Meditation and the Mind

Now this is exciting: a scientific abstract of the impact of meditation on the brain and behavior, as described by Richard Davidson, the director of the Waisman Brain Imaging Center at the University of Wisconsin. I haven't read the paper, but it's always interesting to think about the impact of conscious thought on our physical bodies...

Meditation can be conceptualized as a family of complex emotional and attentional regulatory training regimes developed for various ends, including the cultivation of well-being and emotional balance. Among these various practices, there are two styles that are commonly studied. One style, focused attention meditation, entails the voluntary focusing of attention on a chosen object. The other style, open monitoring meditation, involves nonreactive monitoring of the content of experience from moment to moment. The potential regulatory functions of these practices on attention and emotion processes could have a long-term impact on the brain and behavior.