Planet Awakening

To Everything There Is a Season

by Ram Dass

The transformation that comes through meditation is not a straight-line progression. It’s a spiral, a cycle. My own life is very much a series of spirals in which at times I am pulled toward some particular form of sadhana or lifestyle and make a commitment to it for maybe six months or a year. After this time I assess its effects. At times I work with external methods such as service. At other times the pull is inward, and I retreat from society to spent more time alone.

The timing for these phases in the spiral must be in tune with your inner voice and your outer life. Don’t get too rigidly attached to any one method – turn to others when their time comes, when you are ripe for them.

I first became involved in the journey through study, intellectual analysis and service. I found it difficult to work with methods of the heart. I would try to open my heart, but the methods seemed absurd. I recall going to the Avalon Ballroom in the early 1960’s to hear Allen Ginsberg introduce Swami Bhaktivedanta, who led a Hare Krishna chant. This chant seemed weird to me. It left me cold and cynical. I recall thinking, “It’s too bad – Allen’s really gone over the edge. This chant just doesn’t make it.” In the years since, I’ve had moments of ecstasy with the Hare Krishna chant. My heart has opened wide to the beauty of the blue Krishna and the radiant Ram, and I’ve laughed at my own changes and growth.

A student once came to me and told me that he felt turned off by devotional practices. His practice was Buddhist; his meditation was on the dharma, the laws of the universe. Yet he felt troubled that his heart was closed. So I started him on the practice of the mantra “I love you dharma,” breathing in and out of the heart saying, “I love you dharma.” He loved it.

It’s not an all-or-nothing game. You’re not totally out of one phase before you start the next – there’s a gradual shift.

From: https://www.ramdass.org/everything-season/

Headaches After Meditation, Pineal Gland Third Eye Activation & Body Cleansing

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It’s normal to experience some discomfort or physical pain when you start to meditate for the first time. Some individuals, not all, experience physical pain or emotional turmoil when they first achieve silence of the mind and open the gateway to cosmic energy. Much cleansing occurs within both your physical body complex and subtle spirit body. Some stored-up negative energies are dislodging and beginning to clear, causing some physical symptoms to occur. Headaches are common, especially at the top of the head or the forehead due to the pineal gland, or third eye, getting a work-out that it’s not used to.

When you close your eyes the darkness activates the pineal gland, which then secretes melatonin into your cerebral fluid which starts the process of sleep. You are conscious however during meditation, but the same effect is felt – meditation is conscious sleep. Turn out the lights, the pineal gland activates and the gateway to intelligent infinity opens. You use your pineal gland during sleep and at certain points of the day while subconsciously sending and receiving energies and communications to and from the spirit world. However, the process of meditation gives your pineal gland a more strenuous workout than usual.
If you rarely used your left arm and had to lift a heavy weight, it’d be hard work right? It might even hurt at the time or ache after. The same is true for the pineal gland. You need to exercise this organ and increase blood flow by using it. It will become stronger as a result.

During the first week or two you may experience headaches straight after meditation. The headache can last for several hours. There are two possible causes for the headache – the new strenuous workout as already mentioned, plus the clearing of negative energies from the pineal gland and the head area itself.

Imagine that many years of stress, anxiety, and negative energies have built up in this area before your spiritual awakening and urge to meditate began. The process of dislodging and expelling these negative energies causes pain and discomfort in the affected regions of the body. As few as five to ten, half-hour long meditation sessions could clear these blockages, but meditation should be continued to keep them clear.

Pain can be felt throughout the body. One reason is that you may not be used to sitting in your meditative position, such as the lotus position. This may be resulting in some backache. Set down some cushions and give yourself a back rest to lean against. Your body should adjust and get used to your new positioning over time.

(Here’s a good book: Pineal Gland & Your Third Eye: Proven Methods to Develop Your Higher Self).

Pain can also be felt throughout your physical body, or in different areas of the body due to accumulation of negative energies. Daily stresses, worries and negative emotions are stored in several parts of your body, but each person tends to have a main area where these energies build up. Some people experience upper back pain, others digestive discomfort, others headaches, and so on.

Have you ever noticed that during times of intense stress, your usual physical ailments flair up? You are collecting and storing your negative energies in the usual place in your body. Once your area of concentrated negative energy accumulation is targeted by healing energies, a great deal of pain can be experienced in that area. You’re being healed however and you will feel better soon.

When you first start to meditate, you open the gateway to intelligent infinity and cleansing healing energies. These enter through the top of the head, through the pineal gland and trickle down through your body. Your subtle (or spirit) body is cleansed and your physical body in turn is cleansed. Your chakras are being unblocked so that energy is free to flow in balanced amounts, your sub energy centers and energy pathways too are cleared and energized. Negative energy is ousted and removed.

The mind is also rejuvenated by the in-pouring of healing energies. The process of cleansing the mind, and the unblocking and balancing of the chakras, can cause emotional flare-ups and turmoil. You may find yourself thinking ‘why am I acting like this?’ You could become quite bi-polar in your emotions, that is for instance, angry for a time and then very happy soon after. Stored up negative thought forms and emotional energies are being dislodged and cleared. This outpouring of negative energies can cause emotional and erratic behavior on it’s way out.
While physical pain and emotional flare-ups only occur for some people when they start to meditate for the first time, it should not discourage anyone from meditating. More and more meditation will clear your physical complaints and fully activate your energy centers, cleansing the physical and subtle body over time. Know that the benefits both physically and mentally will have a big impact on your life.

Headaches After Meditation, Pineal Gland Third Eye Activation & Cleansing – Video
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[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OnSumwCoAcA&w=560&h=315]http://www.spiritual-awakening.net/2014/06/beginners-meditation-headaches-and-pain.html

THE DHAMMA BROTHERS – MEDITATION IN PRISON, 100 HOURS OF SILENCE

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In the fall of 1999, I packed my tape recorder and traveled from my home outside Boston to visit Donaldson Correctional Facility, a maximum-security prison outside Birmingham, Alabama. I was hoping to interview prisoners about their lives in prison and their experiences with meditation. I had heard that many of the prisoners at Donaldson were learning how to meditate and then teaching one another by reading a book written for prisoners titled Houses of Healing. Because I was also using this book in my volunteer work with prisoners in Massachusetts, I became interested in comparing my work with that of the prisoners at Donaldson.

Donaldson is known as the “House of Pain,” the end of the line in Alabama’s prison system. It is deep in the countryside, surrounded on three sides by the Black Warrior River. The prison is chronically understaffed because no one wants to work there. There is a heavy atmosphere of misery, hopelessness and violence.

On that first visit, the prison psychologist, Dr. Ron Cavanaugh, lent me his office and put the word out that I wanted to talk with the men who were learning to meditate. I don’t know what I expected would emerge from those interviews with the meditating inmates at Donaldson. I now realize that listening to their stories changed my life in ways that I could not have anticipated.

After that first visit to Donaldson, I could not shake off the memories of what I had seen and heard. I wanted to learn more, to find out if there were solutions or alternatives to the aggressive culture of prison manhood. I wondered if it were possible for men in prison to live with a sense of inner peace and the freedom to experience and express a full range of emotions. In my conversations with the inmates at Donaldson, they seemed to be seeking opportunities and skills to establish lives that were more productive and peaceful, even if there was no possibility of their release from prison.

Prison treatment programs typically offer guidelines for changing prisoners’ behavior and thinking, but stop well short of providing them the safety, support and skills to reflect upon their emotions, their addictions, childhood histories, and crimes. Away from the distractions and physical trappings of the outside world, prisoners are in a setting that is potentially conducive to deep reflection and the development of self-awareness, self-understanding and compassion. After many years of working with prisoners, I have found that they often have a yearning to face the realities of their lives and crimes, and to construct a more meaningful existence.

Soon after my visit to Donaldson, I heard about Vipassana, an ancient and intense meditation program that is taught in centers around the world and contains the elements that I felt were most needed in an effective prison program: the opportunity and techniques for significant introspection in a safe and supported environment. With collaboration among Ron Cavanaugh, the Alabama Department of Corrections and a Vipassana center in Shelburne Falls, Massachusetts, a Vipassana program, based on the 2600-year-old teachings of the Buddha, was brought to Donaldson.

[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zA8XFEyeMi8]
The documentary film The Dhamma Brothers tells the story of the coming together of a maximum-security prison in Alabama and an ancient, intense meditation program requiring 100 hours of silent meditation. Bringing these two distinctly different cultures together required many adjustments and adaptations. For example, the prison had to allow the Vipassana teachers to live inside the prison walls in close proximity with the prisoners. It is amazing that this was allowed!

The Dhamma Brothers is a story of courage and hope. There are many heroes in this story, but the prisoners themselves are the central characters in the film as they teach all of us about the possibility of personal transformation under the most dire and difficult conditions. They have been my teachers for many years. I often read and reread their letters and listen to their audiotaped and videotaped interviews, always finding more meaning. I am now beginning another film with my film crew from Northern Light Productions in Boston. We are focusing on the stories of young men re-entering society after incarceration. Like The Dhamma Brothers the central characters are living on the rough underbelly of life and drawing wisdom from the journey.

[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ouL_i6DLBc0]

Watch The Dhamma Brothers at: http://www.dhammabrothers.com/WatchNow/index.htm

Source: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/jenny-phillips/meditation-in-prision_b_1469180.html

Teaching Children Meditation and Mindfulness

In today’s high-tech, fast-paced world, it’s pretty easy to become over-stimulated. Busy schedules directing us to go, go, go and electronic devices constantly in our hands, sucking us into scattered digital directions make inner-peace a fleeting want. Enter tension and fatigue. This is true for us, as adults, so imagine children as they absorb the energy of their parents and of the environment which they live in. Then, we send them off to school, where they are expected to concentrate and focus. We all love our children and want the very best for them, so why not consider a tool that can help them become more mindful and better able to cope with all that is tossed into their world?

Meditation (or mindfulness practice) is a beautiful way to stay grounded. It teaches us to be in the present moment so that we can savor the good times while better managing the trying ones. It helps us to stay connected with our true essence, building our sense of self-love and worth. Studies have linked mindfulness to better concentration, increased focus, and boosts of memory.

As an adult, to be able to accomplish all of the above is a pretty remarkable feat. Imagine learning these tools as a young child and then being able to use them your entire life! What if an entire generation of children were blessed with this gift? While mindfulness is catching on and currently being taught in a handful of schools across the country, it is largely up to the parents to teach this powerful tool.

These tips that I’m about to share are my own experience as a parent and what has worked in our family and they are geared towards younger children, but much of it can apply to older kids as well. (If you are an adult looking to learn more about mediation, you may want to check out this blog.)
Introducing Mindufulness Meditation to Young Children

  1. Lead by example. As a parent, it is most important to first develop your own meditation practice and then show your children the way. They will naturally become curious as they so often want to emulate the behaviors they see in their parents and others whom they look up to. My five year old daughter has grown up her whole life witnessing meditation and I even have many fond memories of her as a toddler coming out of bed in the morning and plopping herself down on my lap while I was in the midst of meditating! Once there is a genuine and natural interest, you can begin to help guide them into a better understanding and foster the growth of their own practice.
  2. Make it relatable, on a child’s level. There is a wonderful book about meditation called “Peaceful Piggy” that I’ve read with my daughter many times and would highly recommend. The story-telling approach is a wonderful way to connect with young kids. Above that, they suggest a really simple do-it-at-home experiment to demonstrate what meditation is all about. It says to take a jar and fill the bottom with a bit of sand. Then, cover with water. Shake the jar so that all the grains of sand begin swirling all around. Tell your child that each of those grains of sands represents a thought. It could be a happy thought, a sad thought, an angry thought. But, the grains swirling around represent all of the thoughts buzzing around our heads throughout the day. Next put the jar down and allow the sand to settle. See how the sand “thoughts” become calmer and the water becomes clearer? The thoughts are still there, but they are no longer all “crazy.” Peace and stillness have taken over. Explain to your child that this symbolizes the effect of meditation on the brain.
  3. Encourage discussion of their own feelings and emotions. Ask them for examples of different experiences: when something made them really happy, or really sad, a time they felt upset or their feelings were hurt, a time they felt scared. Give a few of your own examples to show them that we all feel this same array of emotions on a regular basis. Even young children, who seem to have such simple lives, still have a lot to sort through and deal with. They may share some emotions such as: happy on a fun family adventure, upset when mommy or daddy wouldn’t let them do what they wanted, sad when a family member or pet became ill, or feeling hurt when a friend in school said something mean. For children that are a bit older, the standardized testing system seems to be a source of worry. Meditation can help settle the overwhelming feelings and bring them to a calmer place in their thoughts. Being able to get outside of the whirlwind to just observe instead of being engulfed is truly a powerful gift.
  4. Realistic Expectations. It’s important to cover that there is no way to do this right or “wrong.” Like exercising, results become more apparent with repetition. Frequency is key to really seeing benefits over time. That being said, this should be an enjoyable experience for them and not feel like a chore or something they are being forced to do. Encourage their interest, efforts, and willingness. If you are into reward systems, this could be a good time to implement some small ones. “Let’s practice a few minutes of meditation and then we can play a little game” or “have a little treat.” This type of system is very encouraging for young children.
  5. Make it special! Designate a specific area for them in the house that will be their meditation spot. Make it welcoming with their own pillow or special pillowcase. Encourage them to bring a few trinkets that have special meaning to them: perhaps a family photo, their favorite artwork, a remnant of the earth such as gemstone or even a plant.
  6. Using a Timer. It’s great to have a goal time, but start small. Depending on the age, 3-5 minutes can be a reasonable beginner goal. A timer is nice because it is finite and they know to expect an end time. There are many great meditation apps that you can download for your smartphone. I like ones that use singing bowl sounds for start and finish. Let your child start the timer and put it somewhere they can see it. Encourage them to not worry about the time. Instead, just relax and know their meditation is over once they hear the singing bowl ring again.
  7. Guidance. Sitting down in lotus posture with eyes closed is not a must (although that is
    perfectly fine). Like I said, there is no right or wrong way. The point is to get them into a practice of settling their minds and become more mindful. Keeping the eyes closed allows for deeper relaxation, so would be suggested. Naturally, they will want to peek — this is okay! Lying down while meditating presents an opportunity to become a little too relaxed and possibly even fall asleep, so some sort of sitting position is best. Small children will be fidgety. Just encourage them to try their best to sit still with eyes closed until the timer goes off. Most important is focus on breathe. Breathing is something we always take with us, so this can literally be practiced anywhere. Have them simply notice their breathing as their chest rises and falls. Then, start to encourage long, deep, slow breaths where their belly rises up on the inhale and contracts to small again as the exhale it all out.

    8. (A fun visual: “Blowing out the Candle.” Have them clasp their hands together and raise their two index fingers, holding them in front of their mouth. Inhale slowly and deeply. On the slow exhale, have them imagine blowing out a birthday candle. Blowing out a candle is something all children can relate to and it’s pretty fun too! When my daughter is having a tough time with something, I can simply tell her “breathe, blow out your candle” and she knows exactly what to do to calm down.)

  8. Let it be. Sitting still may not comes naturally at first. It is okay for minds to wander. It is okay to fidgety. As a matter of fact, expect it. Just encourage them to try their best to relax and refocus them back to focusing on their breath as often as needed. Know that over time and with regular practice, they will be able to sit still longer and they will begin to experience many of the other wonderful benefits of meditation and mindfulness. Don’t push it, but gently encourage them to practice regularly.

Our children are the future and we have infinite love for them. What a beautiful gift to give them and to the world by teaching them to meditate. Namaste.

(For more by Dawn Gluskin visit www.dawnsense.com and join her inspiring Facebook community)

David Lynch’s Secrets For Tapping Into Your Deepest Creativity

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If anyone knows a thing or two about creativity, it’s David Lynch. Arguably one of the most brilliant film directors of our time, Lynch is best known for genre-defying, surrealist art-house films like Mulholland Drive, Blue Velvet, and Wild at Heart. His style is so original that it’s even inspired its own adjective: “Lynchian.”

Lynch is also an outspoken devotee of Transcendental Meditation, which he’s practiced daily for over 40 years and brings to underserved populations through his work with the David Lynch Foundation. And the award-winning director says that meditation is his greatest secret to creative success.

“Transcendental meditation is for [all] human beings, and it transforms life for the good, no matter who you are or what your situation is,” Lynch said in a Rolling Stone interview on Feb. 25. “It’s a mental technique that allows [you] to dive deep within to the deepest level of life, which underlies all matter and mind. At the border of intellect, you transcend and experience that unbounded level of life: all positive, pure consciousness with qualities of intelligence, creativity, happiness, love, energy, and peace.”

In 2006, Lynch penned a book illuminating his methods for achieving his greatest artistic visions. In Catching The Big Fish: Meditation, Consciousness and Creativity, Lynch likens ideas to fish: “If you want to catch a little fish, you can stay in the shallow water. But if you want to catch the big fish, you’ve got to go deeper.”

For many of us who do creative work, lifestyles of stress, burnout, sleep deprivation and technology addiction can keep us from “going deeper.” We multitask on texts, emails, news and social media — without putting our full focus on anything we do — and that can keep us on the surface of our thoughts and ideas. This can take a major toll on our creative thinking, which is never at its fullest potential if we’re not accessing a deeper part of our consciousness. Lynch argues that meditation is the solution, the greatest tool we have for accessing our own brain power and diving into the subconsciousness where creativity resides.

Need a creative boost? Here are some of Lynch’s best secrets to finding your personal vision from Catching The Big Fish. 

1. Meditate, meditate, meditate. 

Lynch is a longtime devotee of Transcendental Meditation, a practice that involves the repetition of a mantra during 20-minute, twice daily meditations. He swears that TM helps him to access a deeper level of consciousness, where all of his best ideas have come from. “Down deep, the fish are powerful and more pure. They’re huge and abstract. And they’re very beautiful,” he writes.

But you don’t have to take Lynch’s word for it: The science has proven that mindfulness really can boost your brain power in a number of ways. A 2012 Dutch study found that certain meditation techniques can promote creative thinking. Mindfulness practice has been linked with improved memory and focus, emotional well-being, reduced stress and anxiety, and improved mental clarity — all of which can lead to better creative thought.

Anyone can find time in their schedule to meditate, says Lynch — you don’t have to be sitting cross-legged in a special meditation room to enjoy the practice of mindfulness.

“You can meditate anywhere,” says Lynch. “You can meditate in an airport, at work, anywhere you happen to be.”

2. Slow down. 

Few things crush creativity faster than excessive busyness — research in organizational psychology has found that environments with high levels of time pressure can stifle creativity, and many of us know personally that our best ideas don’t happen when we’re stressed out and rushing from one deadline to another.

The world will likely only continue operating at an increasingly fast pace, so we must take it upon ourselves to slow down. Accessing one’s deepest creativity, for Lynch, pretty much boils down to a simple piece of advice: “Keep your eye on the donut and not the hole.” As Lynch explains, “If you keep your eye on the doughnut and do your work, that’s all you can control. You can’t control any of what’s out there, outside yourself.”

In other words, slow down, find time for your creative work, and let go of trying to keep up with endless emails, social media updates, to-do lists and obligations. They’ll always be there — it’s your job to find a way to slow down for long enough to do the work that’s important to you.

3. Sleep. 

It’s a simple equation: People who sleep better are more creative. Lynch explains that sleep is “really important” to his creative process. “You need to be able to rest the physiology to be able to work well and meditate well,” says Lynch.

Writer Steven King also believes that sleep is crucial to the creative process and can help to release what he calls the “repressed imagination.” King wrote in On Writing: A Memoir on the Craft:

In both writing and sleeping, we learn to be physically still at the same time we are encouraging our minds to unlock from the humdrum rational thinking of our daytime lives. And as your mind and body grow accustomed to a certain amount of sleep each night — six hours, seven, maybe the recommended eight — so can you train your waking mind to sleep creatively and work out the vividly imagined waking dreams which are successful works of fiction.

The evidence that sleep deprivation disrupts creativity isn’t just anecdotal: A number of scientific studies have found that sleep is essential for learning and creativity. Sleep helps the brain to consolidate memories so that we can later retrieve them more easily, and it also helps us reorganize and reconfigure memories so we can come up with new and original ideas.

4. Cultivate compassion. 

Meditation can seem like a selfish pursuit — one that cuts us off from others and the world around us as we retreat into our inner selves. But Lynch argues that meditation is anything but selfish, and for that reason, it can boost your creativity.

“Compassion, appreciation for others, and the capacity to help others are enhanced when you meditate,” writes Lynch. “You start diving down and experiencing this ocean of pure love, pure peace — you could say pure compassion. You experience that, and know it by being it. Then you go out into the world, and you can really do something for people.”

Research has found that love and creativity are closely connected — a 2009 study published in the Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin demonstrated that participants primed with thoughts of love had high levels of creative insights compared to those who thought of lust and control-group subjects. “Love enhances global processing and creative thinking,” the researchers concluded.

Source: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/02/28/5-tips-from-david-lynch_n_4849537.html?ir=Books

How Meditation Primes The Mind For Spiritual Experiences

Meditation – Painting of Buddhist Monk
Nik Helbig Painting 2007

The practice of mindfulness dates back at least 2,500 years to early Buddhism, and since then, it’s played an important role in a number of spiritual traditions. 

While the stillness and connecting with one’s inner self cultivated through mindfulness are certainly an important part of a spiritual practice, feelings of wonder and awe — the amazement we get when faced with incredible vastness — are also central to the spiritual experience. And according to new research, mindfulness may actually set the stage for awe.

Mindfulness is the key element of the spiritual experience in a number of different religions.
Awe is defined as a feeling of amazement of fascination and amazement invoked by an encounter with something larger than ourselves that is beyond our ordinary frameworks of understanding. Previous research has shown that spirituality, nature and art are the most common ways that we experience awe.

“You can’t digest [the object of awe] with your cognitive structures — it’s too big for you,” University of Groningen psychologist Dr. Brian Ostafin told the Huffington Post. “So there’s a need for accommodation, to change your mental structures to understand what that is. This is the key element of the spiritual experience in a number of different religions.”

Ostafin recently conducted several studies that shed light on the relationship between mindfulness and awe — two of the core elements of many spiritual traditions.
 
For one study, Ostafin and colleagues recruited 64 undergraduate participants to view and respond to a number of images. All of participants were shown two sets of images: One set of images was used to inspire awe (the Grand Canyon, majestic mountains, a view of the Earth from space) while the others were meant to inspire feelings of positivity (kittens, flowers, baby chicks), and asked to rate their awe and positivity responses on a scale of 1 to 7.

Prior to viewing the images, half of the participants listened to a 10-minute mindfulness audio tape, while the other half listened to non-mindfulness control audio. The participants who took part in the brief mindfulness exercise experienced a greater awe reaction than the control group in response to the awe-provoking images.

By way of explanation, Ostafin had this to offer:

“Awe involves that assimilation — giving up your cognitive structures in order to accommodate [the object of awe]. And mindfulness is a little bit about that too, because you’re paying attention and exercising non-conceptual awareness, so you should be more open to the immensity that’s there. You step out of the small frame that you have and this small idea of what the world is… You’re not stuck in your own story.” 

The relationship between mindfulness and awe also seems to be mediated by accomodation, Ostafin said. When we practice mindfulness (the cultivation of a focused, non-judgmental awareness on the present moment), we’re more able to open our mind to make sense of new experiences.

The findings shed light on the link between meditation and spiritual experiences, and also suggest that mindfulness practices may be effective in facilitating feelings of awe, which have been associated with improved well-being and creativity and reduced inflammation.

The findings were presented at the annual Society for Personality and Social Psychology conference in Long Beach.

Source: Huffington Post

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Harvard Unveils MRI Study Proving Meditation Literally Rebuilds The Brain’s Gray Matter In 8 Weeks

Test subjects taking part in an 8-week program of mindfulness meditation showed results that astonished even the most experienced neuroscientists at Harvard University.  The study was led by a Harvard-affiliated team of researchers based at Massachusetts General Hospital, and the team’s MRI scans documented for the very first time in medical history how meditation produced massive changes inside the brain’s gray matter.  “Although the practice of meditation is associated with a sense of peacefulness and physical relaxation, practitioners have long claimed that meditation also provides cognitive and psychological benefits that persist throughout the day,” says study senior author Sara Lazar of the MGH Psychiatric Neuroimaging Research Program and a Harvard Medical School instructor in psychology. “This study demonstrates that changes in brain structure may underlie some of these reported improvements and that people are not just feeling better because they are spending time relaxing.”

Sue McGreevey of MGH writes: “Previous studies from Lazar’s group and others found structural differences between the brains of experienced meditation practitioners and individuals with no history of meditation, observing thickening of the cerebral cortex in areas associated with attention and emotional integration. But those investigations could not document that those differences were actually produced by meditation.”  Until now, that is.  The participants spent an average of 27 minutes per day practicing mindfulness exercises, and this is all it took to stimulate a major increase in gray matter density in the hippocampus, the part of the brain associated with self-awareness, compassion, and introspection.  McGreevey adds: “Participant-reported reductions in stress also were correlated with decreased gray-matter density in the amygdala, which is known to play an important role in anxiety and stress. None of these changes were seen in the control group, indicating that they had not resulted merely from the passage of time.”

“It is fascinating to see the brain’s plasticity and that, by practicing meditation, we can play an active role in changing the brain and can increase our well-being and quality of life,” says Britta Hölzel, first author of the paper and a research fellow at MGH and Giessen University in Germany. You can read more about the remarkable study by visiting Harvard.edu.  If this is up your alley then you need to read this: “Listen As Sam Harris Explains How To Tame Your Mind (No Religion Required)”

SEE ALSO: Neuroscience Shows How Training In Compassion Meditation Makes Us More AltruisticSEE ALSO: The Placebo-Nocebo Effect & Proof Of The Mind’s Explosive Healing, Curing PowerSEE ALSO: Bliss Of Letting Go: David Lynch Discusses Transcendental Meditation In New DocSEE ALSO: A Strong Back And A Soft Front: The Power, Beauty, Neuroscience, And Importance Of Compassion

[soundcloud url=”https://api.soundcloud.com/tracks/174257754″] [youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z2UHLMVr4vg]


Source:
http://www.feelguide.com/2014/11/19/harvard-unveils-mri-study-proving-meditation-literally-rebuilds-the-brains-gray-matter-in-8-weeks/

Meditation triggers molecular and genetic changes: New study

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Source: http://www.allvoices.com/contributed-news/16442013-meditation-triggers-molecular-and-genetic-changes-new-study

A new study published in Psychoneuroendocrinology provides scientific proof – for the first time – that the regular practice of meditation causes beneficial molecular changes within the human body.

The study was conducted by the University of Wisconsin-Madison and the Institute of Biomedical Research in Barcelona. Subjects who participated in an intensive, eight-hour mindfulness-meditation regimen showed significant beneficial molecular and genetic changes.

The study group was composed of experienced meditation practitioners who meditated for the whole eight hours, while a control group simply remained quiet and participated in non-meditative activities.

The meditation group experienced observable genetic changes including lower levels of inflammatory genes like RIPK2 and COX2, indicating faster recovery from stressful situations.
As Medical News Today reports:

The extent to which some of the genes were down-regulated was associated with faster cortisol recovery to a social stress test, where participants were challenged to make an impromptu speech or complete mental calculations in front of an audience.

Put another way, meditation allows and encourages participants to subconsciously maintain their mental and physical equilibrium despite and/or in the midst of whatever pressures and potentially worrisome issues may be closing in.

“The regulation of HDACs and inflammatory pathways may represent some of the mechanisms underlying the therapeutic potential of mindfulness-based interventions. Our findings set the foundation for future studies to further assess meditation strategies for the treatment of chronic inflammatory conditions,” explained Perla Kaliman, co-author of the study.

Meditation studies abound, of course. Countless anecdotes and surveys have revealed that meditation yields direct physical benefits.

But none of those studies or stories have provided the rock-hard evidence for the benefits of meditation that this one does. This study provides genetic proof that mediation works. That is, this is the first to scientifically demonstrate molecular changes caused by the ancient practice of simply emptying one’s mind of all thoughts, feelings, concerns, issues.

“Our genes are quite dynamic in their expression and these results suggest that the calmness of our mind can actually have a potential influence on their expression,” said Dr. Richard J. Davidson of the Center for Investigating Healthy Minds.

Thus, it is clear: Meditation relieves stress; it provides digestive relief; it helps regulate blood pressure. It even eases symptoms of the common cold.

There is even a study indicating that mediation reduces pain better than morphine.
However, none of these studies, including this latest one, explain precisely how the simple act of meditation does all of these wonderful things. That answer will come soon enough with more research, more study.

Until then, though, it just stands to reason that maintaining one’s cool, especially in the face of adversity, allows one to more rationally deal with whatever situation is at hand.

References:

http://www.wakingtimes.com/2014/01/30/new-study-meditation-alters-genes-rapidly-triggers-molecular-changes/

http://www.infowars.com/new-study-meditation-alters-genes-rapidly-triggers-molecular-changes/

http://www.news.wisc.edu/22370

http://beforeitsnews.com/alternative/2014/01/new-study-meditation-alters-genes-rapidly-triggers-molecular-changes-january-30-2014-by-wakingtimes-2887460.html

http://truthbroadcastnetwork.com/new-study-meditation-alters-genes-rapidly-triggers-molecular-changes/

http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/269910.php

Meditation transforms roughest San Francisco schools


David L. Kirp
Published 6:37 pm, Sunday, January 12, 2014

Barry Zito, David Lynch, Russell Brand meditate with students during Quiet Time at Burton High.
Photo: Lea Suzuki, The Chronicle




























At first glance, Quiet Time – a stress reduction strategy used in several San Francisco middle and high schools, as well as in scattered schools around the Bay Area – looks like something out of the om-chanting 1960s. Twice daily, a gong sounds in the classroom and rowdy adolescents, who normally can’t sit still for 10 seconds, shut their eyes and try to clear their minds. I’ve spent lots of time in urban schools and have never seen anything like it.
This practice – meditation rebranded – deserves serious attention from parents and policymakers. An impressive array of studies shows that integrating meditation into a school’s daily routine can markedly improve the lives of students. If San Francisco schools Superintendent Richard Carranza has his way, Quiet Time could well spread citywide.
What’s happening at Visitacion Valley Middle School, which in 2007 became the first public school nationwide to adopt the program, shows why the superintendent is so enthusiastic. In this neighborhood, gunfire is as common as birdsong – nine shootings have been recorded in the past month – and most students know someone who’s been shot or did the shooting. Murders are so frequent that the school employs a full-time grief counselor.
In years past, these students were largely out of control, frequently fighting in the corridors, scrawling graffiti on the walls and cursing their teachers. Absenteeism rates were among the city’s highest and so were suspensions. Worn-down teachers routinely called in sick.
Unsurprisingly, academics suffered. The school tried everything, from counseling and peer support to after-school tutoring and sports, but to disappointingly little effect.
Now these students are doing light-years better. In the first year of Quiet Time, the number of suspensions fell by 45 percent. Within four years, the suspension rate was among the lowest in the city. Daily attendance rates climbed to 98 percent, well above the citywide average. Grade point averages improved markedly. About 20 percent of graduates are admitted to Lowell High School – before Quiet Time, getting any students into this elite high school was a rarity. Remarkably, in the annual California Healthy Kids Survey, these middle school youngsters recorded the highest happiness levels in San Francisco.
Reports are similarly positive in the three other schools that have adopted Quiet Time. At Burton High School, for instance, students in the program report significantly less stress and depression, and greater self-esteem, than nonparticipants. With stress levels down, achievement has markedly improved, particularly among students who have been doing worst academically. Grades rose dramatically, compared with those who weren’t in the program.
On the California Achievement Test, twice as many students in Quiet Time schools have become proficient in English, compared with students in similar schools where the program doesn’t exist, and the gap is even bigger in math. Teachers report they’re less emotionally exhausted and more resilient.
“The research is showing big effects on students’ performance,” says Superintendent Carranza. “Our new accountability standards, which we’re developing in tandem with the other big California districts, emphasize the importance of social-emotional factors in improving kids’ lives, not just academics. That’s where Quiet Time can have a major impact, and I’d like to see it expand well beyond a handful of schools.”
While Quiet Time is no panacea, it’s a game-changer for many students who otherwise might have become dropouts. That’s reason enough to make meditation a school staple, and not just in San Francisco.
David L. Kirp, a professor of public policy at UC Berkeley, is the author of “Improbable Scholars: The Rebirth of a Great American School District and a Strategy for America’s Schools.”

5 Tips to Help You Embrace Extreme Change

Editor’s Note: This is a contribution by Jason Von Seth

“The only way to make sense out of change is to plunge into it, move with it, and join the dance” ~Alan Watts



My obsession at an early age became to follow my heart—a life’s search for meaning, adventure, and enlightenment.

This search has been remarkable, a journey that has brought me to fascinating places for extended stays (Japan, the UK, Australia, you name the place) and has led me to relationships with some of the most interesting, loving people from around the globe.

As exhilarating the feeling of following your heart can be, it’s not always the yellow brick road we envision. The journey can be ambiguous, and it can toss us around like in an airplane cabin during times of heavy turbulence.

In the midst of my latest adventure of working for a small marketing agency in Sydney, Australia, I received word from my general manager that my position would be eliminated.

This forfeited my visa rights to stay in the country. Instead of being overcome by the drama-loving ego, I felt a strong sense of inner peace, as if a path to an important journey lay ahead.

Sometimes spiritual journeys are not the fuzzy-feely ones we see all too often in modern pop culture, Eat, Pray, Love being one of them. Spiritual journeys can be physically challenging, emotionally daunting, and can require deep inner strength.  

I received word that my best friend passed away shortly after arriving back in the States from Australia. Kari Bowerman had been pursing her passion for travel and passed away while vacationing in Vietnam. Her young travel companion (Cathy Huynh) passed away two days later.

We live in an ever-changing world, and we need to fine-tune our souls to release inner resistance and fully open to the journey—good, bad, or horrific. Here are five things I’ve learned that help in embracing extreme change:

1. Open your heart to divine guidance. 

I craved a coffee immediately following the meeting with my general manager about my non-existent work visa. I had been on my latest health kick and had been caffeine-free for 65 days at the time.

I simply could not fight the compulsive urge at that moment and made a firm decision to make the 20-minute walk to my favorite quaint coffee shop in Sydney.

The exact minute I set foot in the coffee shop I was overcome with an extremely positive feeling. A song I hadn’t heard in years came over the airwaves by a famous one-hit wonder of his time. The lyrics were so comforting, and in that moment I knew everything was as it should be.







I believe that there’s no such thing as coincidence or being in the right place at the right time. If I hadn’t craved the coffee, I wouldn’t have made the 20 minute walk, wouldn’t have heard the song, and wouldn’t have continued to been pointed in the right direction for this journey.

Embrace situations that give you an overly positive gut feeling. That feeling can only be the right thing for you to do, coming from a higher sense of self.
2. Accept the journey that lies ahead.

I made a conscious decision to move home to the states shortly after reflecting on the much-needed song lyrics. Instead of getting granular with the agency’s decision to release my position, I fully accepted the decision and quickly started making travel arrangements home.

One of my first phone calls about the news was to Kari. She was overjoyed and insisted on me visiting her at the children’s prep school where she had been teaching in Seoul, South Korea. The call quickly inspired me to purchase the ticket to visit.

If I would have resented the agency’s decision and allowed conflicting thoughts to deny the inevitable, I likely would never have gotten that final goodbye in Korea. I would have spent the last two months of Kari’s life in Australia wondering “what if” and would have never gotten my final laughs and love from my spaghetti-haired friend.

Sometimes instead of fighting upstream, allow the natural flow of things to take you where it is you’re supposed to go.

3. Let love set you free.

Receiving the phone call from Kari’s family was the hardest moment in my life. A flash of heartfelt memories and dread immediately followed by the four words “Kari has passed away.”

The weeks that followed were a matter of figuring out logistics of Kari being sent home from Vietnam, asking myself endless questions which led up to this unforeseeable end, and rekindling bonds with Kari’s friends and family.

There were countless calls between Kari’s family and me. The support and memories exchanged during this time was invaluable, and I have nothing but complete gratitude for the love expressed during that difficult time. They helped set me free.

4. Be at peace with the past.

The entire experience from Australia to Kari’s passing left some seriously gaping holes in my soul. I have found peace in making the past my friend. Filling the holes with love—embracing only the positive memories of my adventures through Australia and with my partner in crime.

There will be times during extreme change when you will want to make the past your enemy. Don’t! Simply let it be what it is—the past. Life is nothing more than a series of experiences and journeys, and yours is right now—this present moment.

5. Embrace life for what it is in the moment—good, bad, or horrific.

We can all take important lessons away from the life of Kari Bowerman. Whether it was her way of bringing her positivity with her wherever she went or her innate ability to get everything she ate all over her face, hair, or vibrant t-shirts. Life isn’t always neat; it’s messy, but it’s all we have.

Embrace every moment and truly give the divine gift of love wherever your journeys may take you.

“We have stopped for a moment to encounter each other—to meet, to love, to share. This is a precious moment, but it is transient. If we share with caring, light-heartedness and love we will create abundance and joy for each other and then this moment will have been worthwhile.” ~Deepak Chopra

Source: http://tinybuddha.com/blog/5-tips-to-help-you-embrace-extreme-change/

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