Health: How Meditation May Change the Brain

... scientists say that meditators ... may be benefiting from changes in their brains. The researchers report that those who meditated for about 30 minutes a day for eight weeks had measurable changes in gray-matter density in parts of the brain associated with memory, sense of self, empathy and stress. The findings will appear in the Jan. 30 issue of Psychiatry Research: Neuroimaging.

M.R.I. brain scans taken before and after the participants' meditation regimen found increased gray matter in the hippocampus, an area important for learning and memory. The images also showed a reduction of gray matter in the amygdala, a region connected to anxiety and stress. A control group that did not practice meditation showed no such changes.

Of course, it's important to remember that the human brain is complicated. Understanding what the increased density of gray matter really means is still, well, a gray area.

The field is very, very young, and we don't really know enough about it yet, Dr. Hölzel said. I would say these are still quite preliminary findings. We see that there is something there, but we have to replicate these findings and find out what they really mean.

For more, see How Meditation May Change the Brain by Sindya N. Bhanoo, January 28, 2011 at NYTimes.com.