Apr 17, 2013
Meditation is death of the ego
Gurumatha Amma,The New Indian Express: Our whole education, culture, civilisation is a training in how to become unreal, and how to prevent yourself from becoming real and and touching the reality which is hidden within you. Now meditation is the death of ego and how to contact the real and how to be again real. The first thing to be understood is how we go on becoming unreal and once this process is understood many things change immediately. The very understanding becomes mutation. We are born undivided and whole as one individual, neither body nor mind. The body and mind are two aspects…
Apr 16, 2013
What is Zen Buddhism and what is its primary goal?
Jennifer Spirko, Demand Media: Zen is a form of Buddhism that relies heavily on the practice of meditation. In fact, the word itself is the Japanese pronunciation of the Chinese term “Chan,” deriving from a Sanskrit word for meditation. This linguistic basis reveals not only the key practice at the heart of Zen, but also its long cultural history, dating back to the early years of Indian Buddhism. Like most Buddhists, Zen practitioners aim for enlightenment, called “satori,” but in the case of Zen, that enlightenment takes a uniquely pragmatic approach.
Za-Zen
The key to Zen practice is za-zen, which Shigenori Nagatomo…
Apr 14, 2013
Dalai Lama says Tibetans who commit suicide are not crazy
Examiner.com: There has been a great deal of sadness among Buddhists over the continued wave of self-immolations by Tibetans protesting repressive Chinese rule. China has blamed these self-immolations on the Dalai Lama whom Beijing claims is a trouble maker. His Holiness the Dalai Lama says this is not true, but that he is concerned about the real reasons behind the self-immolations. On April 12, 2013, the Tibet Sun reported, Tibetans who commit suicide ‘not crazy’: Dalai Lama.
During a visit to Italy this week the Dalai Lama said that Tibetans who have committed suicide in recent weeks were “not crazy” but were taking desperate……
Apr 12, 2013
Meditation increasingly popular to reduce stress
Mary MacVean, Los Angeles Times: If meditation sounds intriguing, you can try it out — in as few as 10 minutes a day — without leaving your office.
“I’d say there’s quite a range [of styles],” says Mark Coleman, a longtime teacher. “Sitting. Stillness. Movement. Yoga, tai chi, chi gong. Ones that cultivate the heart, mind and awareness and clarity. Concentration meditations — mantras. Various New Age meditations that focus on energy. Once you choose, you have to give it some period of time to evaluate.”
There are many free or low-cost downloads available and classes at meditation centres, universities and sites such as…
Apr 12, 2013
Medical establishment ponders meditation
Cynthia H. Craft, Sacramento Bee: As the nation embarks on a top-down overhaul of health care, a simple movement with the potential to improve wellness is quietly growing from the ground up.
It’s called “mindfulness meditation,” an outgrowth of the West’s fascination in recent decades with eastern Buddhist philosophy.
Slowly but surely, experts say, the medical establishment is opening its doors to meditation as research continues to reveal its potential health benefits.
Many of the nation’s hospital systems have come around to offer classes in mindfulness meditation as well as mindfulness-based stress-reduction programs.
Scientific research indicates…
Apr 12, 2013
What’s up Doc?: Has meditation gone mainstream? Blame science!
David Saunders, The Cornell Daily Sun: The word ‘meditation’ may invoke any number of images. Perhaps the likeness of the Dalai Lama sitting quiescently in meditative repose, legs crossed, eyes closed, hands resting gently in his lap. Maybe stereotypical meditation paraphernalia such as a singing bowl, a meditation cushion or a Tibetan prayer flag comes to mind. All of these images, and countless more, contribute to and result from pre-conceptions of what meditation is, where it takes place, who does it and why.
I recently took time off from medical school at Weill Cornell to pursue a Ph.D. in religious studies at…
Apr 11, 2013
Brain researcher, Sara Lazar, visits MU to share research on meditation, yoga
Abbey Sussell, Missourian: In an overcrowded Acuff Auditorium at MU on Monday night, there was a moment of complete silence. The speaker, Sara Lazar, didn’t say a word as she stood in front of a group of people with eyes closed, sitting in chairs and on the floor.
“Scan through your body,” she said to the group. “What do your legs feel like? Your back?”
Lazar, a Harvard-affiliated researcher and an instructor in the psychiatry department at Massachusetts General Hospital, was demonstrating a large component of her work: mindfulness meditation.
Mindfulness meditation focuses on bodily sensations,sensory stimuli and a conscious awareness of the present…
Apr 10, 2013
Even brief meditation can improve student performance
Rick Nauert PhD., PsychCentral: College is an invigorating world for most students, a time without parental restraints and a period in life when new experiences occur on a regular basis. But this backdrop can also be a barrier to classroom concentration and attention.
New research, published in the journal Mindfulness, suggests practicing meditation before class can help students focus and lead to better grades.
In the study, George Mason University professor Dr. Robert Youmans and University of Illinois doctoral student Jared Ramsburg conducted three classroom experiments at a California university to see if meditation might help students focus better and retain information.
Read the original article »
Apr 10, 2013
Meditation can warm you up
Stephanie Poulos, Counsel & Heal: Meditation can increase your core body temperature, according to researchers studying ancient Tibetan techniques.
Scientists in Singapore said the discovery means the brain has the ability to control core body temperature, which could have major implications for people working in extreme temperature environments.
The research, conducted by a team at the National University of Singapore, found that g-tummo meditation is actually used by Tibetan nuns to increase their core body temperature. Previous research on the meditation technique has shown that meditators were able to increase the body temperature in their fingers and toes.
Researchers collected data…
Apr 08, 2013
Transcendental Meditation significantly reduces posttraumatic stress in African refugees
MedicalExpress.com. Psychology & Psychiatry: This graph shows the changes in posttraumatic stress (PTS) symptoms as reflected in scores on the Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder Checklist (PCL) in the two groups. Both groups indicated severe PTS symptoms at baseline. Visible improvements can be seen in the TM group. While a drop in 11 points on this measure is considered clinically significant, TM practice led to three times that drop in PTS symptoms after 30 days practice. The TM group went to a non-symptomatic level after 30-days and remained low at 135-days. Credit: Maharishi University of Management A significant percentage of veterans returning from wars exhibit symptoms of…