On the Neurobiology of Meditation: Comparison of Three Organizing Strategies to Investigate Brain Patterns during Meditation Practice

Peace through health: traditional medicine meditation in the prevention of collective stress, violence, and war

In the midst of global armed conflicts, notably the Israel-Hamas and Ukraine-Russia wars, there is an urgent need for innovative public health strategies in peacebuilding. The devastating impact of wars, including mortality, injury, disease, and the diversion of healthcare resources, necessitates effective and durable interventions. This perspective aligns with WHO recommendations and examines the role of evidence-based meditation from Ayurveda and Yoga in public health to mitigate collective stress and prevent collective violence and war. It highlights the Transcendental Meditation program, recognized for reducing stress, with contemporary evidence supporting its effectiveness in mental health, mind-body disorders, cardiovascular disease, and public health. Empirical studies with cross-cultural replications indicate that these Traditional Medicine meditation practices can reduce collective stress and prevent collective violence and war activity while improving quality of life. The mechanisms of group meditation in mitigating collective violence are explored through public health models, cognitive neuroscience, population neuroscience, quantum physics principles, and systems medicine. This perspective suggests that Transcendental Meditation and the advanced TM-Sidhi program, as a component of Traditional Medicine, can provide a valuable platform for enhancing societal well-being and peace by addressing brain-based factors fundamental to collective stress and violence.

Assessing attentional task-related electroencephalogram signal variations by using mobile electroencephalogram technology: An experimental study

BACKGROUND

A better understanding of the network responses of cortical activities during rest and cognitive tasks is necessary. Therefore, in this study, we aimed to evaluate cerebral activities during attentional tasks by using mobile electroencephalography, identifying the types of attentional components and brain waves.

METHODS

In this experimental study, we enrolled 12 healthy young adults. The attentional tasks comprised parts A and B of the Trail-Making Test (TMT). Nineteen electroencephalography electrodes were placed over various brain regions. The Wilcoxon signed-rank test was used to examine the differences in power levels between the rest and TMT conditions.

RESULTS

During TMT part A, the electroencephalography power level of the delta waves was significantly higher in the right frontal, left central, left occipital, left inferior frontal, right mid-temporal, right posterior temporal, and middle parietal areas (P < .05) than those during the resting state; that of the alpha waves was significantly lower in the left posterior temporal area (P = .006); and that of the high gamma waves was significantly lower in the left parietal (P = .05) and left occipital (P = .002) areas. During TMT part B, the electroencephalography power level of the beta waves was significantly higher in the right frontal area (P = .041) than that during the resting state, and that of the low gamma waves was significantly higher in the left frontal pole, right frontal, and right inferior frontal areas (P < .05). During the focused attentional task, the power level of the delta waves increased and that of the alpha waves decreased, and during the alternating attentional task, those of both the beta and gamma waves increased. The delta waves were related to the whole brain, the alpha and high gamma waves to the left posterior lobe, and the beta and low gamma waves to both frontal lobes.

CONCLUSION

These findings contribute to the basic knowledge necessary to develop new attentional assessment methods for clinical situations.

An updated classification of meditation methods using principles of taxonomy and systematics

This paper revisits the proposal for the classification of meditation methods which we introduced in our initial 2013 publication, "Toward a Universal Taxonomy and Definition of Meditation". At that time, we advanced the thesis that meditation methods could be effectively segregated into three orthogonal categories by integrating the taxonomic principle of functional essentialism and the paradigm of Affect and Cognition; and we presented relevant research findings which supported that assertion. This iteration expands upon those theoretical and methodological elements by articulating a more comprehensive Three Tier Classification System which accounts for the full range of meditation methods; and demonstrates how recent neuroscience research continues to validate and support our thesis. This paper also introduces a novel criterion-based protocol for formulating classification systems of meditation methods, and demonstrates how this model can be used to compare and evaluate various other taxonomy proposals that have been published over the past 15 years.