There is a tsunami of research providing concrete evidence of the therapeutic effects and application of this ancient practice (that many have been practicing for thousands of years), and its efficacy in real time. With the millions of people suffering with mental health, this could be a very real source of peace.
For thousands of years it has been recorded: the ancient teachings of yoga, and enlightenment; and as millions of people around the world practice and live a life of yoga, of ‘Union’, there are millions that do not know much about it or what health and lifestyle benefits it could provide. Characterized as ‘oneness’ with everything in existence, and dare we say, the universe(s). And yet its adoption and practice in the western world(s) is still a bit newer, relatively young and still in a learning phase, perhaps playing a bit of catch up with the couple millennia old practice in the eastern world. Recent studies have shown that Meditation, one of the 8 limbs of yoga, offers an array of health benefits in treating various health issues ranging from irritable bowel syndrome, fibromyalgia, and psoriasis, to anxiety, depression, and post-traumatic stress disorder (NIH, 2022). With the help of the latest imaging technology, researchers are now really beginning to see how.
Gaëlle Desbordes, an instructor in radiology at HMS and a neuroscientist at MGH’s Martinos Center for Biomedical Imaging, took before-and-after scans of subjects who learned to meditate over the course of two months; she scanned them not while they were meditating, but while they were performing everyday tasks. Desbordes demonstrated that changes in brain activity in subjects who have learned to meditate hold steady even when they are not meditating (Powell, 2018). The scans still detected changes in the subjects’ brain activation patterns from the beginning to end. This was noted as the first time such a change in the Amygdala (the integrative center of emotions, emotional behavior, and motivation) had been detected (Powell, 2018).
Desbordes also shared that she wants to test one prevalent hypothesis about how MBCT (Mindfulness-Based Cognitive Therapy) works in depressed patients: that if the training boosts body awareness in the moment (referred to as Interoception), by focusing their attention on the ‘here and now’ participants could work to possibly break the cycle of self-rumination. Desbordes offered that “We know those brain systems involved with interoception, and we know those involved with rumination and depression. I want to test, after taking MBCT, whether we see changes in these networks, particularly in tasks specifically engaging them,”(Powell, 2018).
Researcher Sara Lazar successfully used fMRI to show that after an eight-week meditation course, the brains of the subjects had changed. “This heightened attention to and awareness of sensory experience has been postulated to create an optimal therapeutic exposure condition and thereby improve extinction learning. We recently demonstrated increased connectivity in hippocampal circuits during the contextual retrieval of extinction memory following mindfulness training.” (Lazar, et al, 2020).
The Benson-Henry Institute for Mind Body Medicine at Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) and at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center (BIDMC), are two Harvard affiliates and the first to study the use of the relaxation response to gastrointestinal disorders and the first to investigate the genomic effects of the relaxation response in individuals with any disorder (McGreevy, 2015). Braden Kuo of the gastrointestinal unit in the MGH Department of Medicine and co-lead author of the report, stated “Several studies have found that stress management techniques and other psychological interventions can help patients with IBS, at least in the short term; and while the evidence for IBD is less apparent, some studies have suggested potential benefits. What is novel about our study is demonstration of the impact of a mind/body intervention on the genes controlling inflammatory factors that are known to play a major role in IBD and possibly in IBS,” (McGreevy, 2015).
As we access and acquire better information of how all our different physiological systems interact and affect each other, it will truly catapult our understanding of the whole exponentially. But there is an undeniable thread here or sutra (in sanskrit): Meditation is shown to have an effect on many, if not all of them, even when we are not meditating.
With nearly one in five U.S. adults living with a mental illness (NIH, 2020) something as accessible, sustainable, and cost effective as meditation could literally change the world. And possibly in record time. Without the advancements in testing and technology, it would be impossible to see such changes at a cellular, even atomic, level. A well developed meditation practice could change millions if not billions of lives, helping communities get stronger and more mindful in positive ways. One thing we know in absolute certainty, is that we’ve only scratched the surface of understanding the incredible benefits of implementing a daily meditation practice in our lives, and I’m absolutely thrilled to see the science on it evolve.
Updated March, 2023
Source Links:
NCCIH and the National Institutes of Health (NIH). “Meditation and Mindfulness: What You Need To Know.” 2022. https://www.nccih.nih.gov/health/meditation-in-depth
Powell, Alvin. “Harvard Researchers Study How Mindfulness May Change the Brain Behavior in Depressed Patients.” Harvard Gazette. 2018. https://news.harvard.edu/gazette/story/2018/04/harvard-researchers-study-how-mindfulness-may-change-the-brain-in-depressed-patients/
Sevinc G, Greenberg J, Hölzel BK, Gard T, Calahan T, Brunsch V, Hashmi JA, Vangel M, Orr SP, Milad MR, et al. Hippocampal circuits underlie improvements in self‐reported anxiety following mindfulness training. Brain and Behavior. 2020;10 (9)
McGreevy, Sue. “Meditation May Relieve IBS and IBD. Harvard Gazette. 2015.
https://news.harvard.edu/gazette/story/2015/05/meditation-may-relieve-ibs-and-ibd/
NCCIH and the National Institutes of Health (NIH). Mental Health. 2022. https://www.nimh.nih.gov/health/statistics/mental-illness