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What Happens to the Brain When You Meditate

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Re: What Happens to the Brain When You Meditate

#71

Post by jblow »

I have done meditation for years now and found it to be very beneficial.

However, I find this article to be very Cargo Cult and am disturbed that nowhere in this entire thread has it been called out as such.

"Look! Meditation must do things because we can make these colored charts telling you about beta waves. What are beta waves? Well, it doesn't really matter, just think of them as bad, because look, meditation does things to your brain, okay??"

The benefits of meditation to mood, creativity, etc are pretty easy to verify for yourself, subjectively. It disturbs me that we feel that adding scientismic mumbo-jumbo gives it credibility somehow. What is presented in this article is not actual science.

There is actual science involving meditation and the brain, but it is in extremely early stages and is hard to draw conclusions from. Our understanding of the brain, in general, is very early! Please be suspicious of pretty colored charts showing brain activity.

Re: What Happens to the Brain When You Meditate

#72

Post by irishcoffee »

VLM wrote: post #63
agentultra wrote: post #57

I'm skeptical of articles like this because they tend to draw conclusions from studies that only provide weak correlations. The only concrete evidence I can find is that meditation can help some people relax and temporarily reduce their stress levels. My experience confirms this but I prefer other means of achieving the same effect (like exercising).

"I prefer other means of achieving the same effect (like exercising)." Other than the obvious muscle workout aspect, I found weightlifting to be highly meditative. Highly structured repeated form every other day, breath control, counting reps/sets, stare at the wall, repeat. I do a fair amount of hiking / snowshoeing and that can be somewhat meditative. If you relax as you stroll down the trail and let your mind wand…

I agree with you about weightlifting and its meditative properties. I've also found that going against what you usually seen in a gym and NOT wearing headphones actually helps even more. The background noise is just that, background noise, as opposed to a focused sound.

I also rock climb, and I have found that it is possible to achieve the same state while bouldering or rope climbing, as long as the route is below skill level by a decent margin. I'll run the same bouldering route 4x and not even think about it, I just kind of "zone out" and let my body do the work.

Re: What Happens to the Brain When You Meditate

#73

Post by sanoli »

smk11 wrote: post #60
psteinweber wrote: post #50

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Many traditional meditation techniques recommend closing the eyes. For the reason that visual stimulation takes up >75% of our perception. Closing the eyes automatically makes it harder for our mind to wander off. Still hard enough, but at least you won't be distracted by those nice lights on the wall (or similar).

I have read some zen meditation material and I remember them usually suggesting to meditate with your eyes open, but not all the way open. If you are in the traditional mediation position, looking a few feet ahead, towards the ground with eyes about 25% open. However, being new to this and trying to learn, I have had better results with my eyes closed.

Yes, zen meditation is with the eyes partially open. About 25% like you said, but it should just be this natural state that the eyes get when you relax and star at the blank wall.

Re: What Happens to the Brain When You Meditate

#74

Post by 300bps »

davyjones wrote: post #4

If you are particularly fidgety and have trouble concentrating, here is a thought experiment that might help: Sit in a room with minutes to spare and task yourself this: to get to the market and back from your house. Maybe you shop for some fruits or something. Step into your mental realm imagining every step you have to do in this task. Changing your clothes, tying your shoe lace, locking your door...everything. Not…

The technique that you outline is one that I discovered myself as an easy way to fall asleep. I think of it as "starting a dream".

Re: What Happens to the Brain When You Meditate

#75

Post by cscurmudgeon »

Simon321 wrote: post #29

Meditation, such a scam. I can't believe so many intelligent people are fooled by it. It's nothing more than a relaxation technique and that's it. The studies about meditation are mostly of dubious quality and origin, and people draw unwarranted conclusions from them. http://freethoughtblogs.com/pharyngula/2011/08/21/quacks-eve...

Please get lost with your shallow unscientific attitudes that are devoid of any critical thinking or logic. Yes, people with Nobel prizes, intelligent people, professors, scientists are being fooolish while you with a blog have disproved all of them. Huzzah.

Life Pro Tip: If a bunch of people smarter than you believe in something, maybe it is time to stop and critically think.

Re: What Happens to the Brain When You Meditate

#76

Post by mhartl »

cloverich wrote: post #56
psteinweber wrote: post #50

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Many traditional meditation techniques recommend closing the eyes. For the reason that visual stimulation takes up >75% of our perception. Closing the eyes automatically makes it harder for our mind to wander off. Still hard enough, but at least you won't be distracted by those nice lights on the wall (or similar).

I always started by closing my eyes, but found that having them open felt... better. More natural. Not exactly sure - i just started preferring it. FWIW, there are some popular books[1] that recommend the eyes open approach - which surprised me when I first read about it. [1]: http://www.amazon.com/The-Joy-Living-Unlocking-Happiness/dp/...

Methods differ, of course, but keeping your eyes open is the standard practice in traditional zazen meditation.

Re: What Happens to the Brain When You Meditate

#77

Post by dodyg »

trendoid wrote: post #64
smk11 wrote: post #62

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I agree. Relying on an app and voice guide is a bad idea. You are supposed to not concentrate on anything, except for breathing, and having a voice guide would take away from that.

Although I cant speak for myself, I dont think this is a universal feeling since my friend exactly wants some one to guide her through. Alone, its easier for her to get distracted and bored but when someone's calm voice guides her through the practice, she can focus on breathing much longer.

If this works for her, that's amazing. There is no one true way to practice meditation but I always suggest people to start with the simplest way. Techniques come and go, the key is still maintaining the discipline to practice it.

Joining a community of practitioner is also very beneficial - this is how in the Buddhist traditions meditation is taught and discussed - however it's not always possible depending where you are.

Meditation though is not a silver bullet. If it works for you great, if it doesn't benefit you, move on.

Re: What Happens to the Brain When You Meditate

#78

Post by CodeCube »

300bps wrote: post #74
davyjones wrote: post #4

If you are particularly fidgety and have trouble concentrating, here is a thought experiment that might help: Sit in a room with minutes to spare and task yourself this: to get to the market and back from your house. Maybe you shop for some fruits or something. Step into your mental realm imagining every step you have to do in this task. Changing your clothes, tying your shoe lace, locking your door...everything. Not…

The technique that you outline is one that I discovered myself as an easy way to fall asleep. I think of it as "starting a dream".

hah, I thought I was the only one that did this! Though my usual go to dream-starter is either flight, or snowboarding.

With flight, I just imagine that I'm flying relatively low above the tree line (Iron Man style with my hands at my side, rather than Superman style with arms outstretched ... not sure why, but this matters to my brain :P ). Also, I start somewhere that I'm really familiar with such as my house or office and then I make sure to not follow the roads ... the thought of flying across blocks and lakes really makes me happy.

With snowboarding, I just imagine myself at the peak of a gigantic mountain. The terrain oscillates somewhere between greens and blues and is a chill winding experience.

Re: What Happens to the Brain When You Meditate

#79

Post by CodeCube »

kranner wrote: post #9
davyjones wrote: post #4

If you are particularly fidgety and have trouble concentrating, here is a thought experiment that might help: Sit in a room with minutes to spare and task yourself this: to get to the market and back from your house. Maybe you shop for some fruits or something. Step into your mental realm imagining every step you have to do in this task. Changing your clothes, tying your shoe lace, locking your door...everything. Not…

That's a great tip. I occasionally sit through a somewhat exotic variant: I imagine I can take to flight like a bird (slow flight only, not like Superman) and mentally take off from the balcony and imagine what the town would look like from above. The end of the exercise would be taking a full trip and 'returning' home. It's a bit more engaging to figure out the aerial view of a place you normally navigate only by ro…

See my other response above (wrote that before I read this, though well after you'd made the comment): https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=6286046

I wonder how many people use flight for this kind of thing.

Re: What Happens to the Brain When You Meditate

#80

Post by gknoy »

irishcoffee wrote: post #72
VLM wrote: post #63

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"I prefer other means of achieving the same effect (like exercising)." Other than the obvious muscle workout aspect, I found weightlifting to be highly meditative. Highly structured repeated form every other day, breath control, counting reps/sets, stare at the wall, repeat. I do a fair amount of hiking / snowshoeing and that can be somewhat meditative. If you relax as you stroll down the trail and let your mind wand…

I agree with you about weightlifting and its meditative properties. I've also found that going against what you usually seen in a gym and NOT wearing headphones actually helps even more. The background noise is just that, background noise, as opposed to a focused sound. I also rock climb, and I have found that it is possible to achieve the same state while bouldering or rope climbing, as long as the route is below sk…

I always enjoyed doing archery, alone, at dusk. With no other shooters, you can go at a pace that feels good, and let your thoughts settle only on one's actions at hand. This is something which I sorely miss doing.
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