessibility. Meditation practices can be easily integrated into daily routines and tailored to individual preferences. An easy way to begin is to simply place your hand(s) and attention on your heart center, place a slight grin on the face, and imagine breathing healing energy in and out of this area, essentially sending neutral/positive regard to the heart center and allowing it to gently open as it is ready. There are also many beautiful open heart guided meditations available through any number of meditation apps or on YouTube. If practiced consistently, these meditations can help cultivate feelings of appreciation, gratitude, joy, compassion, and forgiveness. The key to their effectiveness lies in the ability to engage the emotions behind these meditations rather than just thinking about the concepts. If these emotions feel too distant, or the meditations result in feelings of grief or loss, it may be helpful to begin with a focus-style meditation, teaching the mind to focus on something neutral (like the breath) rather than something with an emotional charge. When the mood begins to shift toward neutral, it may be time to begin exploring open heart practices again – shifting from neutral to positive.
In addition, daily practices, such as keeping a gratitude journal or “appreciation breaks” can also be helpful, reminding the brain to orient toward the positive. A simple way to do this is to set an alarm or use an app such as Mindbell to chime at random times throughout the day. Whenever it rings, take a few moments, slow your breathing, close your eyes, and tune in to something you can feel appreciation for in that moment. It could be something small, like the smell of your coffee. The focus and content of the appreciation is less important than the feeling. Once you connect to the feeling, see if you can send it to every cell of your body. You can also look for opportunities to be kind. Simple practices, such as smiling at others, holding a door open, letting someone else go first, or listening with full attention can also help open the heart.
Whether through guided meditation apps, online programs, or in-person classes, individuals have a wide range of options for incorporating neuromeditation into their self-care regimen. Moreover, neuromeditation promotes holistic well-being by addressing not only the symptoms of depression but also underlying psychological and physiological factors contributing to its onset and maintenance. By cultivating mindfulness and self-compassion, individuals develop greater resilience in the face of stress and adversity, reducing the likelihood of relapse and promoting long-term recovery.
While the evidence supporting the efficacy of neuromeditation for depression is promising, individual variability in response to meditation practices underscores the importance of personalized approaches tailored to each person’s unique needs and preferences.
References
Kearney, D. J., Malte, C. A., McManus, C., Martinez, M. E., Felleman, B., & Simpson, T. L. (2013). Loving‐kindness meditation for posttraumatic stress disorder: A pilot study. Journal of Traumatic Stress, 26(4), 426-434.
Hofmann, S. G., Petrocchi, N., Steinberg, J., Lin, M., Arimitsu, K., Kind, S., … & Stangier, U. (2015). Loving-kindness meditation to target affect in mood disorders: A proof-of-concept study. Evidence-Based Complementary and Alternative Medicine, 2015.
Tarrant, J. (2017). Meditation Interventions to Rewire the Brain: Intergrating Neuroscience Strategies for ADHD, Anxiety, Depression and PTSD. PESI Publishing & Media.
Valk, S. L., Bernhardt, B. C., Trautwein, F. M., Böckler, A., Kanske, P., Guizard, N., … & Singer, T. (2017). Structural plasticity of the social brain: Differential change after socio-affective and cognitive mental training. Science Advances, 3(10), e1700489.