John Miedema

    Training the Brain for a Lifetime

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    What meditation research suggests about alpha, gamma, and long-term cognitive health

    Meditation research often searches for dramatic findings. Exotic states. Rare neurological signatures. Yet the most consistent observations are quieter and perhaps more consequential.

    Across many studies, regular meditation is associated with stronger alpha rhythms. The brain settles into a state of relaxed, attentive stability. In long-term practitioners another pattern sometimes appears: distinctive gamma synchrony, the fast oscillations linked with large-scale coordination across brain networks.

    These patterns appear often enough that they begin to look less like curiosities and more like markers of training. The nervous system seems to learn how to quiet internal noise while maintaining clarity, and how to coordinate widely separated regions of the brain with unusual precision.

    If sustained over years, such changes may reflect deeper biological effects. A brain operating with greater coherence may manage energy more efficiently, support mitochondrial function, encourage neuroplasticity and neurogenesis, and assist the brain’s own waste-clearing systems. These mechanisms are increasingly studied in relation to long-term cognitive health.

    The conclusions must remain measured. Meditation is not a cure-all, and research continues to evolve. But one implication is difficult to ignore.

    Just as the body benefits from lifelong physical exercise, the brain may benefit from lifelong training of attention. People who neglect cognitive health often experience decline earlier than they expect. Practices that stabilize and integrate the mind may help preserve clarity longer.

    Seen this way, meditation is not merely a method for occasional calm. It is a discipline that may support the long-term maintenance of the brain itself — a quiet investment in cognitive health over the course of a lifetime.

    Intelligence on Twenty Watts

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    Comparing the energy of the human brain and artificial intelligence

    It is often remarked, sometimes with unease, that artificial intelligence consumes enormous amounts of energy while the human brain runs on little more than the power of a small light bulb. The contrast is striking. But before we marvel too quickly at the efficiency of the brain, we should pause and ask whether we are making a fair comparison.

    What exactly is the human equivalent of an AI system answering a question?

    The simplest comparison would be a single answer. You ask a question and either a person or an AI replies. But that framing quietly hides a large part of the machine’s cost. An AI answer depends on a vast training process that took place earlier in large data centres. The electricity used to train the model does not appear in the moment of answering. If we compare a human reply with a single AI response, we are ignoring the energy required to build the machine’s knowledge in the first place.

    Another possibility is to compare a trained AI model with a trained human expert. A PhD, for example, represents decades of learning. The AI equivalent is its training phase, during which the model absorbs enormous amounts of text and data. Both systems require a long investment before they are able to produce sophisticated answers.

    We could widen the frame further. AI models are trained on the accumulated output of millions of people: books, research papers, code, and conversations. In that sense an AI model resembles a compressed form of collective knowledge. The human comparison might not be a single expert at all, but something closer to a research community.

    There is an even deeper perspective. Human intelligence itself is the product of hundreds of millions of years of evolution. If we tried to account for the energy required to evolve brains capable of language and reasoning, biological intelligence would hardly look inexpensive.

    For practical purposes, however, the clearest comparison is this: a trained AI model and a trained human expert.

    Once we make that comparison, the numbers become interesting. Training a frontier AI model today can require several million kilowatt-hours of electricity. The cost is paid up front during training, after which the model can generate answers at relatively low additional cost.

    The human brain, by contrast, runs on about twenty watts of power. Over a full day that amounts to roughly half a kilowatt-hour. Within that modest energy budget the brain performs perception, memory, learning, language, and reasoning.

    The real puzzle is not that AI systems use a great deal of energy. Modern computers were built for speed and scale, not for metabolic thrift. The deeper puzzle is why the brain is so efficient.

    Evolution had a strict energy budget. Brains that wasted energy did not survive. Neurons fire sparsely, meaning most of the brain is quiet most of the time. Memory and computation happen in the same place, reducing the need to move information around. And the brain relies heavily on prediction, focusing effort on what changes rather than recalculating everything continuously.

    The result is a form of intelligence that runs steadily on the power of a small light bulb.

    Perhaps the real surprise is not that artificial intelligence consumes so much energy, but that human intelligence runs on just twenty watts.

    Join us for Meditation in Person this Sunday, March 1, at the Biblio Wakefield Library at 1:30 pm

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    If you are in the Wakefield, Quebec area, the Meditation in the Library group has kindly invited me to share my approach to meditation. Join us for Meditation in Person this Sunday, March 1, at the Biblio Wakefield Library at 1:30 pm.

    I bring my lifelong experience in meditation and cognitive psychology. I currently facilitate an online Meditation Community informed by traditional vipassana practice and modern neuroscience. I will outline this hybrid approach to meditation, showing how traditional and scientific perspectives can blend smoothly for greater personal benefit and deeper service to the community.

    Everyone is welcome to attend this free event. The library is located at Centre Wakefield La Pêche, 38 Chemin de la Vallée-de-Wakefield, Wakefield, QC J0X 3G0

    The term, meditation, sticks

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    I’m creating a new taxonomy for my meditation series and writing after years of careful study and analysis. I have no sentimentality, and am dropping long-favored terms like mindfulness and awakening. The basic term, meditation, however, denies change. I know it has too many meanings and uses, and is prey to misuse by charlatans, but it is still the best term for the modern practice I describe, grounded in traditional Buddhism, bolstered with neuroscience and neurotech, and creatively expressed with sound art. I think the term, meditation, sticks. I remain open to your thoughts.

    Everything Is Going to Be All Right

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    By Derek Mahon

    How should I not be glad to contemplate
    the clouds clearing beyond the dormer window
    and a high tide reflected on the ceiling?
    There will be dying, there will be dying,
    but there is no need to go into that.
    The lines flow from the hand unbidden
    and the hidden source is the watchful heart.
    The sun rises in spite of everything
    and the far cities are beautiful and bright.
    I lie here in a riot of sunlight
    watching the day break and the clouds flying.
    Everything is going to be all right.

    Depart is the Final Meditation in this Series

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    Join us this Sunday, February 8, 2026, at 10:00 a.m. EST

    “Depart” is the final meditation in this series. It is a bookend to our first “Arrive” meditation, a gentle practice of letting go and gratitude. It invites you to rest in a posture of ease, calm the mind, and soften the body, mind, and heart. With quiet guidance and unhurried silence, this meditation helps you release what no longer serves you and recognize what sustains you. You leave the online sanctuary renewed and better equipped for the world, with the understanding that every departure carries the possibility of return.

    Please join us this Sunday, February 8, 2026, at 10:00 a.m. EST at the link below. We look forward to seeing you.

    https://meet.google.com/ogf-dnbs-ved

    You can always find the latest information on my website. I recommend subscribing to my newsletter for invitations and essays. You can contact me via the email listed on my About page, or by replying to any newsletter. Thank you, John Miedema.

    Guest Nathan Vanek will Guide a Traditional Meditation of Lovingkindness

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    Please join the online Meditation Community this Sunday, February 1, 2026, at 10:00 a.m. EST

    The online Meditation Community is pleased to announce that guest Nathan Vanek will guide a Metta meditation, a traditional practice of cultivating lovingkindness toward yourself and others. Nathan is a longtime teacher of meditation and eastern philosophies. In January he spoke at the Biblio Wakefield Library and he previously presented to my meditation group at the Bank of Canada.

    Please join us this Sunday, February 1, 2026, at 10:00 a.m. EST. Feel free to invite others who would appreciate this special experience. It is the second last sitting in this winter series.

    All our sittings take place at the link below, last 30 minutes, and are free. We look forward to seeing you.

    https://meet.google.com/ogf-dnbs-ved

    You can always find the latest information on my website. I recommend subscribing to my newsletter for invitations and essays. You can contact me via the email listed on my About page, or by replying to any newsletter. Thank you, John Miedema.

    Join the NDP by Jan 28 to Vote for its New Leader

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    Friends, like many Canadians, I was delighted to see Mark Carney defeat Pierre Poilievre and the MAGA Conservatives. I was also impressed by his recent speech at Davos, where he called out the collapse of the rules-based order and the need to align with middle powers of goodwill. Carney is a strong fighter for Canada on the international front.

    On the domestic front, however, I am concerned. Today’s Liberals are indistinguishable from the old Progressive Conservatives, sidelining climate policy and the health and community issues the NDP once kept firmly on the agenda. There is now a gap in the political centre that the NDP are well positioned to occupy.

    Unlike the U.S., Canada’s third parties have historically exercised real leverage at key moments, preventing extremism and helping to keep Parliament and the country balanced. For these reasons, I have joined the NDP and will be voting for Avi Lewis as its new leader. I encourage you to join as well, so you can make your choice for leader. The deadline is January 28.

    https://act.lewisforleader.ca/become-an-ndp-member

    Meditation as Nervous System Training

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    How attention, awareness, and repetition gradually reshape the mind

    Announcement

    The next Meditation Community series will be themed as the Neuroscience Edition. It will add a layer of neuroscientific explanation to traditional Buddhist meditation. The series will launch in autumn 2026.

    Meditation is not about emptying the mind or achieving special states. At a basic level, it is a way of gently training the nervous system. Modern neuroscience helps explain why this works.

    Attention is trainable
    Attention is supported by networks in the front of the brain that help us focus, choose, and inhibit impulses. Each time you notice your attention has wandered and bring it back, you are exercising these networks. This is not a mistake. The moment you notice distraction is the moment of training.

    The mind wanders by default
    When we are not deliberately focused, the brain naturally activates what is sometimes called the default mode network. This network supports self-talk, memory, and imagining the future. Meditation does not stop thinking. It changes our relationship to thought, so thoughts are seen more clearly and held more lightly.

    Emotion regulation comes from awareness
    Strong emotions are generated in older parts of the brain. Meditation does not suppress emotion. By staying present with sensation and feeling, without immediately reacting, the nervous system gradually learns that emotions can be experienced safely. Calm often appears as a side effect rather than a goal.

    The body is the gateway
    Breath, posture, and bodily awareness influence the nervous system directly. Slow breathing and grounded posture support stability and recovery. Returning attention to physical sensation is one of the most reliable ways to steady the mind.

    Repetition matters
    From a brain perspective, meditation is training. Short, regular practice produces more lasting change than occasional intense experiences. Consistency matters more than depth.

    In simple terms
    Meditation trains us to notice without immediately reacting, steady attention, regulate emotion through awareness, and inhabit the body more fully. It is the slow education of a living nervous system.