Brain scan meditation

WEBVTT

1
00:00:00.150 --> 00:00:04.769
This was a study that we did that
looked at the long term effects of meditation

2
00:00:04.836 --> 00:00:08.309
on the brain and it showed
a couple of specific things.

3
00:00:08.376 --> 00:00:10.770
So this is a person who had
never meditated before,

4
00:00:11.960 --> 00:00:17.199
the a scan is the very first just
their resting state of the brain.

5
00:00:17.280 --> 00:00:19.530
We taught them how to
do a meditation practice called

6
00:00:19.596 --> 00:00:23.280
Kirtan Kriya which is a very simple
singing kind of meditation.

7
00:00:23.346 --> 00:00:25.890
And this is what their brain
looked like when they did it

8
00:00:25.956 --> 00:00:27.059
for the very first time.

9
00:00:27.480 --> 00:00:30.000
When they came back after two
weeks we scanned their brain

10
00:00:30.066 --> 00:00:33.240
again at rest and then during
the last meditation practice

11
00:00:33.570 --> 00:00:36.850
and a couple of specific
changes that we saw here:

12
00:00:37.020 --> 00:00:40.649
One is the thalamus which again
changes from being one side

13
00:00:40.716 --> 00:00:44.580
more or less active than the
other to a substantial change

14
00:00:44.729 --> 00:00:47.490
after they have done this practice
and this is their brain at rest.

15
00:00:47.556 --> 00:00:51.570
So these are permanent changes
that are occurring in the brain itself.

16
00:00:51.636 --> 00:00:54.679
We also notice that the frontal
lobes are more active,

17
00:00:54.746 --> 00:00:57.309
there's more red in here than
what you see over here.

18
00:00:57.479 --> 00:01:00.629
So that their frontal lobe
activity is turned on even when

19
00:01:00.696 --> 00:01:03.390
their brain is at rest and it
gets back to one of the points

20
00:01:03.456 --> 00:01:06.570
we made earlier about
the idea that, since the frontal lobe

21
00:01:06.636 --> 00:01:10.350
helps to regulate our emotional responses
and is very involved in our feelings

22
00:01:10.416 --> 00:01:14.189
of love and compassion,
by having a higher level of activity

23
00:01:14.256 --> 00:01:16.799
in the frontal lobe even when
the person is not meditating,

24
00:01:17.129 --> 00:01:20.280
suggests that they have this
greater sense of compassion

25
00:01:20.346 --> 00:01:23.279
and empathy going on all the time
not just when they're doing

26
00:01:23.346 --> 00:01:24.480
the meditation practice.

27
00:01:24.780 --> 00:01:26.879
And of course when they are
meditating their frontal lobes

28
00:01:26.946 --> 00:01:30.599
turn on and they thalamic
activity changes as well,

29
00:01:30.930 --> 00:01:34.020
again signaling the notion that
they are having a change in the way

30
00:01:34.086 --> 00:01:39.000
they perceive reality, the way they think
about that reality that occurs not only

31
00:01:39.066 --> 00:01:42.959
during the meditation practice
but even after that practice is over.

32
00:01:43.026 --> 00:01:45.540
It changes the way their brain
works and changes the way

33
00:01:45.606 --> 00:01:47.879
they think about themselves and
about the world around them.