--- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, cardemaister <no_re...@...> wrote:
>
>
> 2. New Study: Transcendental Meditation Technique Taps into Natural Brain
> Mode
>
> A new study out in February in the journal Cognitive Processing discovered
> that people who practice the Transcendental Meditation® technique are able
> to systematically tap into a natural mode in the brain -- a deep level of
> function that has been identified by scientists.
>
> "An underlying state of the brain called the default mode network has become
> a hot topic in neuroscience, but scientists hadn't been able to find a way
> to systematically tap into it," said faculty researcher Fred Travis, lead
> author of the study. "When I gave a presentation about this study to
> neuroscientists, they were really interested to hear that this was
> possible."
>
> The study, a randomized controlled trial, found that the source of higher
> alpha brainwaves during the Transcendental Meditation technique were in
> midline cortical regions of the brain seen during the default mode.
>
> This state is associated with unfocused thought, Dr. Travis says. "Even when
> your eyes are closed, there's organized activity in the brain. But it's
> inner directed. Your cognitive processes aren't responding to tasks at hand,
> but are engaged in a sort of free-flowing thought. Research has shown that
> when you're most deeply in this state, you're not even aware of it, because
> your mind is so engrossed."
>
> Dr. Travis said that based on seeing the activation of this default mode
> during the Transcendental Meditation technique, one can infer that the
> Transcendental Meditation technique leads to a state of "reduced cognitive
> load" -- meaning that the brain is working less, i.e., less mental control
> and manipulation, less thinking -- along with a heightened sense of self.
>
> While research has shown that simply closing one's eyes and relaxing
> increases activity in the default mode, activation in this brain network was
> higher during practice of the Transcendental Meditation technique.
>
> In addition, relative to eyes-closed rest, during the Transcendental
> Meditation technique there was higher power in alpha waves in the frontal
> cortex (indicating greater inner wakefulness), lower-power beta and gamma
> waves in the frontal cortex (the brain is working less), and greater
> interhemispheric coherence (the brain is working more as a whole).
>
> "The finding of significant brain wave differences between students
> practicing the Transcendental Meditation technique and those simply resting
> with their eyes closed is especially convincing because subjects were
> randomly assigned to conditions, and testing was conducted by a researcher
> unaware of the experimental condition to which the subject had been
> assigned," said David Haaga, Ph.D., coauthor and professor of psychology at
> American University.
>
> "The current research on the default mode network of the brain is valuable
> to us, because we now have a concrete, measurable brain network that's being
> talked about in science that we can use to verify what we experience when we
> practice the Transcendental Meditation technique," Dr. Travis said.
>
