Who knew that my math teacher in high school was a Buddhist monk?  I certainly didn’t at the time and often wondered about Mrs. Clark’s strange exercises that she would have us practice just prior to exams.  Shouldn’t we have been focusing on algebra, trigonometry or calculus?  Wouldn’t we have been more likely to improve our exam results if we had done so?    

Instead, Mrs. Clark would have the students close our eyes and imagine ourselves moving down through ten floors of an elevator.  The floors of the elevator each had a different colour and sensory experience.  Mrs. Clark would have us notice sensations in our body and in our breath.  When I got on the tenth floor, being a diligent student, I would be anxious to get back to our real work of solving math problems.  To my surprise by the time I reached the first floor that anxiety would melt away .  I was fortunate enough to be taught by Mrs. Clark for several years and would always notice a sense of calm and peace each time she guided us on this exercise.  Thanks Mrs. Clark — the monk in teacher’s clothing.    

Recent research published in Consciousness and Cognition (April 2010) by Fadel Meidan shows that with mindfulness based meditation the brain showed changes.  Memory, visual attention, attention processing, and vigilance all showed significant improvement over a control group.  While several studies examining meditation and the brain have studied long term meditators, and have shown similar findings, this study was conducted on “newbie” meditators.  In fact, these people had only been meditating for four days. 

This is not to say that is the end of the picture by any means.  The brain does in fact change in structure as well with long term mindfulness meditation. A study published in Neuroreport Nov 2005by Lazar et al showed that the brain regions associated with attention, interoception and sensory processing were thicker in long term meditation participants than matched controls, including the prefrontal cortex and right anterior insula.  Maybe there is a plus to being thick headed after all.  

Perhaps she wasn’t a Buddhist monk but my math teacher was onto something.  Thanks Mrs. Clark for being willing to go against the grain and guide me on my first elevator ride of mindfulness and awareness.  I didn’t realize it at the time but now am deeply grateful for the seed you planted.  

“You never know how far reaching something you think, say or do today, will affect the lives of millions tomorrow.” – BJ Palmer, chiropractic pioneer