80: Sara Lazar on how Meditation Changes the Brain

Noble Mind

In this episode, Dr. Sara Lazar shares about the neuroscience of meditation. Dr. Lazar has been doing research on the effects of meditation for over twenty years and discusses what she’s learned about how our emotional processing, executive functioning, memory, and even sense of self can all be impacted by meditation. We also talk about aging and cognition, as well as the potential benefits of yoga practice.

Sara W. Lazar, PhD, is an Associate Researcher in the Psychiatry Department at Massachusetts General Hospital and an Assistant Professor in Psychology at Harvard Medical School. The focus of her research is to elucidate the neural mechanisms underlying the beneficial effects of yoga and meditation, both in clinical settings and in healthy individuals. She is a contributing author to Meditation and Psychotherapy (Guilford Press). She has been practicing yoga and mindfulness meditation since 1994. Her research has been covered by numerous news outlets including The New York Times, USA Today, CNN and WebMD, and her work has been featured in a display at the Boston Museum of Science.

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