Matthew D. Sacchet
@matthewsacchet.bsky.social
Associate Professor and Director of the Meditation Research Program at Harvard Medical School / Mass General (MGH)
https://meditation.mgh.harvard.edu/
https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=ckejHQkAAAAJ&hl=en
https://meditation.mgh.harvard.edu/
https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=ckejHQkAAAAJ&hl=en
You can find the preprint on our website and from the preprint server:
meditation.mgh.harvard.edu
meditation.mgh.harvard.edu/files/Yang_2...
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
May this work benefit many 🙏
meditation.mgh.harvard.edu
meditation.mgh.harvard.edu/files/Yang_2...
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
May this work benefit many 🙏
meditation.mgh.harvard.edu
November 17, 2025 at 11:42 AM
You can find the preprint on our website and from the preprint server:
meditation.mgh.harvard.edu
meditation.mgh.harvard.edu/files/Yang_2...
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
May this work benefit many 🙏
meditation.mgh.harvard.edu
meditation.mgh.harvard.edu/files/Yang_2...
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
May this work benefit many 🙏
If this study resonates with you, please consider sharing it as this work thrives on our growing global community’s generosity and insights.
November 17, 2025 at 11:42 AM
If this study resonates with you, please consider sharing it as this work thrives on our growing global community’s generosity and insights.
My deepest gratitude to our extraordinary team: Winson Yang (first author), Ruby Potash, Grace Mackin, Isidora Beslic, Marta Bianciardi, and Terje Sparby.
November 17, 2025 at 11:42 AM
My deepest gratitude to our extraordinary team: Winson Yang (first author), Ruby Potash, Grace Mackin, Isidora Beslic, Marta Bianciardi, and Terje Sparby.
the neuroscience of this ancient meditation opens an important new scientific window into the human brain’s inherent capacity to radically transform itself.
November 17, 2025 at 11:42 AM
the neuroscience of this ancient meditation opens an important new scientific window into the human brain’s inherent capacity to radically transform itself.
Beyond potentially supporting mental health and wellbeing, these findings challenge mainstream models of consciousness with evidence that consciousness can persist in ways current models have yet to explain. Instead, ...
November 17, 2025 at 11:42 AM
Beyond potentially supporting mental health and wellbeing, these findings challenge mainstream models of consciousness with evidence that consciousness can persist in ways current models have yet to explain. Instead, ...
– The brain can volitionally enter coherent and stable states of deep awareness that are at the opposite pole from psychological distress.
November 17, 2025 at 11:42 AM
– The brain can volitionally enter coherent and stable states of deep awareness that are at the opposite pole from psychological distress.
– Changes in brain activity tracked closely with reported experience including equanimity, stable attention, clear awareness, and reduced suffering-related processes.
November 17, 2025 at 11:42 AM
– Changes in brain activity tracked closely with reported experience including equanimity, stable attention, clear awareness, and reduced suffering-related processes.
– Patterns of brain activity (eigenmodes) showed a U-shaped shift: early absorption states compressed cortical dynamics, while later states re-expanded, refined, and organized them.
November 17, 2025 at 11:42 AM
– Patterns of brain activity (eigenmodes) showed a U-shaped shift: early absorption states compressed cortical dynamics, while later states re-expanded, refined, and organized them.
– The brain’s usual hierarchy, from sensory-specific to high-level integrative areas, became more compressed, suggesting more unified, integrated brain function.
November 17, 2025 at 11:42 AM
– The brain’s usual hierarchy, from sensory-specific to high-level integrative areas, became more compressed, suggesting more unified, integrated brain function.
Here's what we found:
– Brain regions associated with self-monitoring and internal chatter (e.g., prefrontal cortex) quieted down, while areas involved world sensing and bodily awareness (including visual and midline regions) became more active.
– Brain regions associated with self-monitoring and internal chatter (e.g., prefrontal cortex) quieted down, while areas involved world sensing and bodily awareness (including visual and midline regions) became more active.
November 17, 2025 at 11:42 AM
Here's what we found:
– Brain regions associated with self-monitoring and internal chatter (e.g., prefrontal cortex) quieted down, while areas involved world sensing and bodily awareness (including visual and midline regions) became more active.
– Brain regions associated with self-monitoring and internal chatter (e.g., prefrontal cortex) quieted down, while areas involved world sensing and bodily awareness (including visual and midline regions) became more active.
including mapping the eight ACAM-J states evolving from joyful, energized focus to profound formlessness, where sensory content and self-referential thought fade entirely to reveal expansive, boundless awareness, and ultimately nothingness.
November 17, 2025 at 11:42 AM
including mapping the eight ACAM-J states evolving from joyful, energized focus to profound formlessness, where sensory content and self-referential thought fade entirely to reveal expansive, boundless awareness, and ultimately nothingness.
Now, for the first time ever in the history of science, we have used cutting-edge brain imaging (7T fMRI) in a group of advanced meditators to measure the neural correlates of jhana-type advanced concentration absorption meditation (ACAM-J), ...
November 17, 2025 at 11:42 AM
Now, for the first time ever in the history of science, we have used cutting-edge brain imaging (7T fMRI) in a group of advanced meditators to measure the neural correlates of jhana-type advanced concentration absorption meditation (ACAM-J), ...
and (4) offer rare glimpses into the genuine possibility a stable and reliable form of happiness. In this way, the jhānas are thought to prepare the mind for the meditative endpoint known as Nibbāna, or full Enlightenment.
November 17, 2025 at 11:42 AM
and (4) offer rare glimpses into the genuine possibility a stable and reliable form of happiness. In this way, the jhānas are thought to prepare the mind for the meditative endpoint known as Nibbāna, or full Enlightenment.
(2) serve as both a launchpad, and an inner laboratory, for investigating deep experiential aspects of the mind and perceptual reality; (3) help uproot unwholesome mental habits; ...
November 17, 2025 at 11:42 AM
(2) serve as both a launchpad, and an inner laboratory, for investigating deep experiential aspects of the mind and perceptual reality; (3) help uproot unwholesome mental habits; ...
The jhanas are deep states of meditative absorption wherein the mind becomes deeply immersed in a meditation object and other aspects of awareness recede. These states are thought to: (1) deeply stabilize the mind; ...
November 17, 2025 at 11:42 AM
The jhanas are deep states of meditative absorption wherein the mind becomes deeply immersed in a meditation object and other aspects of awareness recede. These states are thought to: (1) deeply stabilize the mind; ...
The full interview can be found here on our and the New Scientist website:
meditation.mgh.harvard.edu
meditation.mgh.harvard.edu/media
meditation.mgh.harvard.edu/files/Sacche...
www.newscientist.com/article/2501...
May our work benefit many 🙏
meditation.mgh.harvard.edu
meditation.mgh.harvard.edu/media
meditation.mgh.harvard.edu/files/Sacche...
www.newscientist.com/article/2501...
May our work benefit many 🙏
Meditation Research Program
Select Publications
meditation.mgh.harvard.edu
November 10, 2025 at 11:34 AM
The full interview can be found here on our and the New Scientist website:
meditation.mgh.harvard.edu
meditation.mgh.harvard.edu/media
meditation.mgh.harvard.edu/files/Sacche...
www.newscientist.com/article/2501...
May our work benefit many 🙏
meditation.mgh.harvard.edu
meditation.mgh.harvard.edu/media
meditation.mgh.harvard.edu/files/Sacche...
www.newscientist.com/article/2501...
May our work benefit many 🙏
Thanks so much to Claudia Canavan and New Scientist for making this interview possible.
November 10, 2025 at 11:34 AM
Thanks so much to Claudia Canavan and New Scientist for making this interview possible.
Personally, when studying a heretofore unstudied advanced meditative state, I feel we’re on the cusp of something incredible: to give more people a chance to stand in awe of their own awareness 💫
November 10, 2025 at 11:34 AM
Personally, when studying a heretofore unstudied advanced meditative state, I feel we’re on the cusp of something incredible: to give more people a chance to stand in awe of their own awareness 💫
Neuroscience alone may not have all the answers. But I hope this work continues to inspire more people, across disciplines, to safely explore how human experience can be radically good, extraordinarily plastic, and mind-blowingly beautiful.
November 10, 2025 at 11:34 AM
Neuroscience alone may not have all the answers. But I hope this work continues to inspire more people, across disciplines, to safely explore how human experience can be radically good, extraordinarily plastic, and mind-blowingly beautiful.
In a not-too-distant future, we may even have neuroscience-informed methods, perhaps biomarkers or brain stimulation, to accelerate meditative development and democratize access to deep transformation.
November 10, 2025 at 11:34 AM
In a not-too-distant future, we may even have neuroscience-informed methods, perhaps biomarkers or brain stimulation, to accelerate meditative development and democratize access to deep transformation.
The possibilities this all hints at, what might be experienced if we realize these latent, powerful capacities, feel both hopeful and suggestive of a new beginning for what it may mean to be human.
November 10, 2025 at 11:34 AM
The possibilities this all hints at, what might be experienced if we realize these latent, powerful capacities, feel both hopeful and suggestive of a new beginning for what it may mean to be human.
And some of our most unhealthy desires and impulses may not be flaws hardwired into biology, but conditioned psychological patterns that can be seen through and transformed as we develop toward new ways of being.
November 10, 2025 at 11:34 AM
And some of our most unhealthy desires and impulses may not be flaws hardwired into biology, but conditioned psychological patterns that can be seen through and transformed as we develop toward new ways of being.
— Massive reductions in suffering can be learned.
— Experiential distance between ourselves, others, and the world is profoundly malleable.
— Experiential distance between ourselves, others, and the world is profoundly malleable.
November 10, 2025 at 11:34 AM
— Massive reductions in suffering can be learned.
— Experiential distance between ourselves, others, and the world is profoundly malleable.
— Experiential distance between ourselves, others, and the world is profoundly malleable.
— The “self” is a fluid, dynamic process, not a fixed entity.
— The mind can be reset, similar to a computer rebooting to cleared settings.
— The mind can be reset, similar to a computer rebooting to cleared settings.
November 10, 2025 at 11:34 AM
— The “self” is a fluid, dynamic process, not a fixed entity.
— The mind can be reset, similar to a computer rebooting to cleared settings.
— The mind can be reset, similar to a computer rebooting to cleared settings.