It is not a coincidence that the word “meditation” and the word “medicine” both share the same root, “med,” which means “attention.”  There are early examples of this bond between meditation and science dating back from the time of ancient Greek civilization.  This may be seen with the God Hermes, who holds the caduceus of medicine; an accurate picture of the energy channel Shushuma.  It is surrounded by two helicoidally serpents Ida and Pingala (masculine and feminine energies).  The same scheme is also found in the Yogi tradition through the seven chakras that are connected by those energy channels in our human body. It becomes clear as one deepens into the study of Yoga (remember that the core of Yoga is the practice of meditation), that Yoga is a discipline that works to better and refresh the nervous system. As humans, we can claim to have the most evolved nervous system on the planet. This allows us to have a more evolved consciousness. As a result, our nervous system reflects the grandeur of creation’s evolution.  It is important to mention that the key to understanding this process is knowing what Yoga brings to our systems; as the Asana practice (Yoga Poses) clearly works on deeper levels of our inner fascia, ligaments and tendons, and also on a muscular level, the practice of meditation works on our nervous system. Here are some research studies that I find very eloquent to support and explain this latter affirmation.

• •  January 30 issue of Psychiatry Research: Neuroimaging magazine – Massachusetts General Hospital MGH

This study was completed in 2011 with sixteen individuals over an eight-week period of time. Using an MRI, the individuals’ brains were scanned.  Then, they were taught to meditate. The group reported a 27-minute average of daily meditation practice over the eight weeks. At the end of the period, a second brain scan showed that there was an over-all increase of grey matter density of the participants’ Hippocampus; the area of the human brain associated with memory, learning processes, compassion, introspection, and self-awareness. The participants also reported a reduction of stress levels, which correlates with a grey matter density decrease of the amygdala, the part of our brain known to play a key role on stress and anxiety. The control groups, which did not meditate, did not show any brain changes after eight weeks.

• •  University of Wisconsin, study on the response to pain and the threat of pain

This study was conducted by Dr. Richard Davidson with a group of Buddhist Monks from Tibet and a group of non-meditating volunteers in order to observe their responses to pain and the threat of pain. Ten monks with ten to forty-thousand hours of meditation experience each and ten non-meditator volunteers had their brains connected to EEGs and scanned by an MRI. Meanwhile, the participants’ arms were subjected to painful heat and their reactions to the pain were recorded. Then both groups were told that the same amount of heat would be reapplied in ten seconds. The non-meditator group immediately reacted as if the heat had been applied, even though the heat had not yet been applied. The Monks, however, did not prematurely react. This clearly demonstrates the positive effects of meditation. We live our lives through our thoughts. Continuously manufacturing the future in our imagination without having the experience itself. Of course this affects our nervous system in many aspects as we spend our time being unnecessarily disturbed and alarmed.

• •  Study on Meditation effects by UCSF, Harvard School of Medicine, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai

This study was done by Noble prize winner Elizabeth Blackburne PhD, Rudolph Tanzi PhD, chief of genetics at Harvard School of Medicine MGH, and E. S. Epel PhD, among others. The results were published in Nature Magazine (the August 30 th 2016 issue). Here they found clear evidence of the physiological and physical effects of meditation, noting “changes in gene expression, increasing on telomerase activity, improved regulation of stress response, immune function and amyloid beta (Aβ) metabolism.” Furthermore, “regular meditators also showed post-intervention differences in a gene network characterized by lower regulation of protein synthesis and viral genome activity.” This study was done with attendees at “Seduction of Spirit,” the main Meditation retreat at The Chopra Center.

I found these three studies particularly relevant in order to understand how meditation benefits our lives, not just physiologically, but also physically. It is very exciting to see how science, through its protocols, is emphasizing the study of meditation as it becomes mainstream and brings to light the ways meditation significantly affects our quality of life. Hopefully, these scientific studies will encourage large amounts of the planet’s population to explore this practice, which Patanjali espoused 2500 years ago. He exquisitely elucidated as such in the beginning of his “Yoga Sutras”:

“Yoga Citta Vrtti Nirodhah”

Yoga is the quieting of the mind into silence

“Tada Drastuh Svarupe Vasthanam”

When the mind has settled we are established in our essential nature which is unbounded consciousness.

By Diego Gesualdi

Edited by Debbie Wacks

Los Angeles, January 3, 2017