Ancient wisdom says putting our feelings into words helps us heal better. If a friend is sad and we can get them to talk about it, that probably will make them feel better.

When you put feelings into words, you’re activating the prefrontal region of the brain and this reduces response in the amygdala, thus decreasing the intensity of feelings. One way to practice mindfulness meditation and pay attention to present-moment experiences is to label your emotions by saying, for example, ‘I’m feeling angry right now’ or ‘I’m feeling a lot of stress right now’ or ‘this is joy’ or whatever the emotion is.

Research which appears in the June 2007 issue of the journal Psychological Science has shown that simply labeling emotions turns down the amygdala alarm center response in the brain that triggers negative feelings.

The study showed that more mindful participants have more activation in the right ventrolateral prefrontal cortex and less activation in the amygdala. The study also showed activation in widespread centers of the prefrontal cortex for people who are high in mindfulness. This suggests people who are more mindful bring all sorts of prefrontal resources to turn down the amygdala. These findings may help explain the beneficial health effects of mindfulness meditation, and suggest, for the first time, an underlying reason why mindfulness meditation programs improve mood and health.

The right ventrolateral prefrontal cortex can turn down the emotional response you get when you feel angry and this has greatly increased our understanding of the benefits of mindfulness meditation.

This is such an exciting study because it brings together the Buddha’s teachings with modern neuroscience. More than 2,500 years ago, he talked about the benefits of labeling your experience. Now, for the first time since those teachings, there is actually a neurological reason for doing mindfulness meditation. Our findings are consistent with what mindfulness meditation teachers have taught for thousands of years.

This recent research suggests people who are more mindful bring all sorts of prefrontal resources to reduce activity in the amygdala. These findings help explain the beneficial health effects of both mindfulness meditation and talk therapy. The underlying reason why mindfulness meditation programs and talk therapy can both improve mood and health may lie in the regulation of emotions by the right ventrolateral prefrontal cortex.