Re-Wiring Your Brain for Happiness: Research Shows How Meditation Can Physically Change the Brain
Research by Waisman Center investigator Richie Davidson, PhD, was featured on the July 28, 2011 edition of ABC Nightline. A transcript of the program is provided below. A related news story can be found here: Re-Wiring Your Brain for Happiness: Research Shows How Meditation Can Physically Change the Brain
We wish to thank the UW Communications for the video clip and transcript.
TRANSCRIPT:
>> BILL WEIR, ANCHOR: If tonight was any indication, our elected leaders in Washington might just set off an intergalactic financial meltdown next week. What better time to become one with the universe? Because meditation is not just for yogis anymore. Scientists have proven its positive effects on the brain and ABC's Dan Harris has the tips and facts to make you go "om". For tonight's "Sign of the Times."
>> DAN HARRIS, HOST: It's intimate and intense, it can be done solo or with others. And 20 million Americans are trying it, including shock jock Howard Stern, actors Richard Gere, Goldie Hawn and Heather Graham, and the lead singer of the rock band Weezer. What do these people know about that we don't? [ringing gong]
>> HARRIS [in person]: Are you saying we can rewire our brains to be happier and nicer basically?
>> RICHARD DAVIDSON, UW PSYCHOLOGIST: We can rewire our brains to be happier and nicer.
>> HARRIS: So if I meditate I might get nicer.
>> DAVIDSON: Yes.
>> HARRIS [voiceover]: At the University of Wisconsin-Madison, where they have one of the most cutting-edge neuroscience labs on earth, the Dalai Lama himself granted permission for his monks, master meditators, to have their brains studied inside these high-tech scanners. Lead researcher Richie Davidson and his colleagues were amazed by what they found.
>> HARRIS [in person]: This is pretty wild. This is the electrical activity in your brain when you're sitting there doing nothing. And then when you're meditating, it kind of takes off.
>> DAVIDSON: There's a dramatic change.
>> HARRIS [voiceover]: But you don't have to be a monk, or even a Buddhist for that matter, to benefit from meditation. One study that came out earlier this year looked at regular people who took an 8-week course in meditation. After just 8 weeks, the parts of their brain associated with compassion and self-awareness grew, and the parts associated with stress shrunk. And check out this study that professor Chuck Raison did at Emory University in Atlanta. He hooked up these microphones to regular people who had been taught basic meditation and he recorded them at random times throughout the day. He found that these newly-trained meditators were much less likely to be saying mean things than non-meditators.
>> CHARLES RAISON, EMORY UNIVERSITY: They were more empathic with other people. They started spending more time with other people. They talked about deeper things with other people. They laughed more. And all these things, they didn't use the word "I" as much and they used the word "we" more.
>> HARRIS [voiceover]: Meditation is not complicated. Anybody can do it. [Weezer music] Remember Rivers Cuomo, the lead singer of Weezer? The guy whose hits include "Buddy Holly" and "Beverly Hills"? He meditates every day. We asked him to give us a 30-second lesson.
>> RIVERS CUOMO, SINGER: Step one is sit down in a comfortable place. Often I'll just meditate sitting in a chair. Step two is bring your attention to the breath as it goes in and out of your nose. And then step three, as your mind starts to wander and you start thinking about what's happening tomorrow and what happened yesterday, step three is bring your attention back.
>> HARRIS [voiceover]: Cuomo used meditation to cure debilitating stage fright. I traveled all over the country and met people meditating at Fortune 500 companies like Target and General Mills, and in elementary schools, like this one in Atlanta.
>> HARRIS: Do you like it?
>> BOY: Yeah, I like it. I mean, it does really calm my mind.
>> HARRIS [voiceover]: However, meditation is not a silver bullet. And when we sat down with the Dalai Lama himself, he admitted as much.
>> HARRIS [in person]: Is your mind always calm?
>> DALAI LAMA: Hopefully.
>> HARRIS: You never lose your temper?
>> DALAI LAMA: No no no no. Occasionally lose my temper.
>> HARRIS: You do?
>> DALAI LAMA: Oh yes. If someone is never lose temper, perhaps they come from another space. Real stranger.
>> HARRIS [voiceover]: So while this new science is quite literally mind-altering, you should know two things. One, it's still really in its infancy, and two, if you take up meditation expecting to be enlightened, the Dalai Lama says do not expect immediate results.
>> HARRIS [in person]: Would you say that you are enlightened?
>> DALAI LAMA: No. >> HARRIS [in person]: That makes me very curious. If you, the Dalai Lama, are not enlightened, how could I ever get enlightened?
>> DALAI LAMA: Enlightenment not depend on rank. It depend on practice.
>> HARRIS [voiceover]: So you shouldn't be looking for instant transcendence, but a few minutes a day of sitting quietly could literally change your brain and your life.
>> HARRIS [in person]: Nice to meet you.
>> HARRIS [voiceover]: For Nightline, this is Dan Harris.
