Scientific Aspects of Meditation

Relaxation
Relaxation may be defined as a positively perceived state or response in which a person feels relief
of tension or strain.
Meditation is one of the methods of relaxation. Both relaxation and meditation have a mental as
well as physical dimension.
They are believed not only to have beneficial effects on the mind, but also on the body itself.
Meditation may be used as a treatment to help relieve stress in conditions such as coronary artery
(heart) disease, essential hypertension, tension headache, insomnia, asthma, immune deficiency,
panic and many others.
Are these benefits a mere speculation or is there any proof to these claims?
The Basics of Brain Waves
Brain waves are generated by the building blocks of your brain -- the individual cells called neurons.
Neurons communicate with each other by electrical changes. We can actually see these electrical
changes in the form of brain waves as shown in an EEG (electroencephalogram).
Brain waves are measured in cycles per second (Hertz; Hz is the short form). We also talk about the
"frequency" of brain wave activity.
The lower the number of Hz, the slower the brain activity or the slower the frequency of the activity.
Researchers in the 1930's and 40's identified several different types of brain waves. Traditionally,
these fall into 4 types:


* Delta waves (below 4 hz) occur during sleep
* Theta waves (4-7 hz) are associated with sleep, deep relaxation (like hypnotic relaxation), and
visualization
* Alpha waves (8-13 hz) occur when we are relaxed and calm
* Beta waves (13-38 hz) occur when we are actively thinking, problem-solving, etc.
Theres one more category which is:
* Gamma brain waves (39-100 hz) are involved in higher mental activity and consolidation of
information. An interesting study has shown that advanced Tibetan meditators produce higher levels
of gamma than non-meditators both before and during meditation.
We tend to think we are producing one type of brain wave (e.g., producing "alpha" for meditating).
But these aren't really "separate" brain waves - the categories are just for convenience. They help
describe the changes we see in brain activity during different kinds of activities.
So we don't ever produce only "one" brain wave type. Our overall brain activity is a mix of all the
frequencies at the same time, some in greater quantities and strength than others.
Balance is the key. We don't want to regularly produce too much or too little of any brainwave
frequency. We want our brain to be both flexible - able to adjust to whatever we are wanting to do -
and resilient - able to go with the flow.
What stops our brain from having this balance all the time?
The big 6:
Injury
Medications, including alcohol
Fatigue
Emotional distress
Pain
Stress
These 6 types of problems tend to create a pattern in our brain's activity that is hard to shift.
Meditation and EEG (Electroencephalogram)
Early scientific studies on the neurophysiology of meditation focused on changes in brain wave (EEG)
patterns, and differences in brain wave patterns between meditators and non-meditators. In
summary, mediation was shown to
* Increase Alpha (8-13 Hz or cycles per second) production
* Increase Theta (4-7 Hz) production
* Increase high Beta (20-40 Hz) activity (with experienced meditators)
Alpha patterns are associated with calm and focused attention; Theta patterns are associated with
reverie, imagery, and creativity; high Beta activity is associated with highly focused concentration. It
was therefore argued that meditation contributed to a calm, creative, and focused pattern of brain
activity which resulted in a person with these same qualities.
Neuropeptides, Endorphins, Encephalins and Meditation
Neuropeptides are small protein-like molecules used by neurons to communicate with each other.
They are neuronal signalling molecules, influence the activity of the brain in specific ways and are
thus involved in particular brain functions, like analgesia (absence of sense of pain), reward, food
intake, learning and memory.
More recent studies have looked at the neurochemistry of meditation. Meditation has been shown
to increase serotonin production. Serotonin is an important neurotransmitter and neuropeptide that
influences mood and behaviour in many ways. Its importance is demonstrated by the recent
explosion in use of fluvoxamine, a "selective serotonin re-uptake inhibitor" like Prozac, Paxil, and
Zoloft and such, for treating depression-related emotional disorders. Low levels of serotonin have
been linked to a variety of disorders. For example, conditions associated with low serotonin levels
include: depression, obesity, insomnia, narcolepsy, sleep apnea, migraine headaches, premenstrual
syndrome, and fibromyalgia.
Meditation has also been associated with increased melatonin availability. Melatonin is also an
important neurotransmitter and neuropeptide that influences mood and behaviour. It is derived
from serotonin. Melatonin has been linked to regulation of sleep, and early research indicates it may
have anti-carcinogen and immune system enhancing effects.
DHEA (dehydroepiandrosterone): DHEA, a life-enhancing hormone, was one of the first biological
benefits of meditation to be observed. DHEA is produced in the adrenal glands, just above the
kidneys. Issuing from the same glands that produce the stress hormones, elevated levels of DHEA
imply reduced production of restrictive cortisol and adrenaline. DHEA has a variety of health-
impacting benefits. It is an immune enhancement agent that has been proven to be beneficial in the
prevention and treatment of cancer, cardiovascular disease, diabetes, lupus and other conditions.
DHEA stimulates the production of monocytes (T cells and B cells), potent immunity bio-chemicals
that cause the production of other immune system agents. DHEA is good for the bones, muscles,
blood pressure, vision and hearing. It is the substance from which the male and female hormones
are developed and it is the source of vitality and youthfulness. DHEA is a mood elevator that makes
people feel and look better. It enhances brain biochemistry and growth. Anxiety and stress lower
normal DHEA levels in the bloodstream. Meditation elevates DHEA levels. Thus meditation during
pregnancy, in offering potentially ideal hormonal function, conveys elevated levels of vivifying DHEA
to the womb child, and, through breast- feeding, to the child after birth.
Among the hormones that are produced in the brain opioid peptides which include encephalins,
endorphins and dynorphins are of particular interest regarding the effects of meditation. They are
considered to be associated with changes in the mood, pain threshold, immune activity and on
bronchial (lungs) and arterial smooth muscle tone. Beta endorphins are produced in the
hypothalamus of the brain and their levels are increased in regular exercise, meditation, and in
acupuncture.
Endorphins and Encephalins are two neuropeptides that are also released during laughter. These are
opioids which are body's natural pain suppressing agents. The ability of laughter to release muscle
tension and to soothe sympathetic nervous system stress also helps to control pain. Increased
circulation also helps to minimise pain.
National Institutes of Health
According to the National Institutes of Health (NIH), "Practicing meditation has been shown to
induce some changes in the body...Some types of meditation might work by affecting
the "Autonomic (involuntary) Nervous System." The sympathetic nervous system and
parasympathetic nervous system are two divisions of the autonomic nervous system of the body.
The sympathetic nervous system is responsible for our reaction to stress or fear and is colloquially
known as the "fight-or-flight" system. The parasympathetic nervous system is active during times of
rest and associated with "rest and digest". The NIH goes on, "It is thought that some types of
meditation might work by reducing activity in the Sympathetic Nervous System and increasing
activity in the Parasympathetic Nervous System."
Biofeedback Machines & Meditation
Biofeedback is a treatment technique in which people are trained to improve their health by using
signals from their own bodies. Physical therapists use biofeedback to help stroke victims regain
movement in paralyzed muscles. Psychologists use it to help tense and anxious clients learn to relax.
Specialists in many different fields use biofeedback to help their patients cope with pain.
These machines can detect a person's internal bodily functions with far greater sensitivity and
precision than a person can alone.
For patients, the biofeedback machine acts as a kind of sixth sense which allows them to "see" or
"hear" activity inside their bodies. One commonly used type of machine, for example, picks up
electrical signals in the muscles. It translates these signals into a form that patients can detect: It
triggers a flashing light bulb, perhaps, or activates a beeper every time muscles grow more tense.
According to research, the biofeedback machines have shown the muscles to be much more relaxed
in Meditators than Non-Meditators.
Gray and White Matter
Studies done by Yale, Harvard, Massachusetts General Hospital have shown that meditation
increases gray matter in the brain and slows down the deterioration of the brain as a part of the
natural aging process.
The experiment included 20 individuals with intensive Buddhist "insight meditation" training and 15
who did not meditate. The brain scan revealed that those who meditated have an increased
thickness of gray matter in parts of the brain that are responsible for attention and processing
sensory input. The increase in thickness ranged between .004 and .008 inches (3.175 x 10
6
m - 6.35 x
10
6
m) and was proportional to the amount of meditation. The study also showed that meditation
helps slow down brain deterioration due to aging.
A study involving the participation of a group of colleges students, who were asked to use a
meditation technique called integrative body-mind training, concluded that "meditating may
improve the integrity and efficiency of certain connections in the brain" through an increase in their
number and robustness. Brain scans showed strong white matter changes in the anterior cingulate
cortex.
Dr. James Austin, a neurophysiologist at the University of Colorado, reported that meditation in
Zen "rewires the circuitry" of the brain in his book Zen and the Brain (Austin, 1999). This has been
confirmed using functional MRI imaging, a brain scanning technique that measures blood flow in the
brain.
Knowledge of the neurophysiology of meditation is changing rapidly. Recent advances in medical
imaging, such as rCBF (regional Cerebral Blood Flow), real time MRI (Magnetic Resonance Imaging),
MEG (magneto encephalography), and improved EEG (electroencephalography) allow detailed
studies that are reshaping our understanding of the effects of meditation on neural behaviour.
Andrew Newberg, MD has been conducting high-tech investigations of the brains of meditating
Buddhists and Franciscan nuns at prayer in order to illuminate the chain of neurological events that
are triggered by intensely focused spiritual contemplation.
In collaboration with the Departments of Neurology and Psychiatry at the University of Pennsylvania
Medical Centre, he had an advanced Tibetan Buddhist meditator engage in meditation while hooked
up to an IV. When he approached the transcendent peak of his meditative state, he tugged on a
string. Dr. Newberg was at the other end and when he felt the pull, he released a radioactive dye
into the IV line. Then the mediator was whisked into a SPECT (single photon emission computed
tomography) brain-imaging machine to determine which areas are active by measuring blood flow.
Dr. Newberg found that the front part of the brain, which is usually involved in focusing attention
and concentration, is more active during meditation, but there was greatly decreased activity in the
parietal lobe.

The parietal area of the brain is responsible for giving us a sense of our orientation in space and
time. He hypothesized that blocking all sensory and cognitive input into this area during meditation
results in the sense of no space and no time. When this part of the brain, which weaves sensory data
into a feeling of where the self ends, is deprived of sensory input through the meditator's focus on
inward concentration, it cannot do it its job of finding the border between the self and the world. Dr.
Newberg described how this affects consciousness:

The brain had no choice. It perceived the self to be endless, as one with all of creation. And this felt
utterly real. The absorption of the self into something larger [is] not the result of emotional
fabrication or wishful thinking. It springs from neurological events, as when the orientation area
goes dark.
One more theory, presented by Daniel Goleman & Tara Bennett-Goleman suggests that
meditation works because of the relationship between the amygdala and the prefrontal cortex. In
very simple terms, the amygdala is the part of the brain that decides if we should get angry or
anxious (among other things), and the pre-frontal cortex is the part that makes us stop and think
about things (it is also known as the inhibitory centre).
The prefrontal cortex is very good at analysing and planning, but it takes a long time to make
decisions. The amygdala, on the other hand, is simpler (and older in evolutionary terms). It makes
rapid judgments about a situation and has a powerful effect on our emotions and behaviour, linked
to survival needs. For example, if a human sees a lion leaping out at them, the amygdala will trigger
a fight or flight response long before the prefrontal cortex responds.
But in making snap judgments, our amygdala is prone to error, such as seeing danger where there is
none. This is particularly true in contemporary society where social conflicts are far more common
than encounters with predators, and a basically harmless but emotionally charged situation can
trigger uncontrollable fear or anger leading to conflict, anxiety, and stress.
Research has shown that during Meditation, the pre-frontal cortex gets highly activated which
induces in us the habit of think before you act.


Kirlian Photography
Dr.Seymon and ValentinaKirlian are the founders of Kirlian work.
It came by accident that Dr.Seymon noted the exchange of electricity with the human body while an
x-ray was being taken.
From this observation, and because he was a curious man and an inventor, he developed a camera
to capture this unseen energy field. This field is known as corona and the auric field. Together they
fine-tuned this work over thirty years ago in Russia. They invented a special camera: a copper-based
camera with a high frequency charge bar. Photos taken with this camera were shown in technical
journals in Russia in 1959. American scientists became aware of these studies in the 1970s. The
photography is referred to by several names: Kirlian, electrophotography, radiation field or coronal
discharge. These references were established from the different theories to explain this energy
documentation. A new venue for medical diagnosis is a possibility through Kirlian research.
SemyonKirlian, the developer of this photography, was asked in 1950 to photograph the energy
radiations of two nearly identical leaves presented to him by a stranger. He and his wife stayed up
late into the night, but despite their efforts one leaf revealed strong energy flares on film while the
other barely registered even weak luminescence. When they showed their dismal results to the
stranger the next day, he became very excited, for despite their identical appearance, the leaf that
had revealed strong energy had been plucked from a healthy plant, and the leaf that had registered
little energy had been plucked from a diseased plant. Subsequent Kirlian research has shown that
the energy photographed around plants is indeed related to its vitality or life, for if a leaf is injured
or allowed to die the energy will gradually diminish and then disappear.
Kirlian photography has been brought into holistic health & healing because it shows how energy
fields are affected in illness (indicated by broken auric fields.) When a healing art is given to a client
these jarred/broken fields fill with light and color. Many chiropracters, massage therapists,
acupunturists have documented their clients' fields prior to a session and following. In each case
their photos changed towards healing by a solid aura and color changes.