Neurobiology of Mediation
I have a severe anxiety disorder. I’ve always been attracted to the idea of enlightenment, because to me it represents freedom from anxiety, fear, and worry. So, I came to meditation and yoga looking for peace.
I started this research into meditation, yoga, and the brain trying to understand the connection between the practices and those qualities we associate with enlightenment, like equanimity, compassion, and joy. What I found covers more than that, but that is what it keeps coming back to.
This piece looks into the changes meditation makes to our cognition and brain structures. There’s another one, called “Asana and the Brain” that covers brain waves, neurochemicals, and the lasting effects of practice on the mat.
Ah-Ten-Shun!
It all starts with attention. Whether we are focused on a candle flame, our breath, a mantra, or the sensations of the present moment, what all these types of meditation have in common is a unique set of neurological events connected to paying attention.
Specific types of meditation, like walking or loving-kindness, may activate more or slightly different areas of the brain, but in general we can say that several important brain structures and functions are strengthened when we meditate.
When studying the brain, there are a two things we can look at: (1) changes in behavior, thoughts, and emotions and (2) activities and changes within the brain itself. We will look at both in turn.
The following chart lists the changes in cognition, mood, and behavior found in studies of meditation and meditators. The last column, equanimity, lists changes that might be considered spiritual in nature.
I started this research into meditation, yoga, and the brain trying to understand the connection between the practices and those qualities we associate with enlightenment, like equanimity, compassion, and joy. What I found covers more than that, but that is what it keeps coming back to.
This piece looks into the changes meditation makes to our cognition and brain structures. There’s another one, called “Asana and the Brain” that covers brain waves, neurochemicals, and the lasting effects of practice on the mat.
Ah-Ten-Shun!
It all starts with attention. Whether we are focused on a candle flame, our breath, a mantra, or the sensations of the present moment, what all these types of meditation have in common is a unique set of neurological events connected to paying attention.
Specific types of meditation, like walking or loving-kindness, may activate more or slightly different areas of the brain, but in general we can say that several important brain structures and functions are strengthened when we meditate.
When studying the brain, there are a two things we can look at: (1) changes in behavior, thoughts, and emotions and (2) activities and changes within the brain itself. We will look at both in turn.
The following chart lists the changes in cognition, mood, and behavior found in studies of meditation and meditators. The last column, equanimity, lists changes that might be considered spiritual in nature.
Changes Brought About By Meditation
|
Cognitive
Increased positive thoughts Greater empathic and social awareness Better empathic accuracy, due to enhanced ability to read facial expressions Enhanced ability to concentrate Increased sustained attention/increased ability to ignore distractions Improved visibility of and control over thoughts Improved self-awareness Improved awareness of the mental processes that affect emotional behavior Increased awareness of emotions, bodily sensations, and surrounding environment |
Cognitive continued
Increased memory, including working memory Greater clarity of thought More efficient application of neural resources, i.e., quicker thinking More focused and alert Improved decision making skills Enhanced error detection Improved verbal fluency Improved test taking outcomes Improved creativity Improved intuitive abilities Smoother multi-tasking Reduced sensitivity to pain Enhanced moral reasoning |
Mood
Increased feelings of happiness and joy Improved sense of well-being Decreased stress Reduced anger and fear Decreased loneliness Reduced anxiety and depression Better control of emotions, emotional stability Possible increased vulnerability due to increased openness to “emotional contagion” |
Behavior
Reduced substance abuse, including smoking and binge drinking Decreased disordered eating behaviors Better control of body movements Increased ability to relax Better sleep |
Equanimity*
Peaceful state of mind Increased interpersonal harmony Increased compassion Calmer reactions in stressful situations Greater tolerance of situations and acceptance of present conditions Advanced meditators experience a sense of timelessness and spacelessness and feelings of union with the object of contemplation *Equanimity, as defined by Rick Hanson, is to be "warmly engaged with the world but not troubled by it." |
It all begins with attention.
When we meditate, we activate a number of areas in the brain that facilitate attention. We will focus on the big shots: the frontal and prefrontal cortices; the anterior cingulate cortex; the basal ganglia; and the hippocampus.
To be sure, the brain doesn’t really have lines separating one section from another. And very rarely is an important function left to just one small area of the brain, but more often several areas are involved. So, to say this part of the brain is responsible for this function is usually a vast simplification. More often, what we know for sure is that if this part of the brain is injured, we lose certain abilities.
Neurologically speaking, the more activity a part of the brain receives, the more neurons connect and, in some cases, the more new neurons grow in those areas, strengthening it and the qualities associated with it.
Let’s check out these major players.
The Attention Circuit
Frontal cortex: the largest and furthest forward part of the cerebral cortex, the frontal lobe is involved in logic, reason, language skills, planning, working memory, and voluntary motion. Increased activation of the left frontal lobe is related to a positive mental state, i.e., happiness. Meditation is also found to increase frontal coherence, which happens when attention gels and neurons increasingly fire in sync with one another. There is less chaos, more focus.
Prefrontal cortex: the front portion of the frontal lobe, this area is especially strengthened by meditation. It is involved with positive mood, concentration, creativity, rational thinking, planning, motivation, abstract reasoning, values, self-monitoring, and impulse control. Between the frontal and prefrontal cortices, we can understand why so many cognitive processes improve with meditation.
Anterior cingulate cortex: this part of the brain is positioned between the prefrontal cortex and the amygdala. The amygdala is front and center in the fight or flight response. It is constantly scanning the environment for threats and is quick to respond with fear and anger. The anterior cingulate cortex (ACC) connects, balances, and integrates the thinking (prefrontal) and feeling (amygdala) centers of the brain, acting as a fulcrum on their seesaw. The ACC is crucial to social awareness, intuition, and empathy. It is an important center for motivation, reward anticipation, and moral evaluations. And not least of its functions is to assist with self-consciousness, helping us to see ourselves in relation to the world. It is through the ACC that meditation reduces amygdala activity, reducing fear and anger.
Basal ganglia: in the mid-brain, the basal ganglia are responsible for inhibiting, initiating, and integrating movement. Besides action selection, the basal ganglia are also important to how reward and punishment exert their effects, making this area central to decision making. The basal ganglia are strengthened in any type of meditation; however, adding conscious movement activates it more completely.
Hippocampus: deep in the limbic system, the hippocampus is our memory librarian. It sends memories to the right place in the cerebral cortex for long-term storage and retrieves them when appropriate. Stress is especially hard on the hippocampus. Excess cortisol weakens the connections in the hippocampus and eventually it starts to shrink. Meditation decreases cortisol and increases BDNF (brain-derived neurotrophic factor) which actually causes new neurons to grow in the hippocampus and in the prefrontal cortex!
Between these five systems and subsystems, we can account for almost all of the cognitive, emotional, and behavioral changes brought on by meditation. And these changes have been shown to come about after relatively short periods of practice. It takes fewer than two weeks for neurons to create new permanent connections, and in some cases, due to environment, education, or inspiration, new connections can be made suddenly.
One study, reported on in the book How God Changes the Brain, found significant changes to the ACC even though the participants only meditated for 12 minutes a day for eight weeks. Of course, as any meditator will tell you, more practice equals greater results. And that is what researchers have found also.
The Parietal Lobe
One section of the brain is notable for de-activating rather than activating during meditation, and may go a long way toward explaining the biological underpinnings of the yogic experiences of pratyahara (sense withdrawal) and samadhi (union or oneness). That section is the parietal lobe.
The parietal lobe is involved in integrating sensory information (including pain), processing language, and creating our sense of self. It is through the parietal lobe that we know where we are in space and time. So, when activity in the parietal lobe starts to decrease during meditation, our sense of self begins to let go and we may experience a sense of timelessness and spacelessness. Finally, this lack of a sense of separation can result in feelings of union with the object of meditation or the Absolute, however we conceive it.
Further, advanced meditators have been found to have greater parietal activity when they are not meditating, leading to a stronger sense of self. The parietal lobe is also associated with increased alertness and empathy. Also, the precuneous, a tiny structure hidden in the folds of the parietal lobe, plays a central role in self-reflection and is known to be stimulated by pranayama (yogic breathing).
There is both much more and much less to this story: much more because I haven’t even begun to talk about neurotransmitters (I'll get to them in my next article: “Asana and the brain”) and because we’re learning more all the time; and much less because really, to find out for yourself, there’s nothing more to it than sitting still and paying attention.
Main Sources
Hanson, Rick. Buddha’s Brain: the Practical Neuroscience of Happiness, Love and Wisdom. Oakland, CA: New Harbinger, 2009. E-book.
Kramer, Benjamin. Meditation and the Brain: how modern science is proving two thousand year old wisdom. 2014. E-book.
Newberg, Andrew & Mark Robert Waldman. How God Changes Your Brain: Breakthrough Findings from a Leading Neuroscientist. New York: Ballantine Books, 2009. E-book.
When we meditate, we activate a number of areas in the brain that facilitate attention. We will focus on the big shots: the frontal and prefrontal cortices; the anterior cingulate cortex; the basal ganglia; and the hippocampus.
To be sure, the brain doesn’t really have lines separating one section from another. And very rarely is an important function left to just one small area of the brain, but more often several areas are involved. So, to say this part of the brain is responsible for this function is usually a vast simplification. More often, what we know for sure is that if this part of the brain is injured, we lose certain abilities.
Neurologically speaking, the more activity a part of the brain receives, the more neurons connect and, in some cases, the more new neurons grow in those areas, strengthening it and the qualities associated with it.
Let’s check out these major players.
The Attention Circuit
Frontal cortex: the largest and furthest forward part of the cerebral cortex, the frontal lobe is involved in logic, reason, language skills, planning, working memory, and voluntary motion. Increased activation of the left frontal lobe is related to a positive mental state, i.e., happiness. Meditation is also found to increase frontal coherence, which happens when attention gels and neurons increasingly fire in sync with one another. There is less chaos, more focus.
Prefrontal cortex: the front portion of the frontal lobe, this area is especially strengthened by meditation. It is involved with positive mood, concentration, creativity, rational thinking, planning, motivation, abstract reasoning, values, self-monitoring, and impulse control. Between the frontal and prefrontal cortices, we can understand why so many cognitive processes improve with meditation.
Anterior cingulate cortex: this part of the brain is positioned between the prefrontal cortex and the amygdala. The amygdala is front and center in the fight or flight response. It is constantly scanning the environment for threats and is quick to respond with fear and anger. The anterior cingulate cortex (ACC) connects, balances, and integrates the thinking (prefrontal) and feeling (amygdala) centers of the brain, acting as a fulcrum on their seesaw. The ACC is crucial to social awareness, intuition, and empathy. It is an important center for motivation, reward anticipation, and moral evaluations. And not least of its functions is to assist with self-consciousness, helping us to see ourselves in relation to the world. It is through the ACC that meditation reduces amygdala activity, reducing fear and anger.
Basal ganglia: in the mid-brain, the basal ganglia are responsible for inhibiting, initiating, and integrating movement. Besides action selection, the basal ganglia are also important to how reward and punishment exert their effects, making this area central to decision making. The basal ganglia are strengthened in any type of meditation; however, adding conscious movement activates it more completely.
Hippocampus: deep in the limbic system, the hippocampus is our memory librarian. It sends memories to the right place in the cerebral cortex for long-term storage and retrieves them when appropriate. Stress is especially hard on the hippocampus. Excess cortisol weakens the connections in the hippocampus and eventually it starts to shrink. Meditation decreases cortisol and increases BDNF (brain-derived neurotrophic factor) which actually causes new neurons to grow in the hippocampus and in the prefrontal cortex!
Between these five systems and subsystems, we can account for almost all of the cognitive, emotional, and behavioral changes brought on by meditation. And these changes have been shown to come about after relatively short periods of practice. It takes fewer than two weeks for neurons to create new permanent connections, and in some cases, due to environment, education, or inspiration, new connections can be made suddenly.
One study, reported on in the book How God Changes the Brain, found significant changes to the ACC even though the participants only meditated for 12 minutes a day for eight weeks. Of course, as any meditator will tell you, more practice equals greater results. And that is what researchers have found also.
The Parietal Lobe
One section of the brain is notable for de-activating rather than activating during meditation, and may go a long way toward explaining the biological underpinnings of the yogic experiences of pratyahara (sense withdrawal) and samadhi (union or oneness). That section is the parietal lobe.
The parietal lobe is involved in integrating sensory information (including pain), processing language, and creating our sense of self. It is through the parietal lobe that we know where we are in space and time. So, when activity in the parietal lobe starts to decrease during meditation, our sense of self begins to let go and we may experience a sense of timelessness and spacelessness. Finally, this lack of a sense of separation can result in feelings of union with the object of meditation or the Absolute, however we conceive it.
Further, advanced meditators have been found to have greater parietal activity when they are not meditating, leading to a stronger sense of self. The parietal lobe is also associated with increased alertness and empathy. Also, the precuneous, a tiny structure hidden in the folds of the parietal lobe, plays a central role in self-reflection and is known to be stimulated by pranayama (yogic breathing).
There is both much more and much less to this story: much more because I haven’t even begun to talk about neurotransmitters (I'll get to them in my next article: “Asana and the brain”) and because we’re learning more all the time; and much less because really, to find out for yourself, there’s nothing more to it than sitting still and paying attention.
Main Sources
Hanson, Rick. Buddha’s Brain: the Practical Neuroscience of Happiness, Love and Wisdom. Oakland, CA: New Harbinger, 2009. E-book.
Kramer, Benjamin. Meditation and the Brain: how modern science is proving two thousand year old wisdom. 2014. E-book.
Newberg, Andrew & Mark Robert Waldman. How God Changes Your Brain: Breakthrough Findings from a Leading Neuroscientist. New York: Ballantine Books, 2009. E-book.