Meditation retreat rapidly reprograms body and mind

(Press-News.org) Researchers at the University of California San Diego have found that an intensive retreat combining multiple mind-body techniques, including meditation and healing practices, produced rapid and wide-ranging changes in brain function and blood biology. The researchers found that the retreat engaged natural physiological pathways promoting neuroplasticity, metabolism, immunity and pain relief. The findings, published in Communications Biology, provide insights into how consciousness and psychological practices can enhance physical health.

Meditation and other mind-body practices have been utilized by cultures worldwide for thousands of years to promote health and wellness; however, the underlying biology of these approaches remains poorly understood. The new study, part of a multi-million-dollar research initiative supported by the InnerScience Research Fund, is the first to comprehensively quantify the biological effects of multiple mind-body techniques administered together over a short period.

"We’ve known for years that practices like meditation can influence health, but what’s striking is that combining multiple mind-body practices into a single retreat produced changes across so many biological systems that we could measure directly in the brain and blood," said senior study author Hemal H. Patel, Ph.D., professor of anesthesiology at UC San Diego School of Medicine and research career scientist at the Veterans Affairs San Diego Healthcare System. “This isn’t about just stress relief or relaxation; this is about fundamentally changing how the brain engages with reality and quantifying these changes biologically.”

As part of the study, 20 healthy adults attended a 7-day residential program led by neuroscience educator and author Joe Dispenza, D.C., featuring daily lecture sessions, approximately 33 hours of guided meditation and group healing practices. These practices used an “open-label placebo” approach, meaning participants knowingly took part in healing activities presented as placebos — procedures or treatments with no active medical ingredient, but which can still produce real benefits through the power of expectation, social connection and shared practices.

Before and after the retreat, participants had their brains scanned using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), an approach that measures brain activity in real time. The researchers also used blood testing to measure changes in metabolic activity, immune activation and other biological functions.  

The researchers observed several major changes after the retreat:

Brain network changes: Meditation during the retreat reduced activity in parts of the brain associated with mental chatter, making brain function more efficient overall. Enhanced neuroplasticity: When applied to laboratory-grown neurons, blood plasma from post-retreat participants made brain cells grow longer branches and form new connections. Metabolic shifts: Cells treated with post-retreat plasma showed an increase in glycolytic (sugar-burning) metabolism, indicating a more flexible and adaptive metabolic state. Natural pain relief: Blood levels of endogenous opioids – the body’s natural painkillers – increased after the retreat, indicating that the body’s natural pain-relief systems were activated. Immune activation: Meditation increased inflammatory and anti-inflammatory immune signals simultaneously, suggesting a complex, adaptive immune response rather than a simple suppression or activation. Gene and molecular signaling changes: Small RNA and gene activity in blood shifted after the retreat, particularly in pathways related to brain function. Participants also completed the Mystical Experience Questionnaire (MEQ-30) to assess whether they had a “mystical” experience during meditation—characterized by profound feelings of unity, transcendence, and altered states of consciousness. Average MEQ scores increased significantly after the retreat, rising from 2.37 before the retreat to 3.02 afterwards. Higher scores on these surveys were also correlated with greater biological changes after the retreat, including greater integration of brain activity across different regions. In other words, the more connected the brain is, the greater the likelihood of a mystical experience.

The findings suggest that intensive meditation can trigger very similar brain activity to that which has been previously documented with psychedelic substances.

“We're seeing the same mystical experiences and neural connectivity patterns that typically require psilocybin, now achieved through meditation practice alone,” added Patel. “Seeing both central nervous system changes in brain scans and systemic changes in blood chemistry underscores that these mind-body practices are acting on a whole-body scale.”

The study results provide a biological framework for understanding how non-drug mind-body interventions can support health and well-being. By enhancing neuroplasticity and activating the immune system, these practices could help promote mental health, emotional regulation and stress resilience. Additionally, the activation of endogenous opioid pathways suggests that this combination of mind-body practices may also be useful for chronic pain management.

While the retreat’s effects were measured in healthy adults, the researchers emphasize that controlled trials in patient populations are still needed to determine specific clinical benefits and applications. They are particularly interested in whether mind-body retreats can benefit people with chronic pain, mood disorders or immune-related conditions.

Looking ahead, the research team plans to investigate how each individual component of the retreat — meditation, reconceptualization, and open-label placebo healing — works alone and in combination. Additionally, future studies will investigate the duration of these biological changes and whether repeated interventions can enhance or sustain their effects.

“This study shows that our minds and bodies are deeply interconnected — what we believe, how we focus our attention, and the practices we participate in can leave measurable fingerprints on our biology,” said first author Alex Jinich-Diamant, a doctoral student in the Departments of Cognitive Science and Anesthesiology at UC San Diego. “It’s an exciting step toward understanding how conscious experience and physical health are intertwined, and how we might harness that connection to promote well-being in new ways.”

Link to full paper: https://www.doi.org/10.1038/s42003-025-09088-3  

Additional coauthors of the study include Sierra Simpson, Juan P. Zuniga-Hertz, Ramamurthy Chitteti, Jan M. Schilling, Jacqueline A. Bonds, Laura Case, Andrei V. Chernov, Natalia Esther Amkie Stahl, Michael Licamele, Narin Fazlalipour and, Swetha Devulapalli, at UC San Diego; Joe Dispenza and Michelle A. Poirier at Metamorphosis LLC; Jacqueline Maree and Tobias Moeller-Bertram at VitaMed Research; and Leonardo Christov-Moore and Nicco Reggente at the Institute for Advanced Consciousness Studies.

This work was supported by the InnerScience Research Fund and a Veterans Administration Research Career Scientist Award (BX005229).

Disclosure: One co-author (Joe Dispenza) is employed by Encephalon, Inc., the company offering the retreat; all other authors declare no competing interests.

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