Does Meditation Really Change Your Brain?

For years, headlines claimed that meditation could actually grow parts of the brain. But what if that’s not the most interesting question?As the science has evolved, researchers have shifted their focus. What changes in the brain? Which changes matter most? And why might some structural changes grow, then recede, as expertise develops?In this conversation, Richie and Cort explore what decades of neuroscience have taught us, what scientists have gotten right, what they’ve gotten wrong, and where the research is heading.Enjoy!Watch on YouTube; Listen on Spotify or Apple Podcasts.If these conversations are useful, please consider subscribing to our YouTube channel.Reminder: We have a FREE 1-hour live practice session on Aug 19th, 7pm CT with Richie and Cort discussing how different meditation practices map to the four pillars of well-being (Awareness, Connection, Insight, and Purpose). More details and register here!Episode Companion Flashcards!In This Episode:00:00 Does Meditation Really Change the Brain?03:16 Brain Function vs. Brain Structure05:41 The Gray Matter Studies That Started It All11:45 Why the Gray Matter Evidence Changed15:20 White Matter and Brain Connectivity18:01 What the Research Actually Means21:40 Brain Health, Neuroplasticity, and Human PotentialTranscript for those who prefer to read:Richie Davidson:There’s no question that meditation changes the brain.We’re talking here about both the function and the structure of the brain. There’s no question that meditation changes the brain, and there is overwhelming evidence for that.Structural changes, like increases in gray matter in specific regions of the brain after short amounts of meditation, however, are a different story. The evidence for those findings has really not held up.Even more interesting, some of the effects that have been reported are actually the opposite of what we might expect.Cortland Dahl:Hello everyone. Welcome to another episode of Dharma Lab. I’m Cortland Dahl, and I’m here with Richie Davidson, one of the pioneering neuroscientists who has helped us understand the relationship between the mind, the brain, emotions, and how we can train ourselves to flourish.Today we’re diving into one of the biggest scientific questions in meditation research: does meditation actually change the brain?When I think about my own life, I can point to experiences that feel like a clear before and after.When I started meditating more than thirty years ago, I had a genuine phobia of public speaking. It wasn’t just that I got nervous. I had a severe fear of speaking in front of people.Years later, not only do I no longer get anxious, I actually enjoy it.I’ve even measured my physiology with devices like my Oura Ring. My heart rate and other biometrics actually shift into a deeply relaxed state when I’m speaking in front of a crowd, something that would have been unimaginable twenty or thirty years ago.Whether or not my brain changed, it seems difficult to imagine that such a profound transformation could happen without the brain changing in some way.At the same time, we often see confusing headlines.One day the headline says, “Meditation changes your brain.”The next day another study appears suggesting the opposite.Even the phrase “changes your brain” can mean different things. Are we talking about how the brain functions? Are we talking about the physical wiring of the brain? Are we talking about changes in structure?Richie, you’ve done some of the most important work in this area, and I think this is one of those topics where the headlines often miss the nuance.How should we think about it?Richie Davidson:You set this up beautifully by distinguishing between functional changes in the brain and structural changes.Functional changes refer to differences in how the brain is operating. We can measure those by looking at patterns of activity in different brain regions.Structural changes are different