Meditation Gives Brain a Charge, Study Finds
http://www.mindandlife.org/current.news.html

The Washington Post ran a story entitled "Meditation Gives Brain a Charge, Study Finds" Monday, January 3, 2005. The story cites Professor Richard Davidson's brain studies using Buddhist monks at the University of Wisconsin. While this article does not mention the Mind and Life Institute by name, the impetus for this research came from our Mind and Life meetings. Dr. Davidson is on the board of MLI, as is co-researcher and collaborator Matthieu Ricard. Antoine Lutz, another researcher in the study, was a student of MLI co-founder Francisco Varela before becoming a post doc at Dr. Davidson's lab in Wisconsin.

In his story, Washington Post staff writer Marc Kaufman said, "Brain research is beginning to produce concrete evidence for something that Buddhist practitioners of meditation have maintained for centuries: Mental discipline and meditative practice can change the workings of the brain and allow people to achieve different levels of awareness."

Davidson, a neuroscientist at the university's new $10 million W. M. Keck Laboratory for Functional Brain Imaging and Behavior, is a Mind and Life Institute board member. He was also the scientific coordinator and meeting moderator for the Mind and Life XII neuroplasticity meeting held in Dharamsala October 18-22, 2004.

Kaufman wrote, "Davidson says . . . the results of the meditation study . . . take the concept of neuroplasticity a step further by showing that mental training through meditation (and presumably other disciplines) can itself change the inner workings and circuitry of the brain."

Davidson's latest results from the meditation study were published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences in November.

To read the complete Washington Post story, click on http://www.mindandlife.org/index.html ; then click on the Washington Post story banner at the top of the page.

This story will be on the Mind and Life Institute website for one month.

The Biology of Joy

Richard Davidson and associates' research with Buddhist monks at the University of Wisconsin, Madison has recently sparked two more articles. Davidson, a Mind and Life Institute board member, published the results of his latest study in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences last fall.

A Time magazine story, written by associate editor of Times' science, environment and space section Michael D. Lemonick, discusses the results of numerous studies that center on happiness. Davidson's research dominates the story.

In "The Biology of Joy" published January 17, Lemonick says Davidson's research shows that "happiness isn't just a vague, ineffable feeling; it's a physical state of the brain--one that you can induce deliberately."

The writer notes "subjects in Davidson's experiments have lower levels of cortisol, a hormone produced by the adrenal gland in response to stress--and cortisol is known to depress immune function."

Although the article doesn't mention the Mind and Life Institute, Davidson's work is a direct result of the institute's meetings with scientists and the Dalai Lama.

Lemonick also quotes Dacher Keltner, a psychologist at the University of California, Berkeley, regarding the lack of research on positive emotions, dopamine pathways, and the opioid system: "We're just beginning to apply a lens to all those parts of the nervous system in which the positive emotions are embodied. This is really neat territory."

Lemonick further quotes Keltner, a Mind and Life meeting participant, on the growing interest in happiness research: "I could easily see being spoofed on the Senate floor for whatever award they give for esoteric, needless research," said Keltner. "But as the findings trickle in showing that positive emotions and happiness make your immune system function better, or help you battle disease, or help you live longer, then you're into fundable territory."

To read the complete article and subscribe, go to the Time magazine website at http://www.time.com/time/ or check your local library. Subscription cost for Time online is $4.95.

Happy Hour

The February issue of Psychology Today is almost entirely devoted to happiness. The lead story, "Happy Hour" written by Psychology Today staff writer Carlin Flora, cites the research of numerous psychologists on happiness.

While not specifically mentioning the Mind and Life Institute, the article draws from Davidson's research and two other Mind and Life Institute meeting participants about their findings on happiness.

Flora writes, Davidson's findings suggest "that if we train ourselves to become more mindful and slow down our sense of passing time, we can learn to monitor our moods and thoughts before they spiral downward. We can, in other words, make ourselves happier."

Besides Davidson, the article extensively quotes psychologists Daniel Kahneman and Daniel Gilbert.

Kahneman, who won the Nobel Prize in economics in 2003 for his research on irrationality and decision making, has switched his attention to well-being. Psychology Today editor Kaja Perina writes in her editor's note at the beginning of the magazine that Kahneman is studying one of today's hottest areas of psychology--behavioral decision theory. Perina says, "In 'Happy Hour,' Kahneman explains how memory looms large--and wrong--when it comes to figuring out what makes us happy."

When discussing Kahneman's research, Flora quotes him, "The point is that we shouldn't measure our lives on the quality of our memories alone."

Flora explains Kahneman's theory: "He doesn't simply mean we should be more spontaneous--in fact, he points out that since time is our most valuable resource, we should pay careful attention to how we spend it. We need to vigilantly protect our time from the biases of our evaluating self by not relying on memory alone. Otherwise, we risk wasting it in ways that contradict our values and don't bring us happiness."

Flora further writes, "Kahneman acknowledges the power of the well-being 'set point,' but he still thinks that we can influence our own happiness in small ways--by attending to the moment, and by choosing activities that engage rather than numb our minds. If we heed what does give us immediate pleasure, and if we are skeptical of our error-riddled memories and predictions, we can learn to spend our money, time and attention in ways that make us happier."

She also discusses Gilbert's work with Tim Wilson at the University of Virginia on predicting the future to find happiness. Flora writes, Gilbert has found that we are almost always wrong in predicting how we'll feel in the future.

To read the complete article, go to the Psychology Today website at http://cms.psychologytoday.com/articles/2005.html, and click on "Happy Hour."

For a summary of current and recent news articles featuring the Mind and Life Institute's work, go to http://www.mindandlife.org/current.news.html

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