The Brain Heatlh of the Monkey Mind and How Brain Wandering is a Problem

Few things can be said about the impact and power of the mind that haven’t already been explored, to varying degrees of quality, in every self-help book or scientific study of the mind in the world. Yes, the brain is powerful. Self-help books recognize this in sometimes ethereal terms. Scientific books explore this with deep scientific evidence and study. Regardless, the consensus is the same. The brain health of every person is essential.

For better or worse, the brain is always organizing and changing thoughts and feelings without much concern for how or what a person is doing. This listlessness can be channeled through biofeedback and getting a grip on the primate mind. Dr. Leigh Richardson of The Brain Performance Center has been helping people improve their brain health in Irving and Dallas.

The Monkey Mind

Wandering, listlessness, and self-referential nonsense plague everyone when they are actively doing something they do not want to be doing. In some circles, it is called the monkey mind. The connection is primitive, apparently, and it dials into a primitive nature to have the mind wander without coherent organization.

Yale University has explored this area. The experts have found that intentional and focused meditation can alleviate the presence of the monkey mind. It allows people to focus on minimizing the default mode network. The default mode network, or DMN, is a mental process where if the brain is not thinking actively, it will think of something. It is why the monkey mind is so prolific during boredom.

But, yoga and meditative techniques minimize a restless mind and minimizes placing mental energy in an unproductive place. The DMN is the default position when people are not thinking. So, the response is to think about more things by engaging the mind. Individuals explore hobbies, direct their mind to a productive place, listen to music, etc.

Is This a Problem?

Mind wandering is a minor nuisance, but is it really a distressing problem? The answer is yes and no. In some cases, mind wandering can be a healthy way to not have to always be “on” and engaged. It allows the mind to rest. This mind wandering mechanism is suggested for dreaming, allowing the mind to organize thoughts which often manifest in comprehensible messes known as dreams. This is only one argument, and others have explored the exact opposite- the full meaning of dreams.

Regardless, mind wandering is not necessarily unhealthy, but it is tied to unhappiness. Implementing proper brain heatlh means coming to terms with wandering. This includes when it is healthy and when it is not. The study of biofeedback is tangential to the monkey mind.

Responding and Feeling

Brain health, on a day to day basis, is usually based on responding and feeling oneself and focusing this energy. Basically, biofeedback is the understanding that the body will have physical and biological symptoms that result from mental health. Feeling depressed? The body is going to react by shutting down early (fatigue) eating food (cravings) and other factors.

The body physiologically responds to how the brain is “feeling.” it is all connected and it all starts with the mind. The feedback also sets a baseline and determines how people respond. What happens when they feel stress? What happens when that stress manifests as fatigue or cravings? These are what brain specialists in the area are interested in.

Yoga and mental exercises help channel mental health. By consequence, the biology of the human body will respond. There are not a lot of unhappy people who are in good health. It doesn’t work that way, in general terms. But, there are many people out there who are healthier because they are happy. They have learned to focus listlessness. They have learned to channel their energy in a happy direction. Their biofeedback has responded.