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In Brief
- Regular deep meditation changes the brain in positive ways. This type of meditation seems to be associated with gamma waves, the electromagnetic rhythm of neurons firing very rapidly in harmony.
- Neuroscientists have pinpointed the cells responsible for producing these gamma rhythms and demonstrated a technology that can induce the brain-wave pattern in mice.
- In the future it might be possible to use this technology to reproduce some of the beneficial effects of meditation.
In the fall of 2005 the Dalai Lama delivered a lecture at the annual meeting of the Society for Neuroscience in Washington, D.C., highlighting the areas of convergence between neuroscience and Buddhist thought about the mind. He took the opportunity to remind the audience that not only is he a Buddhist monk but that he is also an enthusiastic proponent of modern technology. [For more on the Dalai Lama’s lecture, see “Meditations on the Brain,” by R. Douglas Fields; Scientific American Mind, February/March 2006.]
Elaborating, the spiritual leader of Tibet explained to the audience of scientists that although he meditates for four hours every morning, it is hard work. He divulged that if neuroscientists could find a way to put electrodes in his brain and create the same outcome he gets from meditating, he would be an eager volunteer. Now a set of experiments from researchers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Stanford University moves us a step closer to making his wish a reality. The neuroscientists managed to induce in mice a brain-wave pattern associated with meditation—answering a long-standing question about how this pattern is generated and theoretically laying the groundwork for a cognitive-enhancement technology that could mimic meditation’s effects.
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19 Comments
Add CommentI would like to know more about the difference between the long-term meditators and "the students who had been introduced to the principles of meditation a week before the study and were instructed to practice an hour a day." Did those new meditating students experience any significant changes or reach the gamma state?
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisI like the article but it seems you guys are a little late. There are atleast 5 to 6 companies that already put out audio cd's that put you in a meditative state sucessfully. Two of the companies are Centerpointe and the Immrama Institute.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisGreat article on meditation, the deep meditation results in the state of restful awareness, which has multiple physical and psychological benefits. There are multiple resources online like free high quality guided meditation provided by:
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thishttp://www.clicktomeditate.com
This site has a collection of articles and research on benefits of meditation.
I have just read the article "Meditation on Demand". It is true that an increase in gamma was found among meditators, but I found most of this article poorly researched.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisNeurofeedback can be used quite easily to increase gamma if need be, but gamma is not "end all and be all" of meditation. The over all pattern of brain waves is just as important.
I suggest one read "Rhythms of the Brain" by Gyorgy Buzsaki to start, and then looking at some of the more current research on gamma and its relationship to theta, as well as slow and fast gamma and its relationship to memory and present state awareness. This is a rapidly developing field of research and I feel this article misrepresents current findings.
How can it be a "secret" if it is posted on a public site that can be viewed by millions of people?
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisMy sister gave me a Yanni CD. It put me into a vegetative state.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisThe effort and practice required to reach a meditative state is likely more beneficial than the state itself.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisom shanti shanti shanti
The Dali Lama meditates only 4 hours per morning? I wonder what his afternoons and evenings are like.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisIn truth, there are thousands of thousands meditations, chants and mudras, which in combination each have a different, specific effect. I practice Kundalini Yoga as taught by Yogi Bhajan - a Raj Yogi style - and this material has been already been studied and reseached by yogis for years. Not only are they a 'little bit' late... They are a few thousands years late! So, by the time they create a machine that can replicate ALL of the different effects of meditations, you could become enlightened yourself and in turn share that with 1000 other people.
Meditation is unfortunately not about not Gamma, Theta and Alpha... It is about love, service and uplifting others.
Fateh Singh
To add to my comment; why we practice Meditation - It's primarily (99%) to clear the subconscious from the excess of input we receive, and to adjust the circuitry of our consciousness to affect how we react to said input. The result is improved output through the expression of love, service and uplifting others. Peace, calm & lack of stress are simply the by-products of a cleaner subconscious mind. A machine will never be able to replicate the act of clearing the subconscious.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisThis is also why the Dali Lama practices at least 4 hours a day - his compassion is so encompassing and in tune with humanity that when he meditates - he cleans and clears the subconscious of the entire planet.
FS
Meditation is a greatly misused word. Its real meaning is 'putting mind on' which is not done in many types of meditation practices. I have practiced three types under different instructors at different times. One preached by Maharishi Mahesh is that of blanking the mind which is the most damaging practice. Another practice called 'japa' in Hindi is go on repeating a single mantra or phrase thousands of times, is also damaging as it habituates the mind for monotracking. The third is Buddhist's of focusing the mind on some object, this works well and habituates the mind to focus on a specific problem and avoid noises.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisIt is a scientific subject and has nothing to do with love, compassion etc.
Ram Bansal
There are subtler realms which meditative mentation accesses particularly when combined with internalized breathing states ,as in sleep,and these are right now beyond the realm of science and engineering mainly because of the fact that the latter is contingent on senses,and its extensions-reason itself resides in mental images ,and real pure consciousness states attained in certain types of meditative mentation is beyond thought and images of mind.It consists in absence of thought . The reason as it is bound by sensory images is not pure in the sense it could access pure consciousness states,which calls for breath patterns like in sleep ,and being in wakefulness one transcends the limits of reason,mental images and hence science.The experiences of oneness with world or enlightenment and bliss are not material nor mediated by brain processes,rather beyond its materiality on account of the very subtle nature of the vital energy processes involved.Universal mind and consciousness is not an epiphenomenon of body or brain,or senses and intellect,or even the subtlest material states
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisYES, there is increased Gamma activity in the minds of meditators. BUT this is only the tip of the iceburg. The Gamma is only part of an overall specific brainwave CONFIGURATION ranging from Delta up through Beta and into Gamma. It is the OVERALL CONFIGUTATION that makes the difference, and this can be learned here:
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thishttp://www.hotbrainz.com
Dear Ram
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisStrange, your argument. You talk of three types of meditation, all three based in religious practise and have everything to do with love and compassion. The word meditation is found in religious texts which are thousands of years old. I would guess in the scientific literature it would be no more than 100 years. So as a scientific subject lets talk science.
Dear Ram
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisStrange, your argument. You talk of three types of meditation, all three based in religious practise and have everything to do with love and compassion. The word meditation is found in religious texts which are thousands of years old. I would guess in the scientific literature it would be no more than 100 years. So as a scientific subject lets talk science.
I second that, rdtonjr. It's called entrainment and there are multiple companies in the market. Have you tried them?
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thishave they been proven to do so succesfully by an independant party?
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisGamma activity can actually achieved by simply using the Gamma dose created by the I-Doser company.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisSometimes I feel with special mind peace only with the presency of a determinate person or watching other person doing something or when a specific person is talking to me in a special way. I don´t undersatand why this is so.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisHe's joking of course because the mind and the brain are different. The brain is the mind body interface but it faces both ways. If you overload it you can short it out. Only the mind can harmonize the brain activity and it doesn't need harmonizing in itself because it is self existent and doesn't actually belong to you, it is the collective mind.
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