Neuromeditation

As someone who has tried to fit a daily meditation practice into my life for years, I have often been unsure whether I was doing it right.

Meditation happens entirely in the mind – in most cases there’s nothing physical, visual, or auditory to check - so how can we really know if what we’re doing is working?

That’s why I’ve been trying out neurofeedback meditation.

This is meditating while wearing an EEG headset that reads a persons brain-waves and sends back real-time visual or auditory feedback through an app.

When the mind drifts, and when the brain is settled into the right brain state, the device lets the user know.

In short, it gives a simple way to see whether the meditation is on track, and to assess the performance afterwards.

I feel that it enables me to meditate much better – but what does science show?

Today’s insights is mainly drawn from the scientific article: 

“The Effectiveness of a Neurofeedback-Assisted Mindfulness Training Program Using a Mobile App on Stress Reduction in Employees: Randomized Controlled Trail”

Today's newsletter

• The study in a nutshell:

• Takeaways:

• What they did:

• What the authors found out:

• What can we learn from this study?

The study in a nutshell:

Today’s study looked at whether adding neurofeedback to a 4-week mindfulness training program delivered via a mobile app enhanced stress reduction and relaxation compared to both mindfulness training alone and active control group.

Ninety-two employees were randomized into three groups: neurofeedback-assisted mindfulness, mindfulness only, and self-learning.

The neurofeedback group showed the greatest reductions in stress and the highest relaxation index at follow-up, while no significant heart rate variability changes were observed across groups.

👉 Remember you have access to guided meditation sesseions on the resource site.

Takeaways:

📈 Neurofeedback improves meditation training

Adding neurofeedback to a 4-week mindfulness program significantly improved stress reduction and relaxation compared to mindfulness alone.

🎯 Targeted neural effects

The neurofeedback group showed a higher relaxation index in EEG measurements, suggesting that neurofeedback specifically enhances neural relaxation rather than broader physiological responses.

What they did:

Groups:

• Group 1: Neurofeedback-assisted mindfulness training via a mobile app, incorporating EEG feedback to reinforce relaxation through alpha wave activity.

• Group 2: Mindfulness training via the same mobile app but without neurofeedback.

• Group 3: Self-learning materials covering stress management techniques without app guidance.

Assessments:

Psychological and physiological outcomes were measured at baseline, immediately after the intervention, and at a 4-week follow-up. Assessments included:

• Psychological Outcomes: Perceived Stress Scale (PSS), Brief Resilience Scale (BRS), Athens Insomnia Scale (AIS).

• Physiological Outcomes: EEG-derived relaxation index and heart rate variability (HRV).

What the authors found out:

Stress reduction: The neurofeedback group showed the most significant reduction in PSS scores.

Resilience: The neurofeedback group also demonstrated the highest gains in resilience as measured by the BRS, with continued improvements observed at the 1-month follow-up.

Relaxation index: EEG data indicated a significantly higher relaxation index in the neurofeedback group at follow-up, suggesting enhanced relaxation through neurofeedback.

Heart Rate Variability (HRV): No significant changes in HRV were observed across any group, indicating that the neurofeedback intervention primarily influenced EEG-based measures rather than broader physiological markers of stress.

What can we learn from this study?

The findings of today’s study suggest that integrating neurofeedback into mindfulness training can strengthen the stress-reducing and relaxation-enhancing effects of mindfulness meditation practices.

While both mindfulness-only and neurofeedback-assisted mindfulness reduced stress, adding neurofeedback showed a more pronounced effect on both perceived stress and EEG-measured relaxation.

However, there was an absence of significant changes in HRV measures as a result of the neurofeedback assisted mindfulness meditation.

This could simply be because changes in HRV takes more time to occur, or it could indicate that neurofeedback may specifically target neural relaxation mechanisms without broader physiological changes.

A similar pattern was observed in a previous two-week study using the MAVE® wearable device, which compared daily neurofeedback-assisted meditation with non-assisted meditation (Lee et al., 2024).

While the neurofeedback group reported greater reductions in perceived stress, objective neural measures such as qEEG power bands did not show significant differences, reinforcing the notion that neurofeedback may enhance the subjective experience of relaxation more immediately than objective physiological markers.

This further suggests that longer intervention periods or more targeted neurofeedback protocols might be necessary to observe broader physiological changes.

Personally, I find these results - and my own experiences - very interesting. I also find that meditating with neurofeedback enhances the effects of meditation, and I’m confident that, over time, these enhanced perceived effects will translate into stronger effects both neural and physiologically.

_{Disclaimer: The above is mainly based on the article “The Effectiveness of a Neurofeedback-Assisted Mindfulness Training Program Using a Mobile App on Stress Reduction in Employees: Randomized Controlled Trail” by Beomjun Min, Heyeon Park, Johanna Inhyang Kim, Sungmin Lee, Soyoung Back, Eunhwa Lee, Sohee Oh, Je-Yeon Yun, Bung-Nyun Kim, Yonghoon Kim, Junghyun Hwang, Sanghyop Less & Jeon-Hyun Kim and aims to provide key takeaways and a condensed overview of its content. While the essence is drawn from the original article, some parts have been simplified or rephrased to enhance understanding. Please note that we at, OptiMindInsights or any other potential writers or contributors to our summaries, do not accept responsibility for any consequences arising from the use of this summary. The information provided should not be considered a substitute for personal research or professional advice. Readers are encouraged to consult the original article for detailed insights and references. The summary does not include references, but they can typically be found within the original publication. Always exercise due diligence and consider your unique circumstances before applying any information in your personal or professional life. We refer to the creative commons for reproducibility rights.}