We had our Sunday Introduction to Meditation Class at Yoga Bliss. We practiced Dr. Rick Hanson‘s guided meditation called Feeling Strong. The meditation is drawn from his book, The Buddha’s Brain: the Practical Neuroscience of Happiness, Love and Wisdom.
Rick explores what motivates our behavior. A guiding principle of his work is the practice of using our minds to change our brains – which in turn predisposes us to have healthier minds. He asserts that it’s important to cool causes of suffering and to warm up causes of happiness with our intentions. Intentions involve strength applied to clear and appropriate goals, sustained over time. Acting with healthy intentions requires awareness. Yet most intentions are operating outside our awareness!
He offers a fascinating description of how our brains developed into four levels along a neuro-axis. These levels network together to keep us motivated: brain stem, diencephalon, limbic system and cortex. When a response happens further down the axis it’s fast, intense, automatic – like when we lose our temper with someone who cuts us off in traffic. Higher up the axis our responses are more delayed, less intense, more considered – the cortex, really enhances our capacity to consider consequences – the longer the view the wiser the intentions.
He goes on to describe two hubs on the axis: the higher anterior cingulate cortex hub and the lower amygdala hub. He compares to these areas to the “head” and “heart” of our brains, respectively. The two hubs work together – our “head” is logical – it guides the flow of our feelings while our “heart” is emotional and shapes our world view. These two hubs – our heads and hearts – can support each other or be out of sync, in struggle or conflict. This is where meditation comes in. A daily practice of meditation can actually help integrate the neuro-circuits or connections between the two hubs.
Now getting back to motivation. Ideally, our intentions are aligned at all levels of neuro-axis – our heads and hearts intend together. That’s when our intentions have the most power. It’s important to examine our intentions because they have such strong potential to influence the quality of our lives. They are a form of desire. If craving is driving our desire – it’s often unconscious and results in suffering. Rick suggests that the key to happiness – or at least less suffering – is to have wholesome intentions without being attached to the results. Easy, right? Ha-ha.
This is where strength comes in. Rick writes that inner strength comes in many forms. He encourages us to get familiar with what strength feels like in our body so we can call it up again when needed. When we deliberately stimulate feelings of strength we deepen their neural pathways. We used the practice of sitting meditation to cultivate the experience of quiet perseverance – an expression of strength. We then called up past experiences of feeling strong – including the emotions and sense memories of strength throughout our bodies and minds. We recalled experiences of being appreciated for our strength in the same way. Finally, we recalled a current conflict or challenge in our lives. We held both the conflict and the deepening experience of feeling strong in our awareness at the same time. Wow!
It feels really good to feel strong. It is also empowering to know that I can grow the awareness of this experience in my mind – I can make it so big that it puts my challenge – my conflict in a really different perspective. Yesterday, it helped me shift my focus, to let go of the constricted, judgmental feelings of having made a mistake. Then I was able to see that the “mistake” actually created other possibilities. Rick describes this shift in perspective as: let be, let go, let in. It does require intention and strength – we are worth the effort!
You can find this week’s homework and other resources at:
Sunday Meditation Class 16 Homework