Neurosciences of spiritual life. Some results regarding the effect of meditation and compassion on emotional disposition and on health

Neurosciences of Spiritual Life Some results regarding the effect of meditation and compassion on

emotional disposition and on health.

Adrian Sorin MIHALACHE

Center for Interdisciplinary Research on Religion, Philosophy and Science

University “Alexandru Ioan Cuza” Iasi

Investeşte în oameni! | FONDUL SOCIAL EUROPEAN |Programul Operaţional Sectorial Dezvoltarea Resurselor Umane

Axa Prioritară nr.1 „Educaţia şi formarea în sprijinul creşterii economice şi dezvoltării societăţii bazate pe cunoaştere”

Domeniul major de intervenţie 1.5: „Programe doctorale şi post-doctorale în sprijinul cercetării“

Proiect cofinanţat din Fondul Social European prin Programul Operaţional Sectorial Dezvoltarea Resurselor Umane 2007-2013

Titlul proiectului: Inovare şi dezvoltare în structurarea şi reprezentarea cunoaşterii prin burse doctorale şi postdoctorale (IDSRC – doc postdoc) POSDRU/159/1.5/S/133675

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT: This paper is supported by the Sectoral Operational Programme Human Resources Development (SOP HRD), financed from the European Social Fund and by the Romanian Government under the contract number POSDRU/159/1.5/S/133675

PHAENOMENOLOGY

RELIGION Spiritualitaty

Behavioral Medicine

NEUROSCIENCE Neurobiology of

spiritual experience

Many reconfigurations of personal/community life patterns

New understandings regarding the development of personal/community life

Neuro-spiritual therapies and exercises inspired by neuroscience


Neurosciences of Spiritual Life

History 1970s, Richard Davidson -

spiritual practices on the research agenda in American academic area

1988, a study led by David McClelland proves that loving kindness, compassion for others has beneficial effects on the body (McClelland and Kirchnit 1988, 31-52).

• Some participants watched a touching film in which Mother Teresa tended the sick, while others viewed a film about the Nazis. The findings showed that people who watched the film about Mother Teresa showed high levels of antibodies (a significant increase in salivary immunoglobulin A).



mid-90s, mirror neurons - interpersonal communication and empathy (allow a person to experience intimately what another person feels (Ornish 2008).

(1990s), the mother’s comforting touch influences cortisol level in child (adrenal glands) (1950s) stress effects on the behaviour of rats

• deprived of their mother’s touch, rat pups has higher cortisol level = lower resistance to demanding situations

• the number of glucocorticoid receptors in the brain = depending on the frequency. If baby rats born to stress mothers are entrusted to a caring mother, who comforts them enough, their situation improves (Meaney 1999, 1155-1158).

History


[1] M.J. Meaney, D.H. Aitken, V. Viau ş.a., “Neonatal Handling Alters Adrenocortical Negative feed back Sensitivity in Hippocampal Type II Glococorticoid Receptor Binding in Rat”, în rev. Neuroendocrinology, nr. 50 (1989), pp. 597-604

[2] Helen M. Sharp, s.a., “Frequency of Infant Stroking Reported by Mothers Moderates the Effect of Prenatal Depression on Infant Behavioural and Physiological Outcomes”, PLoS ONE 7(10), October 16, 2012.


Rats developement touched regularly by mother (first 20 days of life) production of growth hormones (Schanber 2003).

abandoned children (after 1st year adoption) = medical problems disappeared, emotional profile remained (inability to participate in the establishment of stable, positive emotions) (Fries et al. 2005)

mother’s affectionate behaviour on the child neural biochemistry (vasopressin and oxytocin system) (Fries et al. 2005).

• A number of adopted children after they had spent periods ranging between 7 and 42 months in orphanages with precarious services, extreme poverty, in the absence of affection, in environments lacking stimuli and human interaction.

History



Neuroscientific research on spiritual experiences

(1970s) MD PhD Richard Davidson on spiritual emotions

(1970s) MD PhD David McClelland, on beneficial immune effects of certain spiritual practice.

(1970s) MD PhD James H. Austin, on effects of Zen

meditation on the brain

(1980s) MD PhD Jon Kabat-Zinn on meditation

(1980s) MD PhD Harold G. Koenig – on the beneficial effects

of religious life on health of the person and the community

(1990s) – MD PhD Richard Davidson on compassion

(2000s) – Lutz, Lazar ... – on meditation

2000S - Neurotheology ACKNOWLEDGEMENT: This paper is supported by the Sectoral Operational Programme Human Resources Development (SOP HRD), financed from the European

Social Fund and by the Romanian Government under the contract number POSDRU/159/1.5/S/133675


Neuroscientific exploration of spiritual life.



Argument - Cultural and psychological context (phenomenological and psychological perspectives)

a) Sensory overload obstructs self-reflection

intense sensory experiences reduce disposition for self-reflection

The exploration of brain activities in a

number of subjects, during processing of stimuli as a result of a sensory experiences and during reflection per se when we entrust ourselves to the senses (intense experiences) we become lost in ourselves (effectively losing the disposition to reflect on ourselves)

(Goldberg et al. 2006)




b) Multitasking reduces attention

• “overabundance of (low-quality) information” (“data smog”) > < limited processing abilities (Weil 2013, 247)

= an enemy of attention (Hanson and Mendius, 2011, 197-205)

• Thought – time connection; a “cultural fast-food” requires a fast-thinking without “necessary conditions of reception” (Bourdieu 2007, 42-

43).

• Complexity and Information Overload in Society increasing efficiency and decreasing control (Francis Heylighen, Free University of Brussels, 2002, draft paper for The Information Society)

DATA SMOG




c) The multiplication of desires weakens the will

diversification of offerings multiplication of desires unhappiness (Weil 2013, 249)

decision-making processes weaken volitional dispositions exhausted will (ego depletion) (Baumeister and Tierney 2012, 33)




marketing techniques eroticise objects (Brune,

1996) boost desires changed brain activity

nucleus accumbens = more active person feels more intensely the desire to receive a reward acting faster + narrow focus on here and now (advertising) = against self-control (Baumeister and Tierney 2012, 170-171)

self-reflection, self-control and attention - closely interconnected

self-control - closely related to self-awareness = decisively influenced by the moral character of reflections and noble thoughts (Baumeister and Tierney 2012, 119)

d) Marketing techniques stimulate over control



Neuroscientific discoveries

1) Neuroplasticity and neurogenesis

Neuroplasticity and self directed plasticity (meditation, compassion, fasting)

Neurogenesis (meditation, intermitent fasting [5], learning new things/abilities, physical exercises [4])

[1] Hattiangady B, Shetty AK, “Aging does not alter the number or phenotype of putative stem/progenitor cells in the neurogenic region of the hippocampus”, Neurobiology of Aging, 29, 2008, 129-147; [2] Helena Mirasend ş.a., "Signaling through BMPR-IA Regulates Quiescence and Long-Term Activity of Neural Stem Cells in the Adult Hippocampus", Cell Stem Cell, (7), iulie 2010, 78-89; [3] Sebastian Lugert ş.a., "Quiescent and Active Hippocampal Neural Stem Cells with Distinct Morphologies Respond Selectively to Physiological and Pathological Stimuli and Aging“ , Cell Stem Cell, (6) 2010, 445-456 [4] Chih-Wei Wu ş.a., "Exercise enhances the proliferation of neural stem cells and neurite growth and survival of neuronal progenitor cells in dentate gyrus of middle-aged mice", Journal of Applied Physiology, vol. 105, (5) 2008, 1585-1594 [5] Manzanero et al., Intermittent fasting attenuates increases in neurogenesis after ischemia and reperfusion and improves recovery., J Cereb Blood Flow Metab. 2014 May;34(5):897-905. doi: 10.1038/jcbfm.2014.36. Epub 2014 Feb 19.



http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/24549184







2) Priming effect

Exposure to one stimulus influences a response to another stimulus

Experiences can modify emotion styles



daily habits may influence the expression of genetic store, determining profound changes in terms of one’s inner dispositions

Meditation influences the expression of genes

Kaliman, Perla; Alvarez-Lopez, Marıa Jesus; Cosın-Tomas, Marta; Rosenkranz, Melissa A.; Lutz, Antoine; Davidson,

Richard J. ,“Rapid Changes in Histone Deacetylases and Inflammatory Gene Expression in Expert Meditators”.

Psychoneuroendocrinology (40): 96-107. 2014.



3) Epigenetics


Hölzel, B.K., Carmody, J., Vangel, M., Congleton, C., Yerramsetti, S.M., Gard, T., & Lazar, S.W., Mindfulness practice leads to increases in regional brain gray matter density, Psychiatry Research: Neuroimaging, 191, (2011), 36-42.

MEDITATION



Coronary artery diseases ;

↘ sensitivity to pain [3 ]

↘ stress [3 ]

Cognitive reappraisal

↗ amount of gray matter

Structural changes [2 ]

↗ some areas of the cortex [1 ] [1] Eileen Luders, Florian Kurth, Emeran A. Mayer, Arthur W. Toga, Katherine L. Narr, Christian Gaser. The Unique Brain Anatomy of Meditation Practitioners: Alterations in Cortical Gyrification. Frontiers in Human Neuroscience, 2012; 6 DOI: 10.3389/fnhum.2012.00034 [2] Eileen Luders, Kristi Clark, Katherine L. Narr, Arthur W. Toga. Enhanced brain connectivity in long-term meditation practitioners. NeuroImage, 2011; DOI: 10.1016/j.neuroimage.2011.05.075 [3] Christopher A. Brown, Anthony K.P. Jones. Meditation experience predicts less negative appraisal of pain: Electrophysiological evidence for the involvement of anticipatory neural responses. Pain, 2010; DOI: 10.1016/j.pain.2010.04.017


MEDITATION


http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fnhum.2012.00034

http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.neuroimage.2011.05.075

http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.pain.2010.04.017

long-term change in neural activity in those brain areas that correspond to emotional states (Desbordes et al. 2012).

re-signification of dramatic experiences from the past (Lutz et al. 2008)


COMPASSION


reduces the level of inflammation in the body (the Cytokine effect) (Kaliman et al. 2014, 96-107).

can induce an improvement in the patient’s wellbeing, reducing the incidence of depression and ulcers (Kostovich and Clementi 2014)

enhanced immunity, after 48 hours of the first visit (Rakel et al. 2009, 494-501; Rakel et al. 2011, 390-397; Najjar et al. 2009, 267)

Stimulates empathetic networks moral judgment (Najjar et al. 2009, 267; d’Aquili and Newberg 2001, 52-57).


COMPASSION


Key factors

Developing beyond the genetic/cultural conditionings

• living environment

• accumulated experiences

• the person’s interpretation of experiences

- Daily experiences = training opportunities - enhance or inhibit gene

expression.



• to care for the movements of thoughts and heart

• to carefully observe daily activities

• all these experiences leave inner imprints and can alter the moods and the movements of the mind

Philokalia and the neuroscience of spiritual life Possible convergence



• “the human intellect is shaped by what it wants and is coloured by the forms of the things that it perceives”

(St. Peter of Damascus, Eight Types of Knowledge: VI

The knowledge of forms and things).

Philokalia and the neuroscience of spiritual life Possible convergence



Neurosociety?

A new strategy for the renewal of the world and of the personal and community life through a change of mind, of the habits of thinking, through the (re)validation of reflection and inner life.



Health & Medicine

Neurosciences of spiritual life. Some results regarding the effect of meditation and compassion on emotional disposition and on health