How God Changes Your Brain: Breakthrough Findings from a Leading Neuroscientist (Hardcover)

~ Andrew Newberg M.D. (Author), Mark Robert Waldman (Author)
Key Phrases: compassionate communication, kirtan kriya, centering prayer, New Thought, Holy Spirit, Religious Science (more...)

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Over the past decade or so, numerous studies have suggested that prayer and meditation can enhance physical health and healing from illness. In this stimulating and provocative book, two academics at the University of Pennsylvania's Center for Spirituality and the Mind contend that contemplating God actually reduces stress, which in turn prevents the deterioration of the brain's dendrites and increases neuroplasticity. The authors conclude that meditation and other spiritual practices permanently strengthen neural functioning in specific parts of the brain that aid in lowering anxiety and depression, enhancing social awareness and empathy, and improving cognitive functioning. The book's middle section draws on the authors' research on how people experience God and where in the brain that experience might be located. Finally, the authors offer exercises for enhancing physical, mental and spiritual health. Their suggestions are commonsensical and common to other kinds of health regimens: smile, stay intellectually active, consciously relax, yawn, meditate, exercise aerobically, dialogue with others and trust in your beliefs. Although the book's title is a bit misleading, since it is not God but spiritual practice that changes the brain, this forceful study could stir controversy among scientists and philosophers. Illus. (Mar. 24)
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From The Washington Post

From The Washington Post's Book World/washingtonpost.com Reviewed by Wray Herbert Gus was not a "meditation type of guy." He was more of a Joe Sixpack, a Philadelphia mechanic not much interested in religion. He hauled himself into Andrew Newberg's clinic for one reason: His memory was failing. Newberg, a neuroscientist and memory expert, has a special interest in spirituality; he has scanned the brains of worshipers ranging from Franciscan nuns to Pentecostals speaking in tongues. So why was he bothering with Gus? Well, Newberg explains in "How God Changes Your Brain," his studies (with coauthor Mark Robert Waldman) had convinced him of a link between spirituality and cognitive health: The neurochemical changes that he observed during meditation and prayer appeared to improve brain function. But Newberg had studied mostly devotees with years of spiritual training; he wanted to see whether a novice might benefit, too. So Gus learned the basics of Kirtan Kriya meditation. Rooted in 16th-century India, Kirtan Kriya involves conscious regulation of breathing as well as repetitive movements and sounds. Gus picked it up right away, practicing 12 minutes a day for eight weeks. That's a blip compared to what many students of meditation do. Even so, Newberg writes, Gus had greater clarity of mind, empathy and emotional equilibrium. What's more, his working memory improved as much as 50 percent on some tests. Gus's case may be inspiring to readers worried about the mental decline that comes with aging. But those looking for the loftier answers promised in the book's title may come away unsatisfied, and a bit confused. At times Newberg seems to be writing about a broad notion of spirituality, while at other times he focuses on rituals -- the mantras and mudras and prayer beads -- without any spiritual content or commitment. He doesn't want to leave anyone (even atheists) outside the tent, so his definition of God is whatever any individual's neurons are conjuring up at the moment -- or the next moment or the next, because God is "constantly changing and evolving." Inclusiveness is all well and good, but loose theology doesn't necessarily make for rigorous testing. The second half of "How God Changes Your Brain" is a how-to book. There are lists upon lists here, and even lists within lists: eight best ways to maintain a healthy brain, including five essential reasons for yawning; nine steps for dealing with anger; six strategies for improving communication and six more for creative problem-solving. You get the idea. Aging baby boomers are hungering for good science writing on both brain health and spirituality. Happily, there are excellent books on this important topic, notably Sharon Begley's "Train Your Mind, Change Your Brain" and Daniel Goleman's "Social Intelligence." Start with them. Unhappily, this bloviating volume will leave most readers still seeking.
Copyright 2009, The Washington Post. All Rights Reserved.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 368 pages
• Publisher: Ballantine Books (March 24, 2009)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0345503414
• ISBN-13: 978-0345503411
• Product Dimensions: 9.4 x 6.5 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.4 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (32 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #6,098 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

125 of 129 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A SPECTACULAR BOOK (for believers and disbelievers alike), March 24, 2009

By	Neil Schuitevoerder (Los Angeles) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

Details about this book appeared in Time magazine a few weeks ago, featuring Newberg's and Waldmans research on spirituality and the brain. They touted it as a "self-help field guide to the health benefits of spirituality" and meditation practice. Then it was featured in Oprah magazine, so as a mental health professional, I had to see what their research was all about.

What I found was a brainstorm of some of the most amazing research on how spiritual practices change the structure and function of our brain. Like the classic book, Varieties of Religious Experience, by William James, the authors, who are neuroscientists at the University of Pennsylvania, summarize a dozen different ways the human brain processes spiritual experiences.

For example, one part of the brain can generate images of an angry god; another, feelings of a compassionate god; yet another part of the brain can generate doubtful thoughts, and so on. They also present new data showing how Americans are becoming less religious but more spiritual as they embrace images of a universe that is scientific yet mystical. Their online survey of a thousand participants shows that nearly everyone holds radically different concepts of "God." They even track, using people who draw pictures of God, how this concept begins as a face in a child's brain, and that the more a child thinks about god, new abstract conceptualizations begin to form in different parts of the brain.

The authors show many brain scans of many different practitioners (religious and secular) which demonstrate that the more intense one contemplates any spiritual issue-or even evolution or the Big Bang-the more it changes the structure and function of other parts of the brain in healthy ways (for example, meditators from Christian, Buddhist, and nonreligious backgrounds permanently alter their thalamus, and thus their perception of reality), which makes their deepest beliefs feel "neurologically real." This explains the book's title, for even atheists, when they try to make sense out of religion, grow new dendrites in important areas of the brain that appear to slow down the diseases we get as we age.

Fortunately, the authors put the neuroscience in terms anyone can grasp, and they proceed to give explicit instructions that the reader can use to stimulate their precuneus (a key center of consciousness), the frontal lobes (logic, reason, motivation), and the anterior cingulate (compassion, intuition, and social awareness). There's so much practical and provocative material, that the best way to review this book is to briefly describe each chapter:

Ch 1: "Who Cares About God?" - We all do, argue the authors, who introduce basic concepts of neuroplasticity, the neurologal "war" between beliefs and disbeliefs, and why any religious concept generate both anger and compassion in virtually everyone's brain.

Ch 2: "Do You Need God When You Pray?" The authors describe a new study showing how a 12 minute chanting meditation practice improved memory in older people with mild cognitive impairment (a precursor to Alzheimer's disease)in less than 8 weeks. They also show you how to create your own "brain enhancement" exercise program.

Ch 3: "What Does God Do to Your Brain?" This chapter explores the neural varieties of meditation and prayer, and how different parts of the brain create different perceptions of God. They also discuss how different neurochemicals and drugs alter spiritual beliefs and realities.

Ch 4: "What Does God Feel Like?" The authors' data shows that, for most people, God is more of a feeling than an idea, that everyone's spiritual experiences are unique, and that mystical experiences often generate long-lasting states of unity, peacefulness, and love.

Ch 5: "What Does God Look Like?" The authors collected adult drawings of God and compared them with pictures drawn by children. It turns out that the most sophisticated drawings are made by liberal believers, atheists, and agnostic college students. However, many atheists maintain childhood images, which could explain why god doesn't make any rational sense to them. The authors suggest that everyone has "God" neuron or circuit in their brain, and they show you where it is.

Ch 6: "Does God Have a Heart?" They examine the Baylor University survey depicting four "personalities" of God, but they present their own survey evidence showing that a previously unrecognized and large segment of Americans maintain a mystical and loving vision of nature, God, and people.

Ch 7: "What Happens When God Gets Mad?" Surprisingly, the authors (one is agnostic, and the other describes himself as being personally guided by evidence-based natural science)both find value in all spiritual practices and traditions. They found little evidence to criticize religious fundamentalism, except when it involves angry rhetoric. They point out the neurological dangers of hostility, fear, authoritarianism, and idealism, and they suggest that we all have a fundamentalistic and an atheistic mentality hardwired in the brain.

Ch 8: "Exercising Your Brain" Included are eight ways to keep your brain physically and mentally tuned-up. Even yawning appears to be an amazing way to calm down a dysfunctional brain, and they have about 40 references to support this claim. In fact, they include over a 1000 endnotes and references to support what many might think are widely speculative claims. For me, as a professional, this is wonderful, because it shows that they didn't cherry-pick the research; indeed they admirably point out the weaknesses to their own conclusions and work.

Ch 9: "Finding Serenity" This chapter, and the next, are filled with simple, well-tested meditation techniques to help any reader, of any religious or nonreligious persuasion, to reduce stress, anxiety, and depression while enhancing cognition,memory, and greater sensitivity and empathy toward one's self and others. This well-documented research shows that nearly any meditation technique can be removed from its theological background to provide beneficial neurological and psychological changes. The authors also provide convincing evidence that only a few minutes of meditation, throughout the day, improves the functioning of the brain.

Ch 10: "Compassionate Communication" This is an original meditation exercise that can be used when dialoguing with others. It takes fifteen minutes to learn, and their research shows that it improves compassion social intimacy by 11%, even when done with with strangers. They then include nearly a dozen ways to quickly resolve interpersonal conflicts,all of which make sound psychological sense.

Finally, in the epilogue, the authors talk briefly about their own journeys into the murky domain where science and religion intersects.

This is a "must read" book for believers and nonbelievers alike, and it might even help, as the authors suggest, to bring a little more peace and tolerance into this world. God knows we need it!

28 of 31 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars This is great . . . what a nice gift to the world!, March 25, 2009

By	Susan VanVonderen RN,CNP (California) - See all my reviews

As a nurse practitioner in women's health, and one who has been exploring consciousness and God for my entire life, I find that nearly every religious and spiritual practice can bring peace and happiness into my life. This book reinforces my belief by presenting a wealth of scientific evidence showing how beneficial prayer and meditation can be to your physical health and well-being, and it doesn't matter what your personal religious convictions might be. And with nearly 70 pages of medical and biological references at the end of the book, even skeptics who believe that science has all the answers should come away with the knowledge that secular forms of meditation and self-reflection provide a wealth of neurological and psychological benefits. As the authors of this book explain in clear and simple language, destructive emotions like anger and hate have no place in religion, politics, or in any social situation - be it at work, home, or with one's children or spouse. I tried out the "Compassionate Communication" exercise described in Chapter 10 with my husband, and I found it very easy to do. As we slowed down our talking, and consciously relaxed as we focused on each other's eyes, we discovered that we could quickly to talk about very difficult topics in a way that felt totally nonjudgmental and loving. I felt that we could listen to each other more deeply than we had ever done before, and it happened the very first time we did it. We ended up talking for hours from a very intimate place that really felt safe for both of us.

25 of 28 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A good read regardless of orientation..., March 25, 2009

By	L. Vance "Brandon" (Los Angeles, CA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

Having grown up in a very conservative Christian family and community, this book surprised me by the authors' incredible openness, not just toward contemporary spiritual practices, but also toward some of the strictest fundamentalist groups I have known. There is a lot of love there, which the authors point out, but I agree with them when they say that angry tirades by conservative ministers can do a lot of damage to one's soul. When you preach hell and damnation toward those who have different religious beliefs, this becomes toxic to the congregation, and to the world. What a surprise and delight to hear two nonreligious scientists talk positively about the gospel of compassion! This was truly music to my ears, and it even helped me to feel more tolerant toward my own religious roots, which nearly turned me off to religion as a whole. If science can be used to show the strength behind religious beliefs and practices, then I say, "More power to science" and its ability to spread the truth about the difference between love and hate. As my pastor used to say, truth is in the heart, and if we live our truth by respecting other people's truth, as this book suggests, then truly we may generate more peace in the world. I think every fundamentalist and atheist can find value in this remarkable book. Thank you, Newberg and Waldman, for helping to quell my own personal struggle with God. In essence, this was one of the most inspiring books I have ever read.