I wouldn't want anyone to get a big head over this, or would I?

So whenever I stop at the co-op I pic up any pamphlets/newsletters that are free to take on your way out the door. I tend to find the most useful holistic living tips in them, and the best part is they are free. Anyhow one of the last pamphlets I picked up was the April/May, 2011 edition of This is Living Naturally, from the Valley Natural Foods co-op in Apple Valley MN. I highly recommend this co-op by the way; they even have a machine that crunches peanuts into fresh peanut butter with absolutely no additives, and it's so delicious.

The reason I was so excited about this month's edition of This is Living Naturally is because of the article "Thinking About What a Healthy Brain Needs". I never cease to be amazed at the little windows of insight we gain about the human brain. It seems we have only a tiny morsel of information on a subject of such vast unknowns. The article has only one paragraph dedicated to the benefits of meditation on the human brain, however, I was quite ecstatic over it. What it says is that Harvard, Yale, and Massachusetts General Hospital, have done research that show meditation increases gray matter in the brain and also slows the aging process.

I've always felt a bit short changed by psychology texts, it seems there aren't many definitive answers there. I often look for answers about the human mind where there has been factual evidence for the information presented. This article is a prime example of how powerful meditation really is for the human mind. It is amazing to me that meditation isn't common place to more Westerners, as the benefits to the brain are on a par with aerobic exercise.

Here is a link to the Harvard Gazette article that explains this research further.