Yes-Brainers: Meditation on Demand

From Scientific American Mind

November/December 2009

(ScientificAmerican.com/Mind)

Meditation on Demand

New research reveals the cell mechanisms underlying a meditative state.

By Peter B. Reiner

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FAST FACTS
Rhythm of Serenity

1» Regular deep meditation changes the brain in positive ways. this type of meditation seems to be associated with gamma waves, electromagnetic rhythm of neurons firing very rapidly in harmony.

2» Neuroscientists have pinpointed the cells responsible for producing these gamma rhythms and demonstrated a technology that can induce the brain-wave pattern in mice.

3» In the future it might be possible to use this technology to reproduce some of the beneficial effects of meditation.
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In the fall of 2005, the Dalai Lama gave the inaugural Dialogues between Neuroscience and Society lecture at the Annual Meeting of the Society for Neuroscience in Washington, DC. There were over 30,000 neuroscientists registered for the meeting, and it seemed as if most of them attended the talk. The Dalai Lama’s address was designed to highlight the areas of convergence between neuroscience and Buddhist thought about the mind, and to many in the audience he clearly achieved his objective. There was some controversy over his being invited to deliver this lecture insofar as he is both a head of state and a religious leader, and for that reason he largely stuck to his prepared text. But he strayed from the text at least once, reminding the audience that not only was he a Buddhist monk but also an enthusiastic proponent of modern technology.