This Short Meditation Practice Changes Deep Brain Activity, Says New Study

Meditation has a profound impact on the brain, changing it in powerful ways.

New research shows meditation can directly affect deep brain activity, particularly in the amygdala and hippocampus, regions critical for emotional regulation and memory, according to a new study.

Researchers at Mount Sinai used intracranial EEG recordings (electrodes implanted deep within the brain) to observe real-time brain changes as participants practiced a short loving-kindness meditation. Even among novice meditators, just ten minutes of practice led to significant shifts in beta and gamma brain waves, the same brain rhythms often disrupted in conditions like anxiety and depression.

This is groundbreaking because it shows, on a cellular level, that even a single meditation session can soothe emotional reactivity and enhance memory-supportive brain networks. It opens the door to developing meditation-based interventions for emotional well-being, memory support, and mood regulation, using the brain’s own natural rhythms without invasive treatments.

“The possibility of being able to willfully control these brain waves through meditation is pretty amazing,” said Dr. Ignacio Saez, the study’s senior author. While the study was small, it adds powerful evidence to what many long-time practitioners know firsthand: Meditation changes your brain.

A Short Loving-Kindness Meditation to Try

In honor of the practice used in the study, here’s a simple meditation adapted from renowned loving-kindness teacher Sharon Salzberg’s A Compassion Practice for Opening the Heart:

1. Sit Comfortably.
Find a relaxed position, either with your eyes gently closed or a soft downward gaze.

2. Imagine a Circle of Love.
Picture yourself at the center of a circle made up of the most loving beings you can imagine. They could be friends, family, mentors, historical figures, or even mythical beings, anyone who inspires love and care.

3. Receive Their Care.
Feel yourself as the recipient of their attention, energy, and goodwill. Silently repeat phrases like:

• May I be safe.
• May I be happy.
• May I be healthy.
• May I live with ease of heart.
  

4. Let Emotions Arise Naturally.
You might feel gratitude, awe, shyness, or vulnerability. Let whatever arises flow through you without resistance. Keep returning to the loving phrases.

5. Open to Receiving.
Imagine your skin as porous, soaking in this loving energy. Know that you don’t have to do anything special to deserve it, you receive love simply because you exist.

6. Extend Love Outward.
Allow the love you’re receiving to radiate back out to the circle, and then to all beings everywhere.
Offer the same blessings outward:

• May all beings be safe.
• May all beings be happy.
• May all beings be healthy.
• May all beings live with ease of heart.

7. Close Gently.
When you feel ready, open your eyes or lift your gaze. Carry that feeling of open-heartedness into your day.

Practicing even a few minutes a day may begin to reshape your brain’s emotional patterns and deepen your sense of connection, calm, and compassion. Meditation is not just a mental exercise, it’s a way of training your nervous system to move through life with greater capacity and deeper grace.