IBRO Reports
October 27, 2020
Peta Stapleton, Joe Dispenza, Stuart M. McGill et al.
51 citations
A brief three-day meditation workshop altered brainwave patterns in 223 novice meditators. EEG scans showed changes in all frequency bands from pre- to post-meditation: delta power decreased by 5%, while theta, alpha, beta, and gamma power increased by 29%, 16%, 17%, and 11% respectively. The shift to an end-meditation state occurred with 0.76 probability within the first minute. These results suggest that even short meditation training can produce measurable changes in conscious states, supporting the theory of integrative consciousness. The authors recommend future clinical research on meditation for mental health conditions linked to hippocampal impairments.
Communications Biology
November 6, 2025
Alex Jinich-Diamant, Sierra Simpson, Juan Pablo Zuniga-Hertz et al.
4 citations
A 7-day retreat combining meditation, reconceptualization, and open-label placebo healing rituals produced broad short-term neural and molecular changes in 20 healthy participants. Meditation reduced functional integration in the default mode and salience networks and decreased whole-brain modularity. Post-intervention plasma increased neurite outgrowth, enhanced glycolytic metabolism, and induced upregulation of BDNF, inflammatory, anti-inflammatory, and endogenous opioid pathways, while modulating tryptophan metabolism and neurotransmission-associated exosome miRNA transcripts. These changes suggest enhanced neuroplasticity, metabolic reprogramming, and modulation of functional cell signaling pathways, highlighting the potential of mind-body techniques to affect neural circuits and pathways important to health and well-being.
Mindfulness
January 1, 2025
Juan P Zuniga-Hertz, Sierra Simpson, Ramamurthy Chitetti et al.
3 citations
During a week-long meditation retreat, twins showed changes in gene expression, metabolites, and cytokines in blood plasma that varied with the timing of assessment. Twin pairs began the retreat with similar molecular and brain-activity profiles, diverged at the midpoint, and converged again by the end. Even when in separate rooms, twin pairs exhibited significant correlations in brain-wave (spectral power) patterns, and heart rate dynamics aligned more closely in twin pairs than in unmatched pairs. These findings suggest that meditation may influence biological markers and that genetic background contributes to these responses.
Explore (New York, N.Y.)
January 1, 2026
Nachum Plonka, Scott Davies, Mike Atkinson et al.
During meditation workshops with 1000–2200 participants, a network of 40 random number generators placed in the room showed a significant correlation with hundreds of RNGs distributed globally, but only during specific healing meditations. The mean correlation was 0.27. This suggests that highly focused attention or elevated emotional states in a small, coherent group may have a measurable global impact. Additionally, combining local RNG data across healing meditations produced a curve resembling an evoked response in the brain, indicating that a coherently focused signal may evoke a response from the RNGs similar to neural evoked potentials.