The Minds of Monks Consciousness, it has many variations, one being meditation. Meditation is the most debated and scrutinized forms of consciousness. It has been discussed, argued, contested and questioned on how it has, can, and might alter the human consciousness. However through science and experimentation the altering effects of meditation can be seen and recorded not just on the consciousness but on the physical brain. In the last journal the discussion concentrated mainly on how meditation could give a piece of the peaceful life as focused practices can boost improve attention spans in the everyday person and how meditation exercises could boost mental toughness in soldiers. In this journal the emphasis will be on the effects on the brain, as while as meditation may increase a person's ability to feel empathy for others similar to the Dalai Lama. Many wonder how the Dalai Lama can retain his kindness, even as his homeland is torn apart by violence. New neuroscience research may help explain the exiled Tibetan leader's unremitting compassion for all people.
In an experiment scientists asked subjects, both expert meditators and novices, to practice compassion meditation while inside a functional MRI. The participants heard sounds designed to provoke an empathetic response, such as a distressed woman calling out, as well as positive and neutral sounds. When subjects heard the sounds, both groups experienced more brain activity in areas associated with empathy while meditating than while not meditating. The distressed sounds elicited stronger empathetic responses than the others, and the brain activity in these regions was much stronger in the seasoned meditators. Antoine Lutz, a neuroscientist at the University of Wisconsin. (Moskowitz)
Compassion meditation involves first focusing on loved ones and directing loving-kindness toward them, and then extending that goodwill to all beings indiscriminately. This technique is widely practiced among Tibetan Buddhists. The researchers argue that their findings suggest compassion can be learned and increased with practice, similar to any skill or talent. Previous research has shown that meditation can increase mental focus and concentration and help people release negative emotions. (Moskowitz)
If you name your emotions, you can tame them, according to new research that suggests why meditation works. Brain scans show that putting negative emotions into words calms the brain's emotion center. That could explain meditation’s purported emotional benefits, because people who meditate often label their negative emotions in an effort to “let them go.”
UCLA psychologist Matthew Lieberman and his colleagues hooked 30 people up to functional MRI, which scan the brain to reveal which parts are active and inactive at any given moment. They asked the subjects to look at pictures of male or female faces making emotional expressions. Below some of the photos was a choice of words describing the emotion such as angry or fearful or two possible names for the people in the pictures. When the participants chose labels for the negative emotions, activity in the right ventrolateral prefrontal cortex region became more active, whereas activity in the amygdala was calmed. Meditation and other “mindfulness” techniques are designed to help people pay more attention to their present emotions, thoughts and sensations without reacting strongly to them. (Wenner)
When the team compared brain scans from more mindful dispositions subjects to those subjects who were less mindful, they found a stark difference, the mindful subjects experienced greater activation in the right ventrolateral prefrontral cortex and a greater calming effect in the amygdala. (Wenner)
Meditation alters brain patterns in ways that are likely permanent, scientists have known. But a new study shows key parts of the brain actually get thicker through the practice. Brain imaging of regular working folks who meditate regularly revealed increased thickness in cortical regions related to sensory, auditory and visual perception, as well as internal perception. (Live Science Staff)
The research was led by Sara Lazar, assistant in psychology at Massachusetts General Hospital. The study involved a small number of people, just 20. All had extensive training in Buddhist Insight meditation. But the researchers say the results are significant. Most of the brain regions identified to be changed through meditation were found in the right hemisphere. (Live Science Staff)
Other forms of yoga and meditation likely have a similar impact on brain structure, the researchers speculate, but each tradition probably has a slightly different pattern of cortical thickening based on the specific mental exercises involved.

From the results of these studies it can be said that these practices could change the emotional baseline of a person, compassion meditation may benefit depressed people or young people who struggle with aggression and violence. I think this can be one of the tools we use to teach emotional regulation to kids who are at an age where they're vulnerable to going seriously off track. Furthermore the mindfulness meditation findings may help explain the beneficial health effects practice, and suggest, for the first time, an underlying reason why mindfulness meditation programs improve mood and health. What is most fascinating is the suggestion that meditation practice can change anyone's gray matter.
The reason for choosing this concept is the same as in the previous journal, it is a fascinating idea and how it is ever expanding into modern life and science. Through research the knowledge of how meditation affects the consciousness and the brain are increasing opening up new possibilities to further understand the human mind and how it works.

Citation
Live Science Staff, . "Meditate on This: Buddhist Tradition Thickens Parts of the Brain."
Live Science. (2005): n. page. Web. 28 Mar. 2012. <http://www.livescience.com/479-meditate-buddhist-tradition-thickens-parts-brain.html>.
Moskowitz, Clara. "How the Dalai Lama Keeps His Cool." Live Science. (2008): n. page. Web. 28 Mar. 2012. <http://www.livescience.com/2401-dalai-lama-cool.html>.
Wenner, Melinda. "Brain Scans Reveal Why Meditation Works." Live Science. (2007): n. page.
Web. 28 Mar. 2012. <http://www.livescience.com/7306-brain-scans-reveal-meditation-works.html>.