| The Tibetan Monk ExperimentThe market today is | | | | (emphasis mine).Another research, ignored by the |
| flooded with CDs that entrain the brain towards | | | | media [it didn't involve celebrities, you see :)], involves |
| Gamma wave generation. As is well known, Gamma | | | | studying the very same gamma oscillations, on two |
| waves vibrate at a frequency level of between 26Hz | | | | epileptic patients. The subjects here were required to |
| and 100Hz, which is like a blizzard on the terra firma of | | | | identify items that were presented to them a while |
| the brain. Usually, gamma waves are associated with | | | | ago. [The capability to remember things some time |
| intense mental activity, while solving problems, while | | | | after you see / read / hear / sense them, is known as |
| handling emotions such as fear, learning, conscious | | | | "working memory". Remember the time when you |
| perception, and the like.The motivation behind this | | | | were verbally told about three to four totally things that |
| sudden interest in Gamma entrainment has been a | | | | were new to you and which you were to buy from |
| research paper published in 2004 by Dr. Richard | | | | some shop? Remember the slight tingling in the head |
| Davidson and his colleagues from the | | | | as you grappled with this new information that you |
| Wisconsin-based Waisman Center for Brain Imaging | | | | were presented with? That was your brain shifting into |
| and Behavior, in association with Dr. Matthieu Ricard of | | | | higher gear, ensuring that it remembered them all. That |
| Kathmandu, Nepal-based Sechen Monastery. The | | | | is working memory! :) ]The very same electrodes |
| paper reported an experiment conducted on a team | | | | were suctioned on their scalp. The two patients |
| of eight Buddhist practitioners, aged between | | | | showed a peak of 38Hz when they were presented |
| thirty-four and sixty-four. The chief qualification of the | | | | with the items they were to remember; this peak level |
| subjects? Every one of them had been practicing | | | | was sustained throughout the period when it was |
| Tibetan Nyingmapa and Kagyupa style meditation for | | | | required to remember them, and then this level fell |
| anywhere between fifteen and forty years. Had they | | | | abruptly when the time came to identify that which |
| maintained a logbook a la air pilots, it would have | | | | had been retained.The researchers concluded there is |
| showed a huge chunk of ten to fifty thousand hours | | | | a sudden gush of blood to very specific neurons on |
| of their life spent in meditation.On the bald scalp of | | | | the cortex when you are trying to remember things. |
| each of the subjects was attached a web of | | | | This gush is associated (follows or precedes?) with |
| electrodes. Electroencephalogram (EEG) was taken at | | | | gamma wave generation. (emphasis mine).Gamma |
| three stages. The initial baseline EEG was collected by | | | | Entrainment CDs Fortified with all the information that |
| asking the subjects to relax and be neutral (no specific | | | | we have collected thus far, we come to the crucial |
| thoughts). Next, the participants were asked to | | | | question. What end do we wish to achieve with |
| meditate, and allow the mind to be in a state of | | | | Gamma Entrainment CDs? When we listen to these |
| "unconditional loving-kindness and compassion". The | | | | CDs, what is supposed to happen to us?When the |
| Tibetans call this the dmigs med snying rje state of | | | | Tibetan monks meditate on the thought of dmigs med |
| mind. The second EEG was taken in this state. The | | | | snying rje, their brain generates Gamma oscillations. |
| final EEG was recorded after the meditative session | | | | When the two young patients try to remember things |
| was over.When the EEG machine crunched data | | | | that they know they will have to identify later, their |
| collected from each of the electrodes for each | | | | brain generates Gamma oscillations. When we listen to |
| subject, and assimilated them into one holistic sheet | | | | a Gamma entrainment CD, will we begin to harbor |
| giving comparative and absolute results, jaws must | | | | thoughts of dmigs med snying rje ourselves? Or will |
| have dropped in the EEG room. For, the results | | | | our meditative powers increase? Or will we be able to |
| showed very high-amplitude gamma rhythms - | | | | remember and retain more? If A, then B. But if B, then |
| between 25 to 42Hz - in the parieto-temporal and | | | | A?The researchers themselves state very clearly (in |
| mid-frontal cortex of brain of the meditators when | | | | both the papers I have discussed here) that their work |
| they were in the state of meditation. Their brain | | | | on the subject is incomplete. Logically speaking, |
| seemed to function as a single unit, as if the neurons | | | | therefore, isn't it premature for marketers to rush to |
| of almost the entire cortex held each others' hands, | | | | the market with these CDs? Isn't it premature for |
| and synchronized and danced at such high | | | | users to gullibly buy them, just because the labels |
| frequencies. The transition from the relaxed, | | | | "meditation" and "Tibetan monks" are incidentally |
| low-frequency state (pre-meditation) to this | | | | connected to the concept?In a few forums where |
| high-frequency state was attained with total ease by | | | | people discuss their experience with these CDs, the |
| the veteran practitioners.Conclusions From This | | | | general observation that I have come away with is |
| Experiment This research clearly linked meditation - | | | | one of confusion. What I experienced: was it good or |
| more specifically objectless meditation - to the | | | | bad? Huh?Final Word In contrast to the high |
| incidence of high gamma oscillations detected in the | | | | haemodynamic response (blood gushing to the neuron |
| cerebral cortex of the practitioners. Besides the eight | | | | cells) that the brain gives in association with gamma |
| monks, there was another batch of ten young lads, still | | | | waves, binaural beats and relaxation CDs are |
| wet behind the ears in matters of meditation, which | | | | associated with alpha (7-13Hz) and theta (4-7Hz) |
| acted as a control group. This control group too | | | | waves. This is the level of brain activity when you are |
| showed increased oscillations on the cortex, but not as | | | | actually relaxing or deeply meditating. If |
| intense and abundant as that of the senior group. (The | | | | self-development is your objective, then I would |
| full research may be read here.)As compared to | | | | suggest going for CDs that work at these |
| meditation techniques where the practitioner focuses | | | | frequencies.As for Gamma entrainment, let the |
| on an object (such as a mantra or one's breath), in | | | | scientists and researchers figure out how they could |
| objectless meditation, the focus is not on one single | | | | be helpful to us, if at all.Sanjay Agrawal is a Business |
| entity but on the essence of meditation itself.What this | | | | Coach and self-development enthusiast. Eliminate the |
| means is that when the meditators brought the thought | | | | stress and anxiety from your life by listening to some |
| of compassion, the dmigs med snying rje in their mind, it | | | | excellent binaural beat CDs available here. Want to |
| must have automatically been followed by the mind | | | | relax yourself before any big moment? Get this. The |
| preparing itself to act on the thought - to do something, | | | | Dalai Lama has written a beautiful piece on the |
| to be the vehicle of bringing about compassion. As if | | | | practical benefits of altruism.Copyright 2006. |
| the brain was responding to a call to _action_. | | | | |