Meditation: The Complete Guide by Dr. Andrew Huberman

For more than a decade, many scientists have been studying meditation , this thousands of years old practice which is said to have its roots in Asia.

The intuitions about the benefits experienced by followers have been empirically validated by an ever-increasing number of scientific studies.

Among the scientists who endorse and practice this method is Stanford professor and well-known podcaster, Dr. Andrew Huberman .

In this article I would like to highlight the guide he describes in one of these episodes.

This will therefore be a synthesis of what is shared by Professor Andrew Huberman.

Obviously, in no way does it replace a complete and conscious listening of this very beautiful episode...

Wishing you an excellent read, my Mouvers!

How can meditation make me happier?

A wandering mind is an unhappy mind.

This is the title of an article by Matthew Killingsworth and Dan Gilbert .

In this study, the two scientists showed a very interesting mental fact that I will summarize for you here.

Human beings are very good at thinking about the future or the past , while in the present moment there is no element that pushes them to think about events that occur in different temporalities .

Thoughts just come, burst into the mind .

Well, when you are doing a task, at work for example, and you project yourself into the future, or immerse yourself in a thought linked to the past, you will tend to feel sadder .

And here I am not just talking about rumination of negative past memories,

I'm talking about any thought...

Whether it's your holiday in Ibiza or the death of your cat, these distractions that pull you out of the present moment will automatically make you more depressed .

So if you want to easily find an attitude of good humor, of joy, it will not be a question of remembering pleasant memories,

But to focus on the task you are doing, to be fully in the present moment without mental distractions.

So, every time someone gives you this famous advice, when you're feeling down:

Think of a good memory!

Well, according to the study I cited, he will be wrong, it is in the present moment that you will have to immerse yourself.

I paraphrase the authors who are much better able than I to summarize the study:

Your ability to focus on things that aren't happening right now is a cognitive feat that comes at an emotional cost.

This is how important training to be in the present moment , hence meditation, is in your life.

How does meditation change your brain?

As technologies improved in the 1980s and 1990s, particularly neuroimaging , researchers began to understand the involvement of meditation in many physical and psychological processes.

When you enter a meditative state, your brain will change these connections and activate specific areas of your brain.

First of all, let's talk about the right prefrontal cortex ...

When your right prefrontal cortex is activated, it puts you in a situation where you are able to interpret what is happening inside you , on an emotional level, the signals of comfort or discomfort,

Your prefrontal cortex will be connected , thanks to your neurons and other brain structures, with the anterior cingulate cortex ,

This will interpret all the signals your body sends you, such as your breathing rate, your heart rate, how full your stomach is, etc.

The third area that plays an important role during your meditation session is the Insula , another area that will interpret the signals coming from your brain and body.

It will somehow translate the signals your body sends you in the best way.

If the insula could speak it would say something like:

I'm sprinting, so it's perfectly normal for my heart to be pounding and my breathing rate to increase.

So when you meditate these three areas of your brain, the right prefrontal cortex, the anterior cingulate cortex and the insula are connected and work together , to know and understand what is happening inside you when you are in the process of meditation.

But enough scientific terms...

What does this mean in concrete terms?

Simply, let these three areas of your brain connect to offer you a meditative experience anchored in the present moment.

This state will allow you to teach your brain to modify your perceptions, modify your relationship with your emotions and your sensations.

These processes will bring you all the benefits you know in your daily life...

Improved concentration, improved quality of sleep, better ability to let go in everyday life, reduction of stress , of your probable anxieties, of symptoms of depression, etc., etc.

How to be a better meditator?

After starting this practice , you will be able to understand how to improve.

I have two values ​​to tell you about.

Or rather two ends of the same continuum.

Interoception and exteroception .

Interoception is the ability to sense what is inside your body and on the surface of your skin.

This ability to know if we are hot, or rather cold.

Exteroception is the perception of everything outside of you, outside of your own body.

Meditation will allow you to have a higher level of interoception.

At first glance, it looks very interesting and attractive.

And this is the case for many profiles, especially people who lack connection with their body, who do not realize this or that change in their physiology.

However, for some anxious people , this can be negative because they will have access to all their sensations, which will encourage them to overinterpret them for the wrong reasons .

Finally, these two parameters, interoception and exteroception, which I remind you are part of the same continuum , are elements which will allow you to choose the type of meditation which will suit you best.

To find out which side of the continuum you tend to fall into, you can follow this little exercise...

Just close your eyes and observe...

Are you more attentive to what is happening inside you ?

Or to the parameters that are outside of you, in your direct environment?

If the first option seems more accurate to you, you have an interoceptive tendency.

If it's the second option, you have a greater tendency towards exteroception.

Be careful, this is not a general truth!

At times you may be more in interoception, and at others more in an exteroceptive process.

If you feel a bit of both, that's also normal, as I've mentioned several times, interoception and exteroception are just two ends of the same continuum.

Then you have the choice, you can choose a form of meditation that will improve your abilities in your current strong point , interoception or exteroception.

Or, following the advice of Dr. Andrew Huberman , you can train your weak point .

Either way, both options are interesting.

However, choosing the option that will produce the most friction in you, the most effort , will lead you to evolve, to transcend yourself.

To put it in a more neuroscientific way, this will allow the creation of new neural connections , and, ultimately, perhaps even the creation of new neural networks.

You will have understood, my Mouvers, that to improve in your meditative quest, you will have to create friction, move towards forms of meditation where you feel less comfortable.

In this process of evolution, you should not think about how long you manage to stay focused, but about how often you do this mental gymnastics, this movement back and forth between abstraction and focus .

It is precisely in these moments that you evolve the most.

Breathing and meditation

Then the way you breathe during your meditation session will allow you to be even more focused...

An interesting approach to combining meditation and controlled breathing is Wim Hof ​​breathing.

First, this technique will force you to put yourself in your interoceptive mode, since you will have to concentrate on your lungs, your diaphragm, elements which are by definition inside your body envelope.

And thus more easily trigger the meditative state.

How can meditation improve my life?

Meditation to boost your energy

It has been shown that practicing Yoga Nidra, or practicing NSDR , can decrease the amount of sleep you need.

Particularly by lowering the amount of cortisol , the stress hormone, in your system.

But also by allowing you to move more fluidly from exteroceptive mode to interoceptive mode, which represents a very important adaptation in our modern world.

And these benefits will appear no matter what time of day you choose to do your yoga or NSDR practice.

Yoga Nidra is a meditative practice that is done with the help of an instructor who will guide you to focus on different parts of your body.

By practicing one NSDR session per day, you will have this ability to recover from a bad night 's sleep , in part of course.

More awake or more relaxed?

Additionally, meditation can help you become more relaxed or more alert.

Let me explain...

When you are about to do a meditation session, you can choose to be more relaxed or more awake at the end of it.

And this by simply choosing your breathing technique .

For those interested in the first option, here are the solutions available to you.

To achieve a more relaxed effect after meditation, you should exhale longer or more actively, and inhale more passively.

To have a more awakened effect when coming out of meditation you have to do the opposite, that is to say breathe in more intensely , by forcing this inspiration, you can for example bring in more air than you would need, and breathe out passively.

Here is my Mouvers, I tried to transcribe as best I could the lessons that our dear Andrew Huberman wanted to transmit to us in his podcast.

I hope you enjoyed this read and that you gained new and unique insights into meditation!

And if you want to bounce back or simply share your experience concerning your meditation practice, I look forward to hearing from you in the comments section 😉

Nomad Slim
Founder of MOUVERS