(November 13, 2016 at 5:51 pm)operator Wrote: Honestly when I am really 'in the zone' I sort of feel high all the time. Like not intoxicated high but just feel like a really loose, relaxed, happy version of me and every moment sort of pulsates into the next. Very interesting experience and it is more easily attained when I'm meditating on a regular basis.
Your description put Me in mind of alpha waves at first, but further digging around reveals that it's not as simple as that. They've also noticed an increase in theta waves, and increased blood flow to some parts of the brain.
Meditation training does appear to have tangible neurological and psychological effects, although they're still sorting through it all. (Trying to stage high-quality blinded studies is likely going to be an ongoing problem in researching this, simply because of differences in study subjects and the difficulty in coming up with a "placebo" form of meditation for the control group.)
