The **default mode network** (DMN) is a series of interconnected brain regions correlated with the mental contents of idle and restful brain activity. In other words, the brain enters a "[default mode](https://www.pnas.org/doi/full/10.1073/pnas.98.2.676)" when it is [not engaged directly](https://www.quantamagazine.org/what-your-brain-is-doing-when-youre-not-doing-anything-20240205/) in cognitive tasks. This includes day-dreaming, mind-wandering, self-reflection, and internal consideration of one’s social placement, such as empathy for others and moral reasoning. Generally, the DMN is associated with internally-directed passive mental states, becoming inactive during outwardly-directed task execution and social activities. It is implicated in a number of mental disorders, including [depression](https://doi.org/10.1093/scan/nsq080) and [attachment disorders](https://doi.org/10.1016/j.bbr.2019.112059). The DMN is composed of the dorsal [medial prefrontal cortex](https://en.wikipedia.org/api/rest_v1/page/mobile-html/Medial_prefrontal_cortex "Medial prefrontal cortex"), [posterior cingulate cortex](https://en.wikipedia.org/api/rest_v1/page/mobile-html/Posterior_cingulate_cortex "Posterior cingulate cortex"), [precuneus](https://en.wikipedia.org/api/rest_v1/page/mobile-html/Precuneus "Precuneus") and [angular gyrus](https://en.wikipedia.org/api/rest_v1/page/mobile-html/Angular_gyrus "Angular gyrus"). These areas are associated with memory, experience replay, prediction, action consideration, reward/punishment and information integration. They have been termed "task negative" in earlier studies of cognition. Reflective states tend to activate task negative areas, forming a [coherent network](https://www.pnas.org/doi/full/10.1073/pnas.0135058100) under observation. It has been found that meditation, psychedelics, acupuncture, sleep, and exercise all modulate DMN activity. Meditation has been [observed](https://doi.org/10.1016/j.neubiorev.2014.03.016) to induce structural changes in brain areas associated with the DMN over the long term.  It has been [proposed](https://www.cell.com/neuron/abstract/S0896-6273(23)00308-2?_returnURL=https%3A%2F%2Flinkinghub.elsevier.com%2Fretrieve%2Fpii%2FS0896627323003082%3Fshowall%3Dtrue) that one of the holistic functions of the DMN is the formation of an internal narrative. Based on my experience with [[anxiety]] and depression, it is my belief that one of the functions of mindfulness training is to interrupt the DMN, specifically by reframing its personal contents ([[personal subjective continuity]]) into a [[Social Epistemology|collective understanding]] ([[generic subjective continuity]]). Directed meditation initiates the [[Reticular Activating System]], placing external attention on internal contents, and representing internal narrative as external imagery (the sky/cloud meditation is a good example). Continuous practices reorganizes sympathetic responses to mental threats into passive observation of cognitive phenomena.