Any researchers studying a serious meditator over 5 or 10+ years?

Living Room
#1

I recently found this amazing site and had a quick question…

I am a regular meditator (2 hours / day amidst a normal work life) and have
gone on several long retreats (10-days of Vipassana meditation as taught by S.N. Goenka) and keep enjoying the benefits it is bringing into my life.

I was wondering if anyone knows of any your researchers who study or intend to study the effects of this kind of meditation on the brain over time (5,10,20 years) or with this amount of meditation (2 hours a day, four 10-day retreats per year.)

Specifically, I had this idea that it would be very powerful / beneficial to track
the objective (fMRI / brain scans, etc) and subjective (reported
happiness scores, other surverys, etc) of a serious long term meditator.

I would LOVE to volunteer to participate in such a long-term study! I live in San
Diego, CA in the US and work as a Deep Tissue Massage therapist, so I
have the flexibility to make my own schedule and go on several
meditation retreats a year, and I maintain a 2 hour per day practice
amidst my normal daily responsibilities.

I have this dream of being the guinea pig for a long term (5, 10, 20 year study) of what meditation can do for people in a modern society - living “normal” lives but also
doing meditation seriously.

Could anyone point me in the direction of any researchers who would be interested in that?

Thanks!

With great appreciation,

-Shane

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#2

Hi Shane,

I know it’s been a long time since you posted this, but I’m new to the forum and am excited to share!

Dr. Richie Davidson and his crew at the Center for Healthy Minds (nestled within the Waisman Center at the University of Wisconsin-Madison) are conducting ongoing research on the brains of the meditators with various backgrounds including folks who have logged thousands of hours of meditation. The following is taken from Dr. Davidson’s Waisman Center profile page:

"Research in Dr Davidson’s laboratory is focused on the neural bases of disordered and healthy emotion and emotional style and methods to promote human flourishing including meditation and related contemplative practices. His studies have included persons of all ages from birth though old age and have also included individuals with disorders of emotion such as mood and anxiety disorders and autism, as well as expert meditation practitioners with tens of thousands of hours of experience. His research uses a wide range of methods including different varieties of MRI, positron emission tomography, electroencephalography and modern genetic and epigenetic methods."
https://www.waisman.wisc.edu/pi-Davidson-Richard.htm

Wisconsin is a ways away from SD but worth looking into if you haven’t found anything yet at UCSD or UCLA.

Cheers!
~Ryan

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#3

Hi, Shane. I’ve also posted this to a group on this forum that’s for scientists, so we’ll see if there’s any interest generated there.

The biggest longitudinal study I’m aware of is the Shamatha Project, you may want to reach out to them and see if they’re recruiting.

1 Like
#4

Hey, Ryan - I’ve tried contacting Dr. Richie Davidson directly didn’t get a response. I’m sure his time is limited and he is hard to reach.

Is there anyone else I should directly contact?

Thanks!

-Shane

1 Like
#5

Thanks! I’ve emailed them! :-)

-Shane

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#6

Hi Shane,

Yeah, I imagine he’s got a lot on his plate.

It looks like they are actively recruiting for an MBSR Well-being research project!
Take a look here:
http://centerhealthyminds.org/science/participate/well-being-study

Study staff can be reached at wellbeingstudy@bi.wisc.edu or call 608-263-0803.

Also, here is a full list of research projects that are actively recruiting participants:

~Ryan

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