Meditation and the Brain

The scientific consciousness community generally recognizes that meditation can provide insights into consciousness, at least enriching descriptions. But our question goes deeper: Can meditation help discern the fundamental nature or essence of consciousness?

Meditation as Altered Consciousness

Deep meditation, especially as practiced by Eastern traditions, is an altered state of consciousness that induces changes in the brain. Studies show that meditation, if done regularly, can help relieve symptoms of chronic pain (Trafton, 2011); and that mindfulness meditation programs have moderate evidence of improved anxiety and depression as well as pain relief^[1] (Goyal et al., 2014). What is happening in the brain?

Alpha Waves and Attention Control

Studies suggest that alpha waves (∼7–14 Hz), which are modulated in primary sensory cortex during selective attention, have a mechanistic role in perception. During “mindfulness” meditation, a common practice requiring sustained attention to body and breath-related sensations, people were better able to control their alpha rhythms, thereby implicating “this form of enhanced dynamic neural regulation in the behavioral effects of meditative practice” (Kerr et al., 2011). The idea is that alpha waves help suppress irrelevant or distracting sensory information, diminishing the likelihood that extraneous stimuli “will grab your attention” and enhancing the likelihood that you can better focus and “better regulate how things that arise will impact you” (Trafton, 2011).

Deep Meditation and Brain Desynchronization

In the highest meditative state possible in Theravada Buddhism—nirodha-samāpatti, translated roughly as “the cessation of thought and feeling”—overall brain synchronization is reduced. This means that while during normal consciousness different parts of the brain are communicating predictively with other parts, during nirodha-samāpatti (i.e., the deepest trance-retreat into the mind, an utter absence of sensation and awareness, with all mental activity temporarily suspended), the brain is desynchronized, no longer functioning as an integrated unit. (Interestingly, similar brain desynchronization occurs when people are given anesthetic doses of propofol or ketamine, but not during sleep) (Love, 2023).

It is clear that meditation, which alters consciousness, also alters specific brain wave patterns, thereby giving support to various Materialism Theories (e.g., Brain Circuits and Cycles Models and Electromagnetic Field Theories. Moreover, the brain desynchronization that accompanies the cessation of consciousness seems to support Global Workspace Theory, because the brain activity seems no longer in the same sense “global,” and Integrated Information Theory, because the brain seems no longer in the same sense “integrated.” Obviously, these results do not disprove nonphysical theories of consciousness, which could be consistent with this same set of facts.

Footnote

[1]. Note: Meditation is not a panacea; it did no better than any active treatment (i.e., drugs, exercise, and other behavioral therapies) on positive mood, attention, substance use, eating habits, sleep, and weight; the meta-analysis also showed low evidence of improved stress/distress and mental health–related quality of life (Goyal et al., 2014).