IN YOUR MIND – Julien Christian Lutz, professionally known as Director X, is a world-renowned director who has worked on music videos for legendary artists such as Rihanna, Drake, and Jay-Z as well as some huge TV shows and movies. He’s also a huge advocate for meditation and is working on a new project that uses meditation as a tool for combatting gun violence. This week he joined Brandon to discuss his new organization and the importance of taking control of your mind.
Gun violence is on the rise across Toronto and people have many perspectives on what is causing the increase. Lutz has a new theory on how to combat the problem.
“These kids are always stressed. Someone just said to me, ‘what would you say to your younger self?’ Meditate,” he said.
“In the same way that we all now understand that you need to be healthy in your body. Everyone gets it. You need to go exercise,” he explained, adding that meditation is an exercise for your brain.
“At its core, it’s brain exercise. And just like when you exercise, the parts of your body that are supposed to get bigger, get bigger, the parts that are supposed to get smaller, get smaller,” Lutz said, adding that the same thing happens to your brain when you meditate.
Lutz explained that your prefrontal cortex, which is responsible for decision-making and planning, and executive function, gets larger when you meditate. While the amygdala, which is responsible for emotion, gets smaller.
“You’re not going to snap the same way, everything gets better when you meditate,” Lutz said, joking that he also recommends going to the chiropractor.
His organization, Operation Prefrontal Cortex (OPC) uses meditation as a tool to combat gun violence in the city – something he has personal experience with.
“I got shot in 2015,” Lutz told Brandon, adding that a show he was producing after the incident helped him understand the benefits of meditating.
“I was producing a science TV show, [and] learned about meditation and what it can do for the body. We put a guy in a freezer truck, we did an experiment like ‘could meditation keep your body temperature up?’,” Lutz explained, saying that the person who was not meditating had to be pulled out of the freezer, while the man who was meditating was able to keep his body temperature up.
Lutz explained that meditation is useful for preventing a person’s amygdala from overtaking their prefrontal cortex, allowing them to keep their cool in intense situations.
“Your emotions can turn off your decision-making, that’s how we’re designed,” Lutz added, saying that meditation can help prevent snap reactions.
“How do we get your prefrontal cortex and amygdala more lined up?” Lutz asked, explaining that meditation can help achieve that goal.
Lutz explained that OPC will be releasing a series of meditation videos with guided meditations that will be completely free. There is also a new documentary about the work OPC is doing coming soon.
Lutz explained how they are getting young people involved in meditating, how meditation has helped him, and more this week on The Brandon Gonez Show.
