Positive Health Online

Abstract

BRANDMEYER and COLLEAGUES, 1 Osher Center for Integrative Medicine, School of Medicine, University of California, San Francisco, CA, United States; Centre de Recherche Cerveau et Cognition (CerCo), Université Paul Sabatier, Toulouse, France; CNRS, UMR 5549, Toulouse, France.  tracy.brandmeyer@ucsf.edu ;2 Centre de Recherche Cerveau et Cognition (CerCo), Université Paul Sabatier, Toulouse, France; CNRS, UMR 5549, Toulouse, France; Institute of Noetic Sciences (IONS), Petaluma, CA, United States; Swartz Center for Computational Neuroscience, Institute of Neural Computation (INC), University of California, San Diego, CA, United States; 3 Institute of Noetic Sciences (IONS), Petaluma, CA, United States; Oregon Health & Science University, Portland, OR, United States review the classifications, phenomenology, neural correlates, and mechanisms of meditation.

Background

Rising from its contemplative and spiritual traditions, the science of meditation has seen huge growth over the last 30 years.

Methodology

This chapter reviews the classifications, phenomenology, neural correlates, and mechanisms of meditation. Meditation classification types are still varied and largely subjective. Broader models to describe meditation practice along multidimensional parameters may improve classification in the future. Phenomenological studies are few but growing, highlighting the subjective experience and correlations to neurophysiology.

Results

Oscillatory EEG studies are not conclusive likely due to the heterogeneous nature of the meditation styles and practitioners being assessed. Neuroimaging studies find common patterns during meditation and in long-term meditators reflecting the basic similarities of meditation in general; however, mostly the patterns differ across unique meditation traditions. Research on the mechanisms of meditation, specifically attention and emotion regulation is also discussed. There is a growing body of evidence demonstrating positive benefits from meditation in some clinical populations especially for stress reduction, anxiety, depression, and pain improvement, although future research would benefit by addressing the remaining methodological and conceptual issues.

Conclusion

Meditation research continues to grow allowing us to understand greater nuances of how meditation works and its effects.

References

Tracy Brandmeyer  1 , Arnaud Delorme  2 , Helané Wahbeh  3. The neuroscience of meditation: classification, phenomenology, correlates, and mechanisms  Prog Brain Res. ;244:1-29. Epub Jan 16 2019. doi: 10.1016/bs.pbr.2018.10.020. 2019.