THE NEUROSCIENCE OF MINDFULNESS MEDITATION How the Body and Mind Work Together to Change Our Behaviour Yi-Yuan Tang The Neuroscience of Mindfulness Meditation Yi-Yuan Tang The Neuroscience of Mindfulness Meditation How the Body and Mind Work Together to Change Our Behaviour Yi-Yuan Tang Department ofPsychological Sciences TexasTech University Lubbock,TX, USA and Department ofInternal Medicine TexasTech University HealthSciences Center Lubbock,TX, USA ISBN978-3-319-46321-6 ISBN978-3-319-46322-3 (eBook) DOI 10.1007/978-3-319-46322-3 LibraryofCongressControlNumber:2017944111 ©TheEditor(s)(ifapplicable)andTheAuthor(s)2017 Thisworkissubjecttocopyright.AllrightsaresolelyandexclusivelylicensedbythePublisher, whetherthewholeorpartofthematerialisconcerned,specificallytherightsoftranslation, reprinting,reuseofillustrations,recitation,broadcasting,reproductiononmicrofilmsorinany other physical way, and transmission or information storage and retrieval, electronic adaptation, computer software, or by similar or dissimilar methodology now known or hereafterdeveloped. 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Coverillustration:PatternadaptedfromanIndiancottonprintproducedinthe19thcentury Printedonacid-freepaper ThisPalgraveMacmillanimprintispublishedbySpringerNature TheregisteredcompanyisSpringerInternationalPublishingAG Theregisteredcompanyaddressis:Gewerbestrasse11,6330Cham,Switzerland To my family, for their endless support and love. F OREWORD Toward a Mindful Brain Yi-YuanTangisanexpertinthisarea.Asatenuredprofessorandinstitute director, he has over 30 years of experience in China to test mindfulness training effects in both healthy and patient populations. Then he came to the U.S. to extend his basic and translational research work in both University of Oregon and Texas Tech University. I have been working with him on mechanisms of mindfulness training on attention and self-control since 2006, and have published over 30 peer-review articles together.Weproposemindfulnesstrainingasoneformofthestatetraining compared tothe network trainingsuch as computerized working memory program. We also demonstrate mindfulness training improves self-control through at least 3 ways—attention control, emotion regulation and self-awareness. This book provides both a guide for obtaining a mindful brain and a summaryoftheevidencethatbydoingsoonemayleadahappierandmore productivelife.Yi-YuanTangcreatedamethodfortrainingmindfulness— Integrative Body-Mind Training (IBMT), adapted from ancient Chinese medicine, he found significant effects from the brain state achieved within onlyfewhoursofpracticesessions.Hehasalsobeenaperceptivestudentof many other forms of mindfulness training and contemplative traditions. Following editors’ suggestion, this book covers the research and appli- cation of mindfulness training in general, rather than IBMT only. For typicalreadersofthisvolumewithaninterestinthepracticeofmindfulness it might be best to read Chap. 1 and 8 first, before attempting the more vii viii FOREWORD complex review of the neuroimaging results and their application to edu- cation and health. Chapter 8 provides an inspiring perspective to the authors approach to training mindfulness which may serve to help the reader through the more difficult parts of the volume. In six brief chapters he summarizes how mindfulness training can improve mental activity and change brain connectivity and bodily pro- cesses. Among his major ideas is that mindfulness training can result in improvedattention,moodandreducedstressinonly5sessionsofpractice and the amount of training is related to the amount of stress reduction. This rapid effect of mindfulness training allows for studies with random assignment to either meditation or a relaxation control and leads to his conclusion that meditation is the cause of the many effects. Many readers will be interested in the improvement in school grades and health that are among the more practical consequences of mindfulness training. For those more interested in the brain it is impressive that mindfulness can improve aspects of both central and autonomic nervous systems. Magnetic Resonance Imaging is used both to find areas more active fol- lowing meditation than in controls and improved connectivity between brain areas. Measures of heart rate are used to show how the parasympa- thetic part ofthe autonomic nervous system helps produce the meditation state.Yi-Yuanalsosaysthatmeditationtrainingeffectivenessdiffersamong individuals and provides a perspective on who is most likely to benefit. It is important to recognize that my long association with the author may bias my reading of this volume. However, for those with a scientific interest in mindfulness this seems to me to be a serious and accurate approachtothefield.Itisnotexhaustivebutitdoessummarizeimportant findings, many already published, and provides the helpful perspective of the author. Michael I. Posner A CKNOWLEDGEMENTS This work was supported by the Office of Naval Research, National Institutes of Health, the John Templeton Foundation and the James Bower Foundation. I thank my collaborators, lab colleagues, and IBMT practitioners for their great support in making this research work possible. Thanks to Michael Posner and Brian Bruya for helpful comments. I also much appreciate Palgrave Macmillan editors Joanna O’Neill and Laura Aldridge for giving me this opportunity to summarize my basic and translational work in the Palgrave Pivot series. ix C ONTENTS 1 Mindfulness Introduction: From Mind Full to Mindful 1 2 Brain Mechanisms of Mindfulness Meditation 9 3 Physiology Mechanisms of Mindfulness Meditation 23 4 Traits and States in Mindfulness Meditation 29 5 Mindfulness Meditation and Behavior Change 35 6 Mindfulness Applications in Education 45 7 Mindfulness Applications in Health and Mental Disorders 57 8 Insight for Mindfulness Learning and Practice 75 9 Rethinking Future Directions of the Mindfulness Field 83 Index 93 xi A A BOUT THE UTHOR Yi-Yuan Tang is Professor of Psychological Sciences and Internal Medicine, as well as Presidential Endowed Chair in Neuroscience, at Texas Tech University (Lubbock, TX, USA). He is a Fellow of both the Association for Psychological Sciences and the American Psychological Association. He developed mind- fulness-based Integrative Body-Mind Training (IBMT)® in China in the 1990s and has trainedmanyadultsandchildreninAsia,North America, and Europe to improve attention, self-control, cognitive performance in school and in the workplace, as well as in health, relationships, and quality of life. Dr. Tang’s basic and translational research has demonstrated the scientific basis for mind- fulness training and health, and cognitive ben- efits following only a few hours of practice. He has published eight books and more than 290 peer-reviewedarticles,inscientificjournalssuch as Nature Reviews Neuroscience, Proceedings xiii