The Neurobiology of Relational Spirituality

Here is a nice little passage from Dan Siegel's The Mindful Brain:

An interpersonal neurobiology approach to the ways our social lives help promote well-being views neural integration as the outcome of attuned relationships. Neural integration, the coordination and balance of the brain as separate areas are linked together to form a functional whole, seems to be promoted with the attunement of secure attachments. The proposal here is that perhaps we are gathering some preliminary data to point in the direction that mindful awareness may also promote such neural integration, through a form of intrapersonal attunement. (Kindle location 723-37)

Siegel's point is actually that mindfulness can have the same beneficial impact on the brain as healthy attachment relationships. But I like the evidence that healthy attachment and attunement reshapes the brain into a more wholistic entity, making it a more functionally interconnected whole.

This has a direct connection to how our relationships with others, especially our closest most intimate relationships, can rewire our brains and make them more integrated. That is the point of relational spirituality.

I'll be posting more on this in the future.

Tags: Spirituality, relationships, brain, The Neurobiology of Relational Spirituality, Dan Siegel, The Mindful Brain, #openpractice