Meditation

Meditation is a process of allowing the brain to enter into the highly-efficient phase-synchrony state and stay there.  Alpha synchrony has long been recognized as the state of still mind/present in the moment–the meditative state, but also a peak performance, zone or flow state used by athletes, performers or others to perform tasks over which they have achieved mastery.  Gamma synchrony has more recently been identified as a state in which intercommunication among areas of the brain happens rapidly and efficiently, perhaps a peak performance state, though it tends to be much more evanescent than alpha synchrony.  It is constantly flashing on and off.  I usually work with clients to get the alpha synchrony state first and then shift them toward alpha and gamma at the same time.

Deep Meditation

Exactly what does a deeper meditation state look like in the brain? Probably the work of Davidson in conjunction with the Dalai Lama is the most interesting and informative in this area, though it builds on work with monks and Zen meditators going back to the days of Joe Kamiya, one of the pioneers of brain training, and some work done by Jim Hardt as well.Several findings of interest that seem to be common:

Kamiya and Hardt found that experienced meditators (25-year Roshis for example) were capable of producing highly synchronous alpha states pretty much over the whole head. The more experienced ones were able to then slow that rhythmic activity down into the theta–and some into the delta ranges. Davidson’s first study noted that there were huge amounts of alpha shown at P4 among other sites. This is interesting because, among other things, P4 is a site involved in the spatial distinction between “me” and the “universe”. High levels of alpha produced there essentially shut down that site, leading the sense of that difference to dissolve such that the meditator experienced a oneness with the universe.

A second finding that was prominent in Davidson’s earlier studies was a reduction in all activity and shift to faster speeds in the prefrontal cortex which related to a “single-pointed focus” as well. In his more recent studies, doing 256-channel readings on short bursts of meditation activity in selected of the Dalai Lama’s monks meditation on compassion, Davidson found extremely high levels of 40-Hz Gamma activity, well out of the “normal” range. Gamma, of course, is generally considered to be the “binding” frequency of the brain, so high coherence levels there could relate to a brain that was very highly linked. It is also a harmonic of alpha. In short, if a brain is producing extremely high levels of alpha, especially coherent alpha, one would expect to find a spike not only at 10 Hz, the usual dominant frequency of alpha, but also at 20 (smaller) and a second harmonic at 40 Hz. So it is possible the two findings are linked in that way, though Davidson’s focus on the highly coherent gamma was in the left prefrontal cortex, around Fp1.

The really intriguing part of this whole story comes out in an area I’ve been (trying to) study for the past year with little success, because it’s so secretive: DC, or slow cortical potential training (SCP). Jay Gunkelman did a fascinating, closely reasoned presentation on DC at Winter Brain one year which, while it didn’t focus on meditation, was very suggestive.

What we see in the EEG is AC brain activity (alternating current like we get from a wall outlet). We look at activity 1 Hz and above. Several European researchers have over the past years been working with and studying the DC (direct current like we get from a battery) element of EEG, which is seen in much slower signals (below 0.1 Hz and some lasting more than a second.) Jay’s quoted several researchers going back decades in some cases who presented DC as the “on/off switch for consciousness”. The Europeans have shown that (1) it’s not easy to read because of potential artifact problems; (b) clients tend to be able to learn to control it quite quickly–to set the brain’s “matrix” to positive or negative states (these are electrical, not judgmental terms); (c) shifting the matrix had remarkable results with problems as diverse as seizure disorders, attention and learning problems and sensory integration.

How this links with what I’ve said so far is this: Jay showed how researchers in SCP reported that Gamma activity actually occurs AFTER a change in consciousness such that it appears more likely to be a result, or at least a correlate, of the change rather than a causative factor. In fact, he described the bursts of Gamma as being “nested” in the slow waves of DC activity. The clear suggestion was that training SCP was the most basic of our potential interventions (and one which, by the way, would never have shown up on Davidson’s, Kamiya’s or Hardt’s Q’s, because they can’t measure it).

So whether or not this is just a frustrating glimpse of something we can’t touch depends on the availability of DC hardware and software.

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Here’s a silly question I’m often accused of asking:

What blocks you from getting into a “deep meditation” state?

The assumption that one should be able to just hop from an anxious, depressive, hyper-sensitive, impulsive, racing thoughts state into “deep meditation” with some magical protocol is like assuming that after you’ve taken a couple golf lessons you should be ready to play on the PGA tour. Anyone who’s ever practiced or taught meditation knows the problems with that question.

Brain-trainer starts with an assessment. The TQ8 assessment identifies existing patterns in YOUR brain that have been demonstrated as correlates for various states like those I mentioned in my first sentence. In short, what energy habits does your brain have which block it from the peak state, because THAT’s what we train toward: the peak state, not the average.

The Whole-Brain training plan (unlike z-score training, which trains everything toward average), works a whole series of such patterns existing in your brain as you cycle through 5 different training sessions. For most clients, the first session will focus on interrupting whatever are the most foundational patterns that hold any dysfunctional habits in place. The second session usually works areas of low or excessive synchrony (connectivity) in your brain to allow it to work independently, to idle effectively and to integrate (create consciousness) efficiently. The third session usually focuses on the ability to release tension or hyper-sensitive patterns in your body (which anyone who has ever meditated recognizes as the first layer of resistance to achieving the still state.) The fourth session trains to improve the linkages in the default-mode network, which allows your brain to sustain an internal focus–thinking about yourself and others, the past and future, how you relate to a moral compass, etc. And the fifth session usually involves the alpha theta training Haris mentioned, which eases your brain into a greater awareness of its own subconscious states. And every session includes HEG training for the prefrontal cortex–the brain’s executive center–which provides the single-pointed focus that is crucial to meditative states.

Even Jim Hardt’s famous 5-day workshops (designed to get you into a “25-year meditator” state) focus on looking at what issues you have that block you from the ability to be still and present.. They perform batches of psychological tests, group support sessions, some counseling and lots of alpha synchrony training. Richard Davidson’s work with select meditators of the Dalai Lama’s group demonstrated their ability to achieve and maintain very high levels of alpha synchrony and gamma synchrony (which isn’t even measured in the BrainMaster/NeuroGuide assessment, because the amplifiers used to gather the database didn’t even read the gamma frequency).

Sorry if my answer suggests that brain-trainer can’t pop you into a deep meditative state, but the whole-brain approach trains and prepares your brain to get there, if you are willing to do the work. Yes, I understand that we are Western culture, so technology is fully expected to be able to short-circuit any actual effort or practice into a few quick sessions, but recall that no-less-expert than the Dalai Lama himself said that he meditates 3-4 hours every morning, and that it is the hardest work he has ever done (after quite a number of years of practice). He admitted that if there were some technology that could speed up the process and make it easier (since we all agree that easier must be better), he would gladly adopt it.

Meditation is the peak performance state of the brain–the peak athlete state for brains. I’m not aware of any peak athlete, artist, top-gun pilot or any such performer who ever got there the quick and easy way, or that all the technology in the world shortened the trip by very much. I guess the sad reality is that what makes peak the “peak” is still commitment, work, practice and a willingness to give up other more popular pursuits.

Focus in Meditation

One definition of the meditation state from an EEG point of view is:

Open focus (synchronized alpha and maybe gamma) in the back of the head.

Single-pointed focus (HEG) in the front, like a lens (not ochs) which gathers light from the rear and focuses it intensely

Training to synchronize all brain sites in alpha means that the brain is essentially in the Zone/Flow state: cortical neurons are all in the ready/resting state rather than popping into beta briefly when there is not call for beta.  Les calls this resting/ready state (what I call stillness/presence) open focus.  Closed focus is when the cortical neurons have de-synchronized from the alpha generators in the thalamus and are performing tasks.  There’s not a problem with getting the frontal lobes to synchronize with the rest of the brain.  However, unless there is a good reason to do so, training up alpha coherence or synchrony in the frontals alone can have a negative effect on processing (the frontals are m ore beta country than alpha.)

I would think that ideally meditation states (often synchronous alpha states) would be outside of pain and pleasure in a way.  They entail what the Taoists call Wu Wei, the state of acting without desire or doing without doing.  One of the things we are warned of in meditation practice is the danger of being seduced by the experiential sequelae of this state.  If one has been immersed in a subjective flow of experience “in relation to me”, of “trying” to achieve, then the letting go process of moving into the observer state is very likely experienced as pleasurable.  But I’m not sure that aiming at elevated happiness doesn’t short-circuit the process.  What if you don’t “get” it.  How elevated is elevated?  How happy is happy?

Gamma Synchrony

Hand-picked meditators (by the Dalai Lama, no less) were studied with QEEG’s and were found to have bursts of synchronous gamma activity.  High-level meditators have long been shown to have highly synchronous alpha at 10 Hz, so 40 Hz would be a harmonic thereof, which might help explain it.  But there is evidence that gamma is a frequency the brain uses to communicate within itself–sometimes called the “binding frequency”.

Almost any two-channel (or more) amplifier can do Gamma synchrony training or gamma amplitude training (some people claim it is amplitude, not synchrony that is important).  You can get an excellent 2-channel system for about $1300 that will do this kind of training or most any other kind you want to do, so be careful of getting sucked into seriously overpriced systems.