Meditation and Brainwave States
Meditation is such a fascinating thing, and the research that’s being done keeps adding to the reasons to love it.
With my science background, I love integrating what science is learning, with the ancient teachings on meditation. I’ve learned that a lot of other people enjoying geeking out on this too. Let’s talk brainwaves, and then I’ll loop back and give you some fun facts on what we know so far about meditation and brainwaves.
We’re going to start with Beta. This is the brainwave state where most people spend their waking lives. This is a state where you can be working, learning, having a conversation, giving a speech, or any number of things. This is an aroused state. Don’t confuse this with happy-fun-time arousal, it just means that your energy level of this brainwave state is fairly high. Arousal also means it uses up more of your energy. When you’re stressed out, you’re in this brainwave state. That’s why a stressful situation or job can exhaust you, even if you haven’t done any exercise.
Next we’ll talk about Alpha. In Alpha you can be doing all the things you do in Beta, and more, but in a calmer state. This calmer state burns less of our energy, feels less anxious, and helps us take in more information than we can take in while in Beta. Have you ever been in a store and you can’t find the thing that’s right in front of you? That’s Beta. When you stop to enjoy the view, smell the roses, and notice the little things, that’s Alpha. When you go on vacation and see a beautiful view that causes you to stop and take a deep breath? Instant Alpha.
In Alpha, our brainwaves are slower and higher in amplitude. Another way to say that is our brainwaves are more relaxed and deeper. Alpha can be a great brainwave state for focused work and concentration. This brainwave state is easier to achieve when we’re good at pacing ourselves. If we get caught up in feeling frantic or anxious, we won’t be in Alpha.
Theta is the next brainwave down the line. When you feel really calm, or that state when you’re about to fall asleep and you’re not sure if you’re asleep or awake, that’s Theta. Theta is a brainwave that’s slower than the others we’ve mentioned. It’s the second slowest overall. Time in Theta allows for rest, renewal, and recharging. In this state, we’re more able to tap into our intuition and even mystical experiences.
Delta is the last one, it has the slowest brainwaves. This is deep sleep. It’s associated with our neurons getting a break. We don’t dream here, we don’t think here, we just rest. It is possible to dip down into Delta with meditation, but it’s not the dominant brainwave for meditators, which is why you can’t substitute meditation for sleep. We need low Delta for our bodies to do the healing it does when we’re sleeping. This includes releasing important hormones and repairing things that need repairing. A lot of these things only happen in deep sleep.
There is one more brainwave state. We’re still learning about it, we’ve only recently gained the ability to measure this state. It’s called Gamma. It’s above Beta, meaning it’s a higher energy state. There are some studies that suggest that highly experienced meditators go into Gamma. It looks like we have a heightened sense of perception, and our ability to integrate information is also higher. This is a quiet state, which is interesting since it’s a higher frequency than Beta, but it’s typically a more organized brainwave state. Essentially a highly trained mind engaging in calm yet intense focus is the best way to think of Gamma.
Let’s talk a bit about meditation and uses for the different brainwaves. But first, let’s talk about bridging the hemispheres of your brain. You’re on the edge of your seat now, aren’t you? I knew it. Okay, seriously though, this is cool stuff.
Our brains and all the different regions can behave a little like a basket of kittens, except not in a good way. Picture scattered energy, unfocused attention, and thoughts running all over the place. Meditation helps our brain settle down and get those areas to work in harmony.
Meditation causes the corpus callosum, which forms a bridge between the right and left hemispheres, to get bigger. Over time, meditation actually rearranges the real estate in your head, strengthening your brain, and making it better at doing what you ask it to do. The longer you meditate (meaning over time, not necessarily in each session), the stronger your brain gets.
What happens when your brain gets more organized is that you become more effective and efficient in whatever it is that you do. That makes it easier to stay in the brainwave states that help you accomplish what you want to accomplish.
I don’t know if you’ve ever heard of José Silva. He was a big proponent of personal mastery and was interested in brainwave states when we were just beginning to understand them. So the science has moved past what he taught, but it’s still interesting stuff. He considered Alpha to be the brainwave state of mental mastery, or mind-control. He also taught meditation as a way to get into Alpha. That was pretty ahead of his time in the West, though this was something they’ve been doing in Asia for thousands of years.
With new brain scan techniques, they’ve found that a lot of what Silva attributed to Alpha are actually bursts of Theta, or what I’ve heard called “mystical Theta”. When we experience profound insights, mystical experiences, bursts of inspiration and moments of bliss, we’re probably in Theta. That flow state we all love, that’s Theta!
When we meditate enough to create a calmer, cohesive way of being in the world, we’re spending more time in Alpha than Beta. Which feels a lot better, and requires a lot less energy, though it takes deliberate effort to get to that point. In Taoist teachings, they talk about the work of learning so you can embrace the beauty of effortlessly enjoying the skill you learned. This applies to meditation. It can feel hard and weird in the beginning, but once you have the skill, everything shifts.
What about meditation and the benefits?
A lot of people use guided meditation, or start with guided meditation. When we do guided meditation and visualizations, we spend the bulk of that time in Alpha. This helps calm us down, we lower our cortisol levels, we slowly strengthen our brain, and it’s really easy to do. Yoga, Tai Chi, Qi Gong, running, and other moving meditations would typically fall into the same category as guided meditation in terms of the benefits.
When people are ready to go deeper into meditation, they move beyond guided meditation and begin using some form of silent seated meditation. Some forms of chanting can also fall into this category. This includes mantra meditation, mindfulness meditation, breath meditation, vipassana and so on.
Because these meditation techniques give your mind more room to settle and build new pathways, these techniques tend to change your brain in more significant ways, and faster than guided meditation. You also dip into Theta more often, especially when you make a regular habit of meditating. Reaching Gamma is much more likely with silent meditation than guided.
Silent meditation (or chanting) progress is directly proportional to the time your mind wanders, versus how skillful you become in bringing your focus back to your meditation, so it’s a journey of strengthening that focus muscle.
Meditation is powerful medicine. Strengthening the focus muscle and spending more time in brainwave states that leave you feeling nourished is what it’s all about. Choosing your meditation path based on what benefits you’re looking for is a great way to sort through all the options.
*typos and errors provided for your entertainment.
