Meditation: A Secret in Plain Sight

[Zeno Swijtink]

Meditation: A Secret in Plain Sight
STEPHAN A. SCHWARTZ, Columnist - Explore - The Journal of Science and Healing

SOURCE: Schwartz SA A Secret in Plain Sight 5:5:263-264 Sep 2009

PII: S1550-8307(09)00233-X
doi:10.1016/j.explore.2009.06.007

If I told you that I could make you smarter, improve the structure of your brain, reduce your stress level, make you sleep better, concentrate better, be more creative, have a better functioning immune system, and become a better lover, would it catch your attention? If I said you could achieve this essentially cost free and it would only take a few minutes of your time each day, would you be interested? Or would you just assume I was some kind of scam artist trying to pick your pocket with outrageous claims?

If you chose the second option, it wouldn't surprise me. But the truth is, each of the above claims is backed by peer-reviewed, published, research papers, and they number into the thousands. I am speaking here of meditation. Its power to change our lives from the vitality of our cells-to an enhancement of our capacity for creativity-is extraordinarily well documented. This is the path that allows us to open to nonlocal awareness, the part of ourselves outside the domain of space time. The part of us Brahms described this way:

"...in this exalted state I see clearly what is obscure in my ordinary moods; then I feel capable of drawing inspiration from above as Beethoven did....Those vibrations assume the form of distinct mental images.... Straightaway the ideas flow in upon me...and not only do I see distinct themes in the mind's eye, but they are clothed in the right forms, harmonies, and orchestration. Measure by measure the finished product is revealed to me when I am in those rare inspired moods...I have to be in a semi-trance condition to get such results-a condition when the conscious mind is in temporary abeyance, and the subconscious is in control, for it is through the subconscious mind, which is part of the Omnipotence, that the inspiration comes.1

Although it is definitely associated with mysticism, the inner path to experiencing transcendence, and is a foundation of most spiritual paths of Asian origin, at its essence meditation arose in these cultures on the same rational empirical basis by which they developed acupuncture and the martial arts. They observed over generations that there is a positive benefit to developing inward-looking skills. In the popular mind, meditation may be seen as Eastern, but the truth is it is equally a part of the inner wisdom of Judaism-particularly its cabalistic practices-Christianity, and Islam. Meditation is at the core of the Sufi schools of Islam, to non-Muslims the best known adherents of which are the dervishes, whose iconic dances take them into that domain that exists outside of space and time. It is part of the traditions of pre-Columbian American cultures as well. The extended awareness of the vision quest is one example of it use. And this litany goes on and on across the rainbow of human culture. Meditation can be done in the name of any of these faiths, but it is owned exclusively by none of them.

In fact, a survey of the meditation literature reveals that it is a single term defining many practices. It does not require religious affiliation, and many meditation techniques have no spiritual component whatever.

Harvard research physician Herbert Benson,2 who used magnetic resonance imaging brain scans to document physical changes that take place in the body when someone meditates, reports that all the forms of prayer and meditation he and his team have studied evoke what he calls a relaxation response-a change in the psychophysical state that reduces stress, calms the body (lowering blood pressure being one example), and promotes healing. Benson's experimentation represents the work of just one laboratory; there are, in fact, researchers at laboratories throughout the world conducting studies involving meditation. Over 1,000 papers were published from 2006 to 2009.

The things these paths all have in common is they are designed to give practitioners a measure of focused control, which affects psychophysiological processes such as blood pressure, serotonin levels, and brain function. This is the same control that produces the placebo effect, and that perhaps is the clearest proof of its power. Across thousands of studies, 35% to 40% of placebo recipients tend to experience effects as powerful and more powerful than those who receive the actual treatment. There can be no doubt that the mind-body linkage is an incredibly powerful tool for personal transformation, not just psychospiritually, but physically.

Looked at without the biases of dogma or allegiance, it is notable how similar so many of these rituals are; to cite but one example consider the use of repetition-saying aloud, or in one's mind, sounds or words or phrases. Sometimes it is not even a word, just the sibilant sound of the breath as it moves in and out of one's lungs. It is this focus on a repetitive sound that helps produce meditation's effect.

All of it, collectively, presents us with a picture of the complex brain activity associated with meditation. As meditators go deeper and deeper into their discipline, although the body calms, intense activity occurs in the parietal lobe of the brain. This portion of our brain controls our physical orientation in space and is responsible for making the distinction between 'self" and the outer world-that which is other than 'you."

Neurologist Olaf Blanke of the University Hospital of Geneva, Switzerland, and colleagues3 published a paper describing how the brain generates out-of-body experiences. He argued that all the lobes of the brain play a part in something as complex as religious experience, but that the temporoparietal junction is a prime node of that network. A more recent study was carried out by Eileen Luders and her colleagues4 at the University of California, Los Angeles, School of Medicine and published in NeuroImage; their study also used magnetic resonance imaging and showed a particularly large cluster of grey matter that occurred more frequently in the meditators than in the control group. The researchers describe this cluster as located 'at the border between inferior and middle frontal gyrus and in approximate distance to Brodmann areas (BA) 11, 12 and 47."4

Meditation research over the past two decades has documented a kind of deep 'stillness" that affects the entire brain. When this occurs, the frontal and temporal lobe circuits, which track time and create self-awareness, seemingly disengage. The mind-body connection dissolves. These studies show us that the limbic system is responsible for assigning emotional values to persons, places, everything in our total life experience. This assignment is based on a complex set of stimulus responses that collectively give something the quality I call 'numinous."

Since the limbic system, among other things, regulates relaxation and ultimately controls the autonomic nervous system, heart rate, blood pressure, and metabolism, it produces both emotional and physiological effects when you react to the numinous quality of a specific object, person, or place. These reactions produce real emotional and physiological states. This is why your hair 'stands on end," your 'skin crawls," your stomach 'lurches," or your heart 'beats faster."

Often the response is not only to a single example of a category but the category itself, because memory also interacts with the limbic system. For example, if you are an avid baseball fan you might react to the specific baseball you caught at a big league game when you were a child. But you might also have a reaction, although perhaps not as strong, to any baseball. Or, if you were arrested as a youth, you may react to any picture of any policeman. If you were frightened by a graveyard as a child, a picture of a cemetery could evoke a response. Because meditation affects the limbic system, developing the discipline allows one to become more volitionally in control of these responses. The practice has a calming effect that leaves us relaxed and physiologically more evenly regulated. This, in turn, allows us to be coherently focused because we are less distracted by our inner dialogue and emotions, as well as our physiological responses.

Why does any of this matter? We have a spectrum of growing health crises-ranging from obesity to hypertension-that cost us tens of billions of dollars each year in medical treatments. But that is just the beginning. As a consequence of these problems a whole series of social dysfunctions, particularly amongst our young, that cost us tens of billions more. Given the authenticity of meditation's benefits, and extrapolating from the individual to the societal, one has to ask, given what we know about the transforming power of meditation, why are we not availing ourselves of these benefits?

Imagine a world in which children were taught a basic nonsectarian technique at the same time they were taught the Pledge of Allegiance, and that a voluntary 20-minute period was set aside during the course of each school day for a period of nonsectarian psychophysical self-regulation. Imagine you spent 20 minutes a day doing this as well.

References

1. Abell AM. Talks with the Great Composers. In: Garmisch-Parten-Kirchen, Germany: G.E. Schroeder-Verlag; 1964;p. 19-21.

2. Benson H. The Relaxation Response with Klipper, MZ (Updated and expanded). New York, NY: Quill; 2001;.

3. Blanke O, Ortigue S, Landis T, Seec M. Stimulating illusory own-body perceptions (The part of the brain that can induce out-of-body experiences has been located). Nature. 2002;419:269-270.

4. Luders E, Toga AW, Lepore N, Gaser C. The underlying anatomical correlates of long-term meditation: larger hippocampal and frontal volumes of gray matter. Neuroimage. 2009;45:672-678.

[DeadwoodPete]

Thanks Zeno, I think I will try to find some specific studies to go woth this. My friend Jean, who taught in the Neuroscience Dept. at UClA for 20+ years will certainly know some of the studies that have looked at effects of meditation.

Deadwood

[Zeno Swijtink]

See attached:

A. The underlying anatomical correlates of long-term meditation: Larger hippocampal and frontal volumes of gray matter.

B. The new field of Brain–Body Medicine: What have we learned and where are we headed?

Thanks Zeno, I think I will try to find some specific studies to go woth this. My friend Jean, who taught in the Neuroscience Dept. at UClA for 20+ years will certainly know some of the studies that have looked at effects of meditation.

Deadwood

[JuliaB]

This is great, thanks for posting Zeno. This belongs in the "Science and Spirit" category for sure!

Julia