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Last Updated: December 24, 2019 by Hunter Varnum & grow

Be fulfilled
When writing this article, I was faced with & impact
task_alt
lives at
a decision…
scale

Write a surface level post about

mindfulness & anxiety complete with 50
Watch
references to the “present moment”,
Training
“oneness”, inordinate use of the word
“space”, and a laundry list of benefits that
you’ve undoubtedly heard before…

…or…

Provide a detailed answer to the question

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 you have right now, in the form of a
How to
comprehensive explanation of the science become a
behind mindfulness & meditation, and meditation
coach
efficacy in treating anxiety.
How to
lead a
I chose the latter for two reasons: guided
meditation
 I believe that understanding the What is
biological mechanisms of contemplative
meditation?
mindfulness & meditation will
provide more motivation for you How to
create a
to develop your own effective meditation
studio
practice (and help others to do business
plan
the same)
9 tips for
 I am a nerd leading a
group
guided
SO, for those of you who are itching for a meditation
detailed scientific answer to the question session

posed below, give those suspenders a

snap and let’s get to it…
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How does
mindfulness reduce
anxiety?
Mindfulness meditation reduces anxiety in
two major ways: Firstly, singularly focusing
our attention limits activity in the brain’s
neural network (Default Mode Network)
which we utilize to negatively ruminate
about the past or worry about the future.
Second, the act of breathing in a slow
focused manner reduces activity in the
fight or flight branch of our autonomic
nervous system (sympathetic nervous
:
 system), stimulates the branch of our
autonomic nervous system responsible for
rest & digest functions (parasympathetic
nervous system), increases heart rate
variability (HRV) & signals safety to our
survival brain (i.e. the amygdala,
hippocampus & hypothalamus, etc.)

Now, let’s unpack that last paragraph for

those of us that are unfamiliar with the
“attention networks” & the nervous system.

Mindfulness Helps Us
Stop Ruminating
To understand why focusing on the
“present moment” reduces negative
thoughts, we first need to understand the
function & purpose of two of the human
brain’s attentional networks the Default
Mode Network (DMN) & the Task Positive
Network (TPN).

Function & purpose of the DMN & TPN:

 The Default Mode Network is a

large network of correlated brain
regions which are utilized when
we are not focused on the
outside world but are instead
using our imagination or
daydreaming. It is also the part
of the brain we use to venture
into our past, self-reflect or to
project ourselves into the future

 The Task Positive Network is a

:
 large network of correlated brain
regions we use when performing
attention-demanding tasks or
successfully focusing our
attention on a specific action or
stimulus

A very important note about these two

neural networks is that they are mutually
exclusive – albeit not entirely. Meaning the
activation of the DMN reduces the activity
of the TPN and vice versa.

This is why free solo rock climbers (who

climb with ropes) aren’t paralyzed by the
fear of falling off the cliff they are clinging
to with their pinky fingers: they are
masters of their attention networks. While
climbing, they are hyper focused (TPN) on
each move which blocks the ability to think
about falling (DMN). They might peer up
for a moment to imagine their next few
moves (DMN), but then they go right back
to the chalk bag and reach for the next
hand hold with laser focus (TPN).

So, while DMN centric mind-wandering

enables us to learn from our past & plan
for the future, it’s also what enables us to
ruminate, worry & stress ourselves out for
both legitimate & illegitimate reasons.

This negative use of our imagination has

been referred to as guilty dysphoric
daydreaming. Unfortunately, the increased
digital stimulation, social interactions &
:
 pace of modern life serves to program our
brain & nervous system with a bias for this
unproductive use case of the imagination.
This is why, when we aren’t taking action
or focusing on anything (like our phones or
Netflix), we often find our mind drifting into
the stress-producing currents of past &
future thought, rather than daydreaming in
a positive constructive manner.

(If you’ve ever been lying in bed late at

night and suddenly thought about that
thing you did in 7th grade, subsequently,
forcing yourself to revitalize that feeling of
embarrassment all over again, then you
know what I mean…)

How do we stop ruminating then?

Simple… We activate our Task Positive

Network!

And how might we activate the TPN?

Simple… By focusing our attention on a

specific action or sensation. Like climbing
a rock!

Or taking a slow, focused & deliberate

breath…

So, during mindfulness meditation, we

might singularly place our focus on the
rhythm of the breath or on the feeling of
our feet planted firmly on the earth. This
focused attention activates our TPN,
subsequently, reducing activity in the
:
 DMN, and our brain’s capacity to engage in
anxiety-inducing thinking is greatly
diminished.

(That is, as long as you stay focused…)

Mindful Breathing
Affects Our Nervous
System
The second reason mindfulness reduces
anxiety has less to do with mindfulness,
specifically, and more to do with how
certain breathing techniques (found in
many sorts of meditation) affect our brain
& body.

But, when utilizing mindfulness meditation

to reduce anxiety, not all breathing
exercises are created equal. Slow, focused
breathing (NOT deep breathing) is what we
need to figuratively “calm our nerves.”

To understand why, we’ll need to take a

brief detour, use our DMN to rehash our
traumatic memories of high school biology
class & revisit a little more about human
physiology, and more specifically, the
autonomic nervous system.

The Autonomic Nervous System (ANS) is

our body’s automatic control mechanism
for a wide variety of bodily functions. It
regulates our heart rate, digestion,
respiratory rate (when we aren’t actively
controlling it), pupillary dilation, urination &
:
 sexual arousal. It’s also the system we rely
upon to activate – or deactivate – our fight,
flight, freeze or shut down response.

The ANS acts – and thankfully so – almost

entirely unconsciously, meaning we don’t
have the conscious ability to tell it how to
do its job.

This is great news for those of us who like

to sleep soundly through the night –
without having to get up to breathe.

However, if you are anything like me (who

never sleeps) and typically catalog all your
anxiety-producing thoughts at 3 AM,
instead of resting comfortably, then part of
the problem might actually be rooted in an
imbalance between the two main branches
of the autonomic nervous system:

 The Sympathetic Nervous

System (SNS): the branch of the
ANS responsible for controlling
our fight, flight, freeze or shut
down responses.

 The Parasympathetic Nervous

System (PSNS): the branch of
the ANS responsible for
controlling our rest & digest
functions.

Modern life, though undeniably safer than

its prehistoric predecessor, is actually
fraught with far more triggers of our
survival brain & fight or flight systems. The
:
 result can be an overactivation of the SNS,
leading to a general, prolonged existence
in a state of SNS dominance.

Symptoms of SNS Dominance include

digestive problems, nail-biting, elevated
heart rate, over-reactivity, poor sleep &
other troublesome manifestations of stress
which take a serious toll on your body over
time.

In order to fix this problem & reduce our

anxiety, we need to activate our
parasympathetic nervous system, because
like the DMN & TPN, the SNS & PSNS –
excuse the vast quantity of acronyms – are
also mutually semi-exclusionary. Meaning,
when we turn down the volume on our
stress response systems, our PSNS can
begin to stimulate our healing rest & digest
functions – then, me & my fellow nail biters
can allow our nails to grow back to a more
reasonable length.

While I did say that the autonomic nervous

system acts almost entirely unconsciously,
there is one important exception to the
rule, both warranting the “almost” &
enabling us to consciously reduce the
activation of our fight or flight response.

Yep, you guessed it, it’s the breath!

The breath is the only conscious

mechanism we have for controlling our
ANS, because both our sympathetic &
:
 parasympathetic nervous systems have a
hand in affecting our respiratory rate.

Specifically, inhalations activate – or can

be activated by – the SNS, while
exhalations activate – or can be activated
by – the PSNS. This is why when someone
jumps out & scares you, you gasp instead
of sighing.

It’s also why when you feel relaxed, you

sigh instead of gasping.

Therefore, it’s long, slow & easy

exhalations that equate to increased
activation of the parasympathetic
nervous system & decreased activation of
the SNS, not deep inhalations. In fact,
deep breathing can inadvertently cause
anxiety because of the emphasis on
inhalations, which, as we now know,
stimulates our sympathetic nervous
system.

How Our Breath Affects

Our Brain
OK, so we’ve covered a lot, but to put a
bow on this thing, we need to talk about
why activating the parasympathetic
nervous system actually reduces anxious
thinking, worrying & needless stress in the
brain.

(You can do this! Just one word at a time…)

Essentially, by consciously upregulating

:
 our PSNS with the breath, we also affect
another powerful organ that is controlled
by both the SNS & PSNS… the heart!

When we inhale, our SNS is activated,

increasing our heart rate. When we exhale,
our PSNS is activated, decreasing our
heart rate.

Breathing in a slow, controlled & focused

manner increases the rate at which our
heart rate changes as we oscillate
between inhalation & exhalation, which is
another way of saying it increases our
heart rate variability (HRV).

(For my biophysicists, HRV can be

measured by taking the RMS of the all the
successive differences in RR intervals over
a given period of time – though, I suppose
you already knew that.)

Increasing our HRV, or how responsive

our heart is to the oscillations between
sympathetic & parasympathetic nervous
system stimulation, may sound
inconsequential, but it most certainly is
not. This is because the heart is far more
than a pump; it’s an intelligent organ that
both receives & transmits information
throughout the body.

In fact, the heart has its own intrinsic

nervous system comprised of over 40,000
neurons – about the same amount of
neurons found in a sea slug – which enable
:
 it to learn, store information & make
decisions independent of the head brain!

The electrical signals produced by the

heart are so powerful, in fact, that they
affect the function of our brain.

Specifically, the electrical signals from

coherent heart rhythms (e.g. high HRV
rhythms) synchronize with the cells in the
amygdala, the fear center of the brain,
communicating to it that we are safe.
When the amygdala receives this signal, it
tells the hypothalamus (the control switch
for our autonomic nervous system) to
suppress activity in our SNS & adrenal
cortical system and allow the rest & digest
functions of the parasympathetic nervous
system to take center stage.

Additionally, as the amygdala calms down,

blood flow to the prefrontal cortex
(responsible for higher cognitive functions
like reason) increases. This enables us to
provide a rational counterargument to the
thoughts causing our anxiety. This logical
reasoning is then cross-referenced with
information stored in the hippocampus (our
gateway to strong, traumatic, survival
based memories) to contextualize our
anxious thinking, and determine whether
we should actually freak out or not.

Together, our hippocampus & prefrontal

cortex can provide logical, electrochemical
reassurance to the amygdala that no clear
:
 & present danger exists, further reducing
its effect on our brain and nervous
system.

(Regaining access to our prefrontal cortex

can take over 20 minutes after high stress
stimulus, and is the reason we often don’t
think of the perfect words to win an
argument until quite some time after we’ve
lost it.)

Meditation Balances
Hormones
Now, I know I might have under sold the
depth we were going to go into, but I want
you to really be able to impress your
friends at your next cocktail party debate
over the efficacy of mindfulness (which I
pray you never have). Therefore, we need
to answer the last question which you are
indubitably asking at this very moment:

“How EXACTLY does the hypothalamus,

sympathetic nervous system, adrenal
cortical system & parasympathetic nervous
system act to reduce anxiety during
mindfulness meditation?”

Well, I’m so glad you asked!

These systems reduce anxiety by

balancing the brain and body’s hormones
& neurotransmitters. Particularly, by
reducing stress
hormones/neurotransmitters while
:
 increasing the production and release of
rest & digest hormones/neurotransmitters.

You see, during high levels of stress or

anxiety, the hypothalamus tells the SNS &
pituitary gland to activate the adrenal
cortical system.

The adrenal glands & medulla respond by

releasing over 30 different hormones &
neurotransmitters into the bloodstream,
including:

Cortisol (hormone): Symptoms of

chronically high levels of cortisol
include: increased blood pressure &
glucose (sugar) levels, mood swings,
weight gain in the face, chest &
abdomen, disruption of menstrual
cycles & decreased sex drive for
women, and anxiety & depression, to
name a few

Epinephrine & Norepinephrine

(neurotransmitters that double as
hormones): Responsible for
increasing the heart rate, heart
contractility (how hard the heart
squeezes), blood sugar levels,
constricting blood vessels (this is
what’s responsible for that chill you
get when afraid) & the world famous
“adrenaline rush”

Conversely, during mindfulness meditation,

the hypothalamus (when it’s being nice),
:
 pituitary gland & PSNS cause the release
of the “good guys & girls” of the
hormone/neurotransmitter world, including:

Acetylcholine (neurotransmitter):
Release of this neurotransmitter
results in: decreased heart rate,
relaxed skeletal muscles, contraction
of smooth muscle tissue (important
for digestion), dilation of blood
vessels, increased motivation &
sexual arousal, improved memory
formation, attention & learning, and
promotion of REM sleep

Oxytocin (hormone): Release of this

hormone helps balance sex
hormones in both men & women and
improves bonding during social
interactions

Prolactin (hormone): Improves

immune system function,
reproductive health, and as the name
suggests, milk production in women.

Vasopressin (hormone): Balances

concentrations of glucose (sugar) &
salts in cells, and consequently,
water concentrations in fluid space
between the cells

DHEA (hormone): Counteracts the

effects of cortisol, acts as a
precursor chemical for the production
of testosterone & estrogen, and is
:
 associated with increased longevity &
“anti-aging” (whatever that means).
Studies have shown that those who
practice meditation have 43% more
DHEA than their counterparts.

Somatotropin (growth hormone):

Improves sleep, recovery, glucose
levels in the blood & reduces stress

Downstream effects caused by these

hormones during meditation include:

Increased serotonin
(neurotransmitter): Improves mood,
happiness, and cognitive function,
while reducing anxiety

Increased GABA (neurotransmitter):

Decreases anxiety, depression &
insomnia. A study at Boston
University School of Medicine found
that one hour of meditation or
mindfulness can boost GABA levels
by 27%

Increased melatonin
(neurotransmitter): Improves sleep,
immune function, & resistance to
cancer. Research at Rutgers
University found that those who
meditate regularly have an average of
98% more melatonin than people who
do not

CONCLUSION
:
 So, you can do the math…

Add all these positive benefits of

mindfulness & meditation, from the
attention networks to the nervous system
to the heart to hormone & neurotransmitter
regulation, and you can see that the
answer to the question posed at the
beginning of this article has quite a few
answers.

The fact is, there is a multitude of ways a

simple mindfulness practice reduces
anxiety, and a real answer requires an
explanation of the science which
undergirds the true, but often nebulous,
claims made by your neighborhood yoga
teacher.

Now, you may have to read this article a

few times to let all this information soak in,
however, I will part with a better
suggestion. (You’ve done enough stamp
collecting for one day ;))

Whether you meditate or not, take this

information to heart and realize its
importance. All these numbers & names
are nothing more than proof of the value to
your health and well-being of a daily
practice of focused meditative
contemplation.

Just a few minutes a day will yield

significant benefits over time, but the key
is consistency.
:
 By the way, if you’d like to learn how to
become a guided meditation facilitator, I
invite you to check out our meditation
teacher training to see if you would like to
take the fight to anxiety yourself!

Hunter
Varnum
CEO & Co-Creator
Hunter Varnum is the
CEO & Co-Creator of
The Guided
Meditation
Framework®.

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