Prayer Changes the Brain

The following report indicates that prayer does change the nature of our brain.  This is important as we have many neural connects that continually lead us to sinful activities giving the brian dominance over the godly desires of our soul. With the practice of the Jesus Prayer and other worship activities our brains are rewired, putting our soul back in control, so that we are more likely to to counteract our sinful tendencies.


Michael W. Taft writes the following in "Science 2.0":

An "Ask the Brains" question on the Scientific Americansite recently inquired as to any differences between the brain of an atheist and the brain of a religious person. Andrew Newberg, the director of research at the Myrna Brind Center of Integrative Medicine at Thomas Jefferson University and Hospital in Philadelphia, responded that, yes, in fact, there are some small but perceptible differences between the brains of believers and non-believers. Newberg is a pioneer in the field of "neurotheology," the study of how the brain approaches faith.For example, the frontal lobe of the brain governs reward, attention, and motivation. In past studies, those who meditate or pray regularly seem to have more active frontal lobes on average than those who do not. Meditation has even been shown to grow the frontal lobe. Newberg's own research has measured changes in cerebral blood flow among Franciscan nuns as they prayed in a meditative fashion, finding an significant increase in activity in the frontal lobe as well.

For more information on Orthodox prayer go to OrthodoxPrayer.org