Search
English
  • English
  • 正體中文
  • 简体中文
  • Deutsch
  • Español
  • Français
  • Magyar
  • 日本語
  • 한국어
  • Монгол хэл
  • Âu Lạc
  • български
  • Bahasa Melayu
  • فارسی
  • Português
  • Română
  • Bahasa Indonesia
  • ไทย
  • العربية
  • Čeština
  • ਪੰਜਾਬੀ
  • Русский
  • తెలుగు లిపి
  • हिन्दी
  • Polski
  • Italiano
  • Wikang Tagalog
  • Українська Мова
  • Others
  • English
  • 正體中文
  • 简体中文
  • Deutsch
  • Español
  • Français
  • Magyar
  • 日本語
  • 한국어
  • Монгол хэл
  • Âu Lạc
  • български
  • Bahasa Melayu
  • فارسی
  • Português
  • Română
  • Bahasa Indonesia
  • ไทย
  • العربية
  • Čeština
  • ਪੰਜਾਬੀ
  • Русский
  • తెలుగు లిపి
  • हिन्दी
  • Polski
  • Italiano
  • Wikang Tagalog
  • Українська Мова
  • Others
Title
Transcript
Up Next
 

The Scientific Benefits of Meditation and Prayer, Part 1 of 2

Details
Download Docx
Read More
At times of uncertainty and stress, more people have turned to meditation and prayer to restore emotional balance or connect to God. A 2017 survey shows that the percentage of US adults who practiced mindfulness, mantra-based and spiritual meditation tripled between 2012 and 2017, from 4 percent to more than 14 percent.

After she started to learn yoga, Dr. Sara Lazar made meditation the topic of her first neuroscientific research. In 2011, her team at Harvard Medical School found that meditation led to the thickening of regional brain gray matter. Her refined follow-up research shows that changes in the thickened areas of the brain mirror the psychological improvements of participants.

Not only does meditation change the brain. So do prayers. Strong evidence shows that prayer decreases anxiety and stress, enables inner peace, and even increases one’s ability to endure pain. Sincere prayer is a type of mindfulness. Dr. Michael Baime, Director of the Penn Program for Mindfulness, said mindfulness changes the neural connections in the brain. “Mindfulness isn’t just about relaxing. By changing the neural connections and activity in the brain, you actually change what happens in the whole body.”

Often, sincere prayer can be experienced as deep meditation, as in the case of Dr. Scott McDermott, Reverend Minster of the United Methodist Church. Barbara Bradley Hagerty was inspired by Dr. McDermott’s experience. She visited the lab of Dr. Andrew Newberg to witness the brain scanning of the Reverend pastor during the peak of his prayer. “Well, we use a variety of different brain scanning techniques. And we can see that the patterns of activities that are different when the person is engaged in the prayer practice compared to when they’re just at rest.”

In 2016, Dr. Michael Ferguson, then a Ph.D. student, asked if different meditation studies end up singling out similar brain sections. The project he participated in scanned brain activities of devout members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints as they “feel the Spirit” at the peak of their prayer. The implications are profound. So many of the world’s spiritual traditions report a profound feeling of oneness with a transcendent source, often accompanied by an increased charitable disposition.
Watch More
All Parts  (1/2)
Watch More
Live Better  (1/24)
2
2023-01-18
15263 Views
4
2021-05-15
5598 Views
6
2020-09-09
5008 Views
11
2020-02-18
6231 Views
14
2020-11-07
4929 Views
15
2020-06-25
5331 Views
18
2018-04-18
6531 Views
21
2019-04-03
9471 Views
22
2021-10-19
5201 Views
23
2021-09-14
5371 Views
24
2019-09-25
5661 Views
Share
Share To
Embed
Start Time
Download
Mobile
Mobile
iPhone
Android
Watch in mobile browser
GO
GO
Prompt
OK
App
Scan the QR code,
or choose the right phone system to download
iPhone
Android