Meditation

[Luc]

"Meditation is the dissolution of thoughts in Eternal awareness or Pure consciousness without objectification, knowing without thinking, merging finitude in infinity."

Voltaire

[Chris]

OK, you’ve exercised your memory enough for today, Luc. :)

Amit Goswami is very cool. He has a book and he’s in “What the Bleep do we Know?” Did you all see that movie?

I watched What the Bleep do we Know. Thanks for the tip--it is so awesome and so exactly at the right time for where my thinking is at--things are really coming together.
I have been thinking about how those at the forefront of the dominant paradigm don't know what's going on in the background --the vast backgournd that is the universe (quantum mechanics, or whatever you want to call everything that is not the direct product of the ego).
I had this flash while watching the film about the "know- it- all" docs of the establishment and how this huge investment in the paradigm creates huge blinders.
There is something about being on the outside that is freeing (that's the pollyanna version -- of course being marginalized has lots of penalties in the non quantum world we actually live in !!)

[Sheila]

Oh, I'm so excited that you watched it and that it was just the right time for you to see it!!

As our Luc has said, time is running out for the those at the forefront of the dominant paradigm. In fact, surveys show that the majority of plain old citizens tend to espouse beliefs like those in What the Bleep. And now we are communicating with each other easily through the Internet.

I was just thinking today. I used to think blogs were about "I had Rice Krispies for breakfast today. I thought about having Special K, but then I changed my mind."

But, I have been astonished to discover that there is a network of people writing really deeply thought-out, carefully-researched blogs about stuff related to What the Bleep. And they're citing each other, and so creating a web of deepening thinking. It's very exciting. So, I don't think you're being too pollyanna at all at all!

[Barbara]

Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
by Karen Herzog
19 Jan 13

While interest in mindfulness meditation as a stress reliever has grown through the years, there's been little evidence to support that it helps those suffering from chronic inflammation conditions in which psychological stress plays a major role.
Until now.

A new study by University of Wisconsin-Madison neuroscientists suggests mindfulness meditation techniques may help people suffering from rheumatoid arthritis, inflammatory bowel disease and asthma.

Mindfulness-based stress reduction, originally designed for patients with chronic pain, consists of continuously focusing attention on the breath, bodily sensations and mental content while seated, walking or practicing yoga.

The study by UW neuroscientists with the Center for Investigating Healthy Minds at the Waisman Center was the first designed to control for other therapeutic mechanisms, such as supportive social interaction, expert instruction or learning new skills, according to a UW news release.

The mindfulness-based approach is not a magic bullet, said Melissa Rosenkranz, assistant scientist at the center and lead author of the paper, which was published recently in the journal Brain, Behavior and Immunity.

But the study does show that there are ways that mindfulness can be beneficial, and that some people may be more likely to benefit from this approach than other interventions, she said.

Significant portions of the population do not benefit from available pharmaceutical treatment options, for example. Some of these patients suffer from negative side effects of the drugs or simply do not respond to the standard of care for treatment of the disorder.

"The mindfulness-based approach to stress reduction may offer a lower-cost alternative or complement to standard treatment, and it can be practiced easily by patients in their own homes, whenever they need," Rosenkranz said.

The study compared two methods of reducing stress: a mindfulness meditation-based approach and a program designed to enhance health in ways unrelated to mindfulness.

According to the news release:
The comparison group participated in the Health Enhancement Program, which consisted of nutritional education; physical activity, such as walking; balance, agility and core strengthening; and music therapy. The content of the program was meant to match aspects of the mindfulness instruction in some way. For example, physical exercise was meant to match walking meditation, without the mindfulness component. Both groups had the same amount of training, the same level of expertise in the instructors, and the same amount of home practice required of participants.

Using a tool called the Trier Social Stress Test to induce psychological stress and a capsaicin cream to produce inflammation on the skin, immune and endocrine measures were collected before and after training in the two methods. While both techniques were proven effective in reducing stress, the mindfulness-based stress reduction approach was more effective at reducing stress-induced inflammation.

The results show that behavioral interventions designed to reduce emotional reactivity are beneficial to people suffering from chronic inflammatory conditions. The study also suggests that mindfulness techniques may be more effective in relieving inflammatory symptoms than other activities that promote well-being.


http://www.jsonline.com/features/hea...187618081.html

[Sheila]

Welcome to the Institute of Noetic Sciences Meditation Bibliography! With more than 6000 citations and growing, the IONS Meditation Bibliography is the largest and most comprehensive known catalogue of published scientific studies of meditation in the world. IONS maintains this database and updates it quarterly.

This bibliography enables professionals, students, and interested individuals to navigate a treasure trove of published articles that deal with questions like "Is meditation effective for stress reduction in a corporate environment, and, if so, what type of meditation and programs are beneficial?" or "I have a patient with hypertension who might benefit from meditation – what program should I recommend?"

History

The IONS Meditation Bibliography was originally compiled and edited by Michael Murphy, cofounder of Esalen Institute, in collaboration with Steven Donovan. It was published in print in 1997 as The Physical and Psychological Effects of Meditation: A Review of Contemporary Research with an introduction by Eugene Taylor. It has since been updated and is now available as a searchable, online catalogue with citations, abstracts, and, when available, full-text articles — all free of charge! With nearly 6000 entries and growing, the IONS Meditation Bibliography is the largest and most comprehensive known catalogue of published scientific studies of meditation in the world. IONS maintains this database and updates it quarterly with current research.

http://noetic.org/meditation-bibliog...iography-info/

[Sheila]

Meditation Research

The practice of meditation is believed to have existed before written history, and was typically situated within a set of religious beliefs and frameworks. Meditation began making inroads into popular Western culture in the 1960s as interest in Eastern philosophies spread. Concurrently, scientific research on meditation, its effects, and its applications began to be conducted in various clinical and academic domains. The growth of research into meditation and the development of new applications incorporating meditation are now growing exponentially. Today’s meditation researchers are investigating and translating the wisdom of the ancients with significant clinical findings in neuroscience, medicine, and psychology. Scientists, health and healing practitioners, educators, and laypeople are discovering the practical benefits of meditation in contemporary culture, such as increases in positive emotions and psychological stability, improved mental clarity, reductions in symptoms of illness, beneficial effects on immunity, brain function, hormonal functioning, and possibly aging, and greater appreciation of the fullness of the life experience.

In an excerpt from the Dalai Lama’s book Contemplative Mind, Hard Science, His Holiness speaks about the importance of research into meditation.

“Until recently, scientists believed that after adolescence, the hardware of the human brain becomes relatively unchangeable. But new discoveries in neurobiology have uncovered a remarkable potential for changeability in the human brain even in adults as old as I am. At the Mind and Life Conference in Dharamsala in 2004, I learned of the growing subdiscipline of neuroscience dealing with this question, called “brain plasticity.” This phenomenon suggests to me that traits that were assumed to be fixed – such as personality, disposition, even moods – are not permanent and that mental exercises or changes in the environment can affect these traits. Already experiments have shown that experienced meditators have more activity in the left frontal lobe, the part of the brain associated with positive emotions such as happiness, joy, and contentment.

These findings imply that happiness is something we can cultivate deliberately through mental training that affects the brain. [T]he Buddha himself argued that if one wishes to avoid certain types of results, one needs to change the conditions that give rise to them. So if one changes the conditions of one’s state of mind (which normally gives rise to particular habitual patterns of mental activity), one can change the traits of one’s consciousness and the resulting attitudes and emotions.”

In addition to the neuroscience of meditation, our research at IONS has identified meditation as one of the key practices for cultivating positive transformations in consciousness – the kinds that involve fundamental shifts in worldviews and ways of being that affect every aspect of daily life. In addition to regulating emotion, cultivating cognitive stability, and “training the brain,” meditation is viewed by many people as much more: a pathway toward self-transcendence, direct experience of an interconnected whole, awakening, liberation from suffering. We are also interested at IONS in investigating the ways that meditation may cultivate extended human capacities.


http://noetic.org/meditation-bibliog...tion-research/

[Luc]

Thanks a ton for this info, Sheila. The more I read about the possible positive implications of meditation, the more mind-blowing it gets.

[Niks]

how can i meditate ? literal ?

[Luc]

Here's a good link, Niks; http://theconsciouslife.com/how-to-m...-beginners.htm Though, remember, concentrating while in WD is much more difficult. This is why you shouldn't feel discouraged. You can also start with very short sessions, but more frequent ones, then make them longer.

[Niks]

ok luc, will give a try even if i start with 5 min morning and bed time everyday just to see