Tag Archives | Meditation

Is LSD A Gateway Drug To Buddhism?

By JacobSloan on November 19, 2012 in News 20

Dr. Rick Strassman, a psychiatric researcher with a specialization in psychotropic drugs, on the “enlightenment experience” and hallucinogens as a pathway for Westerners into Buddhism and Hinduism:

I went to a Zen temple in my early 20s, and, ever the scientist, every chance I got to speak to a monk one on one, I asked every one of them if they had tripped on psychedelics and how important their trips were in their decision to become a monk. And I’d say 99% of these junior monks in their 20s all got their start on LSD.

Spiritual Bypassing: Using Spirituality To Avoid Pain

By Thursdaynine on November 13, 2012 in News 8

Author and psychotherapist Robert Augustus Masters outlines a pervasive phenomenon in contemporary New Age spirituality, spiritual bypassing:

Via Reality Sandwich:

Spiritual bypassing, a term first coined by psychologist John Welwood in 1984, is the use of spiritual practices and beliefs to avoid dealing with our painful feelings, unresolved wounds, and developmental needs. It is much more common than we might think and, in fact, is so pervasive as to go largely unnoticed, except in its more obvious extremes.

Part of the reason for this is that we tend not to have very much tolerance, either personally or collectively, for facing, entering, and working through our pain, strongly preferring pain-numbing “solutions,” regardless of how much suffering such “remedies” may catalyze. Because this preference has so deeply and thoroughly infiltrated our culture that it has become all but normalized, spiritual bypassing fits almost seamlessly into our collective habit of turning away from what is painful, as a kind of higher analgesic with seemingly minimal side effects.

… Read the rest

Scientists Declare Buddhist Monk The World’s Happiest Person

By JacobSloan on November 5, 2012 in News 11

Happiness is a gamma wave. Via Oddity Central:

Matthieu Ricard was declared the happiest man on Earth by a group of scientists after it was discovered his brain produces a level of gamma waves never before reported in the field of neuroscience.

A former molecular geneticist who left his life and career behind to discover the secrets of Buddhism, Ricard is now one of the most celebrated monks in the Himalayas and a trusted advisor of the Dalai Lama. In 2009, neuroscientist Richard Davidson wired up the French monk’s head with 256 sensors as part of a research project on hundreds of advanced practitioners of meditation.

The scans showed something remarkable: when meditating on compassion, Ricard’s brain produced a level of gamma waves linked to consciousness, attention, learning and memory that were never even reported before in neuroscience literature. Furthermore, the scans scans also showed excessive activity in his brain’s left prefrontal cortex, giving him an abnormally large capacity for happiness and a reduced propensity towards negativity.

… Read the rest

Exploring The Mastermind Technique For Goal Accomplishment

By Thursdaynine on October 17, 2012 in News 0

Author and personal development coach Steve Barnes begins a series of posts discussing the “Mastermind” concept–a technique of gathering and consolidating resources necessary for attaining goals. He starts off with describing a very cool NLP/visualization exercise he did with his daughter to help her overcome a performance block.

Via Dar Kush:

“The mastermind is the only known means of overcoming a lack of ability.”–Napoleon Hill.

A critical concept, whether we look at an individual, a couple, or a crowd. Whether the goals are internal or external, whether they are artistic, commercial or spiritual.

This is so critical that I want to concentrate my thoughts here for a while. The primary definition of a “Mastermind” is: two or more people working together in a spirit of perfect harmony to support shared or separate goals.

Let’s relate it simply to the first basic levels: An individual.

The Eriksonian “Parts Party” is designed to create alignment between the different aspects of our personality.

… Read the rest

Samsara

By Camron Wiltshire on September 27, 2012 in News 4

DIY Ganzfeld Hacks

By David Metcalfe on September 17, 2012 in News 1

The sound artist Kim Cascone passed along a great link for making DIY Ganzfeld goggles. When I was at the Rhine Research Center we were able to see their Ganzfeld rooms, and I’ve been interested in experimenting with the technique once I get more time. These kind of ‘hacks’ are a great way to work with some of the consciousness studies research without having the benefits of grant funding or donors!

“The Ganzfeld effect is a form of visual sensory deprivation. The idea is to give the open eyes a blank visual field of uniform color. Since there is nothing for the eyes to see, the brain cuts off the unchanging input, and often manufactures its own images – these may be thought of as mild hallucinations. Personally, I haven’t experienced any vivid hallucinations via a Ganzfield, but I find the effect to be rather relaxing. I’ve found that a Ganzfeld is very good for helping to eliminate excess chatter in the mind, especially when practicing meditation.… Read the rest

A Scientific Revolution Driven by Meditation?

By Damien G. Walter on August 31, 2012 in News 3

Picture: Tevaprapas Makklay (CC)

Most of us probably assume that scientists have little time for the mysteries of Eastern spirituality and meditation. And until just a few years ago that assumption might well have been true. But in recent years the emerging field of contemplative science has been having a real effect on the perception of meditation in the scientific community, a shift that might be the start of a new scientific revolution.

David Vargo is an instructor of psychology at Harvard Medical School, and has held the position of Senior Research Coordinator for the Mind and Life Institute, a not-for-profit organisation dedicated to fostering dialogue and research at the highest possible level between modern science and the great contemplative traditions. In this episode of the Buddhist Geeks podcast he gives a cogent overview of the state of scientific research in to meditation.

Buddhist Geeks Episode 262 : The Emerging Science of Mindfulness Meditation

Mindfulness is the concept that science is taking seriously.… Read the rest

Study Shows Meditation Changes Brain Structure in Just 8 Weeks

By ralph on January 27, 2011 in News 17

Photo: Sarvodaya Shramadana, Colombo, Sri Lanka (CC)

Christie Nicholson writes in Scientific American:

The benefits of meditation have received newfound evidence from neuroscience in the last five years, as researchers are finding real physiological changes due to a sort of formally practiced introspection.

Recently scientists from Massachusetts General Hospital had 16 participants take an eight-week mindfulness meditation program. This sort of meditation focuses on nonjudgmental awareness of sensations and feelings. Subjects practiced for about 30 minutes a day.

Brain images were taken of each subject before and after the training. Scientists found increases in gray-matter density in the hippocampus — an area responsible for learning and memory. And they saw decreased density in the amygdala— which is responsible for our anxiety and stress responses …

All this reminds us of two things: 1) The brain is much more plastic than scientists thought even just a decade ago and 2) the way we feel—calm or anxious—can be correlated with real structural indicators in our brains.

… Read the rest

Binaural Beats with SbaGen Developer Jim Peters

By klintron on July 22, 2010 in News 3

Bavsa: binaural beat visual analysis tool

An interview with Jim Peters, developer of SbaGen, who’s source code was used without permission for the notorious I-Doser. Via Technoccult:

Technoccult: Do you believe that I-Doser can actually deliver on their promise of providing a variety of discrete recreational psychoactive experiences? My own experience working with SbaGen, Brainwave Generator, and sound and light machines is that it does feel like “something happens,” but I haven’t found that the specific experience each one is aiming for (“relaxation,” “creativity,” “stimulation,” etc.) In fact, I actually conducted some controlled experiments with classmates as a research project in college. We investigated whether the “intelligence enhancement” setting of a particular sound and light machine was effective at improving MENSA test exam scores. We didn’t get statistically significant results.

Peters: No, I don’t believe that I-Doser can deliver on their promise. If I hit you over the head with a mallet you will see stars, but that doesn’t mean that you’ve had a marvellous journey through the universe.

… Read the rest

Occult of Personality With Jeremy Vaeni

By GregKaminsky on May 1, 2010 in News, Podcasts 5

Occult of Personality — Podcast Episode #85 — Jeremy Vaeni

Website • iTunes • Direct Download • RSS

In podcast episode 85, we’re joined by Jeremy Vaeni. Jeremy is a writer, director, podcaster, and experiencer of high-strangeness. He hosts and produces the successful and popular Culture of Contact and Paratopia podcasts.

Jeremy’s unique perspective on UFOlogy and the paranormal have earned him fans as well as critics, but he speaks his mind with frankness and a sense of humor that’s refreshing. We begin the interview hearing about his early experiences with UFOs and alien abduction. Based on these contacts, he’s led to understand that UFOs and aliens are not necessarily what many may believe, in that they serve to try to rouse humanity from its waking dream.

From there, we delve into what Jeremy calls his “I AM” experience. I think you’ll agree that his story is quite compelling, rather extreme, absolutely fascinating, brutally honest, and undoubtedly controversial.… Read the rest

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