The Enlightened Brain: The Neuroscience of Awakening

by Rick Hanson

Meditation Meets Neuroscience―Practical Tools to Reshape Your Brain for Awakening

We are inspired by the living example of great teachers, who have both penetrating insight and a loving heart. "With modern neuroscience, we’re now beginning to understand the brain processes that support these wonderful qualities of mind," explains Dr. Rick Hanson. With The Enlightened Brain, this pioneering neuropsychologist explores how you can activate these same processes inside your own brain to accelerate your own transformation.

Self-Directed Neuroplasticity―How Our Mind Shapes Our Brain

Your thoughts and feelings continually sculpt your brain―for better or worse. As Dr. Hanson teaches, you can use the power of self-directed neuroplasticity to take control of the evolutionary tendency of your brain to react to life with fear, frustration, and heartache―and return your brain to its natural state of calm, contentment, and caring. With simple and potent practices, he reveals how you can weave positive thoughts and emotions into the fabric of your brain, allowing you to cultivate the qualities of mindfulness, virtue, and wisdom for your own path of awakening.

"This new science gives us unprecedented tools to individualize psychological growth and spiritual practice," says Dr. Hanson. You’ll learn about your unique "profile of attention" and which methods best strengthen your focus and concentration. You’ll also learn how to approach life with equanimity and relax the focus on "me, myself, and I." With The Enlightened Brain, Dr. Rick Hanson gives you practical tools for strengthening the neural circuitry of spacious awareness, calm in the midst of stress, contemplative absorption, resilience, and lasting happiness.

HIGHLIGHTS

Knowing your brain―how to tailor psychological growth and spiritual practice to your unique neurophysiology
• Defeating the negativity bias of your brain by internalizing key resources
• Pairing positive experiences with negative material to soothe and heal old pain
• Activating the neural foundations of mindfulness
• Strengthening the five factors of concentration and deep meditative absorption
• Building neural shock absorbers for stable inner peace in a turbulent world
• Using neuroscience to relax the apparent self and take life less personally
Course

Explain how to tailor psychological growth and spiritual practice to your unique neurophysiology.
• Summarize how to defeat the negativity bias of your brain by internalizing key resources.
• Practice pairing positive experiences with negative material to soothe and heal old pain.
• Apply techniques to activate the neural foundations of mindfulness.
• Practice strengthening the five factors of concentration and deep meditative absorption.
• Utilize exercises to build neural shock absorbers for stable inner peace in a turbulent world.

Genres: Meditation, Buddhism, Psychology, Nonfiction, Neuroscience, Spirituality, Audiobook

1 pages, Audio CD

First published October 1, 2011

About the author

Rick Hanson, Ph.D., is a psychologist, Senior Fellow at UC Berkeley’s Greater Good Science Center, and New York Times best-selling author. His seven books have been published in 33 languages and include Making Great Relationships, Neurodharma, Resilient, Hardwiring Happiness, Just One Thing, Buddha’s Brain, and Mother Nurture – with over a million copies in English alone. He's the founder of the Global Compassion Coalition and the Wellspring Institute for Neuroscience and Contemplative Wisdom, as well as the co-host of the Being Well podcast – which has been downloaded 23 million times. His free newsletters have 260,000 subscribers, and his online programs have scholarships available for those with financial needs. He’s lectured at NASA, Google, Oxford, and Harvard. An expert on positive neuroplasticity, his work has been featured on CBS, NPR, the BBC, and other major media. He began meditating in 1974 and has taught in meditation centers worldwide. He and his wife live in northern California and have two adult children. He loves the wilderness and taking a break from emails.

Reviews

[Teo · Rating 3 out of 5]

2017.07.15–2017.07.18

At least science-wise, I strongly prefer the author’s book Buddha’s Brain (2009), but this might be a good application of that if you are looking for guided meditations—if not, this contains a lot of those, so this is not ideal for learning new information. I’d probably return to Buddha’s Brain for a third time over revisiting this, as the best parts of this audio course felt like overlapping with the book.

Contents

Hanson R (2011) (08:32) Enlightened Brain, The - The Neuroscience of Awakening

Part I

1. Taking Control of Your Brain
• An Introduction to the Enlightened Brain
• • Dr. Hanson's background
• • The causes of suffering
• • The causes of positive feelings
• • What is enlightenment?
• • A description of the brain
• • A description of the program
• • The importance of small, daily efforts
• Self-Directed Neuroplasticity
• An Introduction to Self-Directed Neuroplasticity
• • A description of the brain
• • “The enchanted loom”
• • The structure and function of the brain
• • How complex is the human brain?
• • What are you going to do with your brain?
• The Importance of Studying the Brain
• • What is profound unconditional happiness?
• • How is it accomplished?
• • The primacy of the brain
• • What modern science tells us about traditional meditation practices
• • The intersection of neuroscience, psychology, and contemplative practice
• • The benefits of learning about the brain
• • Introduction to the course
• The Intersection of Neuroscience, Psychology, and Contemplative Practice
• • The benefits of studying the intersection of neuroscience, psychology, and contemplative practice
• • The three great scientific questions
• • The importance of humility and questioning
• A Review of the Physiology of the Brain
• • How the brain is formed
• • How the brain functions
• • How the brain grows
• • How the brain changes
• The Relationship of the Mind and the Brain
• • Defining the mind
• • The importance of culture and the formation of the mind
• • The codependence of the mind and the brain
• • Changing the brain, changes the mind; changing the mind, changes the brain
• • Temporary and permanent changes in the brain
• Neurons that Fire Together, Wire Together
• • Neurons that fire together, wire together
• • The lasting effects of experience on the brain
• • The importance and difficulty of self-advocacy
• • How to do the guided practices
• Guided Meditation: Being on Your Own Side
• Mindfulness, Virtue, and Wisdom
• • What you can do to reduce suffering
• • How you can increase happiness
• • Mindfulness, virtue, and wisdom
• • The three phases of practice
• Guided Meditation: Letting Be, Letting Go, Letting In
• Going Further with Self-Directed Neuroplasticity
• • The mechanism and opportunity to use your mind to change your brain
• • Making effort
• • The two wings of psychological practice
• • Being with vs. working for
• • The importance of being kind to yourself
• • Being on your own side
• • Negative grandiosity
• Section 1 Study Questions

2. Taking in the Good
• Taking in the Good
• An Introduction to Taking in the Good
• • The triune brain
• • The brain's evolution
• • The resting state
• • Trigggers for a stress state
• • The negative effects of chronic stress
• The Three Motivational Systems in the Brain
• • The evolving human brain
• • The nonhuman development of the brain
• • Avoidance, approaching, and attachment
• • Love as the primary driver of the brain
• • Social brain theory
• • Primate brain development
• • What's going on in an enlightened brain?
• • The sympathetic and parasympathetic nervous systems
• • The responsive mode of the brain
• • The resting state: calm, contented, and caring
• The Negativity Bias of the Brain
• • How the brain behaves when we're frustrated, threatened, or stressed
• • The reactive mode of functioning
• • What activates the reactive mode
• • The negativity bias of the brain
• • The evolution of the negativity bias in the brain
• • The difference between carrots and sticks
• • Pain vs. pleasure
• • Trained helplessness
• • The freedom to choose
• • The negative effects of chronic stress
• • Choosing the reactive or responsive mode
• • The fruits and the path
• Guided Meditation: Deepening Your Responsive Mode
• How to Deliberately Internalize Positive Experiences
• • The kinds of memory
• • The basic steps of “Taking in the Good” practice
• Guided Meditation: A Quick Practice of Taking in the Good
• The Kinds of Good We Can Take In
• • Practicing “Taking in the Good”
• • The importance of repetition
• • The four kinds of good to take in
• Guided Meditation: Taking in the Good, Complete Version
• Determining the Kind of Positive Experiences You Need
• • Determining your own needs for certain kinds of positive experiences
• • How to find or create the experiences you need
• • A practice to do before sleep in order to scan for good facts
• Using Positive Experiences to Heal Old Pain
• • Pairing a positive experience with a negative one
• • How the brain stores memories
• • The different ways of using this practice
• • What you need in order to do this practice successfully
• An Introduction to The Fourth Step of Taking in the Good
• • How to use this practice
• • Things to be aware of before beginning
• • What to do if you feel overwhelmed
• • How to choose a negative and positive experience to use in this practice
• Guided Meditation: The Fourth Step of Taking in the Good
• Using the Fourth Step in Everyday Life
• • How to deal with difficulties while doing this practice
• • Using this practice with children
• • Using this practice with different forms of therapy
• • Using this practice to motivate ourselves to do things that are good for us
• • “Taking in the Good” as a mindfulness practice
• Going Further with Taking in the Good
• • Postive virtues
• • The seven factors of enlightenment
• • Positive emotions
• • Self-soothing resources
• • Pro-social behaviors
• • How one can use Taking in the Good to heal old wounds
• • The pearls that are all around us
• • The importance of retaining positive experiences
• • The importance of choice in your progression or regression
• • The realm of Hungry Ghosts
• Section 2 Study Questions

3. The Neuroscience of Mindfulness
• The Neuroscience of Mindfulness
• An Introduction to the Neuroscience of Mindfulness
• • What is mindfulness?
• • Self-awareness
• • Focused attention
• • Awareness is always pure
• Mindfulness and Concentration
• • Defining awareness, attention, mindfulness, and concentration
• • Why mindfulness and concentration are important
• • Buddhism and concentration
• • Concentration and liberating insight
• How Your Brain Pays Attention
• • Different kinds of stimulus and avoidance
• • Updating awareness with new information
• • Determining the right amount of stimulation
• • How dopamine affects functioning
• • Regulating stimulation
• • Neurological diversity: jackrabbits and turtles
• • The characteristics of jackrabbits
• • The characteristics of turtles
• • How to adapt practices to your particular tendencies
• • The three challenges to concentration
• Guided Meditation: Steadying the Mind
• Guided Meditation: Curing Stimulus Hunger
• Guided Meditation: Becoming More Satisfied with Less
• Six Neural Factors That Promote Steadiness of Mind
• • Setting an intention
• • Relaxing the body
• • Feeling cared about
• • Feeling safer
• • Encouraging positive emotion
• • Receiving and internalizing positive experiences
• Guided Meditation: The Six Neural Factors Meditation
• Going Further with the Neuroscience of Mindfulness
• • Doing vs. being
• • Becoming accessible to the fullness of life
• • What do you need to develop further?
• • Lost in thought vs. open spacious awareness
• Concentrating the Mind
• Section 3 Study Questions

Part II

4. Concentrating the Mind
• An Introduction to Concentrating the Mind
• What Happens in the Brain during Concentration
• • What happens in your brain during concentration
• • Stable attention
• • A quiet mind
• • Singleness of mind
• • Concentrated mind
• • Five factors of concentration: applied attention, sustained attention, rapture, joy, and singleness of mind
• Rapture
• • Qualities of rapture
• • How to stimulate rapture
• • Different personality types and rapture
• Joy and Singleness of Mind
• • The different types of joy
• • The neurology of joy
• • Ways of activating joy
• • Knowing happiness, contentment, and tranquility
• • Singleness of mind
• Guided Meditation: Steadying the Mind, Quieting the Mind
• The Common Nature of Matter and the Awakened Mind
• • Matter and energy
• • Eddies in matter and mind
• • Patterns exist only in the nature of now
• • The four qualities of eddies: impermanence, interdependency, emergent, and unconditioned
• • Thoughts
• • The characteristics of enlightenment
• What May Be Happening in the Brain during Nirvana
• • The eight absorptions
• • The progressive process
• • Fertile noise
• • The bare nature of matter and mind
• • The end of suffering
• Going Further with Concentrating the Mind
• • Eddies in the stream
• • Nirvana or other forms of ultimate awakening
• • What if consciousness is woven into the nature of the universe?
• Section 1 Study Questions

5. Balance, Steadiness, and Presence
• Equanimity
• What Is Equanimity?
• • The three aspects of equanimity: balance, steadiness, and presence
• • The difference between calmness and equanimity
• • The evolution of suffering in the brain
• • The three activities of the brain related to suffering
• • The interconnectedness of everything
• • The impossibility of holding on to pleasure and avoiding harm
• • The roots of suffering
• The Buddha’s Teachings on Suffering
• • The definition of suffering
• • The chain of dependent origination
• • Original contact
• • Feeling tone
• • Craving
• • Clinging
• How Our Reactions Create Unnecessary Suffering
• • The importance of our reactions
• • The unavoidable discomforts of life
• • The three types of reactions to experience
• • An exaggerated sense of threat
• • Paper tigers and real threats
• How the Brain Creates Suffering
• • How the brain regulates emotion
• • Improved ability to change the higher functionings of the brain
• • The amygdala and the hippocampus
• • The stress-response cycle
• • Increased sensitivity to stress
• • Post-traumatic stress disorder
• • Healing the brain
• • Prevention vs. healing
• The Four Components of Equanimity
• • The four components of equanimity: steadiness of mind, global coherence, understanding and intention, and calm and contentment
• • The need to practice equanimity
• • The importance of neutrality
• • The importance of daily meditation
• • Focused intention and concentration
• • Whole-body awareness
• • Not overreacting
• • The continuity of change
• Guided Meditation: Focusing on Change
• Interdependence
• • The vast network of causes
• • The parable of the log
• Guided Reflection on the Causes of a Present Difficulty
• Not Being Alarmed by Being Alarmed
• • Most alarms are meaningless
• • Signal anxiety
• Guided Meditation: You’re Alright Right Now
• The Eight Worldly Winds
• • Exploring your intention
• • Pleasure and pain, praise and blame, gain and loss, fame and ill-repute
• Guided Meditation: Tracking the Feeling Tone of Experiences and Their Reactions
• Calm, Contentment, and Virtue
• • Five steps: first aid when you start to feel upset
• • Step 1: Take a sacred pause
• • Step 2: Practice self-compassion
• • Step 3: Get on your own side
• • Step 4: Make a plan
• • Step 5: Take action in thought, word, and deed
• • Tips for relaxing the parasympathetic response
• • Virtue or restraint
• • The benefits of practicing unilateral virtue
• • Contentment
• Guided Meditation: Opening to a Growing Sense of Contentment
• Serenity
• • Dr. Hanson’s adaptation of the Serenity Prayer
• An Introduction to the RAINBOW Practice
• Guided Meditation: The RAINBOW Practice
• Benefits Derived from the RAINBOW Practice
• Section 2 Study Questions

6. Beyond the Self
• Beyond the Self
• • Who are you?
• • The many answers to the question “Who am I?”
• • There is no “self” in the brain
• An Introduction to Beyond the Self
• What Is the Self?
• • Buddha’s summary of his teachings
• • The cost of taking life personally
• • The person, the self, and awareness
• • The four attributes of self: unified, stable, independent, and identity
• Guided Meditation: Exploring the Experience of Self
• The Different Qualities of Self
• • The difference between more or less self
• • What activates the sense of self
• • Self and the brain
• • There is no location of the “I” in the brain
• • The inherent subjectivity of experience
• • The nonexistence of the self
• • A horse vs. a unicorn
• • Representation and reality
• • The convenience of a sense of self
• • The final state of enlightenment
•��• The importance of narcissistic supplies
• Guided Meditation: Feeding the Hungry Heart
• Taking Life Less Personally
• • Cautions about relaxing selfing
• • The distinction between person and self
• • Notice how the sense of self comes and goes
• • Selfing as a process rather than a fixed being
• • Be mindful of yourself as the main actor in various movies
• Guided Meditation: Dealing with a Situation Where You Have Personal Investment
• Living Less Personally
• The Next Steps on Your Path to an Enlightened Brain
• • How to pursue personal benefits without ego involvement
• • Your own place in the Allness
• Section 3 Study Questions

[Kathryn Lakin · Rating 5 out of 5]

I would give this 10 stars if I could. I don't write reviews. My experience with this book has been profound. It's opening me up to new possibilities with a lot less fear. I highly recommend the audio version so you can actually close your eyes and do the meditatios. Rick's voice is very soothing.

[Michele · Rating 3 out of 5]

Great book, lots of practical examples. Recommended!

[Archish · Rating 5 out of 5]

Highly recommended as an audiobook. I started this book as a cynic and I doubted any person who is trying to sell me self-help under the guise of meditation or some other vague mumbo-jumbo. Although this book doesn't explicitly claim to be any kind of a self-help book which will "change your life in n days", it was quite therapeutic to listen to Dr. Rick Hanson as he instructed to carry out some exercise which did leave me with a more positive frame of mind. I must confess, however, that I didn't carry out all the exercises as instructed by him so I am not qualified to declare about their effectiveness but I definitely felt a sense of calm and peace as I did a few exercises which he recommends in the first three chapters.