The amygdala appears to be the brain structure that is at the very center of most of the brain events associated with fear. Just an eight-week mindfulness meditation program appeared to make measurable changes in brain regions associated with memory, sense of self, empathy, and stress. The study associated with this eight-week program found decreased gray-matter density in the amygdala.4 This finding, along with less activation in the amygdala during focused attention meditation mentioned above, would indicate that jhāna practice would be expected to have a long-term effect of reducing the
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