Episode 43: Meditation - An Active State?
Episode 43 of M3CS’s Contemplative Science Podcast saw Giuseppe Pagnoni come on to the show to talk about the neuroscience of meditative practice and why ‘inaction’ on the mat is far from a passive process.
For the full podcast, check out the episode here.
In this episode, we cover...
Why meditation is such a powerful experience for the brain.
Bayesian mechanics and the free energy principle in relationship with meditation.
Common misconceptions about the meaning of ‘being in the present’.
Giuseppe Pagnoni is a neuroscientist and Associate Professor with the department of Neural, Biomedical, and Metabolic Sciences at University of Modena and Reggio Emilia.
Here are some of the key insights from the conversation...
Meditation is not a passive process.
”The meditative practice is kind of strange because the overt action is inhibited. At the outset it seems like a passive state but I don't think it's passive at all. I think this inaction is a very active state. It's actually inaction to prevent yourself from acting. It's not something that comes automatically. For me, it has something to do with the inferential process taking a sort of inward epistemic turn.”
Meditative practice poses many fascinating questions.
”If, when we are at rest, the probability of mind-wandering increases sharply... Like, if you're skiing downhill on a very difficult slope, you cannot have a lot of thoughts running in your mind because you have to pay a lot of attention... So why would it make sense that if the aim of meditation was to enact a completely empty mind... you put yourself exactly in that situation where mind-wandering increases?”
Trying new approaches and making mistakes can be extremely beneficial.
”If you only try to rigidly follow some prescription for how meditation should be, you don’t allow yourself to that knowledge.”
The best place to find Giuseppe is here.
See you next week!
