Meditation Covers Scientific American November 2014 Issue

"Mind of the Meditator," co-written by renowned neuroscientist Richard J. Davidson, tackles the benefits of meditation. 

Written by French Buddhist monk Matthieu Ricard and neuroscientists Antoine Lutz and Richard Davidson, Scientific American’s cover story dives into the latest neuroscience research to look at the ways mindfulness creates changes in the brain to improve focus and reduce stress.

Here at Mindful, we’ve been chronicling Richard Davidson’s research on the neuroscience of meditation. If you want to get a sense of the scope of Davidson’s research and the breadth of meditation’s benefits, you might want to check out our infographic: “This Neuroscientist Proves How Well-Being Can Actually Change the Brain.” (Editor’s note: We had a lot of fun turning Davidson’s 87-page curriculum vitae into an at-a-glance view of his research areas. We hope you enjoy!)

In the “Train Your Brain” talk this month at the Jewish Cultural Center in Manhattan, Davidson spoke to the question of how meditation changes the brain, and if researchers are able to track those changes: “The structure of the brain changes in 1.5 hours of mindfulness practice,” said Davidson. “Short amounts make a difference.”