Meditative Brain
The Meditative Brain
Meditation is often associated with stillness, presence, and inner peace—but what does that look like in the brain? Using the harmonic language of brain activity, our recent work has begun to uncover how meditative practice, particularly vipassana meditation, reshapes the brain’s dynamical landscape across both momentary states and long-term traits.
In our recent study (bioRxiv, 2023), we applied connectome harmonic decomposition to fMRI data from experienced vipassana meditators and matched controls. This technique allows us to break down complex brain activity into connectome-specific harmonic waves providing a principled, frequency-based representation of neural dynamics.
During meditation, experienced meditators exhibited a robust increase in the energy of high-frequency harmonics, suggesting an enhanced capacity for fine-grained, localized brain activity. Interestingly, this energetic boost did not come at the expense of low-frequency harmonics, which remained preserved. This pattern stands in contrast to that observed during psychedelic states, where high-frequency activity increases while low-frequency modes are suppressed. Meditation, by comparison, appears to expand the harmonic repertoire without destabilizing its foundational architecture.
Crucially, when we compared resting-state brain activity, we found that the frequency-specific changes observed during meditation were reversed. This means that the trait effects of long-term meditation manifest not as a persistent amplification of high-frequency harmonics, but rather as a reorganization of the brain’s baseline harmonic signature. These findings suggest that meditation induces distinct and complementary shifts in brain dynamics—one in the meditative state itself, and another in resting consciousness that reflects its long-term effects.
A complementary line of work (Potash et al., 2025, Cerebral Cortex) applied a related approach—geometric harmonic decomposition, based on anatomical geometry rather than structural connectivity—to study jhana meditation, a deeply absorptive form of practice. That study similarly found increased expression of higher-frequency modes, reinforcing the idea that diverse meditative traditions, though phenomenologically distinct, may converge on a shared neurodynamic signature: an increase in spatial complexity and energy within the brain’s harmonic landscape.
Together, these findings suggest that meditation does not simply quiet the mind—it reorganizes its dynamics. Through sustained attention and introspection, the brain appears to engage in a kind of harmonic tuning, amplifying higher-frequency modes while preserving coherence across its full spectrum. In this way, meditation may cultivate a state of expanded awareness—one that is both calm and energetically alive.
This research was made possible through collaboration with Shamil Chandaria, Morten Kringelbach, Gustavo Deco, Ruby Potash, Matthew Sacchet and many others and the generosity of the meditators who shared their practice in the scanner. It opens a powerful path for future exploration — one where the science of harmonics meets the ancient pursuit of stillness and insight.
If you want to dive deeper, see the related publications below and watch the selected talks:
• Atasoy, S., Atasoy, S., Escrichs, A., Stark, E., Terry, K. G., Camara, E., Sanjuan, A., ... & Kringelbach, M. L. (2023). The meditative brain: State and trait changes in harmonic complexity for long-term mindfulness meditators. bioRxiv, 2023-11.
• Potash, R. M., Yang, W. F., Winston, B., Atasoy, S., Kringelbach, M. L., Sparby, T., & Sacchet, M. D. (2025). Investigating the complex cortical dynamics of an advanced concentrative absorption meditation called jhanas (ACAM-J): a geometric eigenmode analysis. Cerebral Cortex, 35(2), bhaf039.
