Brain activity and meditation

Meditation and its effect on brain activity and the central nervous system became a focus of collaborative research in neuroscience, psychology and neurobiology during the latter half of the 20th century. Research on meditation sought to define and characterize various practices. The effects of meditation on the brain can be broken up into two categories: state changes and trait changes, respectively alterations in brain activities during the act of meditating and changes that are the outcome of long-term practice.

Mindfulness meditation, a Buddhist meditation approach found in Zen and Vipassana, is frequently studied.^[1][2] Jon Kabat-Zinn describes mindfulness meditation as complete, unbiased attention to the current moment.^[3]