““Recently, we uncovered an important mechanism by which a month of mindfulness meditation (about 11 hours of practice, 0.5 per day, 5 days a week) improves attention and self-regulation (Tang et al 2010; 2012). This mechanism is a change in the white matter that conducts signals into and out of the anterior cingulate gyrus. The anterior cingulate is an important part of the system by which we can voluntarily regulate behavior. After two weeks of meditation the improvements seemed to involve the number of fibers conducting information. This improvement was related to more positive and less negative mood self-reports. After 4 weeks of meditation improvement in white matter involved changes in the myelin that provides insulation to the fibers and thus further increases the efficiency of the network involved in self-regulation.””
