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inside your body there are three command systems

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and meditation rewrites all of them at once

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there was a comment that got me really excited

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one viewer said

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he wanted to hear about the brain nervous system

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the autonomic nervous system and the endocrine system these three

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integrated with Buddhist practice

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when I saw this comment I thought

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this is exactly what I have always wanted to talk about

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but never found the right way into

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because most scientific research looks at them separately

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one group studies the brain

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another group studies the autonomic nerves

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and yet another group studies hormones

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but your body is not divided into departments

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your body is one whole

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and twenty five hundred years ago a group of people

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without any instruments at all

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designed a set of practices

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that happen to act on all three systems at once

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today I am going to break this down

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hello

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everyone

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I am Wang Lijie

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first let me draw you a map

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inside your body there are three command systems

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each has its own headquarters its own communication network

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its own operating logic

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but they are deeply intertwined

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the first one

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the central nervous system

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that is your brain and spinal cord

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it handles everything you are consciously aware of

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thinking deciding perceiving speaking

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it communicates with electrical signals

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extremely fast

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responses in milliseconds

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you see a ball flying toward you

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and within a fraction of a second you decide to dodge or catch it

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the second one

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the autonomic nervous system

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also known as the involuntary nervous system

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it is not under your conscious control

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it runs your heartbeat breathing digestion blood pressure body temperature

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all the things that keep you alive without you thinking about them

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it splits into two forces

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the sympathetic nerves are the gas pedal

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responsible for fight or flight

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speeding up your heart dilating your pupils sending all resources to the front line

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the parasympathetic nerves are the brake

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responsible for rest and repair

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slowing the heart restoring digestion bringing the immune system back online

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the third one

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the endocrine system

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it regulates your body through hormones

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cortisol adrenaline serotonin dopamine oxytocin

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these chemical messengers travel through the bloodstream

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much slower than electrical signals

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but their effects last much longer

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a single release of cortisol can affect you for hours

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a shift in your endocrine pattern can take weeks to complete

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three systems

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three signal speeds

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three time scales

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electrical signals are lightning at the millisecond scale

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neurotransmitters are couriers at the second scale

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hormones are slow mail at the scale of hours to days

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but these three systems do not operate on their own

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they share a common hub

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called the hypothalamus

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the hypothalamus is only the size of an almond

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but it may be the most underrated organ in your body

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because it is at once a neural structure an endocrine gland

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and the top command center of the autonomic nervous system

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you can think of it as a joint command of all three forces

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the cerebral cortex is the general staff

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in charge of high level strategy

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the autonomic nerves are the automated frontline troops

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handling routine situations without waiting for orders

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the endocrine system is the supply line

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in charge of long term resource allocation

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the hypothalamus sits in the middle

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gathering translating and distributing information from all three

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alright

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remember this map

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next I am going to tell you something really fascinating

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modern science has found

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there is one human activity

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that can change the operating state of all three systems at once

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not drugs

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not surgery

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not gene editing

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it is meditation

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let us go through them one by one

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first the central nervous system

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I have covered this in detail in a previous episode

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today let me recap the key conclusion in one sentence

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when you meditate

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activity in the brain default mode network drops significantly

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the default mode network is that voice in your head that keeps telling stories

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who am I my past my future what others think of me

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when this voice quiets down

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the functional connectivity between the salience network and the executive control network actually strengthens

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in plain language

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your brain shifts from the autopilot narrative mode

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to the manual awareness mode

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a comprehensive functional connectivity study in 2022 found

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mindfulness meditation significantly strengthened the connection between the anterior cingulate cortex and the insula

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the anterior cingulate cortex handles conflict monitoring and attention allocation

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the insula handles interoception

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which is the awareness of your internal bodily states

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what does stronger connection between these two regions mean

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it means meditation is training your brain

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to monitor what is happening in your body more accurately

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instead of being lost in stories about yourself

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did you notice

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the insula is a crucial region

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it is not just a brain area that processes information

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it is your brain window into the body

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you can feel your heart racing your stomach churning your face burning

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all thanks to the insula at work

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meditation strengthens the function of the insula

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which means you become more aware of your body state

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and this capacity for awareness

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is exactly the key that connects the first system to the other two

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this is the first layer of change

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but if there were only this layer

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meditation would just be a form of attention training

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no different in essence from doing math problems

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what truly makes meditation different

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is the next two layers

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the second system

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the autonomic nervous system

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this is the main event today

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modern people share a common problem

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the sympathetic nerves are chronically overactivated

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you are not being chased by a tiger

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but your work stress social anxiety and the negative news you scroll on your phone

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are no different from a tiger to your autonomic nerves

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your gas pedal is always pressed down

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the brake never gets used

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over the long run

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cardiovascular disease weakened immunity chronic inflammation digestive disorders

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they all come

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here I have to give a grand introduction to one character

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the vagus nerve

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the vagus nerve is the most important nerve in the parasympathetic nervous system

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and the longest cranial nerve in your body

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it starts from the brainstem

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and winds all the way down

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connecting the heart lungs stomach and intestines

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reaching almost every internal organ

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its name in Latin means the wanderer

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because it wanders everywhere inside your body

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the vagus nerve is your body peace envoy

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when it is activated

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the heart slows down

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breathing deepens

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digestion recovers

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inflammation levels drop

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immune function strengthens

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the activity of the vagus nerve has a precise quantifiable measure

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called heart rate variability

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pay attention

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heart rate variability is not about how fast your heart beats

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but about how much the intervals between your heartbeats vary

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a healthy heart does not beat as precisely as a metronome

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but has tiny irregular fluctuations between each beat

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the greater this fluctuation

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the more active your parasympathetic nerves are

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the more flexible and resilient your body is

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low heart rate variability

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means your autonomic nervous system has become rigid

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the gas pedal has seized the steering wheel

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so what does meditation do to the vagus nerve and the autonomic nerves

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a randomized controlled trial in 2022 found

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just ten days of online mindfulness training

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significantly raised the participants heart rate variability

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not only during the day

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but at night as well

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higher nighttime heart rate variability means sleep quality improved

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because the parasympathetic nerves should dominate at night

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if they are not strong enough

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your sleep is shallow and unrestorative

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another study that same year used electrocardiography

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to precisely measure autonomic changes during meditation

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the results were very clear

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parasympathetic activity strengthened significantly

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sympathetic activity dropped significantly

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the gas pedal eased off

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the brake came on

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but here is a key question

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how do you activate a system you cannot control

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the reason it is called autonomic

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is that it does not obey your conscious command

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you cannot stop your heart with your mind

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nor can you order your stomach to stop moving

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the answer is hidden in the breath

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breathing is an extremely special function in your body

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because it is controlled by both the autonomic and the voluntary nervous systems

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when you are not thinking about it it breathes on its own

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when you want to control it you can

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it is the only two way bridge connecting the conscious and the unconscious

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a large scale meta analysis in 2022

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pooled data from two hundred and twenty three studies

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the conclusion was very clear

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slow voluntary breathing

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can significantly raise vagally mediated heart rate variability

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effective during the breathing exercise

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effective after a single session

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and even more effective after long term practice

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Buddhism calls this anapana

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observing the breath

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twenty five hundred years ago there was no concept of heart rate variability

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but the Buddha observed that the breath is the entrance into the body automatic system

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through this bridge

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your active awareness can influence systems you normally cannot control

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translated into modern terms

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you use the voluntary nerves to control the rhythm of your breathing

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this change in rhythm directly regulates the tone of the vagus nerve

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which shifts the balance of the whole autonomic nervous system

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think about it

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what an exquisite design this is

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you cannot directly order your heart to slow down

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but by controlling your breath

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you can indirectly pluck the string of the vagus nerve

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and change the tone of the whole autonomic nervous system

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the Buddha did not know the vagus nerve existed

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but he found a way to operate it

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and it is not just observing the breath

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many practice traditions also have mantra recitation and chanting the Buddha name

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have you ever wondered why you chant out loud

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the vibration of the vocal cords can physically stimulate the vagus nerve directly

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because the vagus nerve has a branch running right along the vocal cords and throat

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when you chant om mani padme hum

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that low frequency resonance is not just making sound

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it is massaging your vagus nerve

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this is not a metaphor

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this is anatomy

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alright

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now for the third system

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the endocrine system

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when you feel continuous stress

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your body activates a signaling chain

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called the hypothalamic pituitary adrenal axis

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the HPA axis for short

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I introduced it in the episode on spontaneous remission

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let me recap briefly

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the hypothalamus sends a signal

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to the pituitary gland

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the pituitary passes it to the adrenal glands

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the adrenal glands release cortisol

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cortisol is your stress hormone

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in the short term it helps you focus and handle emergencies

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but if it stays high for a long time

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immunity is suppressed

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the hippocampus is damaged

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memory declines

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chronic inflammation rises

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emotional regulation breaks down

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the problem for modern people is

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the HPA axis stays activated for the long term

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because your stressors do not come and go like wild beasts

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your mortgage your KPIs

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your social comparisons your anxiety about the future

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these stressors are constant pervasive and never disappearing

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your HPA axis is always working overtime

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what does meditation do to this system

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a randomized controlled trial in 2020 found

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after eight weeks of transcendental meditation practice

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young people salivary cortisol on waking dropped significantly

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and the cortisol spike after waking also shrank

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what does this mean

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it means meditation works not only during the tens of minutes you sit

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it is changing the baseline setting of your HPA axis

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the factory default of your stress system is turned down

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another study in 2019 was even more precise

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they developed an approach grounded in a psychoneuroendocrine immunology framework

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a meditation method

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after thirty hours of training

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the participants in a resting state

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and under acute stress showed salivary cortisol levels

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that both dropped significantly

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in other words

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not only did your resting stress level go down

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but the intensity of your reaction to sudden stress went down too

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your entire stress response system became gentler

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here is a detail that is easy to overlook

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there is a direct highway between the autonomic nervous system and the endocrine system

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the vagus nerve not only regulates heartbeat and breathing

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it also connects directly to the gut

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trillions of microbes live in your gut

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they communicate with the brain through the vagus nerve

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this is called the gut brain axis

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even more astonishing

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ninety five percent of the serotonin in your body is not made in the brain

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but in the gut

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serotonin is a key neurotransmitter that regulates mood

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when meditation activates the vagus nerve

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it not only changes your heart rhythm

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it also affects the microecology of your gut and the synthesis of serotonin

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the interplay between the second system and the third system

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is far tighter than we imagine

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but the story of the endocrine system is not only about cortisol

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there is a deeper layer here

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altruistic behavior and prosocial motivation

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activate a completely different endocrine pathway

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the oxytocin and serotonin pathway

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I broke down this mechanism in detail in the episode on dedication of merit

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altruistic intention is not a moral performance

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physiologically it takes your body

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from a cortisol dominated threat mode

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to an oxytocin dominated connection mode

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and almost every practice in Mahayana Buddhism

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has an altruistic framework

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compassion bodhicitta dedication of merit

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this is not a moral requirement

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this is an endocrine prescription

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alright

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we have gone through all three systems

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now do one thing with me

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look at these three layers stacked together

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the changes in the central nervous system happen at the millisecond to second scale

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you close your eyes and start observing the breath

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within a few minutes the default mode network activity begins to drop

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the changes in the autonomic nervous system happen at the minute to hour scale

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after a single meditation session

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your heart rate variability improvement can last for hours

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after a few weeks of practice a new baseline starts to form

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the changes in the endocrine system happen at the day to week scale

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resetting the baseline of the HPA axis takes weeks or even months of sustained practice

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three speeds

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three scales

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happening at once

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you think you are just sitting there doing nothing

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your body disagrees

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and Buddhism

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without any of these scientific concepts

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designed a system of practice

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that precisely corresponds to these three layers

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shamatha and vipassana

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correspond to the central nervous system

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shamatha quiets the default mode network

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vipassana strengthens the function of the salience network and the interoceptive network

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anapana and mantra recitation

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correspond to the autonomic nervous system

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activating the vagus nerve through breath and sound vibration

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switching from sympathetic dominance to parasympathetic dominance

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precepts and vows

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correspond to the endocrine system

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precepts reduce the behavior patterns that keep activating the HPA axis

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greed hatred and delusion are not abstract moral concepts

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they are the three sources of chronic stress

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greed is the compulsive chasing of reward

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which throws the dopamine system off balance

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hatred is the overreaction to threat

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which keeps cortisol high

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delusion is ignorance of the whole mechanism

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so you have no idea what your body is going through

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making vows sets an altruistic framework of intention

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shifting the endocrine keynote from cortisol to oxytocin

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you see

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the Buddhist system of practice is not a pile of scattered rituals and rules

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when you look at it through the three system framework

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you find it is a precise whole body tuning program

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different practice methods target different system layers

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different time scales require different intensities of practice

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and the well worn advice to practice consistently

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has a very concrete reason at the physiological level

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because the slowest system needs the longest time to respond

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here I have to say something honest

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current scientific research cannot yet

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precisely track within a single experiment

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the real time linked changes of these three systems during meditation

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most studies look at only one or two of these measures

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what I have done today is piece together the conclusions of several independent studies

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to build an integrated picture

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I am very confident about the big direction

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but the detailed causal chains and the precise interaction mechanisms among the three systems

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still need more interdisciplinary research to verify

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but this is exactly what moves me most

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science is divided into disciplines

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it cuts the body into pieces to study

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neuroscience handles the brain

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endocrinology handles hormones

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autonomic nerve research sits in yet another discipline

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but the body is not divided into departments

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your brain state affects your autonomic nerves

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your autonomic nerves affect your hormone levels

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and your hormone levels in turn affect your brain state

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this is a closed loop

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there is no first or second here

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and what the Buddha did twenty five hundred years ago

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was to observe this closed loop without dividing it into departments

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he did not cut his experience into

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this is the brain this is the nerves this is the hormones

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he directly observed the operating pattern of the whole system

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and then designed a practice

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that tunes all three layers at once

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maybe this is why

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meditation cannot be reduced to any single scientific explanation

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its effect is itself cross system multi scale and simultaneous

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trying to explain meditation with a single mechanism

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is like trying to explain a symphony with a single note

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and the Buddha did it

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with the single method of vipassana

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he heard the whole piece of music

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finally I want to leave you with a question

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if there really are three command systems in your body

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and you have only ever used the first one

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the central nervous system you are conscious of to make decisions

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then by what rules have the other two systems been running all along

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who has been giving them orders

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is it you

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or your habits your fears your evolutionary instincts

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the essence of practice

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could it be reclaiming the right to know and regulate the other two systems

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what do you think

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which of these three systems do you most want to explore deeper

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should the next episode break down the autonomic nerves and the vagus nerve on their own

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or dig into the relationship between the endocrine system and emotions

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tell me in the comments

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I am Wang Lijie

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see you next episode