The Science of Mindfulness and Beyond: An Interview with Prof. Richard J. Davidson, PhD

By Anne Wisman | | Buddhistdoor Global

Professor Richard Davidson is a prominent neuroscientist, professor of psychology and psychiatry, founder and director of the Center for Healthy Minds, and director of the Waisman Laboratory for Brain Imaging and Behavior, all at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. He is also a friend of the Dalai Lama and a Buddhist who has been practicing meditation for more than 40 years, something he describes as “very central to my [his] life.” After “discovering” meditation during his PhD years at Harvard, Prof. Davidson wanted to study mindfulness from a neuropsychological perspective, although his academic advisors urged him not to, deeming it “academic suicide.” But a meeting with the Dalai Lama in 1992 changed everything. The Dalai Lama challenged him to use the tools with which he had studied anxiety, fear, and depression to research the positive qualities of life such as kindness and compassion. Prof. Davidson wholeheartedly accepted the challenge and his ground breaking research on mindfulness practices has led to many academic publications, book, presentations, and even a spot on Time magazine’s list of the “100 Most Influential People in the World” in 2006. For one of his first mindfulness studies, Prof. Davidson invited Buddhist monks to his lab to study patterns of brain activation during meditation. One of the monks that joined the experiment was meditation teacher Yongey Mingyur Rinpoche, often dubbed the happiest man in the world. It was during the leadership workshop with Mingyur Rinpoche, held in Hong Kong on 7–8 October, that Buddhistdoor Global had an opportunity to sit down with Prof. Davidson to find out more about the man and his mission.

The conversation started off by discussing of the most exciting findings of Prof. Davidson’s research: the suggestion that meditation can “rewire” the human brain via neural plasticity—the brain’s capacity to reorganize itself by forming new neural connections throughout life: “Neural plasticity is happening all the time, wittingly or unwittingly, most of the time we are unaware of the forces which are shaping our brain . . . anytime there is learning that endures there is going to be neural plasticity, even if it is negative learning, e.g. when we have a traumatic experience. . . . The invitation in meditation practice is that we can take more responsibility for our brains and transform our mind to reinforce virtuous qualities and healthy habits of the mind.” Meditation can be compared to a mental workout; we can use it to train our brains to break bad habits. But as with exercising the body, to make sure there is enduring change, one or two sessions is not enough. We need to continue exercising regularly. One way in which Prof. Davidson suggests we can use meditation as a tool to graft neural pathways, is by enhancing well-being. Optimal well-being, according to Prof. Davidson, is comprised out of four constituents: awareness, connection, insight, and purpose. Awareness is our basic capacity to know the world, to attend to the world. Connection is our capacity to interact harmoniously with others, to engage in cooperative and pro-social behavior. Insight is how the mind works, specifically when it comes to “the self” and how we create a healthy sense of “self.” Purpose is the higher purpose we have in life, recognizing what our higher purpose is and aligning our everyday experiences and interactions to that purpose affects our optimal well-being. Each of these four qualities are already present in the mind, but via meditation we can become more familiar with them. Meditation increases our awareness, we are usually not aware of what we are doing but when we meditate our awareness increases. And science shows that being aware of what we are doing, even if it is a boring, mundane task, can make us happier. Loving-kindness meditation and other compassion exercises can enhance connection, which encompasses traits such as appreciation, gratitude, kindness, and compassion. Insight, or our sense of self, relates to what Buddhist meditation teachers often call “the crazy monkey mind,” the monkey in your mind that is constantly screaming for attention. When we engage in meditation practices we can draw this monkey mind out, we can observe it, and engage it a conversation. We can observe the monkey mind for what it is rather than being hijacked by it during quiet times when our mind starts to wander and all our doubts and fears surface. There is no set recipe for how quickly we can enhance our well-being via mindfulness. According to Prof. Davidson: “There will be differences in people in how quickly or slowly you can graft these skills. The scientific research shows unequivocally that well-being can be enhanced and the way to do this is via simple meditation practices or mindfulness training practices that can impact each of these four constituents of well-being. They are very simple practices, that most people find that they can do, especially for short periods of time.” And, as a bonus, well-being seems to be associated with physical health; people who report higher levels of well-being are in general healthier. So increasing the well-being of our minds, can influence the physical health of our bodies.