The Science of Meditation: The expert guide to the neuroscience of mindfulness and how to harness it

by Daniel Goleman

From the beginning hours, days, and weeks of meditation, several benefits emerge. For one, beginners’ brains show less amygdala reactivity to stress. Improvements in attention after just two weeks of practice include better focus, less mind-wandering, and improved working memory—with a concrete payoff in boosted scores on a graduate school entrance exam. Some of the earliest benefits are with compassion meditation, including increased connectivity in the circuitry for empathy. And markers for inflammation lessen a bit with just thirty hours of practice. While these benefits emerge even with remarkably modest hours of practice, they are likely fragile, and need daily sessions to be sustained. For long-term meditators, those who have done about 1,000 hours or more of practice, the benefits documented so far are more robust, with some new ones added to the mix. There are brain and hormonal indicators of lowered reactivity to stress and lessened inflammation, a strengthening of the prefrontal circuits for managing distress, and lower levels of the stress hormone cortisol, signaling less reactivity to stresses in general. Compassion meditation at this level brings a greater neural attunement with those who are suffering, and enhanced likelihood of doing something to help. When it comes to attention, there are a range of benefits: stronger selective attention, decreased attentional blink, greater ease in sustaining attention, a heightened readiness to respond to whatever may com...