The scientists who participate in Mind & LIfe have been intrigued by the ability of meditation masters to develop and sustain attention and visualizations, to work skillfully and consciously with powerful emotional states, to intentionally manipulate basic physiological processes, and to catalyze psychological and biological healing effects, all through the directed mental processes of meditation practices. How Buddhist masters attain these skills through the development of the mind is still a mystery. In 1990, Mind & LIfe scientists initiated research projects to investigate the neurobiological effects of meditation on long term meditators.
Paralleling the work of Mind & LIfe since 1990, Western researchers spanning disciplines as diverse as bio-behavioral medicine, philosophy of mind, the cognitive and affective neurosciences, and psychology, have begun to explore the embodied mind and consciousness. The Mind & LIfe Institute is uniquely positioned to contribute to the current revolution in our scientific understanding of the mind by creating the interdisciplinary bridges to deepen scientific understanding of meditative theory and practices. In recent years, Mind & LIfe scientists at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, University of California-San Francisco, University of California-Berkeley, and Harvard University have conducted experiments and are developing in-depth research projects. These projects utilize the most recent advances in the neurosciences and psychology.
Currently the Mind & LIfe Institute is expanding our support for scientists interested in conducting research on meditation and the mind. We are fundraising to enhance our program for Collaborative Research Among Buddhists and Scientists. We are also raising funds for a research initiative: Cultivating Emotional Balance. If you would like more information about becoming a sponsor of one of our research programs, please visit our Support Mind & Life page.
A summary of our research programs follows, and more detailed information can be found by selecting either the topic headings below or the menu links at the left.

Cultivating Emotional Balance
The Cultivating Emotional Balance research project arose from a dialogue between biobehavioral scientists studying emotion and the Dalai Lama and Buddhist monks and scholars. This meeting, which took place in March 2000, in Dharamsala, India, was one in a series sponsored by the Mind & LIfe Institute to foster an interchange between the Buddhist tradition and Western science.

At this meeting, the Dalai Lama asked the scientists if they could conduct research to determine whether or not secularized Buddhist practices would be helpful to Westerners in dealing with "destructive" emotional experiences. In response to this request Dr. Paul Ekman and Dr. B. Alan Wallace developed a training program that integrated Buddhist contemplative practices with Western techniques for dealing with negative emotional experiences. The training's purpose is to enhance attention skills and mindfulness, reduce emotional responses that are destructive to self and others and enhance compassion and empathy. This research project, "Cultivating Emotional Balance In Challenging Times" (CEB), is the result of that interchange. www.cultivatingemotionalbalance.org

Collaborative Research Among Meditators and Scientists
The Mind & LIfe Institute believes that in order for the dialogue between meditation and science to have a durable contribution to humanity, collaborative research programs must be conducted in first rate Western scientific laboratories and the results of those studies be published in prominent peer-review scientific journals. Thus far collaborative research has been focused on collecting data from highly trained meditative adepts using fMRI, EEG and MEG neuroimaging techniques and other psychological, neurological, and immunological measures. Most importantly, these meditative adepts are not only "subjects", in the classical sense. Instead, they are true collaborators, helping to design the scientific research protocols, and participating in analysis and publications.