• Shares 16 guided meditations for neuroaffective brain development and emotional maturation, along with links to online recordings
• Explores the stages of emotional development, from childhood to old age, and their potentials for developing new ways of functioning
• Reveals the biopsychological effects of meditation on the human brain, including how it affects us at the autonomic, limbic, and prefrontal levels
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.
“This truly remarkable book outlines a systematic journey of embodiment that enables the reader to bridge a pragmatic scientific perspective with a deeper respect for the richness of bodily feelings and their role in expanding and optimizing the human experience.”
“Marianne Bentzen has been a pioneer in the field of somatics, child development, and neurobiology for many decades. This guide is a thoughtful and inspiring synthesis of her professional work as a psychotherapist as well as her life-long personal devotion to meditation and spiritual practice. Included is a cogent overview of her brilliant neuroaffective model to add theoretical substance to the practices. All will benefit from the depth and breadth of the meditations. Designed to expand our capacity for presence in the body, to deepen our connection to self and others, to inspire, to challenge deep-seated patterns, and, ultimately, to heal trauma. This guide will stimulate you intellectually, evoke a kaleidoscope of emotions, and drop you gently into the marvels of your inner world.”
“This book is a gift for anyone who is ready to discover the value of meditation for internal healing. The consequences of mental injuries cannot be meditated away. They are deeply anchored in the brain and the whole body in the form of splits and blockages. But the broken connections between thinking, feeling, and acting, between body and spirit, between heart and mind can be found again, relinked, and integrated. In this book, Marianne Bentzen not only makes the neurobiological basics of these reintegration processes understandable, she also uses examples to show how easily neuroaffective meditation can be learned and practically applied.”
“What does it take to grow up and then embark on a path toward maturity and wisdom? Marianne Bentzen’s tour de force is a lucid journey through the developmental psychology, biology, and neurology of maturation. Drawing on her immense knowledge of both science and meditation, Bentzen offers a step-bystep approach to becoming a full human being. Beautifully written, with compassion and the awareness of our shared humanity, this book is a must-read (and a must-practice) for those of us who wish to cultivate body, mind, and spirit.”
