BBC Learnings · Section 8

Meditation and your brain

How do you relax, Sam? Well, I love watching movies and I go swimming.

Level: B2 · 92 sentences

Transcript

  1. How do you relax, Sam?
  2. Well, I love watching movies and I go swimming.
  3. One thing that millions of people around the world do is meditate
  4. to relax and that's the subject of our programme.
  5. We'll be looking at experiments by scientists in the US into the Buddhist practice of meditation.
  6. We'll find out how Tibetan monks use meditation techniques to focus better and manage their emotions.
  7. But what exactly is meditation?
  8. People just sitting cross-legged on the floor thinking of nothing?
  9. Well, I think there's a bit more to it than that.
  10. After all, Buddhist meditation is an ancient practice,
  11. even science according to some.
  12. Tibetan Buddhism, as embodied by the Dalai Lama,
  13. is what many people think of when you mention meditation.
  14. Which brings me to my quiz question. Which is?
  15. What is the meaning of the Tibetan word for meditation?
  16. Is it a to relax,
  17. b to feel blissful or c to become familiar?
  18. I think it must be either a to relax or
  19. b to feel blissful because they sound like positive states of mind.
  20. But I'm not sure about calling meditation a science, Neil.
  21. Isn't it more like a philosophy or a lifestyle?
  22. Not according to Professor Richard Davidson of the Centre for Healthy Minds.
  23. He spoke to Alejandra Martins of the BBC World Service programme Witness History about his remarkable scientific experiment,
  24. which proved for the first time that meditation can actually change the brain.
  25. When I first met His Holiness the Dalai Lama,
  26. it was 1972,
  27. he challenged me and he said,
  28. I understand that you've been using tools of modern neuroscience to study anxiety and depression.
  29. Why can't you use those same tools to study kindness and to study compassion?
  30. Neuroscience is the scientific study of the workings of the human brain and nervous system.
  31. Professor Davidson measured negative mental states like depression in contrast to positive
  32. attitudes such as compassion that's the wish for everyone to be free from suffering.
  33. Right.
  34. In his test, Buddhist monks sent out loving thoughts to everyone equally to friends,
  35. enemies and strangers, as well as to themselves.
  36. Compassionate thoughts such as May you be happy and peaceful.
  37. May you not suffer.
  38. And the results were astonishing.
  39. What did they show, Neil?
  40. Very high levels of gamma oscillations.
  41. Now that's brain waves showing increased connections between different parts of the brain.
  42. This is what you or I might experience as a flash of insight,
  43. a moment of sudden understanding and clarity.
  44. For us, it might last less than a second.
  45. But for these experienced Buddhist monks, the gamma waves lasted minutes.
  46. Furthermore, as Richard Davidson explains,
  47. brain changes as a result of meditation can be long lasting.
  48. There is no question at this point in time,
  49. based upon the current science that has been conducted over the last 10 years,
  50. that meditation can change the brain in enduring ways.
  51. And the circuits that are involved are multiple.
  52. but they include circuits that are important for regulating attention and regulating emotion.
  53. So this was proof of neuroplasticity,
  54. our brain's ability to change in response to conscious effort.
  55. In other words, the meditating monks were intentionally reshaping their minds.
  56. And this was possible because the brain circuits,
  57. different parts of the brain responsible for different functions,
  58. start talking to each other in new ways that created enduring, meaning long-lasting, changes.
  59. The meditators gained insight into how their minds work.
  60. They were more focused and emotionally balanced and less likely to get upset.
  61. How cool is that?
  62. Pretty cool.
  63. But these Tibetan monks sound like Buddhas.
  64. They spend thousands of hours sitting in meditation.
  65. I've got to go to work, Neil.
  66. What good is meditation to me?
  67. Well, Sam, in fact the experiment showed that 30 minutes of meditation
  68. a day significantly increased feelings of loving-kindness in the new meditators too.
  69. OK, maybe I'll give meditation a go after all.
  70. But not before I find out the answer to today's quiz, please.
  71. Yes, I asked you what the Tibetan word for meditation meant.
  72. And I said either a to relax or b to feel blissful
  73. and I'm feeling pretty confident of getting it right this time, Neil.
  74. Well, Sam, if the answer came to you in a flash of insight
  75. then I'm afraid you need more practice because the correct answer
  76. is c to become familiar, in this case with more positive thoughts and emotions.
  77. You mean emotions like kindness and compassion,
  78. the thought wishing everyone to be free from their problems.
  79. What other vocabulary did we learn today, Neil?
  80. Well, it turns out meditation is actually a science, neuroscience in fact,
  81. which is the study of the human brain and nervous system.
  82. Meditation experiments proved neuroplasticity, the brain's ability to restructure.
  83. By generating and sending out the compassionate wish,
  84. may all beings be happy.
  85. Buddhist meditators change their brain circuits different parts of the brain responsible for different functions.
  86. And this is an enduring change,
  87. meaning it lasts and increases over a long period of time.
  88. I must say, Sam, you took it pretty well
  89. when you guessed the wrong answer just then.
  90. Thanks, Neil.
  91. I don't like getting upset, so I'm trying out some breathing meditation.
  92. Breathing in the positive, breathing out the negative.