Deconstructing the self and reshaping perceptions: An intensive whole-brain 7T MRI case study of the stages of insight during advanced investigative insight meditation.
Winson F.z. Yang, Avijit Chowdhury, Terje Sparby, Matthew D. Sacchet
Neuroimage 2025 DOI: 10.1016/j.neuroimage.2024.120968 (opens in new tab)
Study at a glance
AI-extracted from the abstract| Characteristics | Case study Case report Peer reviewed |
|---|---|
| Sample size | 1 |
| Population | Adept meditator performing advanced investigative insight meditation |
| Intervention | advanced investigative insight meditation |
| Topics | Meditation |
| Keywords | Advanced meditation Brainstem Cerebellum Neurophenomenology Stages of insight |
| Citations | 12 |
| Key findings | The stages of insight produce distinct whole-brain activity patterns that deactivate self-related processing regions and activate awareness and perception regions, differing from non-meditative control states. |
Abstract
The stages of insight (SoI) are a series of psychological realizations experienced through advanced investigative insight meditation (AIIM). SoI provide a powerful structured framework of AIIM for understanding and evaluating insight-based meditative development through changes in perception, experiences of self, cognition, and emotional processing. Yet, the neurophenomenology of SoI remains unstudied due to methodological difficulties, rarity of suitable advanced meditation practitioners, and dominant research emphasis on attention-based meditative practices. We investigated the neurophenomenology of SoI in an intensively sampled adept meditator case study (4 hr 7T fMRI collected in 26 runs with concurrent phenomenology) who performed SoI and rated specific aspects of experience immediately thereafter. Linear mixed models and correlations were used to examine relations among the cortex, subcortex, brainstem, and cerebellum, and SoI phenomenology. We identified distinctive whole-brain activity patterns associated with specific SoI, and that were different from two non-meditative control states. SoI consistently deactivated regions implicated in self-related processing, including the medial prefrontal cortex and temporal poles, while activating regions associated with awareness and perception, including the parietal and visual cortices, caudate, several brainstem nuclei, and cerebellum. Patterns of brain activity related to affective processing and SoI phenomenology were also identified. Our study presents the first neurophenomenological evidence that SoI shifts and deconstructs self-related perception and conceptualization, and increases general awareness and perceptual sensitivity and acuity. Our study provides SoI as a foundation for investigative, and advanced meditation in particular.
Comparable studies
Other case reports and case series on meditation, most cited first.
| Study | Year | Design | Participants |
|---|---|---|---|
| Brain sources of EEG gamma frequency during volitionally meditation-induced, altered states of consciousness, and experience of the self Advanced meditator | 2001 | Case study | n = 1 |
| Mindfulness Meditation for Alcohol Relapse Prevention: A Feasibility Pilot Study Adult alcohol-dependent graduates of an intensive outpatient program | 2008 | Prospective case series | n = 19 |
| How does it feel to lack a sense of boundaries? A case study of a long-term mindfulness meditator. A single long-term mindfulness practitioner (S) with 40 years of practice in... | 2015 | Qualitative case study | n = 1 |
| Loving‐kindness meditation to enhance recovery from negative symptoms of schizophrenia Individuals suffering from schizophrenia-spectrum disorders with persistent negative... | 2009 | Case study | |
| Mindfulness-Based Cognitive Therapy for Problem Gambling A female problem gambler | 2011 | Case study | n = 1 |
Citations in the library
Cited by 14
- Advanced and long-term meditation and the autonomic nervous system: A review and synthesis. Neuroscience & Biobehavioral Reviews June 1, 2025
- Mindfulness, cognition, and long-term meditators: Toward a science of advanced meditation. Imaging Neuroscience 2025
- Fire Kasina advanced meditation produces experiences comparable to psychedelic and near-death experiences: A pilot study. Explore 2024
- Beyond mindfulness: how Buddhist meditation transforms consciousness through distinct psychological pathways. Frontiers in Psychology 2025
- Active inference, computational phenomenology, and advanced meditation: Toward the formalization of the experience of meditation. Neuroscience & Biobehavioral Reviews March 1, 2026
and 9 more in the library
Cites 27
- How Does Mindfulness Meditation Work? Proposing Mechanisms of Action From a Conceptual and Neural Perspective Perspectives on Psychological Science October 14, 2011
- Attending to the present: mindfulness meditation reveals distinct neural modes of self-reference Social Cognitive and Affective Neuroscience August 13, 2007
- Minding one’s emotions: Mindfulness training alters the neural expression of sadness. Emotion February 1, 2010
- Prospects for a clinical science of mindfulness-based intervention. American Psychologist October 1, 2015
- Resting-state fMRI functional connectivity and mindfulness in clinical and non-clinical contexts: A review and synthesis. Neuroscience & Biobehavioral Reviews February 22, 2022
and 22 more in the library