Dynamic Alterations of EEG Oscillations and Networks from Resting to Deep Meditation

Meditation is a progressive process in which meditators may experience different stages to finally reach a deep meditation state. However, the temporal-dynamic process of meditation remains unclear. In this study, we recruited 38 experienced Tibetan Buddhism meditators to explore the dynamic process from resting to deep meditation from the aspects of EEG oscillations and networks. We found that the delta power was reduced and the transitivity of the delta network was increased immediately after the start of meditation. Then, the beta and gamma power increased, and the clustering coefficient and global efficiency of the gamma network increased at the deep meditation substage. Our results suggested that the participants entered into a wakeful and non-judgmental state immediately after the start of meditation, and then achieved a more efficient information processing and transferring only at a deep meditation state. Our study showed that meditation was a time-varying process, deep meditation was a different substage dominated by high frequency EEG oscillations and more small-world like brain networks.