Neat story I found floating around the web, best explained in this column from the Hartford Courant. A recent study suggests that a form of Buddhist meditation actually increases brain size in several key areas, and may improve meditators’ attention and decrease age-related brain loss. This may be something I have to try for myself. If I can remember this story long enough to do anything about it.
I saw this story as well, and if you’re into the whole ‘meditation bringing you closer to the universe’ thing, this makes a lot of sense. It’s acutally cool to see stories like this in the mainstream media. Years ago, you would only theories like these in occult or alternative health books and magazines.
Having empirical studies that fit in with Western notions of science to serve as the hook for these stories has to help a great deal. I do believe that scientific research into the effects of various religious practices is an expanding and worthwhile field.