Matthew Sacchet (left) attaches an EEG headset that can monitor brain activity during states of deep meditation
Matthew D. Sacchet
Many of us have downloaded mindfulness apps like Headspace or Calm, and have probably benefited from spending 10 minutes each day focusing on our breathing. But reducing stress and softening the sharper edges of anxiety in this way are beginners’ steps when it comes to the practice of meditation.
Put in the hours, though, and you may well reach the deep end: a place where radical, long-lasting upgrades to how you feel and what you experience are possible. This reality has long been known by full-time contemplatives spending their lives in monasteries and caves. Now, these mental transformations are being examined and understood by neuroscientists at world-leading institutions.
At the frontier of this new wave of research is Matthew Sacchet, director of the Meditation Research Program at Harvard Medical School. His team works hand in hand with advanced meditators, such as Buddhist monks, exploring how the material brain changes because of subjective experiences that are often considered spiritual in nature.
Using state-of-the-art brain scanners, his team pinpoints the neural changes that occur across a variety of deep meditative practices – and investigates what the lasting impacts are.
Speaking to New Scientist, he explains how devoted meditation practice can rewrite experiences of emotion and physical pain, what extreme altered states can teach us about the nature of consciousness, and the technological possibilities of bringing these advanced practices to more people.
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Claudia Canavan: On your lab’s website, it says: “We believe that scientific research has only scratched the surface in exploring the potential of meditation.” Can you elaborate?
