The Mindful Brain: Current Neuroscience and Ancient Wisdom

Catalog description

How can we cultivate calm and focus in an age of constant digital stimulation? And how and why do various forms of mindfulness training impact mental health, wellbeing, and resilience? Traditionally, Western neuroscientific studies have investigated the mind from the "outside in", seeking to quantify an objective truth about the nature of the mind, while centuries-old meditative practices explore the mind from the "inside out". In this course, we explore our own minds through methods from both approaches. The course will begin from "the outside", with discussions of assigned readings on meditation and on the neuroscientific study of brain states, culminating in measuring our brain activity and our cognitive abilities at the Neuroscience Center in Bangkok. We will then embark on a 5-6 day meditation practice retreat, visiting ancient temples and conversing with Buddhist monks about their experiences. We will again measure our cognitive performance and resting brain activity and will analyze this data to test our initial hypotheses about the influences of meditation on the brain. Finally, we will consider how to implement what we have learned in our daily lives. This course will be offered in January-Term 2026. This course will be taught in Thailand and will count as an Away J-Term course.