It Only Takes 20 Minutes A Day To Upgrade Your Brain…Here’s How.

Today’s science says there are two types of intelligence: Crystallized intelligence and fluid intelligence.

One of them is emphasized in Western cultures showing up on standardized exams, and the other, well it’s much harder to quantify and thus is sorta the lost stepchild.

Let’s talk about Fluid intelligence, by contrast, which is your ability to identify patterns, solve novel problems, and use logic in new situations. This is your ability to be creative, aware, innovative, and visionary.

Crystallized knowledge is easy to improve by reading, listening to podcasts, or collecting more facts. The step child Fluid intelligence however, involves your capacity to take something you’ve never seen before and work with it — to be ingenious.
For many years measuring Fluid Intelligence and most importantly improving it has been much more challenging.

Until now.
It turns out Meditation is not just good for your physiological health, reducing stress, improving mood, and setting you up for emotional equilibrium rather than reactivity.

It can also make you significantly smarter.

Siegfried Othmer , former president of the neurofeedback division of the Association for Applied Psychophysiology and Biofeedback, conducted neurofeedback research on participants using brainwave training (a specific form of meditation). Those who meditated showed an average gain in IQ of 23 percent.

That is remarkable!

Not only did the meditators improve their IQ, but the effect was lasting, in fact, according the follow-up study participants who meditated showed significant gains in creativity, concentration, and self-awareness.

Another astonishing study in Consciousness and Cognition showed significant improvements in memory, cognition, and lowered stress levels. Perhaps most notably, the group that meditated scored as much as 10 times better on a working memory task — an important part of fluid intelligence.

Why does meditation improve your IQ? There are a few reasons, but one of the main ones is that deep meditation slows brain activity.

As slower brainwaves take over (also known as the delta or theta state), the brain increases its own plasticity, or ability to reorganize itself. By practicing focused attention during meditation, whether on your breath, a mantra, or even music, you give your brain just the right kind of respite. That’s all you need to do: You rest your brain, it improves itself.
Amazing stuff, no?

Remember neither of the groups that experienced such extraordinary improvements were yogis, or professional meditators, and they didn’t have to meditate for hours!

In fact, the second group meditated for only 20 minutes a day over four days — that’s 80 minutes total, less time than it takes to watch a movie.

Everyone knows meditating is good for you; the trick is getting started. It’s kind of like going to the gym. We all know we should do it, but …
like anything it can be a challenge to get started.
So. First thing is to relax and be patient with yourself.
Patience is the key to learning anything, so start there.

Ok? Got patience? Great.
Now. start with a small commitment. Since this is new you can even set a timer for one (1) minute, breathe and focus on the breath. As the thoughts come let them. Imagine you are watching a movie or that they are like wind. Just watch them go by.

One minute too short a time? Increase to five. As soon as your mind starts saying AHH you are doing it wrong! This is silly! Etc, remember to be patient with yourself and there is NO wrong way, and no perfect way. Be gentle with yourself and remember it’s all PRACTICE.

If you find it really challenging to do, then try this guided meditation. It has a combination of low-frequency binaural beats with isochronic audio and beat patterns to induce certain patterns in your brain — specifically, alpha, theta, and delta wave states which guides you to a state of deep meditation.

The New England Journal of Medicine says you must meditate for a minimum of 12 to 15 minutes at a time to get the health benefits of it. That’s not very long. In fact, the more research that is done on meditation, the more apparent it is that it’s not about doing it for hours at a time — it’s just about doing it regularly.

So consider making a meditation practice one of your reset goals for 2021. Give your brain a rest. It may just help you become even more of a genius.