{"id":168218,"date":"2023-07-24T10:24:10","date_gmt":"2023-07-24T15:24:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/2023\/07\/what-happens-to-the-brain-during-consciousness-ending-meditation"},"modified":"2023-07-24T10:24:10","modified_gmt":"2023-07-24T15:24:10","slug":"what-happens-to-the-brain-during-consciousness-ending-meditation","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/2023\/07\/what-happens-to-the-brain-during-consciousness-ending-meditation","title":{"rendered":"What happens to the brain during consciousness-ending meditation?"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><\/p>\n<p><iframe style=\"display: block; margin: 0 auto; width: 100%; aspect-ratio: 4\/3; object-fit: contain;\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/OIEWAerJKOs?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; encrypted-media; gyroscope;\n   picture-in-picture\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p><strong>There\u2019s a meditative state described in ancient<\/strong> Buddhist scriptures that is hard to imagine because it is not something \u2013 but nothing. Referred to as <em>nirodha-sam\u0101patti<\/em>, it roughly translates as \u2018the cessation of thought and feeling\u2019, and it is the <a href=\"https:\/\/academic.oup.com\/jaar\/article-abstract\/XLV\/2\/226\/832348\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">highest<\/a> meditative state possible in Theravada Buddhism, following eight others called <em>jh\u0101nas<\/em>. Each <em>jh\u0101na<\/em> requires deepening levels of concentration, and a retreat into the mind, away from typical consciousness.<\/p>\n<p>According to David Vago, a psychologist at Vanderbilt University in Nashville and director of the Contemplative Neuroscience and Mind-Body Research Laboratory, <em>nirodha-sam\u0101patti<\/em> refers to a \u2018state of profound concentration or absorption in which all mental activity is temporarily suspended\u2019. It\u2019s said that the state leads to a total absence of sensation and awareness, which would help explain the stories of monks who stayed in this deep trance <a href=\"https:\/\/www.oxfordreference.com\/display\/10.1093\/oi\/authority.20110803100235320;jsessionid=64FCFF306C2CEC9C4A571EE4F3C1558F\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">while<\/a> fires burned around them.<\/p>\n<p>There are many tales like these from religious texts. Vivid descriptions of dramatic alterations of consciousness that seem to defy our day-to-day experiences of mind and body. However, because the stories come from anecdotes, or ancient sources, it\u2019s hard to know what\u2019s true and what\u2019s mythical. Recently however, psychologists and neuroscientists have begun to look for ways to find out what\u2019s going on in the brain that might lead to such states.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>There\u2019s a meditative state described in ancient Buddhist scriptures that is hard to imagine because it is not something \u2013 but nothing. Referred to as nirodha-sam\u0101patti, it roughly translates as \u2018the cessation of thought and feeling\u2019, and it is the highest meditative state possible in Theravada Buddhism, following eight others called jh\u0101nas. Each jh\u0101na requires [\u2026]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":661,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[47],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-168218","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-neuroscience"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/168218","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/661"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=168218"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/168218\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=168218"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=168218"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=168218"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}