Anapanasati is a core meditation of a breath-centered practice in the Buddhist Theravada tradition, which may have some neurological mechanism effects on the brain. To gain insight into the neurological mechanisms involved in Anapanasati meditation, we measured the alterations of regional cerebral glucose metabolism during Anapanasati meditation using positron-emission tomography/computed...
An emerging focus in affective science is the expertise that underlies healthy emotionality. A growing literature highlights emotional granularity - the ability to make fine-grained distinctions in one's affective feelings - as an important skill. Cross-sectional evidence indicating the benefits of emotional granularity raises the question of how emotional granularity might be intentionally...
To develop a fine-grained phenomenological analysis of "pure awareness" experiences in meditators. An online survey in five language versions (German, English, French, Spanish, Italian) collected data from January to March 2020. A total of 92 questionnaire items on a visual analogue scale were submitted to exploratory and confirmatory factor analysis. Out of 3627 submitted responses, 1403 were...
Abstract One of the mindfulness exercises described in the Satipaṭṭhāna-sutta and its parallels concerns the four elements of earth, water, fire, and wind, which stand representative of the qualities of solidity, cohesion, temperature, and motion. Within the ancient Indian setting, the early Buddhist analysis of matter into these four elements can be seen to eschew the two extremes of...
Three broad organizing strategies have been used to study meditation practices: (1) consider meditation practices as using similar processes and so combine neural images across a wide range of practices to identify the common underlying brain patterns of meditation practice, (2) consider meditation practices as unique and so investigate individual practices, or (3) consider meditation practices...
Abstract: The intention of this chapter is to re-envision mental illness within a paradigm that unites the biopsychosocial paradigm with a modern Buddhist spirituality, particularly associated with mindfulness. Emotion regulation, a balanced relationship with one’s self-concept, and social connection are usually regarded as essential components of well-being within both systems of thought....
Abstract This chapter examines school-based meditation programs for children ages 4–17—including Transcendental Meditation, ashtanga yoga, and mindfulness-based stress reduction—popularized between the 1960s and 2010s in the United States, United Kingdom, Canada, and India. Practices entered mainstream education as promoters distanced meditation from religion, particularly Hinduism and...
Hardly anyone would doubt that history is full of charlatans. However, the situation becomes much trickier when dichotomies like “real” vs. “fake,” “genuine” vs. “fraudulent,” or “authentic” vs. “inauthentic” become applied not just to individuals or institutions but wholesale to entire objects of study, such as musical genres, regional cuisines, or in our case modern occultists who have...
The general conception of paccavekkhana as mindful and wise reflection, and as a key principle in Buddhist meditation practice in meditative concentration is the main concern of this undertaking. Post-Canonical literature are carefully examined for this purpose. This study has affirmed paccavekkhana as an approach to a clear understanding of reality through initial training of dasadhammā as a...
Focused attention meditation (FAM) is a category of meditation based on an EEG pattern, which helps the wandering mind to focus on a particular object. It seems that prayer may, in certain respects, be similar to FAM. It is believed that emotional experience correlates mainly with theta, but also with selective alpha, with internalized attention correlating mainly with the synchronous activity...