For thousands of years, contemplatives and mystics the world over have experienced the transformative effects of meditation first hand. In the present day, a remarkable collaboration between some of the worlds leading neuroscientists and advanced meditators is beginning to shed new light on this ancient practice.

In this video, meditation master Yongey Mingyur Rinpoche and renowned neuroscientist Dr. Richard Davidson discuss how mental training can help us recondition the mind and rewire the brain to experience wellbeing, compassion, and insight. This remarkable exploration by two of the worlds leading experts on the science of meditation illuminates how transforming the mind through meditation brings about lasting changes in the structure and functioning of the brain.

Filmed at the First Unitarian Society - University of Wisconsin, June 4, 2010

Born in 1975 in Nepal, Yongey Mingyur Rinpoche is a rising star among the new generation of Tibetan Buddhist masters trained outside of Tibet. He is a highly venerated teacher and master of the Karma Kagyu lineage who was recognized as a tulku by both the 16th Karmapa and Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche. At the unusually young age of 13, Ripoche entered a traditional three-year retreat and at age 17 was asked by Tai Situ Rinpoche to undertake a second three-year retreat and serve as it's retreat master. At age 20, Situ Rinpoche asked Mingyur Rinpoche to oversee and teach at a new monastic university at Sherab Ling Monastery in India. His youthful appearance and young age belies his vast knowledge and wisdom of the buddha dharma. Rinpoche has one-pointedly devoted his entire life to the study, practice and teaching of the dharma and he has accomplished tremendous benefit for beings in this lifetime. He teaches actively in the West and is known for his remarkable ability to convey the buddhist teachings in a clear and skillful manner. Learn more about Yongey Mingyur Rinpoche at www.mingyur.org.