Stanford studies monks' meditation, compassion Stanford neuroeconomist Brian Knutson is an expert in the pleasure center of the brain that works in tandem with our financial decisions - the biology behind why we bypass the kitchen coffeemaker to buy the $4 Starbucks coffee every day. He can hook you up to a brain scanner, take you on a simulated shopping spree and tell by looking at your nucleus accumbens - an area deep inside your brain associated with fight, flight, eating and fornicating - how you process risk and reward, whether you're a spendthrift or a tightwad. So when his colleagues saw him putting Tibetan Buddhist monks and nuns into the MRI machine in the basement of the Stanford psychology building, he drew a few double-takes. Knutson is still interested in the nucleus accumbens, which receives a dopamine hit when a person anticipates something pleasant, like winning at blackjack. Only now he wants to know if the same area of the brain can light up for altruistic reasons. Meditation science Stress reduction Effect on aging
10 Tips on How to Explore and Study Intention Edit Article Edited by George AP, Teresa, Flickety, Daniel and 10 others Intention is a surprisingly important, but rarely explored part of the mind, as its significance is only important after the fact. Only once you've spent time observing it can you find just how it fits in to day-to-day living. Ad Steps 1Find out the ways you can best view intention as it happens. 10Continue to evaluate intention. Tips Consider studying how intention is treated within different disciplines in order to broaden your understanding of it. Warnings Take things a step at a time, this is understanding a major part of how the mind works and reacts.
Wired 14.02: Buddha on the Brain The hot new frontier of neuroscience: meditation! (Just ask the Dalai Lama.) By John GeirlandPage 1 of 2 next » The Dalai Lama has a cold. He has been hacking and sniffling his way around Washington, DC, for three days, calling on President Bush and Condoleezza Rice and visiting the Booker T. Story Tools Story Images Click thumbnails for full-size image: The mood is tense. The 14th incarnation of the Living Buddha of Compassion approaches the podium, clears his throat, and blows his nose loudly. The Dalai Lama is here to give a speech titled "The Neuroscience of Meditation." But the invitation has sparked a noisy row within the neuroscience community. All of which may explain the lama's ailment. The protesters complain that the Tibetan leader isn't qualified to speak about brain science. One of the petition organizers, Lu Yang Wang, is even more blunt: "Who's coming next year?" Richard Davidson, 54, is at once a distinguished scientist and an avid spiritual seeker.
Neuroscience: The mind reader Adrian Owen still gets animated when he talks about patient 23. The patient was only 24 years old when his life was devastated by a car accident. Alive but unresponsive, he had been languishing in what neurologists refer to as a vegetative state for five years, when Owen, a neuro-scientist then at the University of Cambridge, UK, and his colleagues at the University of Liège in Belgium, put him into a functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) machine and started asking him questions. Incredibly, he provided answers. Patients in these states have emerged from a coma and seem awake. Owen's discovery1, reported in 2010, caused a media furore. Nature Podcast Communicating with vegetative patients. Many researchers disagree with Owen's contention that these individuals are conscious. Still, he shies away from asking patients the toughest question of all — whether they wish life support to be ended — saying that it is too early to think about such applications. Lost and found To the clinic
How Meditation Changes the Structure of Your Brain digg HJ: Meditation has long been known to be beneficial on a number of levels and science is now confirming this to be true, but perhaps what is even more interesting is the fact that science is also discovering things that were not previously perceptible such as the fact that meditation actually changes the structure of your brain. This is a fascinating and incredible discovery with many implications into the relationship between the body and mind. - Truth A Little Meditation Goes a Long Way By Jason Marsh | Greater Good I consider myself something of a prospective meditator—meaning that a serious meditation practice is always something I’m about to start… next week. So for years, I’ve been making a mental note of new studies showing that meditation can literally change our brain structure in ways that might boost concentration, memory, and positive emotions. Well, a new study offers some hope—and makes the benefits of meditation seem within reach even for a novice like me.
Dr. Dan Siegel - Resources - Wheel Of Awareness Wheel of Awareness - Consolidated October 14, 2013 This is a practice that should only be done after mastering the basic and expanded practices. This is offered by popular request for those familiar with the wheel to have a more expedited experience available for their busy lives! At least it is comprehensive and over the minimum dozen minutes some suggest is necessary for daily practice! In this 15 minute wheel of awareness practice, the breath becomes a pacer for the movement of the spoke of attention around the rim. download mp3 >>(right click on link to save file) THE BRAIN FROM TOP TO BOTTOM Since the 1970s, laboratories that do research about sleep have been established in many parts of the world. Thanks to their discoveries, we now know that the health problems caused by lack of sleep are far more numerous than we once imagined. These laboratories have also identified over 100 different disorders that can affect our sleep. More and more studies in animals and humans (see sidebar) tend to suggest that hypocretins (also known as orexins), a class of neuropeptides produced solely by the neurons of the hypothalamus, play a role in narcolepsy. In its most complete form, narcolepsy is also accompanied by a condition that is startling, to say the least, to those who witness it: cataplexy, a sudden decrease in muscle tonus, varying in intensity and lasting less than a minute. An attack of cataplexy is usually caused by a strong emotional trigger such as laughter, anger, surprise, or sexual arousal. Sleep paralysis and sleep hallucinations are other symptoms of narcolepsy.
Meditation Is For You | Let’s Get Started Let’s Get Started Welcome! You are about to start your very first meditation lesson. You are taking the first step towards a blissful life! At the end of this series you will know a powerful 35 minute meditation that you can practice daily. Humming Meditation Body Detoxification Chakra Awareness Unclutch Gratitude Lets Put It All Together Congratulations! Five minute meditations: (You can try these meditations in any order) <p><strong>This page is having a slideshow that uses Javascript. Drop The Anxiety and Fear This meditation helps us greatly to acknowledge and distinguish between conscious and unconscious worries, hence reducing the anxiety and fears within us. ... Freedom From Emotional Baggage This meditation can be performed anytime/anywhere to free your inner space from the emotionally loaded memories such as fear, love, and greed. ... Breathe Deep to De-Stress This inhaling and exhaling breathing technique will instantly help you remove the stress. Dissolve the Negativity Daily Meditations
Center for Narcolepsy - Stanford University School of Medicine The Stanford Center for Narcolepsy has now identified circulating immune T cells that react to hypocretin, together with a specific protein target of the autoimmune attack, conclusively demonstrating the autoimmune basis for the disease in a process called molecular mimicry. Learn more about this groundbreaking discovery and how you can help support future discoveries. Click here to read the full scientific article published December 18th, 2013 in the journal of Science Translational Medicine. Our Mission: The goals of the Stanford Center for Narcolepsy are to: find the cause of narcolepsy, develop new treatments and eventually prevent and cure this complex disorder. The Disorder: Narcolepsy is a life-long, disabling illness that affects more than 1 in 2,000 Americans. Narcolepsy is characterized by permanent, overwhelming feelings of sleepiness and fatigue. Our Research: The Stanford Center for Narcolepsy was established in the 1980s. Today, under the direction of Dr. Donate:
How to Meditate: What you didn’t know about Empty Mind Techniques and your bliss Sow a thought and you reap an act; Sow an act and you reap a habit; Sow a habit and you reap a character; Sow a character and you reap a destiny. Empty mind meditation is one of the most popular and yet misunderstood types of meditation. I love it because it trains you to still (or control, depending on what you want) your thoughts and emotions. Why should this matter? Empty mind meditation is also a neutral form – it is free of all the different teachings and belief systems, so everyone can practice it without getting sucked into something they might not want to. I’ve been asked a few times about my favourite meditations, so I’ll describe it here, with a few personal variations. If you’re an experienced meditator, you can skip the next few sections and get straight to the goods. Benefits of empty mind meditation I have used empty mind meditation to great effect; it was one of the most important practices I used to get out of extreme negativity. Continued practice of meditation: Posture
Inside Perspectives | of Asperger Syndrome and the Neurodiversity Spectrum