When entering into a state of spiritual exercise, prayer, meditation or contemplation, individuals are known to transcend mental and even emotional planes. But how does a person’s spiritual practices, affect the brain? Is it possible to know what is going on neurologically?
Neurotheology is a field of science that focuses on the neurological studies of religious and spiritual experiences. Dr. Andrew Newberg, a pioneer in the field of neurotheology, charted the functions of the frontal lobes of various people right after they partook in spiritual exercises or practices.
The frontal lobe is one of the four major lobes in the cerebral cortex. It controls motor functions, language, impulse control, memory, problem solving skills, judgement, initiation, social, and sexual behavior.
Newberg injected radioactive dye tracer into the blood streams of participants before asking them to engage in their own personal spiritual exercises, such as prayer, meditation, contemplation of God, etc., for about 15 minutes than have the participants enter 3D scanners to take images of the brain. The amount of blood in the images taken after the spiritual practice, easily identifiable because of the dye, is compared with an image taken before hand.
Among participants in Newberg’s were Sufi mystics, Franciscan nuns, Pentecostals, Buddhist meditators and various people who identified as atheists. All the participants’ frontal lobe images after engaging in a spiritual exercise had much more blood flow and activity than their former resting images.
This was true for all participants except those who identified as atheist they had the reverse effect with less blood and activity in the frontal lobe after attempting a spiritual exercise than in their initial resting image. Even atheists that regularly practiced secular meditation shared these results.
As a result of similar findings the frontal lobe was nicknamed the “God-spot”. Yet, Missouri University’s researchers state that this is a misnomer, because the function in the brain, affected by such practices, is not confined to the frontal lobe alone.
“Spirituality is a much more dynamic concept that uses many parts of the brain,” said professor of health psychology in the School of Health Professions Dr. Brick Johnston.
“Certain parts of the brain play more predominant roles, but they all work together to facilitate individuals’ spiritual experiences.”
The pineal gland is another part of the brain sometimes associated with spiritual practices and controls melatonin production and regulates sleep patterns.
The pineal gland is referred to by some as the “third eye”. But in traditional third eye art and folklore, it is always placed on the outside of the skull area above where the frontal lobe is located, whereas the pineal gland is located deep in the center of the brain.
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