There is an appealing parallel between infant attachment and mindfulness meditation, the meditation the Buddha did under the Bodhi Tree thousands of years ago. As mentioned above, a loving secure environment helps people to be naturally more mindful — that is, able to be in the present moment without regret and worry. The amazing finding is that the regions of the brain affected by mindfulness meditation are the very same areas of the brain that develop during infancy; the very same circuits that lead to social and emotional intelligence. Dan Siegel refers to mindfulness as a process of selfattunement. In a sense, when you meditate you are reparenting yourself, attuning to the moment-to-moment changes in your perceptual and emotional states. Siegel describes this process through the acronym COAL: curiosity, openness, acceptance, and love.