Activating the Amygdala

The amygdala manages connections and responses between several regions of the brain. It's directly involved with emotional well-being, the fight-or-flight response and fear conditioning. A recent study suggests that the amygdala also plays a role in the complexity of social life. Activating the amygdala in a positive way stimulates higher order mental processes. This can improve creativity and intelligence while elevating positive emotions. The amygdala also processes feelings on the opposite end of the spectrum. We receive "bad feedback" whenever we perceive something as negative. It causes a strong emotional response that often leads to instinctual reactions. The emotional feedback is a good thing because it's quite useful. It lets us know when we are consciously creating a desired outcome or just reacting.

By noticing the difference in thought processes you can consciously control the direction which the amygdala sends its impulses. We can choose to stimulate the amygdala forward, turning on the reward centers for positive emotions. When the amygdala is stimulated forward it's sending signals to the frontal lobes. This is where the brain handles cognitive functions such as long-term decision making and appropriate social actions. These functions can play a major role in determining levels of success and happiness. When the amygdala signals backwards it's inducing a fear response. It is a state handled by the lower level reptilian brain, responsible for base instincts. Needless to say, thinking motivated by this part of the brain is not well suited for modern society. These responses, both positive and negative, are hard wired. However, because of how clever we humans are we can consciously control our responses, taking charge of our reactions to the environment.

www.clear-mind-meditation-techniques.com...

I was curious to what extent or success has anybody else had using these techniques? I have studied this for a year now and the hardest part for me is trying to picture your brain at the start of the exercise. After many sessions I finally had focused as if I was in my brain (lower center position) and could see my own amygdala starting up. Once I could look up side to side and see the led type glowing process, things started to happen. I would then seem to leave that area in my mind and have a glimpse as if I was on the outside looking inn. As this "watching the glowing process from the outside, pulsating", I started to focus on traveling to a place where I have never been. I wanted to see if I could imagine a trip to a distant island in the pacific without loosing focus because I believed the amygdala was a type of energized door.

I found that given in my "state of mind" that I could visualize everything as if I was really there. It seemed to be vividly like a dream or realistic like a dream but being in control. I have had some very positive results using some of the techniques on the above web page. I did a search on this and could not find any prior post. I apologize in advance if I missed it. One exercise suggest that during the amygdala stimulation that you picture yourself meeting with a person. It could be a famous person or whomever you want. Try to make it as realistic as possible and ask this person whatever you want to know.

The process of the meeting is as realistic as if it really happened. You can feel as if your questions are being answered. Usually when you go to bed that night your dreams are lucid. I wanted to see if any of you have tried this or studied this.

I have no experiences with this, but this is interesting.
I think you are on to something really important.

Would love to see this thread going forward.

reply to post by inbetrieb


The research I have done since last year has opened up many doors into trying to stimulate the frontal lobe of my brain. We all wonder what the limits are in using the power in our brain but on two occasions I was able to practice these techniques with positive results.