Introduction to the neuroscience of mindfulness and meditation; brain-wise methods for steadying the mind, quieting it, bringing it to singleness, and concentrating it; an exploration of what could be happening in the brain during the non-ordinary states of consciousness known as samadhis or jhanas.
More resources, freely offered at http://www.rickhanson.net
Mindfulness at Work: Navigating Multitasking With Focus & EaseShalini Bahl
This is a webinar I did for AllOne Health’s clients on mindfulness at work and how it enhances the ability to focus and well being. If you would like to see the full webinar please visit the website:
http://mindfuluniverse.com/video/mindfulness-at-work-new-approaches-to-maximize-focus If you would like the slides please let me know and I will be happy to email you a copy
Companies that realize and invest in the connection between employee health and business goals have a competitive advantage. Taking care of your employees and taking care of your customers are not mutually exclusive events. If you support your employees with the right tools, they'll be more engaged, more focused, less stressed and better able to deliver bottom line results. Research has shown that meditation can reduce stress for employees while also improving performance and productivity for the organization. On February 20th, Tom Freeman, Engagement Manager, Headspace for Work, will give a presentation on the benefits of meditation and mindfulness for your team, and demonstrate what a culture of meditation could look like in your organization.
In this webinar, you'll learn:
The scientific benefits of meditation and mindfulness
More about the Headspace library of content and how to make it part of your day
How to build a supportive culture of meditation in the workplace
When using the correct methods of Mindfulness, you find that the experience is profound and it changes your complete view of things.
Visit us: http://www.meditationdirectories.com
When you feel better you do better, but our happy chemicals are not designed to flow all the time for no reason. What's a big-brained mammal to do? These happy chemical strategies are simple enough to teach the people around you. You can have company on the path to dopamine, serotonin, oxytocin, and endorphin!
Guided mindfulness meditation - What is mindful meditation & how to do it Yvette Bordley
Mindfulness meditation guided mindfulness meditation for stress reduction, mbsr. Based on jon kabat zinn meditation techniques and mindfulness based cognitive therapy. Includes breathing meditation, meditation techniques, relaxation, insight meditation, vipassana meditation. Power point presentation on mindfulness plain english, free meditation guide. Mindfulness for beginners to help learn meditation and develop a mindfulness practice.
Your ability to manage your brain is your most important skill. When you understand the animal origins of your dopamine, serotonin and oxytocin, you have power. Your happy chemicals are wired by past experience so they're hard for your verbal brain to make sense of. Mirror neurons also shape our responses in ways that are not obvious to the verbal brain. To be a good leader, understand your own responses.
"Hay emociones que pueden matarte"
Liberarte de ellas, ayuda a sanar y a vivir una vida más feliz y productiva!!!
¿Qué clase de pacientes?
Con enfermedades de todo tipo, cánceres...
La Organización Mundial de la Salud dice que el 70%
de las enfermedades son psicosomáticas, es decir producidas por la mente. Hoy los expertos creen que el 90% de ellas tiene un componente mental o espiritual.
¿Cómo los ayuda?
No tratando de no morir, sino de vivir hasta morir. De vivir bien.
No vivas con enfermedad y dolor…
Existe un Método para liberarte!!!
Vipassana is a way of self-transformation through self-observation. It is a logical process of mental purification. It focuses on the deep interconnection between mind and body. Vipassana is an ancient Indian meditation technique.
This is a presentation that I created for my Professional Skills class in November, 2012. It is an extremely rudimentary look at meditation -- I wanted to make it as simplistic as possible to be able to translate the importance and necessity.
The biological evolution of awareness and the apparent self; what neuroscience tells us about the distributed and endlessly variable neural nature of the apparent self; the stress, suffering, and interpersonal difficulties that come from “excesses of self”; the importance of healthy self-compassion and self-advocacy; how to heal injuries to self-worth; methods for taking things less personally, relaxing possessiveness, and feeling more at one with all things.
More resources, freely offered at http://www.rickhanson.net
The Loving Brain - Healing and Treating Trauma, Addictions and Related Disord...Rick Hanson
Over millions of years, social abilities – such as bonding, empathy, compassion, language, and cooperative planning – really aided survival. Love, broadly defined, has profoundly shaped the evolution of the human brain.
Mindfulness at Work: Navigating Multitasking With Focus & EaseShalini Bahl
This is a webinar I did for AllOne Health’s clients on mindfulness at work and how it enhances the ability to focus and well being. If you would like to see the full webinar please visit the website:
http://mindfuluniverse.com/video/mindfulness-at-work-new-approaches-to-maximize-focus If you would like the slides please let me know and I will be happy to email you a copy
Companies that realize and invest in the connection between employee health and business goals have a competitive advantage. Taking care of your employees and taking care of your customers are not mutually exclusive events. If you support your employees with the right tools, they'll be more engaged, more focused, less stressed and better able to deliver bottom line results. Research has shown that meditation can reduce stress for employees while also improving performance and productivity for the organization. On February 20th, Tom Freeman, Engagement Manager, Headspace for Work, will give a presentation on the benefits of meditation and mindfulness for your team, and demonstrate what a culture of meditation could look like in your organization.
In this webinar, you'll learn:
The scientific benefits of meditation and mindfulness
More about the Headspace library of content and how to make it part of your day
How to build a supportive culture of meditation in the workplace
When using the correct methods of Mindfulness, you find that the experience is profound and it changes your complete view of things.
Visit us: http://www.meditationdirectories.com
When you feel better you do better, but our happy chemicals are not designed to flow all the time for no reason. What's a big-brained mammal to do? These happy chemical strategies are simple enough to teach the people around you. You can have company on the path to dopamine, serotonin, oxytocin, and endorphin!
Guided mindfulness meditation - What is mindful meditation & how to do it Yvette Bordley
Mindfulness meditation guided mindfulness meditation for stress reduction, mbsr. Based on jon kabat zinn meditation techniques and mindfulness based cognitive therapy. Includes breathing meditation, meditation techniques, relaxation, insight meditation, vipassana meditation. Power point presentation on mindfulness plain english, free meditation guide. Mindfulness for beginners to help learn meditation and develop a mindfulness practice.
Your ability to manage your brain is your most important skill. When you understand the animal origins of your dopamine, serotonin and oxytocin, you have power. Your happy chemicals are wired by past experience so they're hard for your verbal brain to make sense of. Mirror neurons also shape our responses in ways that are not obvious to the verbal brain. To be a good leader, understand your own responses.
"Hay emociones que pueden matarte"
Liberarte de ellas, ayuda a sanar y a vivir una vida más feliz y productiva!!!
¿Qué clase de pacientes?
Con enfermedades de todo tipo, cánceres...
La Organización Mundial de la Salud dice que el 70%
de las enfermedades son psicosomáticas, es decir producidas por la mente. Hoy los expertos creen que el 90% de ellas tiene un componente mental o espiritual.
¿Cómo los ayuda?
No tratando de no morir, sino de vivir hasta morir. De vivir bien.
No vivas con enfermedad y dolor…
Existe un Método para liberarte!!!
Vipassana is a way of self-transformation through self-observation. It is a logical process of mental purification. It focuses on the deep interconnection between mind and body. Vipassana is an ancient Indian meditation technique.
This is a presentation that I created for my Professional Skills class in November, 2012. It is an extremely rudimentary look at meditation -- I wanted to make it as simplistic as possible to be able to translate the importance and necessity.
The biological evolution of awareness and the apparent self; what neuroscience tells us about the distributed and endlessly variable neural nature of the apparent self; the stress, suffering, and interpersonal difficulties that come from “excesses of self”; the importance of healthy self-compassion and self-advocacy; how to heal injuries to self-worth; methods for taking things less personally, relaxing possessiveness, and feeling more at one with all things.
More resources, freely offered at http://www.rickhanson.net
The Loving Brain - Healing and Treating Trauma, Addictions and Related Disord...Rick Hanson
Over millions of years, social abilities – such as bonding, empathy, compassion, language, and cooperative planning – really aided survival. Love, broadly defined, has profoundly shaped the evolution of the human brain.
Using the Mind To Change the Brain: Talks @Google - Rick Hanson, PhDRick Hanson
Jesus, Moses, the Buddha, and other great teachers were all born with a brain built essentially like anyone else's. Then they used their minds to change their brains in ways that changed history. With the new breakthroughs in neuroscience, combined with insights from thousands of years of contemplative practice, you, too, can shape your own brain for greater happiness, love, and wisdom.
Written with neurologist Richard Mendius, M.D., and with a Foreword by Daniel Siegel, M.D. and a Preface by Jack Kornfield, Ph.D., Buddha's Brain: The Practical Neuroscience of Happiness, Love, and Wisdom joins modern science with ancient teachings to show you how to have greater emotional balance in turbulent times, as well as healthier relationships, more effective actions, and greater peace of mind.
http://amzn.to/oLTD3B
Buddha's Brain: Natural Enlightenment and Unshakable Peace - Rick Hanson, PhDRick Hanson
Combining the power of the latest brain science with the wisdom of contemplative practice, this workshop will present practical methods for centering your brain in its natural state of gladness, love, and peace. In particular, you'll learn brain-savvy ways to reduce anxiety and irritability, feel stronger and safer, and clear old pain.
More resources are freely offered at http://www.rickhanson.net.
Buddha's Brain: Lighting Up the Neural Circuits of Happiness, Love and WisdomRick Hanson
Combining the power of the latest brain science with the wisdom of contemplative practice, these are practical methods for centering your brain in its natural state of gladness, love, and peace.
Buddha's Brain: Lighting up Your Own Circuits of Happiness, Love, and Wisdom ...Rick Hanson
How mental activity sculpts neural structure; the benefits and pitfalls of integrating neuroscience and psychotherapy; the neural substrates of self-compassion; and how to activate the lateral networks of mindful awareness.
More resources, freely offered at http://www.rickhanson.net
The Whole Holy Brain: Activating Integrative Processes in Your Nervous System...Rick Hanson
How you can use your mind to reshape your brain for the better, plus three specific ways to promote integrative processes in your brain.
More resources, freely offered at http://www.rickhanson.net
Taking in the Good: Building Resilience into the Brain through Positive Exper...Rick Hanson
How the brain evolved a “negativity bias” that continually looks for, reacts to, and stores negative experiences; how this shapes the interior landscape of the mind, leading to pessimism, depressed and anxious mood, and over-reactions; the neural machinery of memory; how to “trick” that machinery into weaving positive experiences into the brain and the self, leading to greater resilience, happiness, and interpersonal effectiveness; applications to particular situations, including healing trauma, cooperation with medical or psychological treatment, and raising or teaching children.
Introduction to the neuroscience of mindfulness and meditation; brain-wise methods for steadying the mind, quieting it, bringing it to singleness, and concentrating it; an exploration of what could be happening in the brain during the non-ordinary states of consciousness
Paper Tiger Paranoia - Rick Hanson, PhDRick Hanson
How the brain’s “negativity bias” makes clients overestimate threats, underestimate opportunities, and underestimate inner and outer resources, leading to anxiety, anger, depression, and conflicts with others – and how to help clients overcome that bias, see the good facts about the others, the world, and themselves, and build resilience for happiness, healthy relationships, and occupational success.
More resources are freely offered at http://www.rickhanson.net.
Mindfulness and Taking in the Good: Using Neuroplasticity to Weave Resources ...Rick Hanson
How the brain evolved a “negativity bias” that continually looks for, reacts to, and stores negative experiences; how this shapes the interior landscape of the mind, leading to pessimism, depressed and anxious mood, and over-reactions; the neural machinery of memory; how to “trick” that machinery into weaving positive experiences into the brain and the self, leading to greater resilience, happiness, and interpersonal effectiveness; applications to particular situations, including healing trauma, cooperation with medical or psychological treatment, and raising or teaching children.
New science is showing how mental activity sculpts neural structure. Using the power of self-directed neuroplasticity, you can target, stimulate, and thus gradually strengthen the neural substrates of well-being.
More resources are freely offered at http://www.rickhanson.net.
Natural Contentment And Brain Evolution - Rick Hanson, PhDRick Hanson
With the power of modern neuroscience, informed by ancient contemplative wisdom, you can use your mind alone to change your brain for the better. Self-directed neuroplasticity involves steadying the mind (key to both worldly success and spiritual practice), cooling the fires of stress reactivity, weaving positive experiences into the fabric of your brain and self, and taking life less personally.
More resources are freely offered at http://www.rickhanson.net.
Buddha's Brain: The Practical Neuroscience of Inner Peace - Rick Hanson, PhDRick Hanson
Integrate the latest brain science research with the ancient wisdom of contemplative practice. Discover practical methods for improving mindfulness and concentration, calming the heart, weaving positive experiences into your brain and your self, and then bringing these new strengths into your relationships with both kindness and assertiveness.
More resources are freely offered at http://www.rickhanson.net.
The Not-Craving Brain: From Greed, Hated and Heartache to Contentment, Peace ...Rick Hanson
An integrated contemplative neuroscience model that can be used in healthy ways, fulfilled and even transcended.
More resources, freely offered at http://www.rickhanson.net
Pairing Positive and Negative to Fill the Hole in the HeartRick Hanson
Implicit memory systems – including expectations, emotional residues and reactive patterns – are a primary target of therapy. Since they are vulnerable to change during consolidation, the skillful pairing of positive and negative material in awareness can gradually soothe and ultimately replace negative implicit memories. This workshop will explore neuro-savvy methods for doing this, including how to identify the positive material that will best "antidote" old pain or deficits in internalized resources.
The Neurology of Awakening - Rick Hanson, PhDRick Hanson
Using the New Brain Research to Steady Your Mind.
Introduction to the neuroscience of mindfulness and meditation; brain-wise methods for steadying the mind, quieting it, bringing it to singleness, and concentrating it; an exploration of what could be happening in the brain during the non-ordinary states of consciousness known as samadhis or jhanas.
More resources are freely offered at http://www.rickhanson.net.
Steadying the Mind - Healing and Treating Trauma, Addictions and Related Diso...Rick Hanson
To stay alive in the wild, our ancestors evolved highly distractible attentional systems – which pose real challenges to developing greater mindfulness today. This presentation covers how attention works in your brain, and the implications of normal neurological diversity for the “turtles” and “jackrabbits” at either end of the spectrum.
Neuropsychological research on stress, emotions, and painful experiences; approach/avoid responses to the pleasant/unpleasant “hedonic tone” of experience; illuminating parallels in the Buddhist analysis of “dependent origination,” in which our reactions to the hedonic tone of experience lead to craving, clinging, and suffering; numerous methods for reducing or eliminating reactions to the hedonic tone, and thus gaining much greater emotional balance, and an increasingly unshakeable core of happiness.
More resources are freely offered at http://www.rickhanson.net.
Not-Self in the Brain: Insights from Neuroscience about Not Taking Life Perso...Rick Hanson
The biological evolution of awareness and the apparent self; what neuroscience tells us about the distributed and endlessly variable neural nature of the apparent self; the stress, suffering, and interpersonal difficulties that come from “excesses of self”; the importance of healthy self-compassion and self-advocacy; how to heal injuries to self-worth; methods for taking things less personally, relaxing possessiveness, and feeling more at one with all things.
More resources, freely offered at http://www.rickhanson.net
Being and Doing: Activating Neural Networks of Mindful Presence - Rick Hanson...Rick Hanson
In our turbocharged culture, "doing" routinely overpowers "being," so this talk and discussion covers effective ways to stimulate and strengthen "being networks: the neural substate of spacious contented awareness."
More resources, freely offered at http://www.rickhanson.net
Mental Training & Mastering the Art of Mindfulness (Short Version)Daryush Parvinbenam
Mental Training & Mastering the Art of Mindfulness (Short Version)
By: Daryush Parvinbenam M.Ed., M.A., LPCCS, LICDC
South Community, Inc.
Feb 20, 2013
Expand your mental healing universe!
The complete 33 slide show with one of a kind images.
All you need to get started on your inner healing visual journey.Namaste!
Mental Training & Mastering the Art of Mindfulness
By: Daryush Parvinbenam M.Ed, M.A., LPCCS, LICDC
South Community, Inc.
Feb 20, 2013
"This human being is a guest house. Every morning a new arrival. Still, treat each guest honourably. He may be clearing you out for some new delight."
Create resilience and self-compassion with mindfulness meditation and positiv...Dr. Andrea Pennington
10 years ago Dr. Pennington introduced acupuncture, mindfulness meditation & positive psychology coaching to an intensive outpatient program for binge eating disorder. It quickly became a highly referred and publicized approach for process addictions. Her research and clinical practice produced the Attunement Meditation which fosters impulse control, resilience & stress reduction.
Free meditation downloads are available at
www.AndreaPennington.com/StressLess
Research shows that through prolonged mindfulness practice the insular region of the brain is enhanced leading to increased self-awareness, emotional regulation and wellbeing. Further, a reduction of anxiety by the amygdala through mindfulness-based practices is well established in the literature.
Dr. Pennington's Attunement Meditation empowers people to build 9 essential resilience traits for wellbeing and relapse prevention, including:
non-judgmental awareness, present moment attention,acceptance,
self-compassion, physiological stress reduction, letting go/surrender, emotional intelligence, self-generated positive emotion and gratitude, and adaptability.
Presented at Spirit Rock Meditation Center - December, 2011.
The biological evolution of awareness and the apparent self; what neuroscience tells us about the distributed and endlessly variable neural nature of the apparent self; the stress, suffering, and interpersonal difficulties that come from “excesses of self”; the importance of healthy self-compassion and self-advocacy; how to heal injuries to self-worth; methods for taking things less personally, relaxing possessiveness, and feeling more at one with all things.
The Negativity Bias and Taking in the GoodRick Hanson
The brain's evolved bias is like Velcro for negative experiences, but Teflon for positive ones. The unfortunate results include stress and threat reactivity, anxiety, depression, and limited gains in psychotherapy. Happily, through tree steps of mindful attention, we can internalize positive experiences in implicit memory systems, weaving resources for well-being, coping, and kindness into the fabric of the barin and the self.
Taking in the Good: Helping Children Build Inner Strength and HappinessRick Hanson
Scientists believe the brain evolved a "negativity bias" that makes it like Velcro for negative experiences but Teflon for positive ones. This helped our ancestors survive, but it's bad for children (and parents) today - leading them to overreact, hold onto hurts and resentments, and have a harder time developing inner resources. To address this challenge, this presentation will use practical neuroscience to show how to weave positive experiences into the fabric of the brain and the self - including how to pair a positive experience with a negative one to heal old pain.
Rick Hanson gave this public lecture for the Bridging the Hearts and Minds of Youth: Mindfulness in Clinical Practice, Education and Research Conference at the UCSD Center for Mindfulness in February, 2012.
Managing the Caveman Brain in the 21st CenturyRick Hanson
The human brain evolved in three stages: reptile, mammal, and primate. Each stage has a core motivation: avoid harm, approach reward, and attach to "us." Modern life challenges these ancient neural systems with bombardments of threat messages, the endless stimulation of desire, and social disconnections and tensions of industrial, multicultural societies. This talk will explore brain-savvy ways to cultivate mindfulness in young people, and then use that mindfulness to internalize a greater sense of strength and safety, contentment, and being loved.
Rick Hanson gave this keynote address for the Bridging the Hearts and Minds of Youth: Mindfulness in Clinical Practice, Education and Research Conference at the UCSD Center for Mindfulness in February, 2012.
Mindfulness and Twelve Step Recovery. The Wellspring Institute Winter Fund Drive and Your Best Brain workshop. Therapeutic mindfulness in dementia care. Skillful means: Do Nothing Meditation and Easy Rest.
Taking in the Good: Weaving Positive Emotions, Optimism and Resilience into t...Rick Hanson
How the brain evolved a “negativity bias” that continually looks for, reacts to, and stores negative experiences; how this shapes the interior landscape of the mind, leading to pessimism, depressed and anxious mood, and over-reactions; the neural machinery of memory; how to “trick” that machinery into weaving positive experiences into the brain and the self, leading to greater resilience, happiness, and interpersonal effectiveness; applications to particular situations, including healing trauma, cooperation with medical or psychological treatment, and raising or teaching children.
Self -Directed Neuroplasticity: Using the New Brain Research to Deepen Clinic...Rick Hanson
How mental activity sculpts neural structure; the benefits and pitfalls of integrating neuroscience and psychotherapy; the neural substrates of self-compassion; and how to activate the lateral networks of mindful awareness.
Just One Thing: Developing a Buddha Brain One Simple Practice at a Time - The...Rick Hanson
Just One Thing presents more than fifty simple practices readers can do each day to wire the brain for increased happiness, positive thinking, and wisdom. Written by Rick Hanson, author of "Buddha's Brain", this pocket-sized book helps readers reap the benefits of meditation through simple five to ten-minute practices they can access anytime, anywhere. Building on the success of "Buddha's Brain", each practice is grounded in neuroscience and positive psychology. The book offers information on why the practice is important and how it works, guidance for performing the practice, and additional resources readers can use to delve deeper into that particular type of practice. Some of the practices encourage readers to focus on gratitude for what they have, while others offer guidance for taking refuge and slowing down in stressful times. All of the practices are designed to gradually change the way readers process their emotions and create new neural pathways for greater happiness and fulfillment.
For more information and to order, visit http://bit.ly/qgZRiz.
Not-Self in the Brain - Rick Hanson, PhDRick Hanson
The biological evolution of awareness and the apparent self; what neuroscience tells us about the distributed and endlessly variable neural nature of the apparent self; the stress, suffering, and interpersonal difficulties that come from “excesses of self”; the importance of healthy self-compassion and self-advocacy; how to heal injuries to self-worth; methods for taking things less personally, relaxing possessiveness, and feeling more at one with all things.
More resources are freely offered at http://www.rickhanson.net.
Use Your Mind to Change Your Brain: Tools for Cultivating Happiness, Love and...Rick Hanson
Tools for well-being, grounded in cutting-edge science and the wisdom of the world’s contemplative traditions.
More resources are freely offered at http://www.rickhanson.net.
Mindfulness in Clinical Practice - Rick Hanson, PhDRick Hanson
On mindfulness as a concept, experience, and clinical tool for clinical and personal practice.
More resources are freely offered at http://www.rickhanson.net.
The Book of Joshua is the sixth book in the Hebrew Bible and the Old Testament, and is the first book of the Deuteronomistic history, the story of Israel from the conquest of Canaan to the Babylonian exile.
The Good News, newsletter for June 2024 is hereNoHo FUMC
Our monthly newsletter is available to read online. We hope you will join us each Sunday in person for our worship service. Make sure to subscribe and follow us on YouTube and social media.
What Should be the Christian View of Anime?Joe Muraguri
We will learn what Anime is and see what a Christian should consider before watching anime movies? We will also learn a little bit of Shintoism religion and hentai (the craze of internet pornography today).
Lesson 9 - Resisting Temptation Along the Way.pptxCelso Napoleon
Lesson 9 - Resisting Temptation Along the Way
SBs – Sunday Bible School
Adult Bible Lessons 2nd quarter 2024 CPAD
MAGAZINE: THE CAREER THAT IS PROPOSED TO US: The Path of Salvation, Holiness and Perseverance to Reach Heaven
Commentator: Pastor Osiel Gomes
Presentation: Missionary Celso Napoleon
Renewed in Grace
Homily: The Solemnity of the Most Holy Trinity Sunday 2024.docxJames Knipper
Countless volumes have been written trying to explain the mystery of three persons in one true God, leaving us to resort to metaphors such as the three-leaf clover to try to comprehend the Divinity. Many of us grew up with the quintessential pyramidal Trinity structure of God at the top and Son and Spirit in opposite corners. But what if we looked at this ‘mystery’ from a different perspective? What if we shifted our language of God as a being towards the concept of God as love? What if we focused more on the relationship within the Trinity versus the persons of the Trinity? What if stopped looking at God as a noun…and instead considered God as a verb? Check it out…
In Jude 17-23 Jude shifts from piling up examples of false teachers from the Old Testament to a series of practical exhortations that flow from apostolic instruction. He preserves for us what may well have been part of the apostolic catechism for the first generation of Christ-followers. In these instructions Jude exhorts the believer to deal with 3 different groups of people: scoffers who are "devoid of the Spirit", believers who have come under the influence of scoffers and believers who are so entrenched in false teaching that they need rescue and pose some real spiritual risk for the rescuer. In all of this Jude emphasizes Jesus' call to rescue straying sheep, leaving the 99 safely behind and pursuing the 1.
The Chakra System in our body - A Portal to Interdimensional Consciousness.pptxBharat Technology
each chakra is studied in greater detail, several steps have been included to
strengthen your personal intention to open each chakra more fully. These are designed
to draw forth the highest benefit for your spiritual growth.
The PBHP DYC ~ Reflections on The Dhamma (English).pptxOH TEIK BIN
A PowerPoint Presentation based on the Dhamma Reflections for the PBHP DYC for the years 1993 – 2012. To motivate and inspire DYC members to keep on practicing the Dhamma and to do the meritorious deed of Dhammaduta work.
The texts are in English.
For the Video with audio narration, comments and texts in English, please check out the Link:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zF2g_43NEa0
5. Basics of Meditation
! Relax
! Posture that is comfortable and alert
! Simple good will toward yourself
! Awareness of your body
! Focus on something to steady your attention
! Accepting whatever passes through
awareness, not resisting it or chasing it
! Gently settling into peaceful well-being
5
6. Foundations of Meditation
! Setting an intention
! Relaxing the body
! Feeling cared about
! Feeling safer
! Encouraging positive emotion
! Absorbing the benefits 6
7. Neural Basis of Meditation Foundations
! Setting an intention - “top-down” frontal, “bottom-up” limbic
! Relaxing the body - parasympathetic nervous system
! Feeling cared about - social engagement system
! Feeling safer - inhibits amygdala/ hippocampus alarms
! Encouraging positive emotion - dopamine, norepinephrine
! Absorbing the benefits - positive implicit memories
7
9. Mental Activity Sculpts Neural Structure
! What flows through your mind sculpts your brain. Immaterial
experience leaves material traces behind.
! “Neurons that fire together wire together.”
! Neuronal “pruning” - Natural selection in the brain
! Changes in excitability of individual neurons due to activity
! Increased blood flow
! Strengthen existing synapses
! Building new synapses; from in utero to your deathbed
! Observable thickening of cortical layers
! Your experience matters. Both for how it feels in the moment
and for the lasting residues it leaves behind, woven into the
fabric of your being. 9
13. The Three Pillars of Practice
! Virtue (sila) - expressing natural goodness, restraining what’s
harmful to oneself and others
! Concentration (samadhi) - mindfulness, steadiness of mind,
meditative absorption
! Wisdom (panna) - insight, understanding the Four Noble Truths
! A path of practice in which one both uncovers the true nature
that is already present, and purifies and transforms the mind
and heart
! The path itself is its own reward. And it ultimately culminates in
enlightenment and complete freedom from suffering. 13
14. Distinctions . . .
! Awareness is the field in which neural activity
(mysteriously) becomes conscious experience.
! Attention is a heightened focus - a spotlight - on a
particular content of awareness.
! Mindfulness is sustained attentiveness, typically with
a metacognitive awareness of being aware.
! Concentration is deep absorption in an object of
attention - sometimes to the point of non-ordinary
states of consciousness. 14
16. The Importance of Concentration
! We’ll focus on one aspect of one pillar: meditative depth.
! That aspect has often been under-emphasized as Buddhism
came to the West.
! But strong concentration is recommended by the Buddha and
traditional teachers. It brings heft to insight, strengthens the will,
and purifies the mind.
! The Noble Eightfold Path includes Wise Concentration, which is
four jhanas, profound states of meditative absorption.
! We’re not teaching the jhanas, but how to nourish the brain
states that support the mental states that are their factors. 16
17. Concentration is
the proximate cause of wisdom.
Without concentration, one cannot even secure
one’s own welfare, much less the lofty goal of
providing for the welfare of others.
Acariya Dhammapala
17
18. The Importance of Concentration
! We’ll focus on one aspect of one pillar: meditative depth.
! That aspect has often been under-emphasized as Buddhism
came to the West.
! But strong concentration is recommended by the Buddha and
traditional teachers. It brings heft to insight, strengthens the will,
and purifies the mind.
! The Noble Eightfold Path includes Wise Concentration, which is
four jhanas, profound states of meditative absorption.
! We’re not teaching the jhanas, but how to nourish the brain
states that support the mental states that are their factors. 18
19. Right Concentration
And what, friends, is right concentration? Here, quite secluded from sensual
pleasures, secluded from unwholesome states, a person enters upon and abides
in the first jhana, which is accompanied by applied and sustained thought,
with rapture and pleasure born of seclusion.
With the stilling of applied and sustained thought, the person enters upon and
abides in the second jhana, which has self-confidence and singleness of mind
without applied and sustained thought, with rapture and pleasure born of
concentration.
With the fading away as well of rapture, the person abides in equanimity, and
mindful and fully aware, still feeling pleasure with the body, enters upon and
abides in the third jhana, on account of which noble ones announce: 'He or she
has a pleasant abiding who has equanimity and is mindful.’
With the abandoning of pleasure and pain, and with the previous disappearance of
joy and grief, he or she enters upon and abides in the fourth jhana, which has
neither-pain-nor-pleasure and purity of mindfulness due to equanimity. This
is called right concentration.
19
The Buddha
20. Cultivating Vipassana
! Insight is the ultimate aim.
! Insight is nourished by stable, quiet, collected, and
concentrated states . . . of the brain.
! Liberating insight - and Nibbana itself - is the fruit of
virtue, wisdom, and contemplative practice.
Even if the ripe apple falls ultimately by grace,
its ripening was caused
by the watering, feeding, protecting, and shaping of its tree.
20
21. Heartwood
This spiritual life does not have gain, honor, and
renown for its benefit, or the attainment of moral
discipline for its benefit, or the attainment of
concentration for its benefit, or knowledge and
vision for its benefit.
But it is this unshakable liberation of mind that is
the goal of this spiritual life, its heartwood,
and its end.
The Buddha 21
24. Increased Medial PFC Activation
Related to Self-Referencing Thought
Gusnard D. A., et.al. 2001. PNAS, 98:4259-4264
24
25. Self-Focused (blue) and Open Awareness (red) Conditions
(in the novice, pre MT group)
25
Farb, et al. 2007. Social Cognitive Affective Neuroscience, 2:313-322
26. Self-Focused (blue) and Open Awareness (red) Conditions
(following 8 weeks of MT)
26
Farb, et al. 2007. Social Cognitive Affective Neuroscience, 2:313-322
27. Ways to Activate Lateral Networks
! Relax.
! Focus on bare sensations and perceptions.
! Sense the body as a whole.
! Take a panoramic, “bird’s-eye” view.
! Engage “don’t-know mind”; release judgments.
! Don’t try to connect mental contents together.
! Let experience flow, staying here now.
! Relax the sense of “I, me, and mine.”
27
28. Whole Body Awareness
! Involves insula and middle parietal lobes, which integrate
sensory maps of the body, plus right hemisphere, for holistic
(gestalt) perception
! Practice
! Sense the breath in one area (e.g., chest, upper lip)
! Sense the breath as a whole: one gestalt, percept
! Sense the body as a whole, a whole body breathing
! Sense experience as a whole: sensations, sounds, thoughts
. . . all arising together as one unified thing
! This sense of the whole may be present for a second or two,
then crumble; just open up to it again.
28
29. Panoramic Awareness
! Recall a bird’s-eye view (e.g., mountain, airplane).
! Be aware of sounds coming and going in an open space of
awareness, without any edges: boundless.
! Open to other contents of mind, coming and going like clouds
moving across the sky.
! Pleasant or unpleasant, no matter: just more clouds
! No cloud ever harms or taints the sky.
Trust in awareness, in being awake,
rather than in transient and unstable conditions. 29
Ajahn Sumedho
31. A Road Map from the Buddha
The Buddha described a progressive process in which:
…the mind is steadied internally, quieted, brought to singleness,
and concentrated - Anguttara Nikaya 3:100 - leading to
liberating insight.
! Steady - attention is stable
! Quiet - tranquility, little verbal or emotional activity
! Single - integrative awareness, minimal thought, deep and
nearly effortless engagement with the target of attention
! Concentrated - the jhanas or related non-ordinary states of
consciousness; great absorption; often powerful feelings of
rapture, bliss, happiness, contentment, and equanimity
31
33. Quiet
! Little verbal activity
! Minimal sensorimotor stimuli
! Little goal-directedness
! A still pond with few waves
33
34. Singleness of Mind
! Great collectedness: integrated, inclusive awareness:
all one percept
! Largely absorbed in the object of attention; withdrawn
from most everything else
! Only wispy, peripheral thoughts
! Growing equanimity: impartiality toward experience
! Little sense of self: breathing without a breather
34
35. Concentrated
! Profound absorption in non-ordinary state of
consciousness: e.g., the “form” and “formless”
jhanas; samadhi; mystical transport
! Pervading sense of rapture, bliss, happiness,
contentment, tranquillity, equanimity
! Penetrating clarity into fine-grained details of
experience, e.g., transience, interdependence,
selflessness
35
36. In the deepest forms of insight,
we see that things change so quickly
that we can't hold onto anything,
and eventually the mind lets go of clinging.
Letting go brings equanimity.
The greater the letting go, the deeper the equanimity.
In Buddhist practice, we work to expand
the range of life experiences in which we are free.
36
U Pandita
38. The Jhana Factors
! Applied attention - bringing it to bear
! Sustained attention - staying with the target
! Rapture - great interest in the target, bliss
! Joy - happiness, contentment, and tranquility
! Singleness - unification of awareness
38
39. Rapture
! Experience
! Feelings of pleasure, even bliss, in the body; pulses, waves of
energy; rising quality
! Range of capacity for rapture
! Can come to feel a little overwhelming
! Neurology
! Intensifies dopamine, closing the gate to working memory
! Intensifies norepinephrine and alertness (“brightening the mind”)
! Both neurotransmitters promote synaptic formation, thus learning.
! Intensifies natural opiods
! Practice
! Softly think: “May rapture (piti) arise.”
! Perhaps gently arouse the body: strong inhale; pulse muscles at
base of spine.
! If rapture doesn’t come, return to the breath. 39
40. Joy
! Experience
! Spectrum of happiness, contentment, and tranquility
! Happiness - Gratitude, gladness, delight
! Contentment - Well-being plus no wish at all that the moment be
any different (hint of equanimity)
! Tranquility - Deep peace; a still pond
! Feelings can be subtle, and still pervade the mind.
! Neurology
! Stable dopamine, lessening norepinephrine and opiods
! Internal stimulation reduces basal ganglia need for external stim.
! Practice
! Settle down from rapture.
! Softly think: “May joy (sukha) arise.”
! OK to think of cues to joy.
40
! Explore the spectrum of joy; know each state.
41. Cultivating Singleness
! Experience
! A sense of all contents of experience appearing as a unified
whole, as a single gestalt, moment by moment
! Great collectedness; minimal thought; deep, nearly effortless
engagement with the object of attention; non-reactivity; little
sense of self
! Neurology
! Fast gamma wave entrainment
! Less “effortful control” by the ACC
! Practice
! Relax into whole body awareness
! Softly think: “May singleness (ekaggata ) arise.”
! Open up to the “ka-woosh” of it all coming together
41
44. Concentration
“And what, friends, is right concentration? Here, quite secluded from sensual
pleasures, secluded from unwholesome states, a person enters upon and
abides in the first jhana, which is accompanied by applied and sustained
thought, with rapture and pleasure born of seclusion.
With the stilling of applied and sustained thought, the person enters upon and
abides in the second jhana, which has self-confidence and singleness of
mind without applied and sustained thought, with rapture and pleasure born
of concentration.
With the fading away as well of rapture, the person abides in equanimity, and
mindful and fully aware, still feeling pleasure with the body, enters upon and
abides in the third jhana, on account of which noble ones announce: 'He or
she has a pleasant abiding who has equanimity and is mindful.’
With the abandoning of pleasure and pain, and with the previous
disappearance of joy and grief, he or she enters upon and abides in the
fourth jhana, which has neither-pain-nor-pleasure and purity of mindfulness
due to equanimity. This is called right concentration.”
- The Buddha 44
45. The First Jhana:
“Accompanied by applied and sustained thought,
with rapture and pleasure born of seclusion.”
! Applied thought - Prefrontal cortex is active
! Sustained thought - Anterior cingulate cortex: active, too
! Rapture - Dopamine from ventral tegmentum to
nucleus accumbens and prefrontal lobes
! Pleasure - Norepinephrine from locus ceruleus to
cingulate cortex, brightening the mind; dopamine, too.
! Seclusion - Withdrawal from internal clamor; great sense of
safety and absence of threats; quiet amygdala and sympathetic
system; maybe oxytocin
45
46. The Second Jhana:
“Self-confidence and singleness of mind without applied and sustained
thought, with rapture and pleasure born of concentration.”
! Applied and sustained thought fade away:
! Prefrontal cortex quiets, not needed to focus attention
! Entire frontal and left temporal lobes get quiet:
No more conceptualization and language
! Anterior cingulate is freewheeling on attention itself.
! Basal ganglia, thalamus, parietal cortex:
Sufficiently fed by the intensity of awareness itself
! Rapture and pleasure persist . . .
. . . Dopamine and norepinephrine keep pulsing
! . . . But now due to the bliss of absorption itself.
46
47. The Third Jhana:
“With the fading away as well of rapture, she abides in equanimity [with
the disappearance of joy and grief], still feeling pleasure with the body.”
! Applied and sustained thought remain absent:
Prefrontal and frontal lobes are very quiet
! Rapture fades away:
Dopamine reward system in the ventral tegmental area quiets
down; attention is increasingly the object of attention.
! Equanimity:
Amygdala gets very, very quiet.
Other emotion centers go off-line.
Tranquil immersion in frontal lobe "circuit breaker”
! Pleasure . . .
Anterior cingulate cortex and the norepinephrine circuit are
cruising along in recursive positive feedback.
! . . . in the body: 47
Basal ganglia, thalamus, and parietal cortex are still activated.
48. The Fourth Jhana:
“Abandoning of pleasure and pain . . . .
[with] purity of mindfulness due to equanimity.”
! Pleasure and pain abandoned:
! The amygdala, basal ganglia, thalamus, and hippocampus
are turned way down.
! Stuff just isn’t being labeled any more.
! Dopamine down to a mere trickle.
! Purity of mindfulness due to equanimity:
! Profound disengagement from emotional reactivity
! Extreme brightness of mind and steadiness of bare
awareness suggests that the anterior cingulate cortex and
norepinephrine from the locus coeruleus are running free.
48
51. How the Brain Pays Attention
! Holding onto information
! Updating awareness
! Seeking stimulation
! Dopamine and the gate to awareness
! The basal ganglia stimostat
51
52. The education of attention
would be an education par excellence.
William James
52
53. Individual Differences in Attention
Holding Updating Seeking
Information Awareness Stimulation
High Obsession Porous filters Hyperactive
Over-focusing Distractible Thrill-seeking
Overload
Mod Concentrates Flexible Enthusiastic
Divides attention Assimilation Adaptive
Accommodation
Low Fatigues w/Conc. Fixed views Stuck in a rut
Small WM Oblivious Apathetic 53
Low learning Lethargic
54. What is your own profile of attentional capabilities?
54
56. General: Regenerate Intention
! Centrality of intention in psychology and
contemplative practice: “Ardent, diligent, and
resolute. . .” (the Buddha)
! Instructions from frontal lobes; executive oversight
via anterior cingulate
! How to:
! Evoke a sense of the desired state
! Establish intentions at start of meditating
! ”Channel” a teacher/mentor/guru
! Re-intend at short intervals
56
57. Hold the Object of Attention
! Enlist language centers for more resources
! Count breaths, steps, etc.
! "Soft noting"
! Set up overseer function to watch the watcher
! Probably centered in the anterior cingulate (AC)
! Warm up the AC with compassion
! Evoke warmth, fondness, devotion for the breath
! Increases positive emotion and energy
! Deepens engagement
57
58. Filter out Distractions
! Satiate on stimuli: Recurring, safe to ignore.
! Use frontal lobe intentionality to set "high filtering."
! Bat away other stimuli before they take root.
! Postpone planning, worrying, thinking, getting upset,
etc., to later.
! If necessary, focus on the intrusive stimulus.
58
59. Increase General Stimulation
! Enjoy “the beautiful breath.”
! Evoke feelings of sufficiency, contentment, fullness.
! Activate oxytocin, giving yourself a mental hug.
! Savor the pleasant sense of absorption itself.
59
60. Increase the Stimulation of the
Object of Attention
! Re-orient to each breath as a fresh stimulus
! Beginner’s mind, “don’t-know mind”
! Intensify contact (= more stim): details, subtleties
! Attend to breath as a whole
! Move attention among its parts
! Walking meditation
60
61. Be Satisfied with Less
! Mindfulness thickens cortical layers, so less stimuli
are still rewarding.
! Practice focusing on neutral - neither pleasant nor
unpleasant - experiences. (“The neutral is actually very
close to peace and ease. It’s a real doorway to resting in the
eventless.” Christina Feldman)
! Recall the truth that all stimuli are fundamentally
impermanent, empty, and ultimately unsatisfying.
! Call up a sense of disenchantment with the inner and
outer worlds. 61
63. Great Books
See www.RickHanson.net for other great books.
! Austin, J. 2009. Selfless Insight. MIT Press.
! Begley. S. 2007. Train Your Mind, Change Your Brain. Ballantine.
! Carter, C. 2010. Raising Happiness. Ballantine.
! Hanson, R. (with R. Mendius). 2009. Buddha’s Brain: The Practical
Neuroscience of Happiness, Love, and Wisdom. New Harbinger.
! Johnson, S. 2005. Mind Wide Open. Scribner.
! Keltner, D. 2009. Born to Be Good. Norton.
! Kornfield, J. 2009. The Wise Heart. Bantam.
! LeDoux, J. 2003. Synaptic Self. Penguin.
! Linden, D. 2008. The Accidental Mind. Belknap.
! Sapolsky, R. 2004. Why Zebras Don’t Get Ulcers. Holt.
! Siegel, D. 2007. The Mindful Brain. Norton.
! Thompson, E. 2007. Mind in Life. Belknap. 63
64. Key Papers - 1
See www.RickHanson.net for other scientific papers.
! Atmanspacher, H. & Graben, P. 2007. Contextual emergence of mental
states from neurodynamics. Chaos & Complexity Letters, 2:151-168.
! Baumeister, R., Bratlavsky, E., Finkenauer, C. & Vohs, K. 2001. Bad is
stronger than good. Review of General Psychology, 5:323-370.
! Braver, T. & Cohen, J. 2000. On the control of control: The role of
dopamine in regulating prefrontal function and working memory; in
Control of Cognitive Processes: Attention and Performance XVIII.
Monsel, S. & Driver, J. (eds.). MIT Press.
! Carter, O.L., Callistemon, C., Ungerer, Y., Liu, G.B., & Pettigrew, J.D.
2005. Meditation skills of Buddhist monks yield clues to brain's
regulation of attention. Current Biology. 15:412-413. 64
65. Key Papers - 2
! Davidson, R.J. 2004. Well-being and affective style: neural substrates and
biobehavioural correlates. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society.
359:1395-1411.
! Farb, N.A.S., Segal, Z.V., Mayberg, H., Bean, J., McKeon, D., Fatima, Z., and
Anderson, A.K. 2007. Attending to the present: Mindfulness meditation reveals
distinct neural modes of self-reflection. SCAN, 2, 313-322.
! Gillihan, S.J. & Farah, M.J. 2005. Is self special? A critical review of evidence
from experimental psychology and cognitive neuroscience. Psychological
Bulletin, 131:76-97.
! Hagmann, P., Cammoun, L., Gigandet, X., Meuli, R., Honey, C.J., Wedeen, V.J.,
& Sporns, O. 2008. Mapping the structural core of human cerebral cortex. PLoS
Biology. 6:1479-1493.
! Hanson, R. 2008. Seven facts about the brain that incline the mind to joy. In
Measuring the immeasurable: The scientific case for spirituality. Sounds True. 65
66. Key Papers - 3
! Lazar, S., Kerr, C., Wasserman, R., Gray, J., Greve, D., Treadway, M.,
McGarvey, M., Quinn, B., Dusek, J., Benson, H., Rauch, S., Moore, C., & Fischl,
B. 2005. Meditation experience is associated with increased cortical thickness.
Neuroreport. 16:1893-1897.
! Lewis, M.D. & Todd, R.M. 2007. The self-regulating brain: Cortical-subcortical
feedback and the development of intelligent action. Cognitive Development,
22:406-430.
! Lieberman, M.D. & Eisenberger, N.I. 2009. Pains and pleasures of social life.
Science. 323:890-891.
! Lutz, A., Greischar, L., Rawlings, N., Ricard, M. and Davidson, R. 2004. Long-
term meditators self-induce high-amplitude gamma synchrony during mental
practice. PNAS. 101:16369-16373.
! Lutz, A., Slager, H.A., Dunne, J.D., & Davidson, R. J. 2008. Attention regulation
and monitoring in meditation. Trends in Cognitive Sciences. 12:163-169. 66
67. Key Papers - 4
! Rozin, P. & Royzman, E.B. 2001. Negativity bias, negativity dominance, and
contagion. Personality and Social Psychology Review, 5:296-320.
! Takahashi, H., Kato, M., Matsuura, M., Mobbs, D., Suhara, T., & Okubo, Y.
2009. When your gain is my pain and your pain is my gain: Neural correlates of
envy and schadenfreude. Science, 323:937-939.
! Tang, Y.-Y., Ma, Y., Wang, J., Fan, Y., Feng, S., Lu, Q., Yu, Q., Sui, D.,
Rothbart, M.K., Fan, M., & Posner, M. 2007. Short-term meditation training
improves attention and self-regulation. PNAS, 104:17152-17156.
! Thompson, E. & Varela F.J. 2001. Radical embodiment: Neural dynamics and
consciousness. Trends in Cognitive Sciences, 5:418-425.
! Walsh, R. & Shapiro, S. L. 2006. The meeting of meditative disciplines and
Western psychology: A mutually enriching dialogue. American Psychologist,
61:227-239.
67
68. Where to Find Rick Hanson Online
http://www.youtube.com/BuddhasBrain
http://www.facebook.com/BuddhasBrain
w
www.RickHanson.net
www.WiseBrain.org 68