A very cool new study looked at the effect of meditation on brain reactivity to pain. Study subjects had MRI's of their brains performed while receiving "thermally induced pain" (they were burned!). The subjects were then taught to meditate and practiced meditation daily for 5 months. When the patients had their brains re-imaged while being subjected to the painful stimuli, their pain response decreased by 40-50%! This study showed that meditation has a profound effect on the effect of one's personal experience of physical pain. On my articles page there is an article caled Chronic Pain Shrinks Your Brain. That article reports on a study that showed how detrimental spinal pain can be on your brain--besides depression, anxiety, and fear, chronic pain can actually age your brain by decades! This study on meditation demonstrates a means by which I feel these negative changes can be halted and reversed. Link to the Study.