How God Changes Your Brain contends that prayer and medication with God has shown to improve physical health and healing from illness. The authors conclude that meditation and other spiritual practices permanently strengthen neural functioning in specific parts of the brain.
How God Changes Your Brain Overview
How God Changes the Brain is based on new evidence culled from brain-scan studies on memory patients and meditating done at the University of Pennsylvania's Center for Spirituality and the Mind. The studies were conducted by neuroscientist Andrew Newberg, therapist Mark Waldman and their research team.
The book relates the story of a patient with a failing memory and came to the Center for help. He was taught the basic of Kirtan Kriya meditation as part of the study. After practicing for 12 minutes a day for eight weeks, the patient had greater clarity of mind, empathy and emotional equilibrium. His working memory also improved as much as 50 percent on some tests. The book also focuses on how-to methods that can be used by readers based on the research.
How God Changes Your Brain Research
The concept behind How God Changes Your Brain was that faith, along with prayer and/or meditation can improve brain function. Based on the evidence from brain scan studies on memory patients and meditating, a web-based survey of people's religious and spiritual experiences, and the analyses drawings of God, the researches concluded that active and positive spiritual belief changes the human brain for the better. Even atheists who meditated on positive imagery could obtain similar neurological benefits.
The breakthrough discoveries were:
- Not only do prayer and spiritual practices reduce stress and anxiety, but also that just twelve minutes of meditation a day may slow down the aging process.
- Contemplating a loving God rather than a punitive God reduces anxiety, depression and stress while increasing feelings of security, compassion and love.
- Fundamentalism, in and of itself, is benign and be personally beneficial, but the anger and prejudice generated by extreme beliefs can permanently damage the brain.
- Intense prayer and meditation permanently change structures and functions in the brain-alter values and the way reality is perceived.
How God Changes Your Brain Conclusions
The research for the book reviews work of modern science and a practical guide to enhance physical and emotional health and to avoid mental decline. The authors explain the eight best ways to "exercise" the brain and guide readers through specific routines derived from a wide variety of Eastern and Western spiritual practices that improve personal awareness and empathy. For example, it is explained that yawning heightens consciousness and relaxation. "Compassion Communication," a new meditation technique, is said to build intimacy with family and friends in less than fifteen minutes of practice.
About the Authors of How God Changes Your Brain
Andrew Newberg, M.D. is the director of the Center for Spirituality and the Mind at the University of Pennsylvania. He is one of the founders of the new interdisciplinary field called neurotheology. Newberg is also an associate professor in the department of radiology, with secondary appointments in the departments of psychiatry and religious studies.
Mark Waldman is an associate fellow at the Center for Spirituality and the Mind at the University of Pennsylvania. He is a therapist and lectures throughout the country on neuroscience, religion, and spirituality and conducts research with numerous religious and secular groups.
Sources:
Newberg, Andrew and Mark Waldman. How God Changes Your Brain: Breakthrough Findings from a Neuroscientist. NY, NY: Ballentine Books, 2009.
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