Brain scans of spiritual experiences and oneness

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These are SPECT scans.

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So these are
those single photon emission

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Computed Tomography scans.

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They are reflecting blood flow
in the brain.

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And the red areas are the most
active followed by the yellow,

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the blue, and the black,
where the arrow is pointing is

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in the limbic system, in the
emotional centers of the brain

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which are very involved
whenever we are having some

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intense emotional experience.

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This is the scan of somebody
when they are at rest and then

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we ask them to engage in a
spiritual practice where they

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have this very intense
spiritual experience and if you

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focus right where that arrow is
what we see is that the limbic

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system the emotional centers of
the brain turn on as part of

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the intense emotional aspect
of that experience.

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So another area that we think
is very involved in these

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experiences is a structure
called the thalamus it's a

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very central structure.

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Some people have argued that
the thalamus is the seat

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of our consciousness.

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It connects to a lot of
different parts of the brain,

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it brings up our sensory
information into the brain.

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So in many ways
it's related to our whole

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experience of reality.

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This is an area of our brain
that we have seen change in

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people who engage in meditation
practices over long periods of time.

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So you have the scan of
somebody here again at rest

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while they're not doing
anything in particular you see

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kind of a balance between the
two sides of the thalamus,

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but when they are engaged in
the meditation practice we see

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that one side becomes much more
active than the other.

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And in fact these also become
more permanent changes and this

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is again a critical piece of
how meditation practices work.

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This is goes back to the idea
that our brain is in many ways

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kind of like a muscle that the
more we exercise that muscle

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the stronger it becomes,
the larger it becomes physically

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and the stronger it becomes
physiologically.

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The brain works in much
the same way.

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Studies have shown that people
who do long term meditation

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actually have thicker brains in
particular the frontal lobes

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that help them to concentrate
becomes physically thicker

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and our brain scan studies
show that these areas also

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become more active,
more intense even

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when the person is at rest.

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But certainly when they are
meditating as well.

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We also spoke about the
importance of the parietal lobe

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and helping us feel that
sense of connection.

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So when we look at the back
of the brain, when we look at a

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person while they are at rest
for the most part we see that

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both areas of the parietal lobe
are fairly equal in activity

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and comparable to the other
areas of the brain.

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But when the person begins to
get into a deep state of

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meditation where they feel an
extremely powerful sense of

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oneness and connectedness with
God or with some type of

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universal consciousness,
we start to see this area

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of the brain shut down.

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It turns almost all into yellow
here compared to the red that

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we see on the other side.

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So as this area starts to shut down
it shuts down our sense of self

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we begin to lose our sense
of self and see a blurring of

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the boundaries between
ourselves and the rest of the

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world or ourselves and God and
we have that experience of

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becoming one with God with the
universe in a very powerful

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and ultimately mystical
kind of way.