The Neuroscience of Meditation

This presentation will cultivate research done connecting neuroscience with meditation. The goals of meditation are identical with many of the objectives of clinical psychology, psychiatry, preventive medicine, and education. This research may be able to change the way professionals in healthcare, psychiatry, and education perform in their disciplines. This research has illustrated that meditation can rewire brain circuits to produce lasting effects on the entire body, not just the brain. Research was conducted at Emory University by Wendy Hasenkamp by studying brain images that were scanned on Buddhist monastics at different levels of practice. By doing so, researchers were able to identify specific neural networks that are activated at various times of meditation. Neuroscientific research on meditation provides new insights into methods of mental training that have the potential to dramatically improve human health and well-being. Additionally, the ability to encompass positive human qualities including empathy that mediation can enhance produces a foundation for an ethical framework that can be built upon easily, without any philosophic or religious attachments. If professionals are able to begin utilizing meditation as a means of education and preventative health, there will be profound benefits affecting all aspects of human societies.