Wildmind Buddhist Meditation

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Wildmind's meditation blog

Wildmind's blogs are where you'll find book reviews, commentary, podcasts, and articles that don't fit neatly into the more structured guides to meditation that you'll find on the main part of the site. Articles are arranged below by date, and you can also browse by author and category using the links on the left.

Faith beyond the frontal lobes

Reported by: Meditation News

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Washington Post: Elin Danien quietly listens to a meditation tape, eyes closed, as the radioactive tracer is injected into her IV, freezing a picture of the blood flow in her brain. As a research associate at the University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology, Danien is sharp enough to organize an upcoming exhibit on the Mayans but finds herself increasingly forgetful. Now she is part of a study to determine whether meditation can improve brain functioning — to measure … Click to read more »

Meditation zeitgeist, Sept 23, 2008

Meditation zeitgeist, Sep 8, 2008

The closest thing to Jedi mind tricks

Reported by: Meditation News

New Scientist: Though neuroscience will never peer inside of Luke Skywalker or Yoda’s head to find the brain region responsible for feeling the Force, a new study comes close.
Trained Zen Buddhists return to a state of inner calm faster than people who don’t practice meditation, according to neuroscientist Giuseppe Pagnoni and his colleagues at Emory University in Atlanta. Read more here.

Study: Zen meditation really does clear the mind

Reported by: Meditation News

Live Science: The seemingly nonsensical Zen practice of “thinking about not thinking” could help free the mind of distractions, new brain scans reveal. This suggests Zen meditation could help treat attention deficit and hyperactivity disorder (so-called ADD or ADHD), obsessive-compulsive disorder, anxiety disorder, major depression and other disorders marked by distracting thoughts. Read more here.

Flash of genius

Reported by: Meditation News

The New Straits Times: Meditation is a process by which one attempts to get beyond the conditioned, “thinking” mind into a deeper state of relaxation or awareness.
It often involves turning attention to a single point of reference. Meditation is recognised as a component of traditional medicine especially Ayurveda. We know Albert Einstein was keen on spirituality. But did he practise meditation? Could this give us an insight to his genius? Read more here.

Scientists study the links between brain, meditation

Reported by: Meditation News

The Times Picayune: The ancient discipline of meditation is making a big comeback among brain scientists. Advances in brain imaging and monitoring have made it possible to see inside the brain and explore the biological forces creating and driving conscious thoughts.

“Now we are in a position to ask questions about people’s experience and measure brain activity in close to real time,” says Clifford Saron, a scientist at the Center for Mind and Brain at the University of California at Davis. … Click to read more »

Meditation zeitgeist, July 5, 2008

Meditation, yoga might switch off stress genes

Reported by: Meditation News

Washington Post: Researchers say they’ve taken a significant stride forward in understanding how relaxation techniques such as meditation, prayer and yoga improve health: by changing patterns of gene activity that affect how the body responds to stress. The changes were seen both in long-term practitioners and in newer recruits, the scientists said. Read more here.

Meditation zeitgeist, June 20, 2008

Meditation matters

Reported by: Meditation News

The Oregonian: To unravel the workings of the brain, neuroscientist Michael Posner and colleagues at the University of Oregon have turned to an ancient discipline: meditation. A recent experiment tested college students’ ability to focus their attention and filter out distractions. Half the students received training in mindfulness meditation while the other half received relaxation training.
After five days, meditators outpaced nonmeditators on the attention test, and they became significantly better at handling stress. Read more here.

Buddhist strategies for coping with stress

Contributed by: Bodhipaksa

Dr. Russ PhilipsWe all know that mindfulness and meditation are increasingly taught as ways of coping with stressful situations. But what about other forms of Buddhist practice? A research study led by Dr. Russ Phillips, a Buddhist and professor of psychology at Missouri Western State University, identified 14 Buddhist coping strategies by asking Buddhist practitioners what coping mechanisms they used and by examining the outcomes.

The use of religion to cope with stress — known … Click to read more »

A stroke of insight

Contributed by: Bodhipaksa

Jill Bolte TaylorJill Bolte Taylor was suddenly struck by an awareness of a deep connectedness with the world, a profound spiritual realization that her body blended with the world around her, that she was a being composed of energy, connected to other beings composed of energy. “The energy of my spirit seemed to flow like a great whale gliding through a sea of silent euphoria,” she later wrote.

And this all happened because of a … Click to read more »

Lotus therapy

Reported by: Meditation News

New York Times: Mindfulness meditation, as it is called, is rooted in the teachings of a fifth-century B.C. Indian prince, Siddhartha Gautama, later known as the Buddha. It is catching the attention of talk therapists of all stripes, including academic researchers, Freudian analysts in private practice and skeptics who see all the hallmarks of another fad. For years, psychotherapists have worked to relieve suffering by reframing the content of patients’ thoughts, directly altering behavior or helping people gain insight into … Click to read more »

Emo Philips: “I used to think that the brain was the most wonderful organ in my body. Then I realized who was telling me this.”

Comment by: Bodhipaksa

Emo PhilipsGiven that it’s the mind that makes up the stories with which we try to make sense of the world, perhaps it’s not surprising that the mind tells us the story that it is the most important part of ourselves.

We think of ourselves as distinguished from other animals by our thinking. When we think about what makes us uniquely us (as opposed to another individual human being) we often point to our memories … Click to read more »

Scientists probe meditation secrets

Reported by: Meditation News

BBC: Scientists are beginning to uncover evidence that meditation has a tangible effect on the brain. Although sceptics argue that it is not a practical way to try to deal with the stresses of modern life, the long years when adherents were unable to point to hard science to support their belief in the technique may finally be coming to an end. Read more here.

Meditate on this: You can learn to be more compassionate

Reported by: Meditation News

CompassionScientific American: People who practice meditation can enhance their ability to concentrate—or even lower their blood pressure. They can also cultivate compassion, according to a new study. Specifically, concentrating on the loving kindness one feels toward one’s family (and expanding that to include strangers) physically affects brain regions that play a role in empathy. Read more here.

As a scientist I used to think meditation was hokum. Not any more!

Reported by: Meditation News

The Daily Mail: As a scientist, I have always been cautious about alternative therapies. But having spent the past few months examining the scientific facts about hypnotherapy, reflexology and meditation — three of the fastest growing therapies in the UK — I’m beginning to understand their appeal. Take meditation, for instance. Not so long ago, I would have said sitting around cross-legged for hours, reflecting on goodness knows what, would be a pretty futile exercise. Yet it’s said meditation can … Click to read more »

Meditation can lower blood pressure, study shows

Reported by: Meditation News

Science Daily: Transcendental Meditation is an effective treatment for controlling high blood pressure with the added benefit of bypassing possible side effects and hazards of anti-hypertension drugs, according to a new meta-analysis conducted at the University of Kentucky. The meta-analysis evaluated nine randomized, controlled trials using Transcendental Meditation as a primary intervention for hypertensive patients. The practice of Transcendental Meditation was found to reduce both systolic and diastolic blood pressure by several points. Read more here.

Meditation May Cut Future Heart Disease Risks

Reported by: Meditation News

Meditation can help heart health, a study from the Medical College of Georgia shows. Read more here.