Chuong Ngo
Erkin Bek — All Here SA, Geneva, Geneva, Switzerland
Lionel Newman — All Here SA, Geneva, Geneva, Switzerland
Monika Stasytytė — All Here SA, Geneva, Geneva, Switzerland
Thomas Canellas — All Here SA, Geneva, Geneva, Switzerland
Christoph Michel — Department of Basic Neurosciences, University of Geneva, Geneva, Geneva, Switzerland / All Here SA, Geneva, Geneva, Switzerland
Understanding how neural activity gives rise to different states of consciousness remains a central challenge in neuroscience. Advanced meditation offers a unique experimental model in which practitioners can voluntarily and repeatedly enter distinct states of consciousness while remaining awake, providing an opportunity to investigate the neural dynamics underlying transitions between ordinary and altered conscious experience. We collected approximately 300 high-density EEG recordings from practitioners across Theravāda Buddhism, Zen, Yogic traditions, and secular meditation approaches. The dataset spans novice and expert meditators and includes focused attention, open monitoring, non-dual awareness, and deep absorptive states. By combining standardized 64-channel EEG recordings with first-person phenomenological reports, we examined neural signatures associated with changes in the stability, content, and organization of conscious experience. Analyses focused on spectral dynamics—including alpha, gamma, and infra-slow activity—as well as large-scale temporal organization measured through EEG microstates and neural state stability. The millisecond temporal resolution of EEG enables characterization of rapid transitions between mind-wandering, sustained attention, and increasingly stable meditative states, providing a dynamic view of how conscious states evolve over time. Preliminary results indicate that progression toward deeper meditative states is accompanied by reproducible reorganization of large-scale brain dynamics, including reduced spontaneous cognitive processing, increased temporal stability, and distinct electrophysiological trajectories across contemplative practices. These findings suggest that while different meditation traditions employ different attentional and cognitive strategies, they may converge on common neural principles governing stable states of consciousness. Rather than treating meditation solely as a contemplative practice, this work positions advanced meditation as a reproducible experimental paradigm for consciousness research. Establishing EEG-based biomarkers of meditative states may provide a framework for investigating the neural correlates of conscious state transitions and for integrating objective neurophysiological measurements with first-person experience across diverse contemplative traditions.