Change your brain by transforming your mind: Neuroscientific studies of meditation

82 Pages·2012·18.32 MB·English

by  Nadja Rosmann

Change your brain by transforming
your mind: Neuroscientific studies of
meditation
Richard J. Davidson
Waisman Laboratory for Brain Imaging and Behavior,
Laboratory for Affec2ve Neuroscience, and
Center for Inves2ga2ng Healthy Minds
Departments of Psychology and Psychiatry
University of Wisconsin-Madison
A brief autobiographical
interlude…
The contemporary convergence
•  Neuroplas2city and contempla2ve prac2ce
•  Epigene2cs
•  Neurally-inspired behavioral interven2ons
•  Pu5ng the brain back into biomedicine: A
pathway back to the mind
The voluntary cultivation of
compassion
Blockd esign
Meditation Meditation Meditation Meditation
Neutral Neutral Neutral Neutral Neutral
s tate State State State State
Event-related design
40 sec
Meditation
15 sec
= Auditory stimuli
Neutrals tate
Neutrals tate from the Lang database
“Here, what we have tried to do, for the sake
of the experiment, is to generate a state in
which love and compassion permeate the whole
mind, with no other consideration, reasoning or
discursive thoughts. This is sometimes called
‘pure compassion’, or ‘non-referential
compassion’ (in the sense that it does not focus
on particular objects to arouse love or
compassion), or ‘all-pervading compassion’.”
Matthieu Ricard
Lutz et al.,
2004, PNAS
Lutz et al.,
2004, PNAS