This video, which is part of The Science of Consciousness, Dr. Richie Davidson answers the question, “What goes on in your brain when you meditate?”
Richie Davidson is a professor of psychology and psychiatry, and director of the Waisman Laboratory for Brain Imaging and Behavior at the University of Wisconsin in Madison. He also was one of the presenters in The Compassionate Brain, a wonderful series offered by Sounds True and hosted by Dr. Rick Hanson. You can still watch or listen to the recordings of this series.
I loved hearing him speak at the Meng-Wu Lecture for CCARE, The Center for Compassion and Altruism Research and Education at Stanford University last fall.
In this five minute video, Dr. Davidson speaks about what goes on in your brain when you meditate.
Richie states that there are significant differences between a novice meditator and those that have around 35,000 hours of practice.
Meditation plays and important role in certain aspects of attention.
One of the definitions of meditation from the Sanskrit word for it is familiarization – familiarization with how you mind works.
Long time practitioners of meditation show gamma oscillations in the brain. These gamma oscillations have been found to have a great effect on the neuroplasticity of the brain. They are highly synchronized across wide spread regions of the brain.
The video I presented yesterday as The Science of Consciousness is fairly long and very interesting. I hope you will appreciate having a few shorter clips so that you can better absorb the material.
So what goes on in your brain when you meditate? Please share.
 |
I just finished reading Dr. Davidson’s book and found it to be extremely valuable. I did not completely absorb the his findings on the particular parts of the bran. I really enjoyed his discovery and explanation of emotional style. Click on the book image to learn more. |
