Belly Rub Meditation, Detailed Instructions
Your Dog Will Love You For This
- Place hand on belly and rub for a count of:
- 10,9,8,7,6,5,4,3,2,1...
- Switch to feeling you belly with you hand for a count of:
- 10,9,8,7,6,5,4,3,2,1...
A Brief Explanation of the Science Behind This Meditation
The pressure on your belly activates or stimulates the Vagus Nerve which is how your brain ¨knows¨what is going on with your body.
Deep breathing also stimulates the Vagus Nerve as it wanders throughout your abdomen.
Counting down from ten occupies your conscious ¨thinking¨ mind for a few seconds to get us started in the process of meditation.
The Vagus Nerve uses acetylcholine and serotonin to communicate to the brain it is feeling alright.
(Ask your dog about that leg kickin´ belly rub)
Acetylcholine is a neurotransmitter that has many roles in the brain and body. In this case it works inside your prefrontal cortex (Behind your third eye) to help focus your attention and swithc focus to different areas of the body.
The Party Is Just Getting Started!
In meditation we set up a feedback loop with many different ¨feel good¨neurotransmitters doing the heavy lifting.
Here is a quick peek at how they play together in the brain.
As you use your prefrontal cortex to focus your attention the brain produces more and more acetylcholine to help you in the task, of focusing your attention.
Many people are discouraged by distractions during meditation but they are need in the process.
Each time your basal ganglia notices you are distracted and you bring your attention back to the object of meditation, it tells the parietal lobe to do the ¨work¨ of bringing the attention back to the hand/belly and you strengthen these connected neural networks within your brain.
The brain´s reward system comes into play, saying, hey, good job! And drops a little dopamine into the system. This lubricates the wheels of Jah´s wagon and we really start rolling!
The party is just getting started after about 10-15 minutes of learning to relax while staying focused and you enter what many refer to as the ¨flow state¨. Ask Kobe Bryant or any other professional athelete about this one.
This is where your brain is firing on all cylinders and you are just cruising along in overdrive like it´s just another day in paradise!
All of your neurotransmitters are getting deeply involved at this point. With melatonin being dumped in to really intensify the your ability to focus and glutamate each time you make a switch and let´s not forget GABA. GABA GABA HEY!
Zero To Bliss In Sixty Seconds!
The turbo boost module in this engine is a conscious decision to be grateful for the distractions being there and making all of this possible! This brings about feelings of joy above happiness and feeling good about feeling good!