List of People who will not benefit from meditation

                          77% of people who live in the U.S. regularly experience physical symptoms caused by stress.  -www.statisticbrain.com-

Below is a list of those people who will receive no benefit from the practice of some form of meditation:

 

1. People who have died

Of course this is a guess since we have not discovered whether consciousness continues after the body’s physical death or whether or not such consciousness would require “stilling”. You can be relatively certain that, regardless of what happens after we die, that meditating after our body has expired is not much help to our current situation.

 

2.People who have no mind

            I have not met anyone like this. This is not the same as people who have “lost their minds”. I have asked several professionals in the field of psychology, psychiatry, and neurology, as to the actual location of the mind and have not been given a direct answer. Some point to physical organ of the brain and claim that it is somewhere up there. I suppose this notion attempts congruousness with the idea that the mind is the thinking ability of the brain. In my experience it seems as though the brain, among other things, receives sensory input making it a perceiver of phenomenon. The mind is the interpreter of these experiences. Given the fact that no one knows exactly where the mind is located I would be willing to state that most people have “lost their minds”. In my focus on mind clearing meditation locating the mind is not of high importance. Controlling the thoughts of your mind is what becomes necessary.

 

3. People who prefer suffering. misery, and anxiety as opposed to peace. 

            Meditation is not effective in helping achieve this mental state. About two years ago my room mates and I hosted a weekly meditation sessions in our home. Around this same time I had given a short introductory meditation lesson to one of my neighbors who inquired about it. Afterwards I invited her to our weekly group. For the next three days she was in a state of peace and bliss. I would see her when I would walk my dog around the block and she was all smiles and pleasantly excited. She would thank me for all that I had done. After a few weeks of her not showing up for the group, I saw her while walking my dog early one morning and asked if she was getting the emailed group invitations. She was standing on her porch with a beer in one hand and coughing over the cigarette in the other. She looked miserable. “I’m not interested.” was her reply. I countered, “How are you dealing with the stress?” She said, “I drink plenty of alcohol, smoke plenty of weed, and take drugs for all that.” I smiled. “Sounds like you got the cure”, I remarked. Due to my own arrogance it took much meditative practice for me to learn to accept people where ever they are at in their lives. 

The limits of the practice

            Veteran meditator and spiritual teacher Krishnamurti wrote once that “the land of truth is pathless”. There is no “one path” to experience calm acceptance or peace for every individual. Meditation is not for everyone. I had to except a long time ago (with considerable bruising to my arrogant ego) that regardless of my relentless passion to share the peace that can be achieved through mind clearing meditation with all who come across my path, I am not Jesus, Buddha, Lao Tzu, or Dojen, I cannot save the world, and meditation is not the cure for all the problems of the world. I can teach, all who are interested in knowing, how to take back control of their thoughts which is the main proponent of human initiated suffering in the world. This I do.

            You would be surprised to know how many people forget that genuine love, happiness, and peace, cannot be shared with another unless you have already offered and accepted it for yourself. It’s important to practice daily re-accepting this offer to love yourself. Practicing meditation can be a reminder to spend time doing this often.      

            That being stated there are real dangers that need to be avoided when teaching meditation to any exploring student. One such danger became apparent as on a few occasions when I was teaching students, when trying to clear their mind, they became immersed in fear. This is a warning sign that the student may be repressing disturbing memories that they are not ready to face yet. In these cases “concentration meditation” which involves focusing on one thought as opposed to clearing all thoughts is more appropriate. Finding the right meditation method for you may take some time but determining whether a method works or does not is relatively simple. If you are practicing a particular method and are experiencing some form of discomfort, i.e. fear, stress, anxiety, then this method is obviously not you best option.

            Another example is more a matter of common sense but when teaching grade school age children the art of meditation, trying to get them to completely clear their minds is not fruitful and unnecessary. Getting them in the habit of closing their eyes, sitting still for a few moments, and paying attention to their breathing is the key. This opens the opportunity for relaxation, slowing of mind turbulence, and self-reflection.

            Keeping the meditation classes open and fluid to accommodate anyone who may want to participate has been the practice of SAMA Sense since its inception. When someone asked me once, “What method do you teach?” I responded that we do not strictly adhere to any particular school of teaching although we do bring to the table techniques from many traditions. Some call this “free style”. I do find it interesting that when leading a group meditation that contains participants from different religious affiliations that using a language that highlights the physical and psychological benefits of the practice can be effective. This avoids the muck of getting into conflicts over different religious believes. If I happen to be leading a group that has all Christian participants, which is becoming rare these days, I will use language from that tradition. I have also found it curious that when leading a group of non-religious affiliated participants, those who have become known as “Nones”, using terms from different spiritual traditions seems to go over well. Is it not curiously wonderful that when you take religious beliefs out of the equation that people don’t seem to mind using references to the “Divine” or the “Infinite”.              

Gift of Breath

In every breath we relive our creation

God animates Adam

God animates us

Both at the same instant

In every breath is a resurrection experience

God animates Christ

Christ animates us

Both at the same instant

Lord, teach me to accept your gift of breath

And return each exhalation as gift back to You

Meditation Stats

Statistics on People who Meditate

Statistics on people who meditate can be found everywhere. Statistics on people who meditate have shown they become less stressed and calmer. Statistics on people who meditate in groups have even shown the crime rate in that particular area drop significantly. There are statistics on everything related to meditation. There are so many different statistics on meditation and statistics on people who meditate because meditation in one form or another has been around for thousands of years.

With its roots deep in India and Southeast Asia, meditation has made its way into modern Western culture, namely through Transcendental meditation, which was brought to the West by Maharishi Mahesh Yogi and made popular by celebrities like The Beatles.

But what can somebody expect from practicing meditation? Well statistics on people who meditate have shown that daily reflection and rumination has dramatically decreased the occurrence of heart disease. Further, in patients previously diagnosed with heart disease, meditation has been proven to lessen the effects and somewhat reverse the disease.

Stress is a major cause of many things such as coronary disease, congestive heart failure, diabetes and high blood pressure. All of these afflictions have been shown through scientific study to be lessened or otherwise depleted with the help of meditation in fact health insurance statistics on people who meditate regularly have shown that they are less prone to illness. The actual statistics were that those who meditate reduced the likelihood of being hospitalized for coronary disease by 87 percent, and the possibility of getting cancer by 55 percent.

Many doctors have studied the statistics on people who meditate and now prescribe meditation for their patients. These patients have reported more energy, higher productivity and more patience. Business owners have reported that among employees, who meditate, absenteeism is lower, production is higher, and the quality of their work is better thus proving the statistics on people who meditate are right.

A Detroit based chemical plant posted the following results three years after implementing meditation:

• Absenteeism fell by 85%
• Productivity rose 120%
• Injuries dropped 70%
• Profits increased 520%

According to reports, there have been over 1500 separate studies since 1930. All were related to meditation and its effects on the practitioners. Some statistics on people who meditate include results like:

• Heart rate, respiration, blood pressure and oxygen consumption are all decreased.
• Meditators are less anxious and nervous.
• Meditators were more independent and self-confident
• People who deliberated daily were less fearful of death.
• 75% of insomniacs who started a daily meditation program were able to fall asleep within 20 minutes of going to bed.
• Production of the stress hormone Cortisol is greatly decreased, thus making it possible for those people to deal with stress better when it occurs.
• Women with PMS showed symptom improvements after 5 months of steady daily rumination and reflection.
• Thickness of the artery walls decreased which effectively lowers the risk of heart attack or stroke by 8% to 15%.
• Relaxation therapy was helpful in chronic pain patients.
• 60% of anxiety prone people showed marked improvements in anxiety levels after 6-9 months.

It has been documented that people who use meditation and relaxation techniques may be physiologically younger by 12 to 15 years; could this possibly be the Fountain of Youth? While there are probably many other studies to look at, I believe that the results reported above are tell-tale. Meditation, relaxation, reflection and deliberation can affect the physical body in a positive way just as stress and other factors effect the body in a negative one. In either case science and the statistics on people who meditate, has confirmed the positive effects of meditation beyond a shadow of a doubt.

This article was written by By Joel Sparks. To view the original article click here .

 

Who Am I?

This writing is dedicated to my cousin Brian K. who has often been a shining light in my life.

 

 

                 This article was written in response to a question posed to me by a friend. His question came as a response to an excerpt from the Tao Te Ching I posted on a social website which reads:               

“Hope and fear are both phantoms
that arise from thinking of the self.
When we don’t see the self as self,
what do we have to fear?” (Tao Ch:13)¹

 

After reading the excerpt my friend asked: “If we don’t see the self as self, then what are we?”

                This question often comes to front and center when people reflect on their meditative practice. This is the beginning of the walk on a path that leads to spiritual and mental realization.  

Who are we?

                From the time of our conception we are formed by our social surroundings or what some call conditioned by our outer environment. The influence of our parents, or lack of parents, the influence of our siblings, the influence of our community, the churches we attended or did not attend, our teachers, mentors, civil authorities and political leaders, the movies we watch, the music we listen to, the books we read, the advertisement that we are bombarded with, basically everything in our outer environment, along with some personal choices, play apart in creating our personal identities.  

                If someone asks you who you are, how would you respond? I have heard people respond with reciting their name, “I am Jane Doe. I am a part of the Doe Family.” If they are at their work they may respond with their job title, “I’m a truck driver for Nestles.” If in a foreign country perhaps the response would be, “I’m an American.” At a sporting event the response may be, “I am a Blues fan.” In reference to a belief system one may respond, “I am a Christian” or, “I am an atheist”, etc. When we identify ourselves in this way we are speaking out of our personal histories exposing the influences from our past conditioning. In these histories is the story of the self.

                These self identifiers can be known as “tags”. These tags come with mental attachments and learned patterns of thought. We cling to these patterns dearly because these patterns, in a large way, are us. As we cling to them, many are oblivious to the notion that these “tags” can be confining to our growth. By the time we are adults we are covered with so many tags, many of which we did not choose for ourselves, that we have smothered any true sense of who we really are. “Is this really me or is this who others convinced me that I am? Is there a genuine, pure me underneath all this?”

                I often ask people within our meditation groups, “If you could swipe the mind clean of all past influences, family, country, religion, all of it, who would you be?” There must be something there because when you close your eyes and remove the thoughts from the mind something remains. What remains is the authentic you.

 

                                              The authentication of Paige Bradley 

                

                The virtuoso sculptor Paige Bradley (pictured above) describes this in a fashion that beckons my humbleness. In an attempt to remove the confines of the conditioned perceptions of her past she shatters a sculpture that she had been working on for months. She began piecing the fragments back together resulting in a work of art that clearly displays the light of the pure self inside of her and each of us.

In her own poignant words she explains:

“From the moment we are born, the world tends to have a box already built for us to fit inside. Our umbilical cord never seems to be severed; we only find new needs to fill. If we disconnected and severed our attachments, would we shatter our confinements and expand beyond our shell? Would the world look different? Would we recognize ourselves? Are we the box that we are inside, and to be authentically ‘un-contained’ would we still be able to exist? This is the irony of containment. As long as we don’t push on the walls of our surroundings, we may never know how strong we really are.”

To view the original article and more about the Artist Paige Bradley click here .

Realizing who you are

                Lao Tzu, in the scripture reading quoted above, is separating the ordinary egoic self from the genuine self. When one privileges the tags that compose our understanding of the self over our obvious connection to all life, the world, and the divine essence of our Source, we begin to lose our true sense of self. As the practice of mind clearing meditation becomes habitual you start to peel away these layers of attachments that previously defined you. Simultaneously you begin reformatting your mind in a way that dissolves negative thought patterns and continues to bring your awareness back to your connection with the “big picture” of life. The egoic self shrinks and the genuine self expands. In some cases during these meditative episodes you no longer “see the self as self” but experience your being as fussed with  all else that is. This is what the Hindu scriptures call self-realization. Your thinking becomes less “me” centered or human centered and becomes Source centered. Hence, the stanza that completes chapter 13 of the Tao states:  

“See the world as your self.
Have faith in the way things are.
Love the world as your self;
then you can care for all things.”¹

                In the Christian scriptures, Jesus addresses egoic or human centered thought quit plainly in Mathew’s gospel. In this story Jesus informs his followers that he soon will suffer and be killed at the hands of Jewish elders. Peter, in an inflation of the egoic self, criticizes Jesus and arrogantly proceeds to tell Jesus how God should be involved with His people. The passage that includes Peter’s rebuke is as follows:

                 “Then Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him, “God forbid, Lord! No such thing shall ever happen to you.” He turned and said to Peter, “Get behind me, Satan! You are an obstacle to me. You are thinking not as God does, but as human beings do.” (Mat 16:23-24 NAB)

Then Jesus returns to the other followers who were there and reminds them of the sentiments of Lao Tzu;

               “Whoever wishes to come after me must deny himself”                                               

                Please keep in mind that Lao Tzu is not preoccupied with judgments of right or wrong. Lao Tzu’s focus is psychological. He is pointing to that which happens in the mind that robs a person of contentment and peace. Is it wrong to identify ourselves by our family name or by our country of origin? Not necessarily. If we could retrace our family lineage back to before the beginning of time there also would be our Source.

               I will close with Chapter 16 of the Tao Te Ching. Perhaps this will put this writing in perspective:

“Empty your mind of all thoughts.
Let your heart be at peace.
Watch the turmoil of beings,
but contemplate their return.

Each separate being in the universe
returns to the common source.
Returning to the source is serenity.

If you don’t realize the source,
you stumble in confusion and sorrow. 
When you realize where you come from,
you naturally become tolerant,
disinterested, amused,
kindhearted as a grandmother,
dignified as a king.
Immersed in the wonder of the Tao,
you can deal with whatever life brings you,
and when death comes, you are ready.”¹

Notes:

1.All quotes from the Tao Te Ching have been retrieved from: Tao Te Ching: A new English Translation, Stephen Mitchell, Harper Collins, 2009

 

 

The Priest, The Buddha, and The Ant

On one day in May I meditated in the late morning as the construction work that I was scheduled to do that day was called off. After meditation I went outside with my niece’s dog so that she could run around the back yard as I drank a cup of coffee. I was in an extreme state of awareness. While sitting on the brick patio I noticed a small ant that was diligently carrying what looked like a flake of coal about the size of a clipped finger nail. The ant was struggling in getting this large piece across the bricks to her destination. There was a slight wind. The force of the breeze against the flat side of the flake accompanied with the weight and shape of the flake itself was causing the ant to spin around on occasion in order to hang on to her new found necessity. After the spin, the ant would stagger a bit while resetting herself on the path of her intention. As I watched the ant I felt connected to her in some way. I wondered what made me think in times past that what I was doing was more important than what the ant was doing on the occasions when we would cross paths. Both of our lives were necessary for the positive development of the world ecosystems. At the moment this animal seemed to be exercising more positive coordinated evolvement than I was.

As I watched this scene I recalled a sermon I had heard years before from a Catholic priest in my home town during a Sunday service. In the pastors talk he claimed the actions of the Buddha were “retarded” because he had read stories where the Gautama would walk with his head bowed being careful to step aside when he would come upon ants that where in his path. This enlightened spiritual master practiced such a reverence for all life that he did not want to disrupt the ants.

I had a difficult time reconciling the words of the priest in my current observation of the ant. The ant was tenacious in crossing wide crevices in the brick with flake in her hands. The ant did not seem to have much concern about what I was doing as she moved toward her colony. In a comparable size to weight ratio the ant did more in 5 minutes than I could have done in 4 hours with three men and a crane. If ants think at all like humans then this ant obviously experienced conscious mind activity in that she could exercise memory functions returning from whence she came. After marveling at the ant’s ability and finishing my coffee, I decided to test the priest theory about the actions of the 6 century BCE Indian sage whom over 500 million living humans claim to be one of the wisest men to ever walk the face of the planet. I spent some time researching ants.

The first study I came upon was from a professor at Ohio State University in regards to mentally grasping an ant’s physical strength. His team found that some ant bodies can with stand more than 3500 times their weight in pressure before they are crushed. To give you an idea of the weight to pressure ration this would be the same as placing a 3600SF, 2 story house on the back of a 170lb man before their neck would break.¹ Ok, their physically strong. What about their longevity? Queen Carpenter ants can live up to 10 years. Some classes of ants can live for 30 years.²

What about their ability to function and evolve in their environment which is an accurate mark of intelligence? The study of other animals who don’t share a lot in common with human beings has been detoured in a large way due to our persistent, debilitating, man centered thought process. Often humans’ only understanding of intelligence is composed of perceiving the physical world as humans do. Ants display complex and intelligent behavior even by human standards. They navigate long distances, communicate with each other, avoid predators, display courtship, care for their young, similar to many mammals. Research that came out of the University of Sussex determined that when it comes to a sense of direction and the ability to move around in their environment, “ants use a variety of cues to navigate, such as sun position, polarized light patterns, visual panoramas, gradient of odors, wind direction, slope, ground texture, step-counting… and more. Indeed, the list of cues ants can utilize for navigation is probably greater than for humans.” The study goes on to conclude that in general the intricacies of ant brains are far too complex for humans to fully understand any time soon.³

What about evolution? Ted Schultz, Curator of Hymenoptera (Ants) for the Smithsonian Institute has been studying these extraordinary animals for over 30 years. In reference to ant evolution he stated that, “ants are arguably the greatest success story in the history of terrestrial metazoa (multicellular animals on the earth)”, this includes humans.⁴ This indicates that ants are positively evolving at a much greater rate than humans. Ants have been around for over 65 million years and survived mass extinction events. The oldest remains discovered called “human” only date back 195,000 years. On average ants monopolize over 15-20% percent of their habitat with an estimated population of around 10 quadrillion. ⁵ That’s 1.4 million ants for each human that occupies the same planetary space. Ants will work in coordination with other species of ants. They domesticate multiple types of fungi, their food source, like we grow plants and flowers in our living spaces. They will choose to grow certain fungi that are most beneficial for their nourishment and frequently transfer these types to other species. When ant habitats have been devastated by natural causes’ colonies have been known to join a neighboring colony and work in cooperation in a common garden.⁶

In some ways, many humans simply haven’t evolved to the equal intelligence level of ants. This is obvious by the fact that humans spend 1.7 trillion dollars on tools, training, and equipment, which destroys other humans and their habitats.⁷ Less than 2% of that amount would feed the 7.5 million humans who starve to death each year.⁸ I could not find any information that stated that ants destroy other ant habitats. Humans who inhabit many parts of the globe are trained from the time they are young that non-edible materials such as gold, silver, platinum, and paper with inked impressions of historical figures, are more important than other humans and in some cases more important than life itself. There have been countless documented incidences where people were completely willing to sacrifice their own lives for these materials which had no human physically sustaining value. Ants don’t typically involve themselves in activities such as these that are considered “de-evolutionary”.

Is it possible that the Buddha knew something that the priest didn’t? Perhaps the Spiritual Teacher was aware of the important role that ants play in maintaining a healthy planet. By digging tunnels ants aerate the soil allowing better water flow and bringing nutrients closer to the surface for vegetation. It is estimated that ants move over 50 tons of dirt per year in one square mile.⁹ Ants increase the dispersal, survival, and germination rates, of seeds by carrying them to new habitats away from seed eaters (birds) and drought. Ants prey on the eggs and larvae of other insects such as flies, cock roaches, bed bugs, and fleas. And this is only a few of the positive aspects of ants. The diversity of total ant species with in an ecosystem can be an indicator of overall environmental health. This contributes to the health of all plant, fungi, and animals (including humans), that share the environment.¹⁰

In regards to ants I am going to have to go with the Buddha on this. I remember some of a passage I read from the Pali Cannon that was attributed to the Buddha, in paraphrase it goes something like, “Believe nothing on the sole authority of your masters and priest. After examination, believe what you have tested and found to be reasonable. Then, act accordingly.”

Notes:

1. (Carlos Castro, Journal of Biomechanics, Vol.47 Is.2, Pg 497-504, 1/22/14;

Weight of house, http://hunterthehousehunter.com/tag/how-much-does-a-house-weigh/)

2. (Steph Unna, Systems Biology PhD Student at the Sainsbury Laboratory, Cambridge University, http://biology.stackexchange.com/questions/2785/why-do-ants-live-so-long, 06/30/12)
3. (Antoine Wystrach, Animal Behavior – University of Sussex, The Conversation, 09/03/13)
4. (Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, vol.97 No.26, Ted R. Schultz,  14028–14029, doi: 10.1073/pnas.011513798)

5. (Robert Gonzalez, http://io9.gizmodo.com/5880539/10-frightening-facts-you-probably-didn’t-know-about-ants)
6. (University of Texas, Austin- Ant Studies, http://www.uni-konstanz.de/FuF/Bio/neuroetho/index/Adams%20et%20al.%202000a.pdf)

7. (World military expenditure in 2012 is estimated to have reached $7.756 Trillion; http://www.globalissues.org/article/75/world-military-spending.
8. (United Nations Estimate, http://borgenproject.org/the-cost-to-end-world-hunger/)
9. (http://ant/ark.net/ant-facts/)

10.( Corrie Moreau, Ant Blog 08/26/12, http://www.antweb.org/antblog/2012/08/what-good-are-ants-david-panama-city-florida-usa.html)

11. Buddha recitation, Pearls of wisdom, (http://www.sapphyr.net/buddhist/buddhist-quotes.htm)

 

 

 

Harvard neuroscientist: Meditation not only reduces stress, here’s how it changes your brain

Buddhist and meditation teacher Tara Brach leads a Vipassana  meditation group at the River Road Unitarian Church in Bethesda.  (Andrea Bruce Woodall /The Washington Post)

---

Sara Lazar, a neuroscientist at Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard Medical School, was one of the first scientists to take the anecdotal claims about the benefits of meditation and mindfulness and test them in brain scans. What she found surprised her — that meditating can literally change your brain. She explains:

Q: Why did you start looking at meditation and mindfulness and the brain?

Lazar: A friend and I were training for the Boston marathon. I had some running injuries, so I saw a physical therapist who told me to stop running and just stretch. So I started practicing yoga as a form of physical therapy. I started realizing that it was very powerful, that it had some real benefits, so I just got interested in how it worked.

The yoga teacher made all sorts of claims, that yoga would increase your compassion and open your heart. And I’d think, ‘Yeah, yeah, yeah, I’m here to stretch.’ But I started noticing that I was calmer. I was better able to handle more difficult situations. I was more compassionate and open hearted, and able to see things from others’ points of view.

I thought, maybe it was just the placebo response. But then I did a literature search of the science, and saw evidence that meditation had been associated with decreased stress, decreased depression, anxiety, pain and insomnia, and an increased quality of life.

At that point, I was doing my PhD in molecular biology. So I just switched and started doing this research as a post-doc.

Q: How did you do the research?

Lazar: The first study looked at long-term meditators vs a control group. We found long-term meditators have an increased amount of gray matter in the insula and sensory regions, the auditory and sensory cortex. Which makes sense. When you’re mindful, you’re paying attention to your breathing, to sounds, to the present moment experience, and shutting cognition down. It stands to reason your senses would be enhanced.

We also found they had more gray matter in the frontal cortex, which is associated with working memory and executive decision making.

It’s well-documented that our cortex shrinks as we get older – it’s harder to figure things out and remember things. But in this one region of the prefrontal cortex, 50-year-old meditators had the same amount of gray matter as 25-year-olds.

So the first question was, well, maybe the people with more gray matter in the study had more gray matter before they started meditating. So we did a second study.

We took people who’d never meditated before, and put one group through an eight-week  mindfulness based stress reduction program.

Q: What did you find?

Lazar: We found differences in brain volume after eight weeks in five different regions in the brains of the two groups. In the group that learned meditation, we found thickening in four regions:

1. The primary difference, we found in the posterior cingulate, which is involved in mind wandering, and self relevance.

2. The left hippocampus, which assists in learning, cognition, memory and emotional regulation.

3.  The temporo parietal junction, or TPJ, which is associated with perspective taking, empathy and compassion.

4. An area of the brain stem called the Pons, where a lot of regulatory neurotransmitters are produced.

The amygdala, the fight or flight part of the brain which is important for anxiety, fear and stress in general. That area got smaller in the group that went through the mindfulness-based stress reduction program.

The change in the amygdala was also correlated to a reduction in stress levels.

Q: So how long does someone have to meditate before they begin to see changes in their brain?

Lazar: Our data shows changes in the brain after just eight weeks.

In a mindfulness-based stress reduction program, our subjects took a weekly class. They were given a recording and told to practice 40 minutes a day at home. And that’s it.

Q: So, 40 minutes a day?

Lazar: Well, it was highly variable in the study. Some people practiced 40 minutes pretty much every day. Some people practiced less. Some only a couple times a week.

In my study, the average was 27 minutes a day. Or about a half hour a day.

There isn’t good data yet about how much someone needs to practice in order to benefit.

Meditation teachers will tell you, though there’s absolutely no scientific basis to this, but anecdotal comments from students suggest that 10 minutes a day could have some subjective benefit. We need to test it out.

We’re just starting a study that will hopefully allow us to assess what the functional significance of these changes are. Studies by other scientists have shown that meditation can help enhance attention and emotion regulation skills. But most were not neuroimaging studies. So now we’re hoping to bring that behavioral and neuroimaging science together.

Q: Given what we know from the science, what would you encourage readers to do?

Lazar: Mindfulness is just like exercise. It’s a form of mental exercise, really. And just as exercise increases health, helps us handle stress better and promotes longevity, meditation purports to confer some of those same benefits.

But, just like exercise, it can’t cure everything. So the idea is, it’s useful as an adjunct therapy. It’s not a standalone. It’s been tried with many, many other disorders, and the results vary tremendously – it impacts some symptoms, but not all. The results are sometimes modest. And it doesn’t work for everybody.

It’s still early days for trying to figure out what it can or can’t do.

Q: So, knowing the limitations, what would you suggest?

Lazar: It does seem to be beneficial for most people. The most important thing, if you’re going to try it, is to find a good teacher. Because it’s simple, but it’s also complex. You have to understand what’s going on in your mind. A good teacher is priceless

Q: Do you meditate? And do you have a teacher?

Lazar: Yes and yes.

Q: What difference has it made in your life?

Lazar: I’ve been doing this for 20 years now, so it’s had a very profound influence on my life. It’s very grounding. It’s reduced stress. It helps me think more clearly. It’s great for interpersonal interactions. I have more empathy and compassion for people.

Q: What’s your own practice?

Lazar: Highly variable. Some days 40 minutes. Some days five minutes. Some days, not at all. It’s a lot like exercise. Exercising three times a week is great. But if all you can do is just a little bit every day, that’s a good thing, too. I’m sure if I practiced more, I’d benefit more. I have no idea if I’m getting brain changes or not. It’s just that this is what works for me right now.

This article was was written by Brigid Schulte and published in the Washington Post on May, 25th 2015. To view the original article click here.

To watch a 4 minuet excerpt of an interview with Doctor Sara Lazar discussing the science behind meditation click here .

Educating Mindfulness

 

 

Wisconsin elementary-school teachers are incorporating simple mental exercises in the classroom to promote well-being, thanks to a partnership between the Madison Metropolitan School District and the Center for Healthy Minds at the Waisman Center, University of Wisconsin-Madison.

The Center worked with fifth-grade classroom teachers and other personnel at Glendale Elementary in Madison, Wis., during the 2014-15 school year, sharing practices with teachers and students to improve attention and students’ emotion regulation skills.

To watch an 8 minute video how on this works and the effects click here.

 

Proof that meditation can change the world

Meditation has the potential to literally transform the world. In 1978, what is known as the “Maharishi Effect” took place when a group of 7000 individuals over the course of 3 weeks were meditating in hopes of positively effecting the surrounding city. They were able to literally transform the collective energy of the city which reduced global crime rates, violence, and casualties during the times of their meditation by an average of 16%. Suicide rates and automobile accidents also were reduced with all variables accounted for. In fact, there was a 72% reduction in terrorist activity during the times at which this group was meditation.

Almost 50 studies have been done further confirming the benefits of global meditation and it’s direct impact on everything in the world, even so far as to have the results published in the Journal of Crime and Justice in 1981. We know meditation has endless health and psychological benefits, but it is now being explored by politics and sociology because of its undeniable energetic impact.

For example, a day-by-day study of a two-month assembly in Israel during August and September of 1983 showed that, on days when the number of participants at a peace-creating assembly was high, the intensity of an ongoing war in neighboring Lebanon decreased sharply. When the number of participants was high, war deaths in Lebanon dropped by 76%.

When the study was repeated in Wales, they got amazing results. In 1987 Merseyside had the third highest crime rate of the eleven largest Metropolitan Areas in England and Wales; by 1992 it had the lowest crime rate. 40% below levels predicted by the previous behavior of the series. There were 255,000 less crimes in Merseyside from 1988 to 1992 than would have been expected had Merseyside continued to follow the national crime trend.

The secret of the Global Maharishi Effect is the phenomenon known to Physics as the ‘Field Effect’, the effect of coherence and positivity produced from the field of infinite correlation—the self-referral field of least excitation of consciousness—the field of Transcendental Consciousness, which is basic to creation and permeates all life everywhere. Meditation takes your consciousness to the implicate levels of existence where your intentions have consequential effects on the explicate level that we interact with before it even manifests. Consciousness gives rise to the material. The key idea is that all of existence emanates out of a field of universal consciousness, called the Unified Field or Super String Field.

“I think the claim can be plausibly made that the potential impact of this research exceeds that of any other ongoing social or psychological research program. It has survived a broader array of statistical tests than most research in the field of conflict resolution. This work and the theory that informs it deserve the most serious consideration by academics and policy makers alike.”

David Edwards Ph.D., Professor of Government, University of Texas at Austin.

This article was originally viewed on in5d.com. To read original article click here.

 

 

Meditation Benefits

Contemporary Prophets

Dianna Ortiz O.S.U 2013 -Is a member of the Mount Saint Joseph Ursulines

02.08.17          3:30 am

WARNING: The Surgeon General has determined that digesting the following words could affect your mind in a way that causes you to think, feel, and act, differently. Proceed with extreme caution!  

            Why is it that some of the most clear thoughts come to one as they awaken in the middle of the night. It’s as if you are alone, unhindered by the noises of a busy world and your mind is free to think and remember all the times in the past when the wise ones of the ages spoke to you in person, or through their written words. Everything makes so damn much sense. So as I sit and listen to the popping noise of my fingers hitting the lap top computer; I imagine all those lights from the past and those still present who were put here by some divine force to guide humanity in a direction that will perpetuate the regeneration of human life on this ball in the sky. I imagine them standing around me, mentoring my actions to a place beautiful and unknown.

            I was told once by the poet U.N. Known, that there are rules of engagement, so to speak, when you attempt to write something that others may consider reading. The first went something like, always write as though you are on your death bed and these are the last words that anyone will ever see from you. Your last testament as they say. The second, never forget that just because you read a few books and you were fortunate to enough to be involved throughout your life with some of the  most brilliant minds of your time, that this doesn’t make you the final authority on any subject. A true writer is a humble and compassionate soul that recognizes that in the blink of an eye she/he could be sitting next to the homeless person that you pass everyday on your way to the grocery store. Third, Keep in mind that your perceptions about life are always limited to some degree and that you could be wrong in the way you are describing what you “think” you see. Never be afraid to trust another set of eyes, especially those of one who has nothing to lose by telling the truth. Some of the most profound words ever spoken and seldom heard came from people who were destitute and seemed to be on their last breath. They are the ones who hold no fear of what others think of them or what is to come because soon all of that will not matter anymore and they will be gone from this world. I have heard people call these sort visionaries or prophets.

            The word ‘prophet’ has been considerably beat up over the last millennium or so to where some believe the word to identify a person who could tell the future. This is a slight distortion from the original meaning. Within the Hebrew tradition the term comes from the word “nabi” which means something closer to one ‘who speaks for another’. I define the word in another way that indicates someone who is telling you, “stop doing what you are doing or bad things will continue to happen.”  The reference in the ancient writings from various traditions often included one who would speak for those who had been forgotten by the rest of society, the marginalized. Using this criterion there are many contemporary prophets who are shouting about the regrettable state of affairs of the marginalized and it would do one well to listen to their words. When I tell people about the misuse of the word prophet I often remember a character in a story recited by Homer many tears and many years ago. Her name was Cassandra who was given the gift of prophesy by a god in exchange for sexual favors. When she denied the god, Apollo, his desires he took revenge by assuring that none of her prophecies would be believed. This unbelieving is of course a common occurrence among prophets even to this day.

            One case in point is the story of Dianna Ortiz, a Catholic nun who was working as a missionary in Guatemala aiding women and teaching Mayan grade school children. On November 2^nd,   1989 she was abducted by Guatemalan military units funded and trained by the representatives of the US government. They took her to a secret prison in Guatemala City where she was tortured and repeatedly raped during questioning for the next 24 hours. She eventually escaped but before she did she was told by the American consultant who was in charge during her torture session that it was by her own fault that she was captured and tortured for not heeding the written anonymous threats that were sent to her.

            After she was back in the United States Sr. Ortiz told her story. According to her testimony given in September 2005 at the Call for Justice conference in Washington D. C. she stated that at first, “I was labeled a liar, a crazy women” by many people who did not believe her. This unbelieving, plus her insistence to speak for others whom she knew had suffered the same fate and did not survive, many of whom were women and children, are the ear markings of a contemporary prophet. Her courage to speak for others when so many were willing to kill her to maintain her silence moves beyond the description of a beautiful human being of integrity.

            There is one other item of importance that I would like to mention about Sr. Ortiz. When she was interviewed by John Pilger in 2007, she remarked:

            “I’ve heard people say that what happened in Abu Ghraib (US prison in Iraq from 2003-2004) is an isolated incident and… I have to just shake my head and say, ‘Are we on the same planet? Aren’t you aware of our (the United States) history? Isn’t history taught in the classrooms about the role of the US Government in human rights violations?’” To watch this interview click Here.

It is blatantly obvious that these types of histories are shielded from the view of many Americans. Accurate history is available, but you have to go find it.

Continue below to learn more about the US Government’s involvement in torture programs.

Please be advised. Some of the images in the following video’s depict graphic violence and may not be appropriate for some viewing audiences.  

To watch the Dianna Ortiz interview with John Pilger click here.

To watch a history of the US Governments involvement in the torture and deaths of religious and others click here.

To watch a history of US torture centers in Iraq click here.

To view and read about ten infamous US operated torture centers click here.

To watch an interview with the former UK Ambassador to Uzbekistan on the US use of the torture center there click here.