Meditation is widely marketed as a safe route to calm and focus, but new neuroscience research suggests its effects on the brain may be deeper and more complex than commonly assumed.
A study published in Neuroscience of Consciousness reports that intensive meditation practice can significantly alter brain dynamics, pushing neural activity toward a state known as “brain criticality,” a balance between order and chaos that researchers associate with cognitive flexibility and efficient information processing.
The research was led by Annalisa Pascarella, a neurophysiologist at the Italian National Research Council, and examined 12 professional Buddhist monks from the Santacittarama monastery near Rome. All participants were male, aged between 25 and 58, and had logged more than 15,000 hours of meditation practice.
Using high-resolution magnetoencephalography (MEG) combined with machine learning, researchers compared brain activity during two forms of meditation — Samatha and Vipassana — and during non-meditative rest. MEG measures the magnetic fields generated by electrical signals in the brain, allowing researchers to capture neural activity with high temporal precision.+1
Samatha focuses attention on a single object, such as breathing, while Vipassana promotes open awareness of sensations and thoughts.
“With Samatha, you narrow your field of attention, somewhat like narrowing the beam of a flashlight; with Vipassana, on the contrary, you widen the beam,” said Karim Jerbi, a neuroscientist at the University of Montreal and senior author of the study.+1
Meditation appeared to move the brain toward an optimal operating range. “At the critical point, neural networks are stable enough to transmit information reliably, yet flexible enough to adjust quickly to new situations,” Jerbi said. “This balance optimises the brain’s processing, learning and response capabilities.”
The study also identified a reduction in gamma oscillations, a pattern of brain activity often linked to sensory processing.
The authors suggest meditation may dampen external stimulus processing while increasing inward awareness. Previous studies reported higher gamma activity, but the researchers attribute the difference to more refined signal-processing techniques.
Monks with greater experience showed smaller differences between meditative and resting brain states, suggesting long-term practice may reshape baseline neural function.
The small sample size and focus on elite practitioners limit broader conclusions therefore the authors caution against over-generalisation. They also note growing evidence that meditation can trigger anxiety, depression, delusions or fear in some individuals — effects that remain underreported.