How God Changes Your Brain

Andrew Newberg, MD, (Department of Psychiatry and the Department of Religious Studies, University of Pennsylvania) argues that mediation/prayer improves memory and helps improve the aging brain, and can interrupt the devastating effects of depression, Alzheimer’s disease, and a host of stress-related disorders. For this BRAINWAVE event he will discuss this topic with meditation teacher Loch Kelly.
Newberg, with therapist Mark Robert Waldman and their research team, has through brain-scan studies and surveys concluded that active and positive spiritual belief changes the human brain for the better. What’s more, actual faith isn’t always necessary: atheists who meditate on positive imagery can obtain similar neurological benefits. His book How God Changes Your Brain is both a revelatory work of modern science and a practical guide for readers to enhance their physical and emotional health and to avoid mental decline. Newberg and Waldman explain that the eight best ways to “exercise” your brain and guide readers through specific routines derived from a wide variety of Eastern and Western spiritual practices that improve personal awareness and empathy. They explain why yawning heightens consciousness and relaxation, and they teach “Compassionate Communication,” a new mediation technique that builds intimacy with family and friends in less than fifteen minutes of practice.
How God Changes Your Brain: Breakthrough Findings from a Leading Neuroscientist will be available for purchase at the Shop @ RMA. The author will be available after the program to sign copies.
Andrew Newberg, MD, is the director of the Center for Spirituality and the Mind at the University of Pennsylvania. He is one of the founders of the new interdisciplinary field called neurotheology. He is an associate professor in the department of radiology, with secondary appointments in the departments of psychiatry and religious studies, at the University of Pennsylvania. His work has been featured on Good Morning America, Nightline, the Discovery Channel, the BBC, NPR, and National Geographic Television. He is the co-author of Why God Won’t Go Away, Born to Believe, and The Mystical Mind.
Loch Kelly , MDiv., LCSW is a graduate of Columbia University and Union Theological Seminary, where he was awarded a fellowship to study Buddhist meditation in Sri Lanka, India and Nepal from 1981-2. He is a licensed psychiatric social worker who has worked in community outpatient mental health clinics and in private practice as a non-dual psychotherapist. Loch was asked to teach meditation by Mingyur Rinpoche and Adyashanti and has been teaching and researching meditation for over 20 years. He is the founder of the Natural Wakefulness Center in New York City.