The Neuroscience of Mindfulness: The Astonishing Science behind How Everyday Hobbies Help You Relax

by Stan Rodski

Our Emotional Sixth Sense

Neuroscientific studies are finding that our brain circuits for emotions are just as tangible as circuits for our other five senses. Advanced imaging techniques can now observe this. Recent fascination with colouring -in for adults joins a long list of techniques that have been employed by humans to calm the brain and help us with our emotions. Our ways of dealing with this intuitively have included tasks with some return for our time and effort. Tasks such as knitting and gardening. However, we now enter a world where these tasks are redundant for many of us. We employ gardeners and buy scarves. The discoveries of focused activities which take our minds away from the emotions of day to day living are returning again but in new formats such as colouring-in books and even lego building blocks for adults. In this book, Dr Rodski explores the science behind these activities and many others which we humans crave for to help us through our emotional world. The world of mindfulness, the world of our 6th sense.

Genres: Nonfiction, Psychology, Science, Self Help, Health, Audiobook, Mental Health

223 pages, Kindle Edition

First published December 17, 2018

Reviews

[sarah]

2020 non fiction book 1 out 12

I decided that in 2020 I should diversify my reading by including more non fiction books. I saw this audiobook was available from my library and only 5 hours so I bit the bullet. I don't really know yet how to rate non-fiction, and so I think I will approach this review by saying what I learnt from the book, and help you decide if it is something you will benefit from.


My Main Takeaways

➽ Why we get stressed
"Your stress is not not caused by an event. It is caused by your perceptions or beliefs about that event."

I'm not sure why this was so revolutionary to me, but it just made me see things from a different perspective. Using the example of public speaking, you can see that the act itself is not inherently stressful- but you believe it is because of past experiences, the media or insecurities. This unnecessary stress has flow on consequences due to MBC, or Mind Body Connection- possibly even contributing to physical manifestations of the stress in forms of illness.

➽ Neuroplasticity
Mindfulness can not only change the way you think, but the physical structure of your brain. It does this by creating new neuron pathways, neuroplasticity. There have been many studies on how mindfulness and meditation can reshape you brain, showing how the mind can re-wire brain circuits that boost mind and body health.

I would recommend this book if you want to find out more about:

➽ what the difference is between the unconscious, subconscious and conscious brain is
➽ what implicit and explicit memories are
➽ different methods for practising mindfulness
➽ the science behind how those techniques work
➽ easy to comprehend psychology without a bunch of Latin jargon
➽ actionable approaches rather than just theory

[☘Misericordia☘ ⚡ϟ⚡⛈⚡☁ ❇️❤❣ · Rating 5 out of 5]

Quite a lot of info sumarized in an easy enough form for the random reader's level.

[Bon Tom · Rating 4 out of 5]

Many books about mindfulness and still, every one of them sheds new light.

This one is about how mindfulness already is in your life, in everyday activities, which you perhaps don't appreciate enough, but find them routine and boring.

Turns out, there's reward in routine, if you pay attention to it. That reward is piece of mind and harmony.

[Asia Sowa · Rating 1 out of 5]

If I have understood the message correctly, I have to disagree with two things, and I've only read several pages...
1) EEG does not indicate what TYPE of neurotransmitter is being released during the experiment and performing some specific task. Techniques that have been able to do it are microdialysis and amperometry or voltammetry (where we can distinguish neurotransmitter by their positive or negative charge), but they have only been applied to animal studies, as they are very invasive.
2) as far as I know, noradrenergic neurons does not produce cortisol, they produce ... noradrenaline. And no" kissing" is involved. It could be very misleading for a reader because "kiss-and-run" is the name of the mechanism of recycling synaptic vesicles.
Regarding these huge mistakes, I am really concerned about the reliability of the rest of this book.

[Hanie Noor · Rating 5 out of 5]

Mindfulness as a tool🔨

🗒️ neuroscience of mindfulness: ways mindfulness practices affect the brain & its functions—explores activities that influence neural pathways, brain structure, & overall cognitive processes.

Delves into the intersection of mindfulness, neuroscience, & health, emphasizing the importance of tailoring mindfulness practices to individual preferences & daily routines. Rodski covers various aspects of mindfulness & insights into ways mindfulness techniques can be applied in daily life to manage stress, improve resilience, & promote overall wellness.

Mindfulness? What is it really? Why is it important? 🧐

Mindfulness serves as a tool for managing stress & improving health by focusing on energy management. It interrupts mental chatter, promotes relaxation, & enhances overall well-being. By understanding the science behind mindfulness, we can better tailor mindfulness techniques to our needs. Research has shown that practicing mindfulness can lead to positive changes in the brain, i.e., increased density in areas associated with memory, learning, & emotional regulation, as well as reductions in activity of ‘amygdala’ or brain’s center for fear & stress responses.

Rodski emphasises recognising the role of nervous system, endocrine system, & immune system in Mind-Body Connection (MBC), highlighting the impact of stress on health & the importance of balance for overall well-being.

Filled with questions, suggestions, & exercises that offers practicality to achieve mindfulness—the physical, mental, & emotional practices that includes; breathing exercises or bodily sensations, cultivating non-judgmental awareness of thoughts & emotions, & incorporating mindfulness into daily activities i.e., eating, walking, or listening. Regular practice, consistency, & patience are key to developing mindfulness skills over time.

As Muslims, we are lucky to practice mindfulness 5 times a day (prayer). But it only works when we do it intentionally with the right way. Being Muslims teaches us to be intentional with everything we do too.

[Ann T · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.5 stars

This was a fabulous book. It is the first audiobook I have ever finished and i am now going to buy the ebook so that I can reread at least and highlight the aha bits for me.

The information provided is easy to understand and common sense. The part I loved the most about the book was the way the author drives home why we should work hard everyday to rewire our neurons and how to do it.

I knew the importance of rewiring them but I had never read WHY it is important, beyond, it is good for you, your immunity etc.

This fabulous book gave me so many aha moments particularly with the WHY of being healthy and how it is not enough just to say I want to be healthy and work towards that but we need to intrinsically be
If in a purpose that will make us sing in life no matter what our current health states.

We need to ensure our goals express a whole hearted desire to live our best life possible not just meet our obligations we set ourselves.

I highly recommend this book.

[Ayesha · Rating 5 out of 5]

Love the explanation of the mind body connection as well as the practical exercises.

Particularly love the quote at the end!

[J. · Rating 2 out of 5]

I wasn't impressed by the rigour of this book, as there were no citations that I could see. I found the cover a bit deceptive, as knitting is only mentioned very briefly but colouring in, the author's main jam, makes up the bulk of the book.

[Win · Rating 4 out of 5]

Lots of common sense tips on how to reduce stress levels in everyday life.

[Jacob Langham · Rating 3 out of 5]

I managed to finish this audiobook in 3 days as it was an easy listen. The scientific concepts were deconstructed in a simplistic manner, which made them easy to understand. I think this is a great read or listen for an introduction into the science behind mindfulness but may be a tad too basic for someone with prior knowledge of the subject. I also don’t think it was meant to be an audiobook as i found it boring at times, but i’m sure it would be different with the book. Overall, a pleasant listen with a positive and meaningful concluding message.

[AKer Daniel · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really find it hard explaining the art of mindfulness to people orally. Most times it's hard to even find the right words while speaking, and in some moment the potentiality of the whole thing sounding absurd and uninteresting, most especially meditation (which is not expounded about in this book). Although I feel meditation has a thing in common with mindfulness.

So most times I recommended books or articles on mindfulness for people, because through writing people tend to structure words even more properly and carefully, also it gives the reader time to think things out in solitude than try to argue instantaneously which most times may distort the process of proper reasoning. Even so, there still stood a challenge. If it's a book by a monk, sufa or on the basis of spirituality, it was easily waved because maybe it lacks factual evidence and even when it's a science book, people complain that the enourmous use of scientific terminology had made the whole thing cumbersome and almost impossible to flip through.

Then comes this book that seems to alleviate these minor obstructions! Not only those it resonate with most of these teaching (especially buddhism), but there are alot of scientific evidence explained in very simple terms and structure that would leastly leave you confused.

Mindfulness is a very good thing, I recommend it in conjunction with this book.

[Mel Sweeney (mels.bookshelf_) · Rating 3 out of 5]

Listened to this as an audiobook - It was really interesting learning about all the benefits of mindfulness on our brain health. The author specifically details the use of mindful colouring and his research around this, but also included other suggestions to bring mindfulness into your life.
I especially loved learning about the mind body connection, highlighting the important link between our mental and physical health. Unfortunately I did find myself tuning out at times during the audiobook, but I think this was only due to this being the audio version… I think that the more detailed neuroscience information may have been easier taken in as a physical book as opposed to audio.
A non-fiction manual filled with some great tips and exercises to bring mindfulness into your life. It was a nice reminder to live a little slower and prioritise mindful living.

[Buck Wilde · Rating 4 out of 5]

The usual spiel about how mindfulness will improve every conceivable facet of your life, physical, mental, social, spiritual, you'll run faster and jump higher, you may levitate, etc. It's psychology's equivalent of No Nut November. The new twist our boy Rodski puts on it is meditation can be achieved without meditating, by coloring with crayons, in the embarrassingly named "colortation" or maybe "coloration", I don't remember.

Fortunately, it works, so that's something useful for people who can't shut their brains off long enough to sit still and breathe for a couple minutes each day. All roads to Rome, I guess.

[Hemang · Rating 1 out of 5]

Presents "mindfulness" as something new discovered by the psychologists, rather than as something being studied by them in light of newer models of the brain and technology. It is the monks and followers of the tradion who have long developed as well as applied these techniques for several centuries if not millennia, and recorded their stated benefits. Yet the author presents it as something that has been hypothesized recently. Deliberately overlooks and does not cite the original names of the methods (Vipassana and more), their origins in dharmic traditions of the India (viz Buddhism and Hindusim), and their already established protocols and effects.

[Rhonda · Rating 4 out of 5]

If you're at all concerned about maintaining your cognitive faculties.. a key priority of mine for the longest time.. this book is a treasure trove of insightful, detailed and practical advice about your own cerebral gem and keeping it in top shape. Added bonus: confirmation that (not too much) red wine and dark chocolate are okay!

(I read the paperback edition, but this doesn't appear to be included in listings)

[Sangita · Rating 1 out of 5]

I question the scientific credibility of this book with no citations to anything other than 'from my studies'. Very basic and questionable explanations for things, but definitely not the neuroscience behind it.
Sounds like the author just wants people to know he came up with colourtation (brings it up SO many times I couldn't finish the book!)

[Roman · Rating 2 out of 5]

Barely worth a read. Would not touch it had I known how uninformative it is.

[Alwyn · Rating 3 out of 5]

Fascinating subject and very informative book. The style of writing is not engaging. I struggled to complete the book...

[Emily · Rating 1 out of 5]

Very little of this book was about mindfulness. It was partially an ad for the author's coloring books and partially a book about the mind-body connection.
That would've been fine if it were the only problem. However, the author made so many questionable assertions in the book that I spent a decent amount of time fact checking. One glaring error was this one: "it's long been known that the monthly periods of women who live together often become synchronized." A simple Google search would've shown the author this has been shown to be a myth. After reading that, I lost all confidence that anything in the book was accurate.

[Ash · Rating 5 out of 5]

A little pop sci, a little self-help. Some of the writing is a little bit exaggerated, but the concepts are sound and I can see bits being useful in my life.

The description of the mind body connection really helped me build a better mental model of how the brain and body work together. Particularly how the brain can be completely fine, yet the body wracked with senseless anxiety.

I appreciate the author took several moments to step back and advocate for a science-based, medical-based approach to healing. It's not trying to be an all-in solution to life's problems, rather a tool in the tool belt.

Overall I enjoyed it. I'd recommend this if you're interested in the subject.

[Ita · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not bad but also not great, I enjoyed some chapters and others not so much. It is a good introduction for people new to mindfulness. The science part was boring and the author himself says to skip it if you are not into science. I should have taken his advice but I don't like skipping parts of books! I really liked the chapter on energy management and on managing your health. Some good ideas here.

[Emily · Rating 3 out of 5]

Maybe a 2.5

This book was really more about how regulating your work life than about using hobbies to practice mindfulness.

I did skim and skip some of the more science focused bits, but I expected more information about how to use your current hobbies in relation to mindfulness.

Highly recommend if you want information on how the brain works and how mindfulness improves your life, but don't go in expecting lots of info about using hobbies to do that

[Sarah · Rating 1 out of 5]

I read this because I was interested in learning more about the neuroscience of meditation. However, despite the title, this wasn’t the focus of the book.

The book is mostly about mindful activities, with a strong focus on colouring in — specifically, the “Colour-tation” method that the author developed.

Whilst it did contain some neuroscience, the book ultimately felt like an extended plug for colouring in and “Colour-tation”.

1 ★

[Maria Bell · Rating 4 out of 5]

l enjoyed reading this book, a lot of the Information was not new to me, as l had studied Art Therapy several years ago, but l did enjoy reading about the research that Stan had done. Many of the things that Stan discussed, society has know for many years, but the research proves that taking time out does help with creativity and relaxation.

[Paizli · Rating 3 out of 5]

It was interesting enough, but the book doesn't really focus on mindfulness as a whole, more mindfulness activities - particularly colouring. The explanations of mind-body-connection was interesting, especially when learning about the (potential) harm stress can have on the body.

If you would like to have a better understanding of mindfulness, this book is something you could give a chance.

[Brooke Alice (brookes.bookstagram) · Rating 2 out of 5]

I wouldn’t recommend the audio book for this as there are activities to complete and the editing of the audio is awful and chops and changes in tone and pitch and sounds like each word was recorded individually and the sound bytes were all mushed together.

[Tiffanie · Rating 3 out of 5]

This one fell a bit flat for me. As someone with a physiology/nursing background, and who has read on this topic before, there was really no new territory for me. I was hoping for more. But if you’re new to the subject matter, this is a quick and generalized read.

[Imalka Madhushani · Rating 5 out of 5]

After a long time here I read the book that explains mind body connection along with methods to improve the mind body connection. I love it since the beginning. There is no page I skipped. I can read it again.

[Jeanette · Rating 5 out of 5]

One of the most practical and easy to read books on mindfulness, meditation and how it relates to the mind-body connection. It is scientifically sound in a very accessible and practical way. This should be on every stressed person’s bookshelf!

[Jennie · Rating 4 out of 5]

An interesting and easy to read coverage on the neuroscience underpinning mindfulness. Clearly set out in a logical progression and full of activities to apply the theory. A sound introduction to improving your mental and body health and the importance of considering them in combination.