The Monk's Brain During Meditation - Brain and Waves - Best Brainwaves for Meditation

Brains of Buddhist Monks Scanned in Meditation Study

Also, I should state that I have been charmingly astonished by the outcomes. I was not searching for painful changes as a part of my identity. After all I am, all in all, very even in disposition. Like most people, I am upbeat, certain and secure more often than not. 

What he promised was that

a) you would turn out to be more upbeat, more quiet;

b) you would enhance your mental aptitude - increment in learning capacity, memory, instinct, inventiveness and focus;

c) you would encounter exceptional enhancement in profound and passionate wellbeing;

d) you would ( if you follow through with the 12 levels of the program until the end) develop the brain state of a Zen Buddhist monk.

It was this last promise--that I can have the mind and brain state of a Zen Buddhist monk-- that really intrigued me. So I ordered the initial program--the Awakening Prologue online.

So far, 8 weeks into the program ( meditating 1 hour a day with Holosync), I have noticed

a)a remarkable ability on my part to focus on my work( writing),

b)increased creativity and productivity,

c)a deep, deep sense of happiness that wells up several times during the course of the day.

But what has been for me the most profound change is the ease with which I seem to enter a meta-consciousness, an "other" me looking at myself and all that happens to me in a detached, witnessing manner. It's as though I am able to enter an altered state that prevents me from judging or reacting with blind emotions. I am watching my response( whether it be joy, anger, annoyance) as though it were someone else's, another reality, not mine. And the benefit of this detachment is the ability not to be aroused unnecessarily by circumstance.

Well, you are probably wondering, what is Holosync and how does it work?

In its simplest form, Holosync is meditation through neurotechnology. It is based on the work of Dr. Gerald Oster whose research into the effects of sound waves on brain wave patterns led to his use of sound to create desired electrical patterns in the brain, including those of a Zen Buddhist monk who has been meditating for over 20 years. Studies have shown that these monks have unusually balanced and synchronized whole brains, developed through years of focusing by repeating a prayer or mantra. The repetitive practice of meditation has created new neural pathways in their brains allowing them to experience the ineffable sense of oneness and connectedness so typical of spiritual experiences.

In a laboratory tucked away off a noisy New York City street, a soft-spoken neuroscientist has been placing Tibetan Buddhist monks into a car-sized brain scanner to better understand the ancient practice of meditation.

But could this unusual research not only unravel the secrets of leading a harmonious life but also shed light on some of the world's more mysterious diseases?

Zoran Josipovic, a research scientist and adjunct professor at New York University, says he has been peering into the brains of monks while they meditate in an attempt to understand how their brains reorganise themselves during the exercise.

Since 2008, the researcher has been placing the minds and bodies of prominent Buddhist figures into a five-tonne (5,000kg) functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) machine.

The scanner tracks blood flow within the monks' heads as they meditate inside its clunky walls, which echoes a musical rhythm when the machine is operating.

Dr Josipovic, who also moonlights as a Buddhist monk, says he is hoping to find how some meditators achieve a state of "nonduality" or "oneness" with the world, a unifying consciousness between a person and their environment.

--The study specifically looks at the default network in the brain, which controls self-reflective thoughts--

"One thing that meditation does for those who practise it a lot is that it cultivates attentional skills," Dr Josipovic says, adding that those harnessed skills can help lead to a more tranquil and happier way of being.

"Meditation research, particularly in the last 10 years or so, has shown to be very promising because it points to an ability of the brain to change and optimise in a way we didn't know previously was possible."

When one relaxes into a state of oneness, the neural networks in experienced practitioners change as they lower the psychological wall between themselves and their environments, Dr Josipovic says.

And this reorganisation in the brain may lead to what some meditators claim to be a deep harmony between themselves and their surroundings.

Shifting attention

Dr Josipovic's research is part of a larger effort better to understand what scientists have dubbed the default network in the brain.

He says the brain appears to be organised into two networks: the extrinsic network and the intrinsic, or default, network.

The extrinsic portion of the brain becomes active when individuals are focused on external tasks, like playing sports or pouring a cup of coffee.

The default network churns when people reflect on matters that involve themselves and their emotions.

--Dr Josipovic has scanned the brains of more than 20 experienced meditators during the study--

But the networks are rarely fully active at the same time. And like a seesaw, when one rises, the other one dips down.

This neural set-up allows individuals to concentrate more easily on one task at any given time, without being consumed by distractions like daydreaming.

"What we're trying to do is basically track the changes in the networks in the brain as the person shifts between these modes of attention," Dr Josipovic says.

Dr Josipovic has found that some Buddhist monks and other experienced meditators have the ability to keep both neural networks active at the same time during meditation - that is to say, they have found a way to lift both sides of the seesaw simultaneously.

And Dr Josipovic believes this ability to churn both the internal and external networks in the brain concurrently may lead the monks to experience a harmonious feeling of oneness with their environment.

Self-reflection

Scientists previously believed the self-reflective, default network in the brain was simply one that was active when a person had no task on which to focus their attention.

But researchers have found in the past decade that this section of the brain swells with activity when the subject thinks about the self.

The default network came to light in 2001 when Dr Marcus Raichle, a neurologist at the Washington University School of Medicine in the US state of Missouri, began scanning the brains of individuals who were not given tasks to perform.

The patients quickly became bored, and Dr Raichle noticed a second network, that had previously gone unnoticed, danced with activity. But the researcher was unclear why this activity was occurring.

Other scientists were quick to suggest that Dr Raichle's subjects could have actually been thinking about themselves.

Soon other neuroscientists, who conducted studies using movies to stimulate the brain, found that when there was a lull of activity in a film, the default network began to flash - signalling that research subjects may have begun to think about themselves out of boredom.
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"It's a major and understudied network in the brain that seems to be very involved in a lot of neurological disorders, including autism and Alzheimer's"
~ Cindy Lustig, University of Michigan, associate professor of neuroscience -

But Dr Raichle says the default network is important for more than just thinking about what one had for dinner last night.

"Researchers have wrestled with this idea of how we know we are who we are. The default mode network says something about how that might have come to be," he says.

And Dr Raichle adds that those studying the default network may also help in uncovering the secrets surrounding some psychological disorders, like depression, autism and even Alzheimer's disease.

"If you look at Alzheimer's Disease, and you look at whether it attacks a particular part of the brain, what's amazing is that it actually attacks the default mode network," says Dr Raichle, adding that intrinsic network research, like Dr Josipovic's, could assist in explaining why that is.

Cindy Lustig, associate professor of psychology and neuroscience at the University of Michigan, agrees.

"It's a major and understudied network in the brain that seems to be very involved in a lot of neurological disorders, including autism and Alzheimer's, and understanding how that network interacts with the task-oriented [extrinsic] network is important," she says. "It is sort of the other piece of the puzzle that's been ignored for too long."

Dr Josipovic has scanned the brains of more than 20 experienced meditators, both monks and nuns who primarily study the Tibetan Buddhist style of meditation, to better understand this mysterious network.

He says his research, which will soon be published, will for the moment continue to concentrate on explaining the neurological implications of oneness and tranquillity - though improving understanding of autism or Alzheimer's along the way would certainly be quite a bonus.

Access and go straight to the source – the subconscious

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Brainwaves and Meditation

Until recent years, entering extraordinary states of heightened receptivity and peak performance has been attained predominantly by only a disciplined few, practicing ancient techniques such as meditation, chanting, yoga, and newly revamped versions of the mystical traditions - for example, progressive relaxation, auto-suggestion, hypnosis, and biofeedback. These techniques work. But they take long periods of practice, discipline, and sometimes a leap of faith. It is all too easy to become impatient and give up long before producing results.

The Shamanic State of Consciousness

In shamanic traditions, drums have long been used to transport the shaman out of his or her body into other realms of reality through the use of constant rhythmic vibrations. Researcher Melinda Maxfield, studying the Shamanic State of Consciousness, found that the steady rhythmic beat of the drum struck 4.5 times per second was the key to transporting a shaman into the deepest part of his shamanic state of consciousness. With the invention of the EEG (electroencephalograph) Biofeedback researchers discovered that theta brain waves oscillate at 4.5 beats, or cycles, per second. In direct correlation, we see similar effects brought on by the constant and rhythmic drone of Tibetan Buddhist chants that transport the monks and even other listeners into realms of blissful meditation.

The gentle pulsating rhythms of Brain Sync audio programs act in a similar fashion, yet because the frequencies are precise and consistent they can be targeted to induce highly specific and desired brain states. Just as you can tune a radio to get a particular station, with Brain Sync technology you can re-tune your consciousness – effectively dialing your mind into a wide variety of brain states.

"Deep Meditation is an extremely beautiful and effective way to sink into Theta." 

— Jon Cowan, Ph.D., Biofeedback Researcher

Five of the Best Brainwaves for Meditation

Many in the medical and scientific community are becoming more and more interested in brainwave activity, not just in normal every day life, but also for brainwaves meditation. There are five different types of brainwaves, and in this article we will briefly describe each of them and how they relate to meditation.

Gamma waves are the highest state of mind, where you have an extremely focused mind. You are in this state when you are excited, like during sex, but it is also a time when you can focus your energy the best. It is also one of the hardest to deal with in meditation, because this is the state of mind which so much is going on. However, it is also one of the most powerful states of mind, and meditation with this brainwave will have the strongest results.

Beta waves is the conscious mind, a waking state. This state has 14 cycles a minute or more. While this is the most common of the brain waves, it can at times be the most difficult to meditate with because this state of mind doesn't like change too much. Logical, methodical thinking is what it is comfortable with.

However, this state of mind can also produce powerful energy, and is used for meditation that is geared towards focusing the mind on certain tasks, rituals or meditations. For an example, getting more excited about something makes the beta waves cycle faster, allowing you to put more energy into your meditation.

The next best brainwave for meditation is the alpha state. These brainwaves operate at a much lower vibration, from 7-14 cycles a second. This is a trance like state, the body is no longer felt, the start of true meditation and also for sleep. In this brainwave state, the mind is more open to suggestion, like when you are hypnotized. This is one of the easiest states for meditation, especially if you are meditating to influence personal growth. Using these brainwaves we can reprogram not just our own minds, but also the minds of others as they are sleeping or in a hypnotic state. This is partly why most people tend to meditate at night, or perform spell casting. Daydreaming, sleep dreaming, and even psychic phenomenon may occur during this brainwave state of mind.

Theta brainwaves operate at just 4-7 cycles a second. This is the state of mind that is much more open to deeper levels of meditation, and is where you are going to experience the deeper states of the psychic and astral world. It is also where deep emotions are recorded in the brain, and this is a state of mind which is most influenced by meditations that relate to past experiences. While you can have psychic experiences can happen in these other higher cycles, for the most profound experiences, you need to be at the theta level. A person can achieve enlightenment, enter different dimensions, and even experience astral projection, and mental communication with others far away.

Delta brainwaves are just 0-4 cycles per second, and is a state of total unconsciousness, or coma. While you can achieve a certain level of meditation in this state of mind, you have to make sure you have programmed yourself before you get to this state or you may not remember your session.

There is an abundance of information on the different levels and states of brainwave activities. Knowing each of these states is a vital part of using brainwaves meditation techniques to achieve your goals. You can find out more online from a variety of resources. It is important that if you are interested in this form of meditation that you do your homework. There are many different websites that offer to teach you to use brainwaves for meditating, but some of these cost money. You should start by finding the free sites and starting with them, to see if this kind of meditation will work for you rather than spending a lot of money and finding out these meditations aren't for you.