PLoS One
November 7, 2018
Cassandra Vieten, Helané Wahbeh, B Rael Cahn et al.
124 citations
A survey of 1120 meditators found that most report having had anomalous and extraordinary experiences during meditation, such as mystical, transpersonal, or difficult phenomena. While meditation research has largely focused on clinical effectiveness and neural correlates, these less-studied experiences may be crucial for psychological and spiritual development, act as mediators of meditation's benefits, or be important outcomes themselves. A task force of researchers and teachers developed recommendations to expand research into these areas, which represent largely uncharted scientific terrain suitable for rigorous investigation.
medRxiv : the preprint server for health sciences
March 11, 2025
Kaoru Nashiro, B Rael Cahn, Paul Choi et al.
2 citations
preprint
A week of daily mindfulness meditation with slow breathing lowered blood levels of amyloid beta, a protein linked to Alzheimer's disease, while the same practice with normal breathing raised those levels. A control group that did not meditate showed no change. The results suggest that slow breathing may be a mechanism through which meditation influences biological pathways relevant to Alzheimer's disease.
Global advances in integrative medicine and health
January 1, 2024
Eunmi Kim, Diane Joss, Frannie Marin et al.
1 citation
This registered clinical trial protocol describes a planned study of Heart-Smile Training (HST), a compassion-based meditation program that cultivates awareness of heart-area bodily signals (interoception), for people with depression. The study aims to test the feasibility of the intervention and research procedures and to investigate neurocardiac mechanisms, specifically changes in the Heartbeat Evoked Potential measured by EEG. Fifty participants will be randomly assigned to a 4-week HST group or a waitlist control. Outcomes include depression severity, EEG gamma activity, heart rate variability, and psychological measures of self-compassion, mindfulness, and social connectedness. Results are not yet available.
Psychophysiology
December 1, 2025
Kaoru Nashiro, B Rael Cahn, Paul Choi et al.
One week of daily mindfulness meditation with slow breathing decreased plasma amyloid beta (Aβ) levels, while one week of daily mindfulness meditation with normal breathing increased plasma Aβ levels. A no-intervention control group showed no changes in plasma Aβ levels. The authors conclude that slow breathing appears to be a factor through which meditative practices can influence pathways relevant for Alzheimer's disease.
PLoS One
January 1, 2017
Claire Braboszcz, B Rael Cahn, Jonathan Levy et al.
Meditators from three traditions (Vipassana, Himalayan Yoga, Isha Shoonya) show higher gamma brainwave amplitude in the parieto-occipital region (60-110 Hz) compared to non-meditators, both during meditation and during instructed mind-wandering. This gamma activity increases with more meditation experience and is not due to eye or muscle artifacts. Vipassana practitioners also show higher alpha activity (7-11 Hz) than all other groups, while Himalayan Yoga practitioners show lower alpha activity (10-11 Hz) specifically during meditation. The findings indicate that meditation practice is associated with changes in gamma frequency EEG activity common across different meditation styles.
Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences
January 1, 2014
Willoughby B. Britton, Jared R. Lindahl, B Rael Cahn et al.
Buddhist meditation is traditionally described as a state of relaxed alertness that avoids both excessive hyperarousal (restlessness) and excessive hypoarousal (drowsiness, sleep). While modern research has emphasized meditation's relaxing and hypoarousing effects, this review draws from Buddhist texts and scientific studies—including subjective, behavioral, and neuroimaging data during wakefulness, meditation, and sleep—to show that meditation also has arousing or wake-promoting effects. Factors such as dose, expertise, and contemplative trajectory influence whether meditation increases or decreases arousal. The course of meditative progress suggests a nonlinear multiphasic trajectory: early effortful phases may produce more fatigue and sleep propensity, while later stages yield greater wakefulness due to neuroplastic changes and more efficient processing.
Frontiers in Psychology
January 1, 2013
Claire Braboszcz, B Rael Cahn, Bhavani Balakrishnan et al.
After a 3-month intensive meditation retreat, 82 Isha yoga practitioners showed increased correct responses to incongruent stimuli in the Stroop task and a reduction of the attentional blink. A positive correlation between previous meditation experience and accuracy to incongruent Stroop stimuli was observed at baseline, while a negative correlation between previous meditation experience and attentional blink performance was also found. Participants showed a bias toward local processing in the global-local letter task, with only slight performance differences pre- vs. post-retreat. The results do not clearly support or reject the hypothesis of meditation-driven neuronal plasticity in the attentional system for Isha yoga practice, given small effect sizes and no control group.
International journal of psychophysiology : official journal of the International Organization of Psychophysiology
April 1, 2009
B Rael Cahn, John Polich
Experienced Vipassana meditators showed reduced brain responses to unexpected sounds during meditation compared to a control thought period. The strongest effect was a smaller P3a wave to distracting white noise, indicating less automatic attentional engagement with irrelevant stimuli. This reduction was strongest in those who meditated more hours daily and absent in those who felt drowsy. The findings suggest meditation can dampen neurophysiologic processes underlying reactivity to distractions, consistent with Vipassana's aim of reducing cognitive and emotional reactivity.