Long term effects of meditation on emotions
Meditationtime Forum Post
Date: Posted 3 years before Jun 25, 2016
Mark Leonard 3 years ago
New brain research shows long term effects on activity in the parts of the brain involved with emotional reactions.
MiBeloved 3 years ago
The article said this:
"This is the first time that meditation training has been shown to affect emotional processing in the brain outside of a meditative state,"
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MiBeloved's Response:
The statement is being done in all honesty but it is totally untrue. For that matter the Bhagavad Gita is a teaching about karma yoga which is yoga applied to karma cultural activities.
It can be written mathematically:
Karma yoga = yoga + karma = the psychological maturity which results from yoga as it is applied to the person’s social interactions.
Krishna personally was teaching Arjuna how to apply his yoga skills to his ordinary life experiences and Krishna said that he began teaching this thousands of years before and would re-establish the teaching beginning with Arjuna.
There is also jnana yoga which means the application of yoga expertise to knowledge or intellectual pursuits (jnana).
There is bhakti yoga, which means the application of yoga expertise to emotional or affectionate feelings (bhakti).
Paul 3 years ago
For many people, something is not real until it reaches the mainstream and has become acceptable there.
At a certain point one must realize that the Media has That much power and influence.
Mark Leonard 3 years ago
Hi MiBeloved,
Yes, of course people who have practiced meditation for thousands of years recognized that meditation has an effect on the way we experience emotions in post meditation (which becomes cumulative and makes permanent changes). However up until this time no-one has scientifically (according to principles of empirical science as developed since The Enlightenment) demonstrated the impact of this change in brain activity.
It is all very good to explain things in terms of scriptures but if you do this and expect people to believe you, you will have a limited impact because different people have different scriptures in different traditions. In the past authority would have been given to scriptural sources and to the priestly classes (or others who performed similar functions in society) who controlled access to those scriptures or traditional knowledge. I don't need to tell you that some people believe that God created the world in seven days and that God created man in his image and likeness because it says so in the Bible. Nor do I need to tell you that many people don't believe this for a variety of reasons, including the fact that those who have used their position of power and access to sacred knowledge have, by and large, been discredited for very good reason. Most people today believe that humans evolved from apes etc because there is very good evidence that this is how humans became what they are as a species, which can be explained in relatively simple terms to anyone willing to listen to it.
It is because neuroscience and other scientific disciplines are investigating meditation, how it works and what its impact, that more and more people are interested in practicing it. I'm sure you'd agree that this is a very good thing. If one is interested in more people gaining the benefits of developing a meditation practice, it’s good to explain it in terms they understand and it doesn't really help the cause of tradition if those who identify with it fail to recognise what is actually going on in society because of scientific research.
Marcia Beloved 3 years ago
Mark, welcome to MeditationTime!
Michael has tried to fit the article into the scheme of Krishna's teaching to Arjuna that one should perform one's social and cultural duty, which in Arjuna's case was as a warrior for the King.
From another angle, perhaps Arjuna's meditation training did have the same effect as stated in the article, in that he was disinclined to fight in the battle.
MiBeloved 3 years ago
Mark,
Your points in the rebuff are very clear but science has also fooled mankind, not just religion. Science has also given us many false beliefs through which we governed ourselves until another scientist came forward with evidence to the contrary.
Neither science nor religion is flawless but in the modern age science has more credibility mainly because it has produced gadgets which extended human dominance of the environment.
In a way however religion used to do just that by giving people hope even false hope which they found to be serviceable to their outlook on life.
Anyway if you feel that evidence from history or religious history is a negative to most people, then that might just be the case.
Mark Leonard 3 years ago
Hi Marcia,
Yes, I've no doubt that Arjuna's meditation training had a similar effect to that which has been observed scientifically in the study reported in this article, but we're only able to speculate that he did because of neuroscientific study like this. I guess, I'm not that interested in preaching to the converted, I want to see a world where meditation makes a difference to mainstream society and I'm afraid, mainstream society isn't going to be much interested in who Arjuna was, yet alone if he meditated and that resulted in changes to his behaviour or the functioning of his amygdala for that matter.
And if I want to see a world where meditation is a mainstream activity then, I'm interested in a means by which people can see the point of it, even if people like me don't need to be persuaded. However, the more I find out about developments in psychology and neuroscience, the more it helps me, not only to explain its benefits to people but to understand it myself, at least on one level. I'm blown away by the potential impact recent developments in understanding meditation are having in mental health and, I believe, the impact this understanding will prove to have to make meditation practice spread through society. I'm interested in people finding out what it's all about for themselves and that means taking up a practice that is explainable rather than adhering to a tradition. Others may differ in this matter and it is their entitlement to do so, but I'm not interested in bolstering identity, which is affiliated to a tradition to the detriment of making meditation mainstream in society or the benefits this will have.
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Hi MiBeloved,
Science is a bit like democracy, and in fact both are related sociologically. Democracy is the best of a bad job! In Western Europe (at least), science provides ways of understanding things that have the greatest potential for acceptance in society compared to any other source of knowledge. And widespread understanding of the value of scientific knowledge is highly significant. It means people don't need to listen to those who hold power, simply because they have achieved power by whatever means (in the case of Brahmins, by birth and privileged education). This also means that knowledge can spread in society very quickly and an impact on society can be made in ways that have never been possible before because almost everyone has access to that knowledge. Whereas, in traditional societies that knowledge is held by persons who have power or recognised authority, it is only transmitted to those who have close allegiance or access to those individuals with that knowledge. I don't think there has ever been a time in history where so many people have the potential to access meditation practice or a time where interest and practice is spreading so fast. The gives me real hope for mankind.
Alfredo 3 years ago
Mark, let me also welcome you to this forum!
I feel a breath of fresh air coming with you, and that is good.
As a person that has given meditation classes to Corporations, and still offer that as a business alternative through my company, I can relate to what you are writing, as I have seen the benefits in them even though I am far from being proficient in the matter. Some meditation is better than none, even some imperfect meditation. In these classes I referred to, information of the type you wrote is provided.
Paul 3 years ago
Greetings All and Mark.... Alfredo you took the words right out of my mouth as I read Marks views.."A breath of fresh air"..
In a way we are all in agreement.. Science, Religion, both ask us to believe certain things we cannot see with the naked eye.
Forgive me for saying this, but there's not a thing in Quantum Physics I would cal empirical..and still it has value and even some truth on some level, but there's nothing hard and fast about it...even the ability to blow shit up doesn't really prove a whole lot even though the ability to do this kind of destruction is very important to the Military caste and surely worthy of being funded. If meditation could be proven to make better killers out of soldiers then I'm sure it would all of a sudden become mandatory in the schools.. such is the relationship between science and politics..I totally agree with what you were saying about the effectiveness of reaching people using scripture as a kind of reference to truth or a validation of a thing being true. It only has real meaning if one understands the "code" of it...otherwise it's really just seen as a kind of glorified superstition by "educated" people.
What I feel we really need here is a common language...there is a language of science that covers , in a way, material nature, and we have the language of religion which is useful for charting parts of the world we cannot see, both in the psychological, and inner landscapes. But the two don't seem to agree, even though there are people trying to make them agree or find evidence for scripture in science. This to me is kind of silly, even though the people who pursue this might be very sincere...and that also is a problem because sincere people don't always agree. The key might be to simply not try to mix the two or mistake the one for the other.. Like the seven day creation experience. I mean, when we see a movie and later retell it, we don't mess the story up by bickering about how the special effects couldn't have been real...it's just part of the story, and why not leave it at that? They are, after all, just stories that illustrate a certain principal. A cave man who had a transcendental experience tries to relate it to his fellow man, and he needs a way to describe that this God he just experienced is WAY beyond man and can do what Man, given a zillion iphones and supercomputers still couldn't do, comes up with making the whole world in seven days...Right....God is Great!...literal or not literal he makes a point as to something that is beyond what he or his fellows could ever do, and That's All....
Hey, I'm sorry to ramble on here.
Welcome Mark...
peace,
Paul
Mark Leonard 3 years ago
Thank you for your welcome, Alfredo and Paul,
Glad to hear you are offering meditation classes to the workplace Alfredo. I think it's a real test of practice to be able to place benefit for humanity above identity association to tradition.
Paul, mindfulness training is being included in what is called "Mental Fitness Training" for US marines but I don't know how widespread this training is being taken up. I believe that, if you are going to send young men into battle then you have the responsibility to give them every means you have access to, to protect them from the trauma they are likely to experience. I would expect that that mindfulness training will "inoculate" combatants to PTSD as well as give them the ability to function better under stressful conditions (the findings of one study). Furthermore, where could it be more critically important to reduce the impact of fear or anger on action than when making a decision to pull the trigger?
With reference to scientific theory: empirical science just sets up a hypothesis and sees if the hypothesis predicts what can be observed. This is how theory is developed. No theory can be seen in action by the naked eye. All that can be "seen" or otherwise recorded or measured are "observable" events which take place. Our ability to observe and measure events is impacted significantly by our ability to develop technology, much of which is developed on the basis of scientific theory!
unlimitedsun 3 years ago
I should say welcome again Mark. I posted the reply below 23 days ago:
"I wish to learn more about the influence of light on internal energetic functioning of the mind.
Ultimately, that is in line with covering the head (as well as eyes) during practice session.
Perhaps the hidden location of the amygdala is purposeful; click below:
The amygdala .........or............ The amygdala
As for the antenna, I'd better get my transistor crank started already, or the signals would still not come through."
To access the full article click -> http://www.inselfyoga.com/m/forums/topic/Kundalini-Hair-Care
Post Name: Kundalini Hair Care
