For many, spirituality is a question of faith. But Dr. Richard Davidson, a renowned neuroscientist at the University of Wisconsin, wants to understand what's really happening to people's brains when they engage in meditation and other spiritual practices.

Through research conducted at the Center for Investigating Healthy Minds, which Davidson founded in 2008, scientists have found that meditation can have profound effects on the body. It can affect human behaviorby changing the way genes are expressed and can help cure illnesses by reducing cell inflammation.

Other scientists as well as the monks he wanted to study were once skeptical of Davidson's work, but it's now embraced by both scientistsand the religious. He has won the support of the Dalai Lama, who onceencouraged him to study the brains of Tibetan monks. Schools, corporate offices and the military are all starting to turn to meditation, now that there isscience to back it up.

But during a conversation with journalist Dan Harris at Manhattan's JCC last week, Davidson emphasized that his research is not just about reducing the stigma of meditation. Even though Buddhists have been meditatingfor centuries, he said there's still a lot to learn.

"There are hundreds of different kinds of meditation practices," Davidson said. "If we could do a better job of figuring out which people would benefit most from which kinds of practices, I think it could be very helpful. I'm confident that we could actually learn something about that through serious scientific research."

Watch the full conversation between Davidson and Harris here.

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The Science of Spirituality: What Happens to Our Brains When We Meditate?