Jhana descriptions strain credulity. "Intense pleasure without drugs." "Deep concentration that feels effortless." "Aftereffects lasting weeks."
The natural response is skepticism. Either these are exaggerated, or they're real but unmeasurable like most meditation claims, or the people reporting them are unusual in ways that don't generalize.
Over the past decade, neuroscience has started to address this. The findings are early—small samples, methodological challenges, no clinical trials. But they're directionally interesting, and the field is accelerating. Two independent research groups are now producing convergent results.
Here's what the research shows, what it doesn't show, and what we still can't say.
The Definitional Problem
One caveat before reviewing the research: "jhana" doesn't have a single agreed-upon definition.
Buddhist texts describe eight jhanas with specific characteristics. Different traditions emphasize different markers. Some require complete sensory withdrawal; others allow lighter absorption. The research community is still working toward standardized criteria.
This matters because studies use varying definitions of what counts as "jhana." Self-report ("I was in jhana") may not track consistent phenomenology across participants. Comparing studies requires knowing what each one actually measured.
Recent work by Sparby and Sacchet (2024) has begun systematically reviewing how different studies operationalize jhana. Foundational work. Unglamorous but necessary.
When reading the research, be cautious about treating all "jhana studies" as measuring the same thing. Look at what participants were actually doing and how researchers defined success.
Foundational Studies: 2013-2019
Three studies established the basic neuroscience.
Hagerty et al. (2013)
The first fMRI study. One highly experienced meditator (Leigh Brasington, 20+ years) moving through jhana states while scanned.
The finding: activation of the nucleus accumbens and medial orbitofrontal cortex—regions involved in reward processing. This was notable because it suggested jhana pleasure has a measurable neural correlate, not just a subjective report.
The limitation: n=1. One extraordinary practitioner doesn't tell us what's achievable for typical meditators.
DeLosAngeles et al. (2016)
EEG study with 12 experienced meditators and 12 matched controls at Flinders University. Compared jhana meditation to a simple concentration task.
The finding: distinct EEG signatures differentiated jhana from ordinary concentration. Jhana practitioners showed elevated gamma power in frontal regions.
The limitation: small sample, and EEG can't localize where in the brain activity originates.
Dennison (2019)
29 practitioners across 35 recordings. Correlated self-reported jhana depth with EEG patterns.
The findings: unusual EEG phenomena not typically seen in meditation research coined "meditation spindles" at lower frequencies than sleep spindles, infraslow waves with unusually high amplitudes, and spike-wave bursts with harmonic structure. Deeper jhana also correlated with reduced Default Mode Network markers.
The caveats: all three novel findings were contested in a published critique (Fell et al. 2019), which attributed them to artifacts or conventional alpha activity. Dennison rebutted each point, but the methodological debate remains unresolved. The study also lacked a proper control group.
The picture from 2013-2019
Small studies pointing toward something real, but with significant limitations: single-subject designs, contested interpretations, and no standardized phenomenological verification. Enough signal to justify more rigorous investigation.
The Harvard Acceleration: 2023-Present
Starting around 2023, research accelerated dramatically through the Sacchet Lab at Harvard and Massachusetts General Hospital.
Why the acceleration? Better imaging technology (7T fMRI offered far higher resolution than earlier work), intensive within-subject sampling designs, and growing scientific interest in contemplative states as a window into consciousness.
Yang et al. (2024)
An intensively sampled case study: one adept meditator scanned across 27 sessions over five days.
The finding: reproducible neural patterns across sessions, including anterior-to-posterior reorganization of brain activity and flattening of cortical hierarchies. The study demonstrated tight coupling between neural changes and real-time phenomenological ratings. When practitioners reported state transitions, the brain data shifted correspondingly.
The limitation: still n=1. The intensive sampling provides reliability data within one person, but not generalizability.
Yang et al. (November 2025, preprint)
The first group-level 7T fMRI study of jhana. Multiple practitioners showed reproducible patterns—the same neural reorganization appearing across different people, suggesting jhana isn't idiosyncratic to unusual individuals.
The caveat: this is a preprint, not yet peer-reviewed. The findings should be treated as provisional until published.
Chowdhury et al. (2025)
Found increased brain entropy during jhana, a measure associated with richer, more flexible conscious states. This parallels findings from psychedelic research, suggesting jhana may access similar territory through different means.
A note on reward circuitry
Hagerty's 2013 finding—that jhana activates reward regions like the nucleus accumbens—became a headline result. But the Sacchet lab's higher-resolution imaging found a more complicated picture.
Some findings aligned with Hagerty; others diverged. The 7T fMRI showed increased activation in sensory cortices where Hagerty found decreases. Activity in the VTA (a region upstream of the reward pathway) was reduced during deep jhanas, not enhanced. The NAc showed involvement, but with a different pattern across jhana stages.
The honest summary: reward-related regions are involved, but "self-stimulating a reward system" may oversimplify what's happening. The field hasn't converged on a clear mechanism.
Independent Replication: McGill University
The most significant recent development isn't from the Sacchet lab at all.
Researchers at Michael Lifshitz's Psychedelics and Contemplation Lab at McGill University have been running parallel jhana studies with different methods and theoretical frameworks. In late 2025, Jonas Mago and colleagues posted findings from EEG recordings of 10 jhana practitioners.
Mago et al. (2025, preprint)
The finding: jhana shifted brain dynamics toward what physicists call "criticality," a regime associated with optimal information processing. Compared to ordinary mindfulness meditation, jhana produced higher neural signal diversity, reduced chaoticity, and enhanced responses to unexpected stimuli.
Why this matters: it's independent replication. A second research group, using different equipment and analysis methods, found that jhana produces measurable and distinctive brain changes. When two labs converge on similar conclusions through different paths, confidence increases substantially.
The same McGill group also investigated how jhana feels from the inside. Interviewing practitioners from that same retreat, they identified what they call the "Attention-Arousal-Release Spiral": focused attention generates joy, joy makes attention feel effortless, effortlessness allows surrender, and surrender deepens the experience in a self-reinforcing loop (Brahinsky et al. 2024).
This matches how practitioners describe jhana. Attention settles on something pleasant, which amplifies the pleasantness, which allows deeper settling. The phenomenology and the neuroscience are starting to link up. It’s not just that brain changes occur, but why they might correspond to what meditators report.
The caveat: also a preprint. The pattern of jhana research is that interesting findings appear first as preprints, then face peer review. Treat accordingly.
Related: Cessation Research
Several Sacchet lab studies have examined "cessation" events: moments where practitioners report consciousness temporarily stopping. These are distinct from jhana but relevant to understanding the range of achievable states.
Key findings: large-scale alpha power decreases beginning before cessation onset, reduced whole-brain connectivity, and movement toward criticality. Neural complexity increases rather than decreases during cessation, the opposite of what happens in sleep or anesthesia.
This matters for consciousness science: it suggests complexity alone isn't sufficient for conscious experience.
A note on preprints
Much of the recent jhana research exists as preprints, which are posted publicly but not yet peer-reviewed. It’s increasingly common in neuroscience for researchers to share findings quickly while formal review proceeds in parallel.
Preprints aren't lesser science; they're faster science. But peer review catches errors and challenges interpretations. Treat preprint findings as provisional until published in journals.
What the Research Suggests
Across studies and research groups, several patterns recur:
Measurable neural changes. Jhana produces detectable brain activity patterns, including changes in reward-related regions, Default Mode Network activity, cortical organization, and signal complexity.
Reproducibility within individuals. Intensive sampling shows the same person can reliably produce similar patterns across sessions.
Early evidence of reproducibility across individuals. The November 2025 group-level preprint suggests multiple practitioners show similar patterns, though this awaits peer review.
Independent convergence. Two research groups—Harvard/MGH and McGill—using different methods are finding that jhana produces distinctive, measurable changes.
Distinct from ordinary meditation. Jhana produces different neural signatures than mindfulness meditation, loving-kindness practice, or simple relaxation.
What the Research Doesn't Show
Causation. We see correlations between brain states and reported experience. We can't say "this brain change produces this experience."
Clinical utility. No trials showing jhana helps depression, anxiety, or other conditions. The therapeutic potential is unstudied.
Accessibility for beginners. Research participants are experienced practitioners. We can't directly infer what's achievable for people starting out.
Clear mechanism. We see what changes, not why or how. The reward circuitry story is more complicated than early headlines suggested.
Where This Leaves Us
Jhana research is early. The samples are small, the methodological challenges real, and clinical applications nonexistent.
But the direction is consistent: experienced practitioners produce reproducible, measurable brain changes during states they report as deeply pleasurable and absorptive. Two independent research groups are converging on similar findings. The field is accelerating.
For now, the research suggests jhana is real, measurable, and, based on early group-level evidence, potentially learnable.
Want to understand the practice itself? How to Practice the Jhanas
Curious whether a retreat fits your situation? Apply here
