Meditation Benefits: Justin Brewer's Mindfulness Techniques

Judson Brewer, MD, PhD, is a psychiatrist, neuroscientist, and author who has studied the science of addictions for over 20 years. Brewer's work focuses on mindfulness and its ability to interrupt habits and addictions. Brewer's research has found that mindfulness can help people overcome their cravings and form new, healthier habits. In his book, 'The Craving Mind', Brewer explains the mechanisms of habit and addiction formation and how mindfulness can be used to interrupt these habits. Brewer's work has been recognised by many, including Ezra Klein, who described 'The Craving Mind' as one of the best things I've read on addiction.

Mindfulness can help overcome addictions

Judson Brewer is a psychiatrist, neuroscientist, author, and thought leader in the field of habit change. He has over 20 years of experience with mindfulness training and has developed clinically proven app-based training to help people with emotional eating and anxiety. Brewer's work focuses on the neurobiological mechanisms underlying the interface between stress, mindfulness, and the addictive process. He has translated research findings into programs to treat addictions.

Mindfulness-based treatments for addiction have gained increasing interest as a potential therapy for addiction. Mindfulness meditation teaches individuals to improve their lives by focusing their awareness on the present moment and accepting their thoughts and feelings without judgment. Mindfulness-based interventions (MBIs) have been studied as a treatment for a range of addictive behaviors, including drinking, smoking, opioid misuse, and use of illicit substances.

MBIs reduce substance misuse and craving by modulating cognitive, affective, and psychophysiological processes integral to self-regulation and reward processing. Mindfulness trains people to pay attention to cravings without reacting to them. It encourages people to notice why they feel pulled to indulge. By doing so, mindfulness can help individuals ride out the wave of intense desire and make more mindful behavioral choices.

Research suggests that mindfulness-based cognitive therapy (MBCT) can be effective in reducing depressive symptoms and may help prevent a relapse of depressive symptoms as effectively as antidepressant medications. MBCT incorporates cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT) with mindfulness-based stress reduction (MBSR). MBCT also incorporates other activities such as meditation, body scan exercises, and yoga to help people focus on becoming more aware and accepting of their thoughts.

Dialectical behavior therapy (DBT) combines elements of mindfulness with CBT and emotional regulation training to help treat symptoms of conditions such as borderline personality disorder. DBT has been found to be effective in helping people manage their emotions and treat anxiety, depression, and PTSD.

In conclusion, mindfulness can help individuals overcome addictions by improving emotional regulation, reducing anxiety and stress, and enhancing cognitive abilities. It allows individuals to focus their attention, shift their thoughts, and suppress interfering thoughts. Mindfulness-based treatments have been found to be effective in reducing substance misuse and craving, making it a promising approach for treating addiction.

Meditation quiets the posterior cingulate cortex

Judson Brewer, a psychiatrist, neuroscientist and author, has studied the neural mechanisms of mindfulness and translated his research findings into programs to treat addictions. Brewer's work has focused on the neurobiological mechanisms underlying the interface between stress, mindfulness and the addictive process. He has also developed measurements of mindfulness practice, using functional MRI methods with real-time feedback to examine the effects of mindfulness training on brain function and mental health.

Brewer's research has shown that meditation experience is associated with decreased activity in the posterior cingulate cortex, which is a central hub of the default mode network. This network is associated with mind-wandering and self-referential processing. Brewer's findings suggest that mindfulness meditation training increases resting-state functional connectivity between nodes of the frontoparietal executive control network and the default mode network.

In a cross-sectional study of long-term mindfulness meditation practitioners, Brewer found reduced activation of the default mode network at rest and during meditation practice. This was interpreted as reflecting reduced mind-wandering and increased focus on the present moment. Brewer also found increased resting-state functional connectivity between the posterior cingulate cortex and the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex in long-term mindfulness practitioners compared to non-meditators. This suggests a functional mechanism by which attentional improvements and reductions in mind-wandering may manifest.

The posterior cingulate cortex is associated with the kind of rumination that can lead to a loop of obsession. By quieting this region of the brain, mindfulness may help individuals break free from addictive behaviours and improve their ability to self-regulate.

Tuning into your inner reward system

According to psychiatrist and neuroscientist Judson Brewer, tuning into your inner reward system is key to improving your habits. Brewer is a thought leader in the field of habit change and the "science of self-mastery", with over 20 years of experience in mindfulness training and scientific research.

Understanding the habit-forming brain

The brain's habit-forming process is a reward-based learning process called positive and negative reinforcement. When we see food that looks good, our brain signals the importance of calories for survival. After eating, our bodies send a signal to the brain to remember what we ate and where we found it. This context-dependent memory triggers a repeat of the process: see food, eat food, feel good, repeat. This is a simple trigger-behaviour-reward cycle.

However, our brains can also use this process for more than just remembering where food is. For example, when we feel sad, our brains might suggest eating something to feel better. This is the same process, just with a different trigger. Instead of a hunger signal from the stomach, an emotional signal triggers the urge to eat. With each repetition, the behaviour becomes a habit.

Curiosity and mindfulness

Instead of fighting against our brains or forcing ourselves to change, Brewer suggests tapping into this natural reward-based learning process with a twist of curiosity. In his lab, Brewer studied whether mindfulness training could help people quit smoking. Rather than forcing themselves to quit, participants were told to smoke but to be curious about the experience. One smoker noticed that mindful smoking "smells like stinky cheese and tastes like chemicals". This shift from cognitive knowledge to embodied wisdom broke the spell of smoking.

When we get curious, we step out of our old, fear-based reactive habit patterns and become inner scientists eagerly awaiting the next data point. This willingness to turn towards our experience, supported by curiosity, is naturally rewarding. Curiosity feels good, and when we get curious, we start to notice that cravings are simply made up of body sensations like tightness, tension, and restlessness.

By getting curious, we can step out of our old habit patterns and step into being. This might sound too simplistic to affect behaviour, but Brewer's research found that mindfulness training was twice as effective as the gold standard therapy for smoking cessation.

The role of the default mode network

When studying the brains of experienced meditators, Brewer found that a neural network called the default mode network was involved. Specifically, a region called the posterior cingulate cortex is activated not by craving itself but when we get caught up in it and sucked into the cycle. In contrast, when we let go and step out of the process by being curiously aware, this same brain region quiets down.

Practical applications

Brewer suggests that the next time you feel the urge to check your email when bored or to compulsively respond to a text message while driving, try tapping into your natural capacity for curiosity. Be curiously aware of what's happening in your body and mind in that moment. This willingness to turn towards your experience can help you step out of endless habit loops. Notice the urge, get curious, feel the joy of letting go, and repeat.

Mindfulness helps to tame cravings

Judson Brewer, a psychiatrist, neuroscientist, and author, has spent over 20 years studying the neural mechanisms of mindfulness and translating his findings into programs to treat addictions. Brewer's work focuses on the neurobiological mechanisms underlying the interface between stress, mindfulness, and the addictive process. He has developed clinically proven app-based training to help people with emotional eating and anxiety.

Brewer's research suggests that mindfulness is key to cutting the link between conditioned cues of desired objects and the craving that leads to addictive behavior. Mindfulness strategies may help prevent or interrupt cravings for food and drugs, such as cigarettes and alcohol, by occupying short-term memory. In a review of 30 studies, it was found that mindfulness strategies brought about an immediate reduction in craving.

Brewer's work has also shown that meditation quiets the posterior cingulate cortex, the neural space involved in the kind of rumination that can lead to a loop of obsession. In a randomized clinical trial, Brewer found that a mindfulness-based program helped smokers quit at twice the rate of the gold standard "Freedom From Smoking" program from the American Lung Association. The study found that the practice most associated with reductions in smoking was RAIN, which encourages people to recognize and relax into what is arising, accept and allow it to be there, investigate bodily sensations and emotions, and note what is happening from moment to moment.

Brewer touts the mindfulness skills of curiosity and attentiveness as key to tackling bad habits. Being more mindful can help individuals clearly see the outcomes of their behaviors and assess whether the behaviors are helping or harming them. Being aware of the outcomes can help people recognize their blind spots and realize how they are perpetuating the same harmful habits. Once individuals are no longer caught up in their cravings, they may begin to direct their behavior toward more helpful rewards.

Meditation is about changing your relationship with your thoughts

Judson Brewer, MD, PhD, is a psychiatrist, neuroscientist, and author. He is a thought leader in the field of habit change and the "science of self-mastery", having combined over 20 years of experience with mindfulness training and scientific research. Brewer's work focuses on understanding the neural mechanisms of mindfulness and translating research findings into programs to treat addictions.

Meditation, according to Brewer, is not about emptying our minds or stopping our thoughts, but rather, it is about changing our relationship with our thoughts. Instead of fighting our brains or forcing ourselves to pay attention, Brewer suggests tapping into the natural reward-based learning process and adding a twist of curiosity. By being curious about our momentary experience, we can step out of our old, fear-based reactive habit patterns and become inner scientists eager for the next data point.

For example, in one of Brewer's studies, participants were instructed to smoke while being curious and mindful. One smoker noticed that the cigarette "smells like stinky cheese and tastes like chemicals. Yuck." Through this mindful approach, she moved from knowing cognitively that smoking was bad for her to truly understanding it in her bones, thus breaking the spell of smoking.

Brewer's research has shown that mindfulness training can be twice as effective as gold-standard therapy in helping people quit smoking. Additionally, studies on the brains of experienced meditators found that parts of the default mode network, specifically the posterior cingulate cortex, were impacted. This region is activated when we get caught up in cravings and quiets down when we let go and step out of the process by being curiously aware.

By embracing curiosity, we can notice that cravings are composed of body sensations like tightness, tension, and restlessness. These sensations come and go, and by focusing on these bite-sized experiences, we can manage them moment by moment, rather than being overwhelmed by intense cravings. Thus, Brewer's work highlights that meditation is a powerful tool for changing our relationship with our thoughts and, ultimately, transforming our habits and behaviours.

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