Can Meditation Change Your Brain?

I must say there is a lot of great info in this article below done by OxfordJournals, anybody interested in Meditation should read it IMHO.

ecam.oxfordjournals.org...

Long-term practice of traditional South Asian meditation techniques, be they of Buddhist or Vedic origin, result in changes in cognitive style consistent with the development of a more balanced and stable mode of awareness, characterized by increased wakefulness, and simultaneous sensitivity to outer stimuli and inner patterns of cognitive and mental processing. Such changes are consistent with improved mental health

Transcendental Meditation techniques, in particular, yield results now described in terms of development of ‘total brain function’, because of all-round development in so many areas, and because EEG is activated over the entire cortex.

The studies of the Tibetan Buddhist, one-point technique (concentration) (13,14) and the compassion technique (contemplation) (13,42) show psychophysiological effects contrasting with those on TM (18, 52) exemplifying the idea that: different techniques produce different effects: Is the opposite assumption not unfortunate?

In the western world, studies of long-term meditators engaged in busy professional lives have observed significant health expenditure reductions (2,3). Reduced insurance costs of 50% averaged over all disease categories were observed in a retrospective study (2), following which a prospective study found costs incurred through General Practitioners to go down by 7% per year relative to controls for the first several years of practice (3). This suggests that the full 50% reduction may take some 7 or so years to develop. Of particular significance was that long-term heart disease costs reduced by 87%

ecam.oxfordjournals.org...

reply to post by The Vagabond


Hey, I thought I commented on your post but it seems I didn't, my apologies. You seem to raise some very interesting points and concerns, although I must say I am a little confused of what your getting at. Are you saying that as Western science becomes more familiar with the effects and capabilities of meditation they will try and implement it in unethical or forceful manners amongst those whom they seek to "rehabilitate"? If so that is very interesting! And I would not put it passed "them" to try such a thing, as it seems "they" try and exploit just about everything for their own benefit. It almost sounds like the "Minority Report".

I am not sure if I am understanding what your trying to say though, so if you could clarify further that would be great!

P.S. - There are actually some prison programs that are currently utilizing meditation to help rehabilitate inmates, and it has shown to have some great effects. This in my eyes is a good thing, as if I were in prison for a lengthy stay, meditation would help me tremendously. There is a movie called "The Dhamma Brothers" about one of these such programs. It is an excellent movie and I suggest you watch it when you have some time.

Here is a trailer:

And here is a link to download it: buddhisttorrents.blogspot.com...

Fascinating book on the subject just released this year "How God changes your brain". I believe this book goes a long way towards explaining the power of prayer. Meditation should be tought at the earliest possible age, and not treated as a lark. One only has to begin meditating for a short time to see positive results in their own life, and fosters an understanding of why masters spend entire lives perfecting the practice of it.

reply to post by LifeIsEnergy


The meditation doesn't really scare me in and of itself. For the most part, I simply don't believe that therapy of any kind is nearly as likely to have lasting effects if the subject does not embrace the process, so forcible meditation probably wouldn't perform so well as behavior modification.
But then the same goes for anger management classes, and it hasn't stopped them from mandating that both the guilty and the innocent-but-unpleasant alike shell out thousands of bucks and go through the motions to avoid jail.

What worries me is that they will distort the science and open up a separate but related discipline which seeks not to identify and encourage constructive thought patterns like meditation, but to identify and discourage ones that are deemed "destructive" even when the people in question do not necessarily violate the law.

Suppose that next year a story comes out saying, "New studies show that the brains of people who complain incessantly are behaving similarly to the brains of people under positive meditation, and this correlates to higher activity in the part of the brain that triggers a fight or flight responses". (I'm not suggesting that's true, I'm worried that somebody will manufacture such evidence as a way to usher in the practice of using fMRI to profile people as having "criminal thought processes" and restrict their rights and privacy as if they had already committed a crime and been placed on probation).

Such a development, if combined with a piece of portable technology that measures temperature changes and blood flow or some such rough indication of brain activity that is deployed with police as a portable field "lie/fear/hostility detector", could land us in a world where if you are getting a speeding ticket, and the police officer just doesn't think you "seem right"- maybe you're a little too unhappy to be dealing with him or you're the kind who gets nervous around armed men- he can wave a wand over your head and say "yep, probable cause. I have to take you down town and check you for criminal thought processes". Makes me wonder if I will one day be on probation for being a bit of a jerk in the privacy of my own mind.

The idea that they might then force me to take meditation classes to "become normal" is just the tail following the dog- least offensive part of the whole scenario in my mind.

reply to post by The Vagabond


Lol, dude you have a creative mind, that is for sure. I see what you are saying, and yes that would be scary, but there are a few reasons it doesn't sound very plausible (at least in the near future):

1. Laws would have to be enacted, insofar as changed and/or removed, to become a systematic norm. (Possible but not likely)

2. Police themselves would be threatened by these very laws, as these "negative" thought patterns are a flaw of the human mind as a whole for our species.

3. These eastern philosophies and practices are not widely accepted enough in the West, much less inside of the system, for it to be taken seriously. The (western) system is largely rooted in Christianity, and meditation and prayer are currently far from the same thing.

4. The job of the system is not to rehabilitate people, but rather to warehouse them and remove them from society if they are deemed unfit. Meditation would empower them, thus, meditation would not be a prime choice for punishment.

5. Say what you said does come true, then police and law officials themselves will have to train and practice in meditation, which will open their mind to compassion and wisdom unlike before, thus resorting in a less authoriatative system.

6. If they were able to create a new form of meditation, one that is perfectly crafted for their intentions, they will be forced to try and remove or distort all other forms of eastern meditation. This does not seem likely as the East is growing faster than the West population wise, and communication capabilities between the East and West is growing exponentially every year.

But in the end, I do not know what the future holds indefinitely, and being that the system is an untamed beast I do not put anything passed it as a possibility. Although, being that meditation is a natural self realizing thing, I feel we are better off to worry about other scientific implementations. Like the study of the human genome, or the study of the anti-matter, or the study of quantum mechanics, all of these have the possibility of dire consequences for our species insofar as our planet. I just don't see meditation being as dangerous as these things, if at all. Let me know what you think in response to what I said, I enjoy our conversation.

reply to post by LifeIsEnergy


I think the reason we are coming to different conclusions is because we are beginning at such different places.

If I understand, you are beginning (correctly) at the fact that Eastern Civilization has understood and successfully used meditation for centuries with only positive results.

I am beginning (I believe also correctly) at the fact that Western Civilization has a history of ignoring other people's good ideas just because they have nothing to do with gaining money or power. This ignorance lasts until somebody finds a way to fundamentally alter those ideas into a means to gain money and power.

Consider tobacco: Once it was a sacred herb, whose affects on a stressed or fatigued person could be beneficial in diplomatic situations (ie: meeting and trading with strangers), in addition to being used by designated people at designated times for spiritual purposes. Now it's an addictive carcinogen whose effects on the weak and undisciplined can generate unreasonable consumer spending (and tax revenue), in addition to mention being very useful in interrogation situations. Western civilization missed the spiritual half of the point, and distorted the social/economic half of the point into something unbalanced and wrong. That's what I think they will do to meditation.

I think they will more or less throw away all of the knowledge that already exists on the subject, and start from scratch at the basic fact that the human brain can be changed in specific goal directed ways. We don't have a long history of trying to really understand and benefit from other people's developments- we just take a quick look and then start mutilating the idea to fit our own way of doing things, usually inverting it from constructive to destructive purposes in the process.

Through a process of trial and error and lying about error, they will build a uniquely Western theory of meditation and brain development that starts not with health maintenance, but with health defects. They will focus on thoughts and behavior patterns that they don't like, and try to explain how the individual gets that way in the context of their thought processes, which will be analogized to meditation even though it is not meditation, and claim that those thought processes change the brain negatively, as sort of an "evil twin" to meditation.

By turning meditation on its head in this way, they can argue that the power of the brain is bad and should be controlled, rather than that the power of the brain is good and should be explored. Thus a tool that would change everyone for the better becomes a weapon that they can point at just the people they choose for the worse.

They may even have the audacity to claim that Eastern forms of meditation are dangerous because science doesn't fully understand all of its effects, and use that to justify sticking to their own corrupt, government-paid-scientist approved version. However, truth be told, I think they will do what they usually do: bet on the ignorance of the average person, and win the bet. I don't think mainstream America would gain any true understanding of legitimate meditation even if the strange abuses that I expect came to pass and called attention to the subject.

So basically I'm saying that I'm not sure I trust western science to approach a foreign spiritual concept with the appropriate respect or understanding, and I think that while meditation is a positive thing which deserves deeper understanding, we will be dependent upon those who keep the traditional knowledge on meditation to do a really good job of jumping into discussions on what scientists do with meditation, and offer critical analysis of any departures from good practice that they see. We need not only encouragement from Eastern Civilization to understand and adopt this tool, but caution from Eastern Civilization on how to use it properly and avoid our usual pattern of altering, exploiting, and misusing new tools.

If there had been an internet during the colonization of the Americas, and if the natives had been able to use it to challenge the European approach to tobacco, we probably would have fewer problems with it today.

reply to post by The Vagabond


Well, again you have a very creative mind and raise some legitimate points of concern. I do understand what you are saying, but I still feel as if there is no need to go over board with concern about this issue. You gave an excellent example of Western civilization 'de-spiritualizing' the native american use of tabacoo and turning it into an economic commodity. We have also seen this more recently, and less blatantly, with the practice of Yoga, where Westerners have created their own form of Yoga, which hardly resembles the Eastern concept of Yoga, and capitalized off of it by building multi million dollar businesses and charging partakers hundreds each month to practice something that needs nothing but your body and a few feet of space. Actually, I believe this is what Westerners do to practically everything, like you had said.

However, there are literally hundreds of thousands eastern born Buddhists living amongst the western world and that number is increasing annually more than any other religion. They are here to teach the western world their wisdom and although many of us confuse their teachings and at times misrepresent them, there is a huge group of people that are learning these philosophies and meditation practices straight from naturally born Tibetan Buddhists insofar as Indian Hindu's. This is a dual edged sword, and can be looked at in two respects, first as you have said it could manipulate and distort the original meaning into a more conformed Western version, which many people including the Dalai Lama himself have raised concerns about. Or it could spread its original meaning across the globe ensuring its survival for long to come, allowing these ideas to become safe guarded from certain opposers such as the Chinese Govt.

The reason I would put my money, if I had to bet on it, on the second happening versus the first, is that Buddhism is not like Christianity in the respect that its 'scriptures' have been far less tampered with and manipulated. There are literally thousands of scriptures/teachings/sutras that are wide spread throughout the world and more are continuously being translated. Each one of these clearly only teach ways of wisdom, compassion, and exploring this powerful brain of ours. Thus, in summary, I cannot definitively say what will happen as I do see a bleek picture ahead of us, however for the time being Buddhism and meditation is a force that is at least slowing our fall.



Ps. thanks for the points!

You may be interested in watching this video, it is kind of long, but it is with the Richard Davidson from the OP who talks with google about many things that may only further establish your beliefs. Kind of scary, kind of cool...

Thanks for the insightful treatment of my admittedly uncommon concerns on the subject. You could well be right to be optimistic. I know a lot about what is wrong with the way I was raised to live, but I know considerably less about the ways others have discovered to live, so I obviously can't be certain what the outcome of their meeting will be.

I'd like to think that the West still has a bit of that Roman sensibility left and will find a way to integrate foreign benefits into its own culture despite the generally more short-sighted approach to new ideas that seems to have grown over the years.

This however does raise another question, which you have perhaps alluded to as well. You have mentioned that the Dalai Lama has expressed concerns about a western evolution of Buddhism straying too far from its roots. The obvious first question was precisely what changes he is concerned will be made and what dangers he expects to be encountered on that path. The second, and partially related question, is whether Buddhists would be generally prepared to accept an atheistic application of only those parts of their wisdom which can be confirmed by science as a first evolutionary step towards the opening of the West to a more integrated world culture, or whether they would see this as an attempt to undermine religion by appropriating its worldly benefits to those who do not also seek the benefits which follow physical death.

(I hope it does not seem that I am struggling to find bad things in the interest science has taken in religious ideas. I am simply interested in whether the meeting of science and religion as I know it from the perspective of a nation consisting largely of Christians and Atheists is similar to what we will see as the world "grows smaller" through technology and more faiths become exposed to the western approach to science).

If you like meditating, then you should try yoga. This is meditating right?

I love it, best part of my day. But the funny thing is, I find myself still forcing myself to do it. It's like I don't want to enjoy it...I dunno I still do it though.

reply to post by The Vagabond


No, you raise some excellent questions, ones I also have thought about.

The Dalai Lama has raised a number of concerns on this matter, one being his concern over the contamination or alteration of the Buddha's original message as the West begins to take more and more ownership over Buddhism, and another being his concern over westerners abandoning their own religions and denouncing them as having no more use, thus creating a hostile environment between Christianity and Buddhism. These are both understandable concerns, and I think the Buddhist community (at least for now) understands this.

For your second question: Buddhists are already accepting of an atheistic approach to their wisdom, although they are not atheists themselves, for they make no claims of God's existence or of how this Universe was created. Their teachings are based solely on the human condition, it's process of suffering, and how to explore, understand and transcend that. I think it is plain to see that they are more than willing to help and work with science, as we can see from just these studies in this thread. A true Buddhist makes no metaphysical claims so there is nothing to protect or hide from science. They would more than likely look at science as the western mans way of understanding somethings they have known about for a very long time.

For example: In the video I posted above Robert Davidson is telling a story about this group of Tibetan Monks who have traveled to his lab to do tests. Their is a group of six of them and they are all hook up to the EEG(?) brain analyzers. When Davidson tells them what the next test is going to be about, the mapping of the brains activity when cultivating compassion through meditation, all six of them begin to laugh hysterically. He says that at first he thought they were laughing at each other because of the silly helmet like brain scanners placed upon their heads, but when they continued laughing he asked them why and they said it is because he is looking in the wrong place, he should be looking at the heart. Davidson did not think much of this and kind of brushed it off as them not understanding biology or advanced neurological science. However they insisted that he should be studying the heart, for they said that is where compassion derives from, so he obliged and simultaniously monitored their hearts activity through MRI. What he found, he says, changed biological scientists understanding of how the brain works in cordination with the body and the relationship they share.

Well, this is one of the root teachings in Buddhism, which is that compassion and the cessation of suffering can only arise when the mind and body (heart) are at one. In fact their are many, many, things that once led to the Buddha being labeled as a 'radical' for speaking about, but now are common knowledge amongst the scientific community. Quantum Physics is one area where we are beginning to experience this now.

So in summary: No I do not see them hiding from science unless they see it is going to be used for nepharious reasons; ie. to harm/manipulate people or animals. They are making no metaphysical claims, so their is nothing to be disproved to them. In the words of the Buddha: "Those questions (God/Science) hold no relevance to our search in finding the cessation of suffering, as we have already found it, so let us talk about something else..."

reply to post by venik88


Hey, yes you can be in a state of meditation as you do yoga, or any other activity for that matter, but they are not the same in a definitive sense. They do however compliment each other very well.

You may have to force yourself to do it at times, but once you find enjoyment in it then cease forcing it or it will become a burden. Discipline until disciplined, than cease disciplining and just be.

reply to post by LifeIsEnergy


Just found out the National Institute of Health is highly supportive of meditation and recommend it for prevention and recovery from many illnesses, incl. depression, anxiety, multiple sclerosis, even cancer! Check it out:

The participants in the mindfulness meditation program reported lower levels of fatigue and depression for up to six months than those receiving standard care. And the meditation participants had better quality of life, according to the study findings, published in the Sept. 28 issue of the journal Neurology.

www.nlm.nih.gov...

Meditation helps. Learn to accept and quit asking questions. Imaginary hand grasping smoke.

Loving Kindness/Compassion Meditation

www.sciencedaily.com...

The scans revealed significant activity in the insula - a region near the frontal portion of the brain that plays a key role in bodily representations of emotion - when the long-term meditators were generating compassion and were exposed to emotional vocalizations. The strength of insula activation was also associated with the intensity of the meditation as assessed by the participants.

"The insula is extremely important in detecting emotions in general and specifically in mapping bodily responses to emotion - such as heart rate and blood pressure - and making that information available to other parts of the brain," says Davidson, also co-director of the HealthEmotions Research Institute. Activity also increased in the temporal parietal juncture, particularly the right hemisphere. Studies have implicated this area as important in processing empathy, especially in perceiving the mental and emotional state of others.

"Both of these areas have been linked to emotion sharing and empathy," Davidson says. "The combination of these two effects, which was much more noticeable in the expert meditators as opposed to the novices, was very powerful."

www.sciencedaily.com...

"A new study published the Archives of General Psychiatry finds that depression patients in remission who underwent mindfulness therapy did as well as those who took an antidepressant, and better than those who took a placebo. That means that mindfulness therapy was as effective as antidepressants in protecting against a relapse of depression."

CNN: Mindfulness as good as antidepressants 12/5/2010

Another great article on the scientific evidence that meditation benefits the mind and body. Thanks to DimensionalDetective and his thread www.abovetopsecret.com...

www.businessweek.com...

Pierre Rainville, a researcher at the University of Montreal, and his colleagues report their findings in the journal Pain.

"Our previous research found that Zen meditators have lower pain sensitivity," said senior author Rainville in a news release from the journal. "The aim of the current study was to determine how they are achieving this." "Using functional magnetic resonance imaging [MRI], we demonstrated that although the meditators were aware of the pain, this sensation wasn't processed in the part of their brains responsible for appraisal, reasoning or memory formation," Rainville noted. "We think that they feel the sensations, but cut the process short, refraining from interpretation or labeling of the stimuli as painful."

"Our findings lead to new insights into mind/brain function," study first author Joshua Grant, a doctoral student at the university, said in the same news release. "These results challenge current concepts of mental control, which is thought to be achieved by increasing cognitive activity or effort. Instead, we suggest it is possible to self-regulate in a more passive manner, by turning off certain areas of the brain, which in this case are normally involved in processing pain."

www.businessweek.com...