Neuroscience of Meditation Summit (NOMS) 2025

Source: My personal notes from Neuroscience of Meditation Summit 2025 | Vielight conference.

Morning Guided Meditation

Using Vielight device: should be close to scalp/skin in daily practice.

You can experience increased intensity over time during session

S1 Photobiomodulation Meets Meditation: New Discoveries for Cognitive Advancement - Dr. Lew Lim

Deliver photons to brain for performance and recovery using brain stimulation.

EEG analysis used to research results.

The goal of the conference is to share knowledge and tools for meditators, neuroscientists including research discoveries.

Tools

Tools can range from:

Databases
Devices
EEG database
Vielight

Applications

Treating disease, for example Alzheimer’s and brain health like meditation. Other applications:

Sports
Physiology, immune system
Neuro medical indications
Biology, brain response

S2 Keynote: Rewiring Your Reality: A Computational Neurophenomenological Account of Meditation - Dr. Shamil Chandaria

Bridging conscious physical first-person perspective to brain and neural changes.

Approach: computational neurophenomenology

A model for what is happening in the mind. Data of an experience is processed by neural networks from senses. Priors from previous experience generate a predicted model — like a personal simulation which a person experiences.

The brain interprets sensory data with priors.

Priors are from hierarchical models: low to high-level models

For example, noises and physical feelings to complex concepts Priors are multi-modal.

Constructing Experiences

Meditation and Virtual Experiences can affect actual perception and experience. Meditation is a “generalized technology” for affecting the personal world model

In other words, we are constructing our own experiences

See related New Scientist articles

Relations to Meditation

Applied to meditation, when focusing on a body part or action, it affects model weighting and allows deconstruction of perceptions

Example: a calming meditation can make perceived environment quiet. Concentrating on a sense or feeling affects the constructed environment.

Sensing your awareness

There are many terms to describe the awareness like:

Self-knowing
Minimal phenomenal experience
Presence
Silent stillness

Phenomenological Dimensions of Meditation

Dimensions of deconstruction and awareness

The optimal Level is being present in the world with high awareness and high deconstruction of perceived reality. Sometimes it is called a quiet mind.

See Buddhism’s The Jhanas for different levels

Application to Psychology and Life

Use awareness and deconstruction to be self-knowing in meditation
Be aware of the self, the models creating illusions you perceive

For people, applying these concepts, common observations are altruism, virtuous cycles, and improved health and feelings for the person.

“Rewire our reality to cultivate a flourishing garden”

The flourishing helps awareness and removal of selfishness/self-perception in thought.

Meditation helps illuminate your constructed perception of suffering and constructed reality.

S3 The Continually Constructed Self and Wellbeing: Insights from Clinical and Contemplative Neuroscience - Dr. Norman Farb

If self is continually constructed, what separate people feeling differently in life.

Evolutionary Background

There are many sources of stress and perceived threats. Body has physical reactions, threat response mode that if extended, damages health.

Clearing Stress

Identify if stress is default brain state (default mode network). Identify when mental models and priors are contributing to sad emotions.

Stable priors can reinforce good or bad perceptions. They affect emotions, constructed stories, and constructed self. For example, “I always do play the piano badly at home, but play well at a concert.”

Mindfulness Training

Training look at sensation as a way of changing. Training through sensation can activate certain brain states

Example: focus on breath as a start to activate parts of brain with interoceptive attention. It can result in mind being quiet, allowing better awareness.

Research shows confidence with good awareness is most important in wellbeing, as well as sense exploration. In other words, you have awareness and feel good and sure of yourself.

Practice matters if it comes with positive habits and better sensory perception

See book: “Better in Every Sense”

S4 The neuroscience of meditative absorption - Dr. Mark Miller and Jonas Mago

Attention, arousal, release are common experiences in absorptive meditation.

Examples: religious-related prayer “tongues” and meditation practices like Jhanas.

Research Observations with Jhanas

During absorptive meditation, observations include:

Sensory fading
Physiological relaxation
Brain signal diversity

Similar to observation of people using psychedelics

Research Observations with Prayer

During group religious Christian surrender, monitoring of interpersonal prayer states:

Type of prayer affected brain states like tongues (surrender → less control) where others included gratefulness.

Conclusion and World Observations

There are millions of meditation practicianers showing ancient wisdom meets science observations.

Meta control is a human aspect.

S5 Meditation and the Brain - Dr. Sara Lazar

Meditation does affect the brain. For example, after 8 weeks of training, research observed brain matter changes.

Other Observations with Stress Reduction Study

Higher practice → more reduction
Better emotional regulation
Body awareness and mindfulness help with knowing relevant sensory experiences in a fear and anxiety scenario like physical senses to physical threats

Observations show body scan in meditation works to pay attention to relevant senses and train body and mind.

Meditation and Development

Individual human development goes through stages with increasing complexity and abstraction. Like sport skills, cognition, and physical actions, and sense of self. Each follow stages.

An idea is meditation supports growth in compassion, altruism, spirituality, perception, and deconstruction of mind habits with awareness. The result is increasing maturity and complexity with:

Perspective taking
Group centrism, diverse perspectives
Self questioning and awareness of constructed reality
Self awareness

MAP

Assess with the Maturity Assessment Profile (MAP) behavioural test.

Subjective MAP profiles and brain matter change research shows possible benefits of meditation in practitioners.

S6 The Light of Mindfulness: How High-Frequency PBM Elevates Meditation Practice and Modulates Cortical Oscillations - Dr. Reza Zomorrodi

EEG is a tool to monitor the brain. For meditation studies, EEG and MRI (brain imaging) have been used.

MRIs found increase in gray matter in brain from meditation.

Brain Stimulation

Another tool to check brain functions is brain stimulation. Photons interact with mitochondria causing cell activity in the brain.

Photobiomodulation (PBM) is a medical treatment that uses low-level lasers or light-emitting diodes (LEDs) to stimulate healing, relieve pain, and improve cell function.

Photobiomodulation Study

During study, experience meditators uses photobiomodulation devices during meditation and were monitoring and surveyed.

The study’s data found participants reported photobiomodulation devices subjectively improved meditation. EEG found changes in brain wave activity, but no correlation with subjective experience.