
What Happens to the Brain When You Meditate - zerny
http://lifehacker.com/what-happens-to-the-brain-when-you-meditate-and-how-it-1202533314
======
davyjones
If you are particularly fidgety and have trouble concentrating, here is a
thought experiment that might help:

Sit in a room with minutes to spare and task yourself this: to get to the
market and back from your house. Maybe you shop for some fruits or something.

Step into your mental realm imagining every step you have to do in this task.
Changing your clothes, tying your shoe lace, locking your door...everything.
Not in frames but in a continuous motion as in a movie. It could be boring and
I have felt the strong need to snap out of it. It still is difficult to power
through, imagining every step and "looking" at the trees and shrubs along the
way, picking up and inspecting an apple and putting it in the basket, paying
for the goods, etc.

The whole thing is much more difficult than it sounds if you are the kind of
person who gets restless easily. With practice, it gets better. Hopefully this
helps you get in the productive zone. Good luck!

~~~
kranner
That's a great tip. I occasionally sit through a somewhat exotic variant: I
imagine I can take to flight like a bird (slow flight only, not like Superman)
and mentally take off from the balcony and imagine what the town would look
like from above. The end of the exercise would be taking a full trip and
'returning' home.

It's a bit more engaging to figure out the aerial view of a place you normally
navigate only by road. It's very hard to sustain this practice for even a
minute or two initially.

~~~
CodeCube
See my other response above (wrote that before I read this, though well after
you'd made the comment):
[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=6286046](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=6286046)

I wonder how many people use flight for this kind of thing.

~~~
kranner
I can tell you I came by it because I'd commonly see kites (as in birds of
prey) drifting by, for hours on end, and I wondered what things would look
like from their POV. Then when I actually tried to think like that (or
imagine, I should say) in a sustained manner, it was unexpectedly hard; so I
kept it around as an informal practice.

edit: it's interesting that we both mention "not like Superman". For me it's
about going as slow as possible.

------
dodyg
You don't need no fucking App to start.

Sit down in comfortable position, close your eyes, _try_ to concentrate on
your breathing in and out (your mind will start to wander - keep coming back
to the breathing). Repeat everyday.

You'll have the chance to "optimize" and "improve" your meditation experience
later on. First, build the habit.

~~~
jgeerts
Swearing is bad for your energy levels.

~~~
checker659
Swearing is bad if you think it is bad. Nothing is bad.

~~~
pbhjpbhj
Downvoting you for a hollow false aphorism [second sentence], is that bad?

------
jblow
I have done meditation for years now and found it to be very beneficial.

However, I find this article to be very Cargo Cult and am disturbed that
nowhere in this entire thread has it been called out as such.

"Look! Meditation must do things because we can make these colored charts
telling you about beta waves. What are beta waves? Well, it doesn't really
matter, just think of them as bad, because look, meditation does things to
your brain, okay??"

The benefits of meditation to mood, creativity, etc are pretty easy to verify
for yourself, subjectively. It disturbs me that we feel that adding
scientismic mumbo-jumbo gives it credibility somehow. What is presented in
this article is not actual science.

There is actual science involving meditation and the brain, but it is in
extremely early stages and is hard to draw conclusions from. Our understanding
of the brain, in general, is very early! Please be suspicious of pretty
colored charts showing brain activity.

~~~
Alex3917
> There is actual science involving meditation and the brain, but it is in
> extremely early stages and is hard to draw conclusions from.

IMHO the best place for information on the science of meditation is the
Buddhist Geeks podcast. There are talks on YouTube from their annual
conference, which is are also great. The talk this year from Willoughby
Britton does a pretty good job outlining the current state of contemplative
science:

[http://www.buddhistgeeks.com/2012/10/bg-266-mindful-binge-
dr...](http://www.buddhistgeeks.com/2012/10/bg-266-mindful-binge-drinking-and-
blobology/)

------
svasan
I belong to a religious group where initiation into meditation happens at
about 10-12 years of age for boys. This initiation ceremony is an important
ceremony (called thread ceremony) in a male's life. After initiation, every
male has to perform a ritual called Sandhya Vandanam [1] thrice every day for
the rest of their lives. The ritual has different components. The two
important components are Praanaayamaa (breath control exercise) and mantra
meditation. A mantra is a Vedic Hymn that is chanted/repeated again and again
(for pre-specified # of times). In the Sandhya Vandanam ritual the mantra that
is chanted is the famed Gayatri mantra. The mantra is chanted with the
following schedule:

Morning at sunrise - Praatah Sandhya - 108 times

Midday - Maadhyanika - 32 times

During evening twilight - Saayum Sandhya - 64 times

The Vedic definition of mantra is "mantaaram traayate iti mantrah". In English
this translates to "That which protects the mind is called mantra".

When I was young, I used to perform this ritual regularly. Though I performed
the ritual regularly, I used to wonder about the requirement of such a ritual.
Over the past few years I have come to know some fascinating things about the
ritual and also the Vedas. After gaining the insights, it is ironic that
nowadays I do not perform the ritual regularly at all. This article has come
at the right time for me to get back into the meditation routine.

[1] -
[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sandhyavandanam](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sandhyavandanam)

~~~
lake99
As far as I know, sandhyavandana is not a kind of meditation. Sandhyavadana is
mostly japa. Meditation is dhyana. When people cite benefits of meditation,
they are usually citing studies of mindfulness meditation. Perhaps you'll see
some benefits from sandhyavandana/japa also, I doubt it, but that's not what
the studies that laud meditation are talking about.

------
juanre
Mindfulness in Plain English is a readable and accessible introduction to
meditation, available online at
[http://www.urbandharma.org/udharma4/mpe.html](http://www.urbandharma.org/udharma4/mpe.html)

------
m12k
I find it helpful to think of a muscle as an analogy for my brain. Thoughts
are like contractions - sometimes they are purposeful when they are part of a
movement, an extension of my will. But sometimes they are not; in that way the
incessant chatter of the internal monologue, or worse yet, stress, is similar
to a cramping muscle, a flood of contractions that come unbidden. Meditation,
then, is similar to relaxation exercises, doing stretches or posture training
- teaching your muscles how to be at rest. This can then also translate into
efficiency and economy of motion when you choose to move, not to mention more
energy, because all the useless contractions/thoughts haven't worn you out
beforehand. Also, yoga makes a lot of sense when you think of it this way,
because you literally do this for both your body and brain at the same time.

------
markbao
Is reducing beta waves actually a good thing? It might allow for focus and
relaxation, but I wonder if that might do something like clear your working
memory and make you less able to make connections between things. Could anyone
that has a good grasp on this comment on whether this might be true?

~~~
VLM
"I wonder if that might do something like clear your working memory and make
you less able to make connections between things."

Your list is sometimes in internal conflict with itself. I have excellent
conscious concentration ability and food memory leading to sometimes getting
stuck in local maxima for a given situation. Clear the working memory, remove
the "stuck" and suddenly free to snap onto the global maxima for a given
situation. Or sometimes not. Complex tools are not like screwdriver; sometimes
you can't even tell what the right tool for the job is, much less expect it to
work. Often enough, using a different tool works better than trying harder
with one thats already not working.

------
lcedp
> More grey matter

Well as study shows [1] meditation not only thickens cortex in some parts of
the brain but also makes it thinner in other parts. Just saying.

[1]
[http://scan.oxfordjournals.org/content/8/1/27.long](http://scan.oxfordjournals.org/content/8/1/27.long)

~~~
seren
Interesting because this is a rarely reported consequence. It seems no one
would object to have denser grey matter, but if it is thinner somewhere, it
feels like you lost something.

~~~
hippee-lee
Perhaps it's because there is only so much expression in our genetics. Don't
think of it as if you lost something. Think of it as if you are investing and
building up in the areas with max rio. By max rio I mean it on all levels of
genome. Individual, your family & our society. I also believe the results can
compound over time.

As a side note, I was raised Roman Catholic. Although I have not gone to
church since college I hear interesting sciency things now and then. One,
which I don't have a citation for, is that nuns who are experienced at prayer
exhibit similar fMRI results when they pray.

~~~
seren
I don't really think you are 'losing' something in the literal sense when
meditating. It is probably more akin to exercising/reshaping it. I was just
commenting on the public perception.

~~~
hippee-lee
What I was referring to was that our bodies can only produce and manage so
much brain tissue. This is dictated by genetics. So if connections are managed
in one area they will strophe in another.

I think lose is an ok word but not quite right for what's really going on.

------
agentultra
I'm skeptical of articles like this because they tend to draw conclusions from
studies that only provide weak correlations. The only concrete evidence I can
find is that meditation can help some people relax and temporarily reduce
their stress levels. My experience confirms this but I prefer other means of
achieving the same effect (like exercising).

~~~
VLM
"I prefer other means of achieving the same effect (like exercising)."

Other than the obvious muscle workout aspect, I found weightlifting to be
highly meditative. Highly structured repeated form every other day, breath
control, counting reps/sets, stare at the wall, repeat.

I do a fair amount of hiking / snowshoeing and that can be somewhat
meditative. If you relax as you stroll down the trail and let your mind wander
intentionally into pure nothingness rather than getting stuck on something
specific...

My wife does Tai Chi and from what I see from the outside and from
occasionally playing long, its basically slowly moving meditation.

Obviously if you define exercise as "soccer" or "bouldering" then this analogy
is not going to work terribly well.

~~~
irishcoffee
I agree with you about weightlifting and its meditative properties. I've also
found that going against what you usually seen in a gym and NOT wearing
headphones actually helps even more. The background noise is just that,
background noise, as opposed to a focused sound.

I also rock climb, and I have found that it is possible to achieve the same
state while bouldering or rope climbing, as long as the route is below skill
level by a decent margin. I'll run the same bouldering route 4x and not even
think about it, I just kind of "zone out" and let my body do the work.

~~~
gknoy
I always enjoyed doing archery, alone, at dusk. With no other shooters, you
can go at a pace that feels good, and let your thoughts settle only on one's
actions at hand. This is something which I sorely miss doing.

------
ioddly
I can highly recommend reading the Relaxation Response for a scientific
treatment of meditation.

Much like exercise, if it came in pill form, everybody would take it.

------
jacquesm
Somewhat related:

[http://www.ted.com/talks/matthieu_ricard_on_the_habits_of_ha...](http://www.ted.com/talks/matthieu_ricard_on_the_habits_of_happiness.html)

------
TausAmmer
Or, bring so called "mediation" in every aspect of your life. Pretend life is
one big "meditation". And pretend you need no more.

------
Sagat
If you are interested in meditation but wary of the eastern mumbo jumbo, I
suggest checking out Jon Kabat-Zinn and his works on mindfulness from a
scientific perspective.

~~~
VLM
Not to put words in your mouth but staying on topic you probably want his book
titled "The Mind's Own Physician" in comparison to his book on mindfulness as
applied to parenting, or his other books. He has written quite a few books on
related topics.

He may have (recently?) written a book more specifically on topic than the one
abov,e that I'm not aware of.

------
fourthchakra
One of the biggest publishers of meditation products is MindValley
([http://mindvalley.com](http://mindvalley.com)). The story of its founder,
Vishen is well documented, and really inspiring. He bootstrapped and grew his
business to seven figures without external funds. His purpose is not only
monetary; he seeks to "push humanity forward" with his groundbreaking
programs.

~~~
mailshanx
That MindValley guy seems shady at best. After digging around their site for
hours, you will be hard pressed to figure out exactly what do they do.

~~~
fourthchakra
Not difficult at all - for example, Omharmonics is a set of mp3s based on
brainwave entrainment that aid meditation. About $100 for five songs, which
sounds expensive, but if they do what they claim to do then it's a downright
bargain.

------
mvzink
I know this is asking a lot, but would anybody like to weigh in with some
explanation/evidence for the descriptions of those four parts of the brain?

~~~
haldujai
The descriptions are generally accurate, although very broad. The reticular
formation is part of the brain stem, responsible for supporting breathing,
cardiac function, and other somatic functions. The most relevant function is
it's control of alertness and circadian rhythms.

The thalamus does function as a 'gatekeeper', although that's a bad term, the
level to which the thalamus processes sensory input isn't fully understood /
agreed upon. It's more like a transit hub connecting all the various parts of
the brain and sensory tracts. It receives a lot of sensory fibers from the
eyes, nose, ears, tongue.

For the parietal lobe, 'orienting you in time and space' just means that the
parietal lobe creates a 3D grid system that helps in coordinating muscle
movements. This system is supported by sensory input (auditory and visual).
The parietal lobe will receive input from other lobes as well as the thalamus.

The frontal lobe is fairly well described, it basically handles higher level
thinking, moral decisions, etc. It receives input from other lobes, the
thalamus, and the brain stem.

An important take away is that these are really non-specific anatomical
regions, the thalamus has ~30 distinct regions all handling different things.
The frontal lobe has numerous gyri (regions) with different functions ranging
from executive to motor skills.

What he's saying is pretty bs too. The logical conclusion is not that
meditation specifically reduces brain activity, it's more that any lack of
sensory stimulation will cause brain activity to slow down because less
neurons are firing, this can be achieved with other techniques as well, simply
staring at a wall will do the same thing.

I can post sources if you'd like but this information (about the compartments
of the brain) is very well accepted by those in the medical sciences.

~~~
dtf
Also, surely the presence of beta waves (12-30Hz) needs to be detected by an
electroencephalogram (EEG), not fMRI? I thought fMRI has a much lower temporal
resolution (~1Hz).

~~~
robbiep
I think the image was mischaracterised. The fMRI will show changes in activity
and if the image is actually from an fMRI post meditation then the authour may
have just extrapolated from 'reduction in beta waves' to 'less activity on
this colour gradient image'.

Perhaps the authour isn't really that familiar with the material?

------
mail2gaurav
The app is just to help you to get into a rhythm. I downloaded the app and
really liked the user flow. Will definitely use to begin my meditation.

In my experience, I have seen a sea change in people who have started
meditating. They are much more calmer and happy. There is a flip side as well.
Many people get into a happy mode and start giving up in life.

~~~
smk11
I think those people are the ones who are getting into in an extreme way, for
long periods at a time. And if they are "giving up on life", then they are
probably using the euphoria it can cause to hide their problems the same way
people use drugs or religion.

------
mikevm
Maybe a good place to mention the book that got me started on meditation:
[http://www.amazon.com/Minute-Meditation-Quiet-Mind-
Change/dp...](http://www.amazon.com/Minute-Meditation-Quiet-Mind-
Change/dp/0399529950)

------
mknits
Practice Preksha Meditation [http://preksha.com](http://preksha.com)

It's free to learn.

~~~
L4mppu
Isn't everything free to learn? The learning material is the only part that
costs anyhing.

------
Simon321
Meditation, such a scam. I can't believe so many intelligent people are fooled
by it. It's nothing more than a relaxation technique and that's it.

The studies about meditation are mostly of dubious quality and origin, and
people draw unwarranted conclusions from them.

[http://freethoughtblogs.com/pharyngula/2011/08/21/quacks-
eve...](http://freethoughtblogs.com/pharyngula/2011/08/21/quacks-everywhere/)

~~~
Volpe
Oh well.. you have a blog to backup what your are saying... pro-meditation
"quacks" have been told! Internet: 1 Meditation: 0

I think you have to pause and reflect for a minute when you say things like:
"I can't believe so many intelligent people are fooled by it". Maybe _they_
aren't the ones being foolish... ?

~~~
Simon321
I think, just like a religion, it's not really the skeptics job to 'disprove'
the theory. I think the job of the ones promoting it is to prove it.

A link to skeptics dictionary:
[http://www.skepdic.com/tm.html](http://www.skepdic.com/tm.html)

TM recruiting literature is full of charts and graphs demonstrating the
wonders of TM. Things like metabolic rate, oxygen consumption rate, bodily
production of carbon dioxide, hormone production, brain waves, etc. are
measured and charted and graphically presented to suggest that TM really takes
a person to a new state of consciousness. Some of the studies done by TM
scientists simply show that some of the same physiological results you can
achieve by relaxing completely are achievable by TM. Nevertheless, according
to TM advocates, tests have shown that TM produces "neurophysiological
signatures that are distinctly different from relaxation and rest "[Judy
Stein, personal correspondence]. Critics disagree.* The particular value of
these physiological changes one can achieve by meditation have not been shown
to be unique to transcendental meditation.

EDIT: Another interesting read: [http://blogs.scientificamerican.com/cross-
check/2013/03/08/r...](http://blogs.scientificamerican.com/cross-
check/2013/03/08/research-has-not-shown-that-meditation-beats-a-placebo/)

"The Transcendental Meditation movement publishes scores of "peer-reviewed"
articles in minor journals attempting to prove the medical benefits of their
seated chanting. Reputable studies show that there are, however , no benefits
beyond standard relaxation techniques."
Source:[http://rationalwiki.org/wiki/Transcendental_Meditation](http://rationalwiki.org/wiki/Transcendental_Meditation)

~~~
Volpe
Umm... what about non "Transcendental Meditation"? Or are you just finding one
perceived misuse and applying it to everything? (Does skepdic.com have an
entry on that particular fallacy?)

~~~
Simon321
TM is one of the most widely practiced, and among the most widely researched
meditation techniques.[7][8][9] Source: Wikipedia

So it just makes sense to talk about that one. The others ones aren't really
researched that well. Which variation would you prefer?

~~~
mbrock
If you're going to call meditation a "scam," it's your responsibility to
survey the field and know what you're talking about.

