The Social Brain Ep. 8: The Neuroscience of Mindfulness: How Meditation Can Improve Your Brain

We spend a lot of time thinking about the future or the past, often at the expense of living in the present. As we talked about in the last episode, this kind of cognition is completely natural: it’s built into the brain’s default mode network. And while planning for the future, reviewing the past, and mind wandering are all important and healthy aspects of being human, they can also make us unhappy when they’re constantly taking us away from the present moment.   Fortunately, there is a simple, research-backed method of countering the default mode, bringing us back to the present, and providing several other distinct cognitive benefits at the same time: mindfulness meditation.  As a personal anecdote, I (Andrew) have been practicing mindfulness meditation regularly for about five years, and I can say with confidence that it has radically improved my mind and my life. It’s one of the most important tools I’ve found for maintaining my own mental health.    -- What do you want us to cover in future episodes? Drop it in the comments!   Links to follow: Make sure to subscribe to Taylor's Channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCUNqseoOq5DfzwCRI-7ZAow  Subscribe to @senseofmindshow and follow on social media:  https://linktr.ee/senseofmind    Social Brain Podcast: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-social-brain/id1645182617   -- Stuff We Mentioned:  -Waking Up App: https://www.wakingup.com/  - Andrew Huberman on "Why You Should Meditate": https://youtu.be/wTBSGgbIvsY  - My interview with Andrew Newberg on spirituality in the brain: https://youtu.be/9KmWbvVOT0E  - My video on interoception: https://youtu.be/5-8IfXRMM9g  - "Neuroscience of Meditation" Interview with Steven Laureys and Chris Williamson: https://youtu.be/ks-LIXcvIaw    #mindfulness #defaultmodenetwork #neuroscience #thesocialbrain #socialneuroscience --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/senseofmind/support