The researchers report that those who meditated for about 30 minutes a day for eight weeks had measurable changes in gray-matter density in parts of the brain associated with memory, sense of self, empathy and stress. The findings will appear in the Jan. 30 issue of Psychiatry Research: Neuroimaging.

M.R.I. brain scans taken before and after the participants’ meditation regimen found increased gray matter in the hippocampus, an area important for learning and memory. The images also showed a reduction of gray matter in the amygdala, a region connected to anxiety and stress. A control group that did not practice meditation showed no such changes.

“The main idea is to use different objects to focus one’s attention, and it could be a focus on sensations of breathing, or emotions or thoughts, or observing any type of body sensations,” she said. “But it’s about bringing the mind back to the here and now, as opposed to letting the mind drift.”

http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/01/28/how-meditation-may-change-the-brain/

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There are times I have found myself surprised for sure, but is it even possible for us encounter a situation beyond what we predict or fantasize or dream could happen?

Our very senses are dependent upon what our brain can interpret based upon memories and pre-perceived patterns. In childhood we are by society’s assumptions ignorant and always encountering novelty, yet even when presented with immense traumas we find a way to adapt to something else that seems to be within us already wether it be our genetic instinct or some ethereal akashic record.

Further is our future destiny merely an unconscious expression of the narrow notions we can conceive for ourselves?

Are hive minds real? Where does individualism and collectivism begin and end?  Are you part of super organism?

Study Suggests Theory for Insect Colonies As ‘Superorganisms’

The social interactions are much like cells working together in a single body, hence the term “superorganism” — an organism comprised of many organisms, according to James Gillooly, an assistant professor in the department of biology at UF’s College of Liberal Arts and Sciences.

Now, researchers from UF, the University of Oklahoma and the Albert Einstein College of Medicine have taken the same mathematical models that predict lifespan, growth and reproduction in individual organisms and used them to predict these features in whole colonies.

By analyzing data from 168 different social insect species including ants, termites, bees and wasps, the authors found that the lifespan, growth rates and rates of reproduction of whole colonies when considered as superorganisms were nearly indistinguishable from individual organisms.

http://www.newswise.com:80/articles/view/560413/?sc=dwhn

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