A new UCLA study confirms what meditators say they have known for years: Sitting quietly and focusing the mind on a regular basis beefs up the brain's muscles.
In a study published today in the journal Neurolmage, researchers found that areas of the brain controlling emotion - the hippocampus, the orbito-frontal cortex, the thalamus and the inferior temporal gyrus - were larger among meditators than those in a control group.
Eileen Luders, lead author of the study, said looking at specific areas of the brain using an MRI gives researchers clues as to why meditators seem to cultivate positive emotions, maintain emotional stability and engage in more mindful behavior than others.
Because certain areas of the brain are closely linked to emotion, "these might be the neuronal underpinnings that give meditators the outstanding ability to regulate their emotions and allow for well-adjusted responses to whatever life throws their way," Luders said.
Turiya Moore, founder and director of Ananda Meditation Center in Torrance, said he wasn't surprised by the results of the study.
"Modern science is validating things that we have already known in ancient traditions," he said. "It's not news to us at all."
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