Zen meditation is a practice that helps a person gain peace of mind. Meditation is not only for religious benefits but it can also be a part of your self-care routine. Meditation helps you gain better focus and enhanced mood. It also helps the person dig deeper into consciousness and garner a better understanding of the world. 

 

Zen Meditation’s Impact on the Brain

Zen meditation affects how the brain functions. While zen meditation involves a focus on breathing, practising it sparks the regions of the brain called the default network. The default network is part of the brain that triggers a wandering mind. So, when you practice zen meditation, it helps you increase your focus and control your attention. Additionally, it also helps you block distractions around you effectively. Zen meditation is ideal for people who do a lot of diverse activities daily and their work requires them to focus and discipline. 

Zen Meditation Gives You Access to the Unconscious

Being able to have access to your unconscious mind will help you foster your creative side and see things from a whole new perspective. The unconscious mind is a vast space consisting of memories, events, names, a memory of a feeling, and all other details in your life that you have buried deep into your unconscious mind. When you dig deeper into your unconscious you will be able to understand yourself better, why you react that way, how are you influenced and how you choose your influencers, as well as how you come up with decisions. There are other important skills you can uncover when you explore your unconscious mind. And zen meditation is one of the practices that will help you get there. 

Zen Meditation as Drug Abuse Treatment

Zen meditation helps improve the functions of the autonomic nervous system. It significantly affects the brain-heart interactions and helps balance heart rate and respiration. Those who practise zen meditation felt a complete reformation of their detached brain that is being dominated by their spiritual heart. 

People who have drug abuse problems suffer from the malfunctions of their autonomic nervous system. It is part of the brain that controls breathing, heartbeat and digestive processes. A short ten-minute zen meditation can help better the functions of the autonomic nervous system and helps gives drug-abuse patients a better mood. When the drug abuser has a better mood, it will be easier to treat them and refuse drugs. 

Moreover, zen meditation can enhance the functions of your hypothalamus while keeping your frontal lobe in excellent condition. The frontal lobe and hypothalamus are the parts of the brain that triggers self-control or discipline. Having a pristine hypothalamus and frontal lobe will give the drug abuse patient a better chance at resisting drug use again. 

Zen meditation has a lot of benefits. You need not go all the way to Nepal to learn it. Self-improvement starts with you and it is in your intentions and motivation that you will gain a better understanding of yourself and others. Zen meditation can also help you accomplish daily responsibilities and improve your mood. 

By Vanessa