Recently I listened to some talks by John Hagelin, a renowned quantum physicist known for his work in unified field theory. He’s a leader of the Transcendental Meditation movement in the USA and has led scientific investigations into the foundations of human consciousness and the effects of meditation on brain development. He has developed projects using meditation to address critical problems in the fields of education, rehabilitation, crime and social violence, and post-traumatic stress.
He reminded me of how stress can shut down the pre-frontal cortex – the part of the brain which enables us to control both the positive emotions of happiness, gratitude and satisfaction and the more difficult emotions of anger, jealousy and sadness. “ Known as the most evolved region of the brain, the PFC intelligently regulates our thoughts, actions and emotions through extensive connections with other brain regions .” https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2907136/ It enables us to effectively use memory, moral discernment, the control of aggression and impulses towards inappropriate behaviours, and to develop creativity, intention and long-term planning. It allows alertness, psychological stability, emotional maturity and the flexible regulation of behaviour which enables us to properly respond to a changing environment and to balance short-term rewards with future goals.
“However, it is also the brain region that is most sensitive to the detrimental effects of stress exposure. Even quite mild acute uncontrollable stress can cause a rapid and dramatic loss of prefrontal cognitive abilities, and more prolonged stress exposure causes architectural changes in prefrontal dendrites.”
We live in a world society in which stress is pervasive
And chronic stress shuts down the PFC chronically. John Hagelin’s research has identified ADHD as a stress-related learning disorder, and he sees post-traumatic stress as a modern epidemic in which the brain gets stuck in fear over-drive, hyper alertness and fight or flight behaviours which then imprison us in “a pre-adolescent society.”
Here in the UK, there have been alarming reports recently about the rise of knife crime, leading to murders, by children and adolescents. Every day, “The News” confronts us with apocalyptic images of genocide and war. It is quite clear that as a species we are now overwhelmed by stress and that life itself is overwhelmed by stress. This is preventing us from living together in peace or being able to find solutions to our common problems and is creating untold destruction, violence and loss of life. Could it be that damage or shutdown of the pre-frontal cortex has a lot to do with our dilemmas?
Some of the symptoms of the daily stress which has become normal in our society are irritability, short-term memory loss, lack of empathy, difficulty planning, lack of impulse control and inflexibility.
A committed meditation practice can be life changing
For John Hagelin the cure for all of this is Transcendental Meditation. He claims TM develops the pre-frontal cortex, promotes balanced brain function, reverses anxiety and depression, PTSD and ADHD, increases intelligence and creativity and brings fulfilment through higher states of consciousness.
I can’t speak personally for TM as I have never practiced it, but I can speak for the life-changing effects of having a committed meditation practice. At a point in my life when I felt I had gone as far as I could with psychotherapy and I was ripe for change, I was introduced to a powerful meditation practice which had immediate transformative effects. I was 42 years old, going through a typical mid-life crisis, disillusioned and unhappy, and my go-to source of relief was a bottle of wine. From my very first meditation I felt the emptiness in my solar plexus fill up with some form of nurturance I had been hungering for but hadn’t known existed. I stopped drinking alcohol for stress relief and, for the next sixteen years I meditated as soon as I got up in the morning and again later in the day. I participated in weekly group meditations and attended many meditation retreats.
One of the many things I learned through my practice was that meditation goes a lot deeper than calming the mind. A regular meditation practice can deeply relax both body and mind and allow the release of patterns of stress and trauma which have been held in the bodymind for a lifetime, or longer. Stress causes a contraction of the mind and the body and closes down our awareness. We see less and know less and understand less and we feel essentially separate and isolated. Think about times when you have been stressed, and you will realise that you can become completely captured by limiting and catastrophic thoughts which play over and over. This creates a toxic environment in the body which is difficult to free yourself from and ultimately leads to physical symptoms, which can be life threatening.
Adopting a meditation practice gives you back control and choice
I can’t recommend it highly enough. Also, it can provide you with community and belonging and increase your sense of meaning and purpose. At a certain point in the practice there dawns a knowing that all life is interconnected and exists within an infinite field of consciousness and intelligence that is evolving according to design and by co-creation. Life is not arbitrary and meaningless but beautifully orchestrated. This realization may start as an attractive intellectual concept but at a certain point it becomes a knowing in the whole being. From this point there is no going back.
Here is one way I’ve expressed this knowing:
“We are waking up to the realisation that each one of us matters. We are each a part of many greater wholes. Just as cells make up the body, we are cells in the body of humanity, in the body of Nature, in the dance of the Cosmos. You are embedded in the bigger whole of your family and relationships; you exist within local, national and global communities as an individual cell in these greater energy bodies. Your well-being and state of consciousness informs and affects all the wholes of which you are a part, just as these greater wholes inform and affect you.
Your ability to connect with, and live from, deep wisdom, is vitally important. Your compassion, inspired creativity and spiritual freedom, contribute not only to your own wellbeing, but also to the wellbeing of our world.
You matter and your state of consciousness makes a difference.”
There is so much more I want to say about all of this. After sixteen years I stopped meditating as a daily practice. I felt I had integrated meditation into my daily life, and it was constantly playing in the background of my days. My transformational practice of choice then became writing, and I found that through writing I can open to more expanded sources of inspiration and fields of consciousness which regenerate me as I work. Right now, I’m ready to return to a committed meditation practice again and I’m waiting for the next vehicle to find me.
How my Build Your Soul Sanctuary practice and The The Tribe in Transition Transformational Learning Community can help you
What I’ve brought from my own consciousness practice into my work at Tribe in Transition is a knowing that we do have choice and even though these current times are exceptionally challenging choosing to commit to a daily practice can make all the difference in the world. I’m currently offering Build Your Soul Sanctuary, a 22-day practice you can do alone ( with some support from me) which will gently lead you into the habit of taking some quiet, reflective time for your own wellbeing every day. This can be life-changing and yet I see people who are stressed and say they want change, hesitating to commit to even fifteen minutes a day of gently structured and enjoyable time. That’s how being stuck in our traumatised habits can effect us – we simply don’t see the possibilities or believe there are any! If you are in that place I’m sling you to take a step of blind faith. Commit to the Build Your Soul Sanctuary practice for 22 days and see what happens.
The other offering I’m making is The Tribe in Transition Transformational Learning Community. I’m not trying to convince you to adopt meditation or writing as your transformational tools but again, I’m offering a gently structured environment in which you can develop the habits of inquiry, deep discovery, self-care, creative experimentation and mutual accountability.
I always begin my groups with a guided meditation for about ten minutes and everyone seems to appreciate this. The meditation is like taking off your shoes and stepping into a sacred space, an inner space in which stillness and silence can be found, sources of inspiration heard, and unconditional self-love and acceptance cultivated. At the end of my post last week, I gave you one of my meditations, you can find it here at the bottom of the page.
If you’d like to respond to this post, I’d love to hear from you. I do really value hearing from you. Go to my blog and leave a comment at the bottom.
References
John Hagelin, https://www.hagelin.org/about.html
Find him on Youtube, eg Is Consciousness a Unified Field, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LPhgDfT4Zpc
Or, Harnessing the Power of Cosnciousness
