Meditation: Alpha Brain Wave Control

Researchers studied a group of meditators who were initially taught a body scanning technique (similar to Goenka), moving on to other forms of mindfulness.  The researchers seemed to be focused on the somatosensory cortex, what I think of as the central strip running from ear to ear (C3-C4).  Researchers believe that top down control of alpha leads to "faster and more sensitive filtering of sensory information in the brain," which may explain many of the benefits of meditation.

As reported in the article "Controlling Brain Waves May Be Key to Meditation's Benefits," the original paper is "Mindfulness starts with the body: somatosensory attention and top-down modulation of cortical alpha rhythms in mindfulness meditation"