Science Explores Meditation's Effect on the Brain - Katie Unger

[Guest guest]

Science Explores Meditation's Effect on the Brain

Morning Edition, July 26, 2005.

 

People who meditate say it induces well-being and emotional balance.

In recent years, a group of neuroscientists has begun investigating

the practice, dubbed " mindfulness. " As NPR's Allison Aubrey reports,

they are exploring the hypothesis that meditation can actually

change the way the brain works:

 

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=4770779

 

WEB EXTRA: Mindfulness for the Masses

 

By Katie Unger

 

Scientists are taking advantage of new technologies to see exactly

what goes on inside the brains of Buddhist monks and other so-

called " Olympian " meditators -- individuals who meditate intensively

and regularly. The neuroscientists hypothesize that regular

meditation actually alters the way the brain is wired, and that

these changes could be at the heart of claims that meditation can

improve health and well-being.

 

But the rigors of the scientific method might never have been

applied to studying the practice of meditation if it weren't for a

vocal population of scientist-meditators. For decades, several of

these individuals have been spreading the word about the beneficial

effects of this traditional Eastern practice to the Western world.

 

In 1998, Dr. James Austin, a neurologist, wrote the book Zen and the

Brain: Toward an Understanding of Meditation and Consciousness.

Several mindfulness researchers cite his book as a reason they

became interested in the field. In it, Austin examines consciousness

by intertwining his personal experiences with Zen meditation with

explanations backed up by hard science. When he describes how

meditation can " sculpt " the brain, he means it literally and

figuratively.

 

Before Austin, others had aimed to teach meditation to individuals

without experience and without interest in spirituality, people who

hoped to reap mental and physical health benefits. In 1975, Sharon

Salzberg and Jack Kornfield co-founded the Insight Meditation

Society in Barre, Mass., where they continue to practice and teach

meditation. Salzberg has written several books, including Faith and

Lovingkindness: The Revolutionary Art of Happiness. Kornfield holds

a Ph.D. in clinical psychology and trained as a Buddhist monk in

Thailand, Burma and India. He's written an introduction to the

field, called Meditation for Beginners.

 

Jon Kabat-Zinn brought mindfulness into the mainstream by developing

a standardized teaching method that has introduced multitudes of

beginners to the practice of meditation. In 1979, he founded the

Stress Reduction Clinic at the University of Massachusetts Memorial

Medical Center in Worcester. He is professor emeritus of the

university's medical school. Kabat-Zinn has written several books

that show readers how to incorporate meditation into their daily

lives.

 

One center with which Kabat-Zinn has had a long-standing

association -- the Mind and Life Institute -- took a particular

interest in partnering " modern science and Buddhism -- the world's

two most powerful traditions for understanding the nature of reality

and investigating the mind. " The institute sponsors scientific

conferences for meditation researchers. At the most recent one,

scientists discussed how meditation might change activity levels in

the brain.

 

Some 150 centers around the country are shaped in the mold of Kabat-

Zinn's Stress Reduction Clinic, and about 150 more teach meditation

with slightly different philosophies.

 

More than 1,000 peer-reviewed scientific articles have been

published on the subject of meditation. Until recently, most of them

simply observed correlations between meditating and improved mood or

decreased disease symptoms. But with so many scientists -- and

thousands of consumers -- becoming " believers " in meditation,

researchers seek to move beyond simply showing that meditation can

influence the brain, to knowing exactly how that influence is

accomplished.

 

Science Explores Meditation's Effect on the Brain

Morning Edition, July 26, 2005.

 

(Katie Unger is an intern for NPR's science desk.)