Neuroaffective Meditation

Reveals how meditation can be used for emotional growth, releasing trauma, and accessing inner wisdom Drawing on her 25 years of research into brain development as well as decades of meditation practice, psychotherapist Marianne Bentzen shows how neuroaffective meditation--the holistic integration of meditation, neuroscience, and psychology--can be used for personal growth and conscious maturation. She also explores how the practice can help address embedded traumas and allow access to the best perspectives of growing older while keeping the best psychological attitudes of being young--a hallmark of wisdom. She explains that there is a sequence to emotional maturation, just as there is for the development of cognitive or athletic skills, and details the central developmental processes of childhood and adolescence and the adult stages of psychological development. She then explores the biopsychological effects of meditation on the human brain, including how it affects us at the autonomic, limbic, and prefrontal levels. The author shares 16 guided meditations for neuroaffective brain development (along with links to online recordings), each designed to gently interact with the deep, unconscious layers of the brain and help you reconnect to yourself, your relationships, and the world around. Each meditation explores a different theme, from breathing in “being in your body” to feeling love, compassion, and gratitude in “the songs of the heart” to balancing positive and negative experiences in “mandala.” The author also shares a 5-part meditation centered on breathing exercises designed to balance your energy. Presenting an authentic, stepwise approach to spiritual growth, emotional maturation, and brain development, this guide explains the science behind neuroaffective meditation and offers detailed practices for a truly personal and ever-evolving experience of inner wisdom and growth.

Marianne Bentzen is a psychotherapist and trainer in neuroaffective development psychology. The author and coauthor of many professional articles and books, including The Neuroaffective Picture Book, she has taught in 17 countries and presented at more than 35 international and national conferences. She lives in Denmark.

Foreword by Peter A. Levine, Ph.D. INTRODUCTION Psychotherapy, Personality Development, and Meditation PART ONE Neuroaffective Developmental Psychology Spiritual Development through the Stages of Life ONE Grow Up and Wake Up TWO Embodiment, Emotions, and Identity: Childhood Development of the Triune Brain THREE The Teenage Years and the “Rebuilding Project” of Identity FOUR Adulthood, Aging, and Perhaps Developing Wisdom PART TWO Maturation and Spirituality FIVE Wisdom Practices and Brain Regulation SIX Meditation, Prayer, and the Brain PART THREE Practices of Neuroaffective Meditation SEVEN Being in Your Body Transitioning into Meditation with Yawning, Touch, and Movement Inner Listening: Movement and Breathing EIGHT Being in the Biosphere Grounding: The Embrace of the Earth Air in You, Air around You NINE Flow and Feeling of Spirit: The Beloved Spirit in Your Sense of Aliveness Core Sense and Spirit TEN Relationships and Feelings Seven Emotions and Spirit ELEVEN Meditations on the Songs of the Heart: Love, Compassion, and Gratitude Love, Compassion, and Gratitude Gratitude for the Great Things in Life and the Small Ones TWELVE Aspects of Our Mental Space Focused Attention and the Field of Awareness THIRTEEN Mandala: Your Personal Circles of Light and Darkness Mandala: Circle of Positive and Negative Experience FOURTEEN Balancing Your Energy: Five Centerline-Energy Circulation Meditations Pineal-Hara Breathing: Connecting Clarity and Pleasure Crown-Root Breathing: Connecting Existential Wholeness and Reality Double C Breathing: Connecting Clarity, Emotions, and Expression Circulation Breathing: Balancing Your Overall Energy Essence-Heart Breathing: Inviting Spiritual Energy into Yourself and Out into the World CONCLUSION Engagement and Responsibility in a Balanced Life EPILOGUE Reflections at the End of the Journey Acknowledgments The Meditation Recordings Resources References Index