Meditation -) Happiness

Yoga and Meditation predate Buddhism by several centuries. Yoga is the correct, efficient and
effective method to inner - and outer happiness. "Buddhist Meditation" is a misnomer, it is really
yoga - under the name "Buddhist meditation". This research is just that re-search, the Indian
texts, specially Ayurveda recommend yoga and meditation for calmness/happiness etc.... Control of
the vital energy, - prana means vital. Controlling the vital energy - by controlling the the
breath - pranayama aims at happinness - a state of inner joy - reflected not only outside, but to
others as well.

This science of Yoga is FREE.

"Ian Goddard" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
"]news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

reuters.comnewsArticle.jhtmlOpen ↗

Meditation Shown to Light Up Brains of Buddhists

Wed May 21, 2003 02:03 PM ET

LONDON (Reuters) - Buddhists really are happy, calm and serene people -- at least according to
their brain scans.

Using new scanning techniques, neuroscientists have discovered that certain areas of the brain
light up constantly in Buddhists, and not just when they are meditating, which indicates positive
emotions and good mood.

"We can now hypothesize with some confidence that those apparently happy, calm Buddhist souls one
regularly comes across in places such as Dharamsala, India, really are happy," Professor Owen
Flanagan, of Duke University in North Carolina, said Wednesday.

Dharamsala is the home base of exiled Tibetan leader the Dalai Lama.

The scanning studies by scientists at the University of Wisconsin at Madison showed activity in
the left prefrontal lobes of experienced Buddhist practitioners. The area is linked to positive
emotions, self-control and temperament.

Other research by Paul Ekman, of the University of California San Francisco Medical Center,
suggests that meditation and mindfulness can tame the amygdala, an area of the brain which is the
hub of fear memory.

Ekman discovered that experienced Buddhists were less likely to be shocked, flustered, surprised
or as angry as other people.

Flanagan believes that if the findings of the studies can be confirmed they could be of major
importance.

"The most reasonable hypothesis is that there is something about conscientious Buddhist practice
that results in the kind of happiness we all seek," Flanagan said in a report in New Scientist
magazine.

iangoddard.netiangoddard.netOpen ↗

"Go within, or go without." Gloria Benish

This's all been explained in AoK, Ap5 & 7, all along, reduced to the proven Neuroscience
experimental results.

K. P. Collins

--
"Schmitd! Schmitd! Ve vill build a Shapel!"

"Ian Goddard" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
"]news:[email hidden]...
|
reuters.comnewsArticle.jhtmlOpen ↗
|
| Meditation Shown to Light Up Brains of Buddhists [...]

"Ian Goddard" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
"]news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

reuters.comnewsArticle.jhtmlOpen ↗

Meditation Shown to Light Up Brains of Buddhists

Wed May 21, 2003 02:03 PM ET

LONDON (Reuters) - Buddhists really are happy, calm and serene people -- at least according to
their brain scans.

Using new scanning techniques, neuroscientists have discovered that certain areas of the brain
light up constantly in Buddhists, and not just when they are meditating, which indicates positive
emotions and good mood.

This seems screwy to me.

Wouldn't there be less brain activity in a calm and serene person?

tho i usually appreciate Ian's ideas and optimism

Kartik Vashishta said:

Yoga and Meditation predate Buddhism by several centuries. Yoga is the correct, efficient and
effective method to inner - and outer happiness.

So are you saying that Buddhists are meditating incorrectly?

Quoted message said:

"Buddhist Meditation" is a misnomer, it is really yoga - under the name "Buddhist meditation".

No. There are points of Buddhist meditation that developed out of the zone of influence of Yoga.
Zen, for one.

Quoted message said:

This research is just that re-search, the Indian texts, specially Ayurveda recommend yoga and
meditation for calmness/happiness etc....

Quoted message said:

Control of the vital energy, - prana means vital. Controlling the vital energy - by controlling the
the breath - pranayama aims at happinness - a state of inner joy - reflected not only outside, but
to others as well.

Quoted message said:

This science of Yoga is FREE.

As if Buddhism.

Tsu

--
To doubt everything or to believe everything are two equally convenient solutions; both dispense
with the necessity of reflection.
- Jules Henri Poincaré

In sci.life-extension Kartik Vashishta said:

Yoga and Meditation predate Buddhism by several centuries. Yoga is the correct, efficient and
effective method to inner - and outer happiness.

It apparently does nothing to lower the pettiness factor. Nex

"Nana Weedkiller" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
"]news:[email hidden]...
|
| "Ian Goddard" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
| "]news:[email hidden]...
| >
reuters.comnewsArticle.jhtmlOpen ↗
| >
| > Meditation Shown to Light Up Brains of Buddhists
| >
| > Wed May 21, 2003 02:03 PM ET
| >
| > LONDON (Reuters) - Buddhists really are happy, calm and serene people -- at least according to
| > their brain scans.
| >
| > Using new scanning techniques, neuroscientists have discovered that certain areas of the brain
| > light up constantly in Buddhists, and not just when they are meditating, which indicates
| > positive emotions and good mood.
| >
|
| This seems screwy to me.
|
| Wouldn't there be less brain activity in a calm
and serene person?

1. 'Typically', the scanning techniques incorporate filters, and so, show divergences within
selective ranges of neural activation frequency distributions - otherwise, it's like a 'storm'
in-there in which it's hard to discriminate anything.

2. Focal convergence within neural activation is a 'state' of reduced relative-'randomness', which
correlates to increased information-processing 'clarity'.

ken

"Nana Weedkiller" <[email hidden]> wrote in message news:LxYya.55980 [...]

Quoted message said:

This seems screwy to me.

Wouldn't there be less brain activity in a calm and serene person?

Various parts of the brain are more active in certain situations and less active in others.

Nana Weedkiller said:

Quoted message said:

Using new scanning techniques, neuroscientists have discovered that certain areas of the brain
light up constantly in Buddhists, and not just when they are meditating, which indicates positive
emotions and good mood.

Quoted message said:

This seems screwy to me.

Wouldn't there be less brain activity in a calm and serene person?

less activity in some areas, more activity in areas having to do with feeling good.

Tsu

--
To doubt everything or to believe everything are two equally convenient solutions; both dispense
with the necessity of reflection.
- Jules Henri Poincaré

Kartik Vashishta said:

Yoga and Meditation predate Buddhism by several centuries. Yoga is the correct, efficient and
effective method to inner - and outer happiness. "Buddhist Meditation" is a misnomer, it is really
yoga - under the name "Buddhist meditation". This research is just that re-search, the Indian
texts, specially Ayurveda recommend yoga and meditation for calmness/happiness etc.... Control of
the vital energy, - prana means vital. Controlling the vital energy - by controlling the the
breath - pranayama aims at happinness - a state of inner joy - reflected not only outside, but to
others as well.

IAN: There's no question that yoga predates Buddhism. However, consider that there are subtle
variations in meditations practiced among Buddhist schools as well as between Buddhist and Hindu
schools. While it is likely reasonable to hypothesize that the apparent effects of Buddhist
meditation observed by Flanagan et al may be found in meditations as practiced by other schools,
it's also reasonably prudent to ascribe given findings only to the given variety of meditation
under examination.

There is a growing body of evidence emerging that is giving us an understanding of the neurology
of meditation and mystical experience. It may be a reasonable hypothesis that we will discover
that a variety of meditations correspond to a variety of neurological results. It's my view that
Eastern schools of philosophy with their specific forms of mental programming such as meditation
have been centuries-old pioneering ventures in neuroscience. It's exciting to see the West finally
catching up!

iangoddard.netphilo.htmOpen ↗

"He who pursues learning will increase every day;
he who pursues Tao will decrease every day."

Lao Tzu (Tao Te Ching)

"Nana Weedkiller" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
"]news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

"Ian Goddard" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
"]news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

reuters.comnewsArticle.jhtmlOpen ↗

Meditation Shown to Light Up Brains of Buddhists

Wed May 21, 2003 02:03 PM ET

LONDON (Reuters) - Buddhists really are happy, calm and serene people -- at least according to
their brain scans.

Using new scanning techniques, neuroscientists have discovered that certain areas of the brain
light up constantly in Buddhists, and not just when they are meditating, which indicates
positive emotions and good mood.

This seems screwy to me.

Wouldn't there be less brain activity in a calm and serene person?

Such are the profound (directly brain-related) powers of human self-deception. %-\

P

"Nana Weedkiller" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:<[email hidden]>...

Quoted message said:

"Ian Goddard" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
"]news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

reuters.comnewsArticle.jhtmlOpen ↗

Meditation Shown to Light Up Brains of Buddhists

Wed May 21, 2003 02:03 PM ET

LONDON (Reuters) - Buddhists really are happy, calm and serene people -- at least according to
their brain scans.

Using new scanning techniques, neuroscientists have discovered that certain areas of the brain
light up constantly in Buddhists, and not just when they are meditating, which indicates
positive emotions and good mood.

This seems screwy to me.

Wouldn't there be less brain activity in a calm and serene person?

Why should it be the case that less activity = calmness? I wouldn't imagine that any of our
subjective states correspond in such an intuitive fashion with neuronal firing. i.e. I don't imagine
anger correlates with intense firing either. Such higher-level functions emerge from lower-level
activiation in a much more complex fashion than that. Its similar to the case with certain diseases
- some very complex phenotypes can be attributed to single point mutations, whilst relatively simple
phenotypes have an enormously complex aetiology (of course the point in both instances here is the
subjective demarcation of phenomena, which, almost by definition, is unlikely to correspond with the
underlying reasons behind them)

Tsu Dho Nimh <[email hidden]> wrote in :"]news:[email hidden]:

Quoted message said:

Kartik Vashishta said:

Yoga and Meditation predate Buddhism by several centuries. Yoga is the correct, efficient and
effective method to inner - and outer happiness.

So are you saying that Buddhists are meditating incorrectly?

Quoted message said:

"Buddhist Meditation" is a misnomer, it is really yoga - under the name "Buddhist meditation".

No. There are points of Buddhist meditation that developed out of the zone of influence of Yoga.
Zen, for one.

Quoted message said:

This research is just that re-search, the Indian texts, specially Ayurveda recommend yoga and
meditation for calmness/happiness etc....

Quoted message said:

Control of the vital energy, - prana means vital. Controlling the vital energy - by controlling
the the breath - pranayama aims at happinness - a state of inner joy - reflected not only outside,
but to others as well.

Quoted message said:

This science of Yoga is FREE.

As if Buddhism.

The science of Yoga? Isn't that like the science of Bertha Verroneau or the science of Cell Salts?

r

--
"I will not be pushed, filed, stamped, indexed, briefed, de-briefed, or numbered...My life
is my own."

"I am not a number. I am a free man." No. 6

"Tsu Dho Nimh" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
"]news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

Kartik Vashishta said:

Yoga and Meditation predate Buddhism by several centuries. Yoga is the correct, efficient and
effective method to inner - and outer happiness.

So are you saying that Buddhists are meditating incorrectly?

Quoted message said:

"Buddhist Meditation" is a misnomer, it is really yoga - under the name "Buddhist meditation".

No. There are points of Buddhist meditation that developed out of the zone of influence of Yoga.
Zen, for one.

Dyhan =>zhan ==>zen

"KP_PC" <[email hidden]> wrote in message news:juZya.93323$ [...]

Quoted message said:

1. 'Typically', the scanning techniques incorporate filters, and so, show divergences within
selective ranges of neural activation frequency distributions - otherwise, it's like a 'storm'
in-there in which it's hard to discriminate anything.

It depends on the type of scanning technique, doesn't it?

Quoted message said:

2. Focal convergence within neural activation is a 'state' of reduced relative-'randomness', which
correlates to increased information-processing 'clarity'.

Not always, or such is my understanding. fMRI actually measures the intensity of activity rather
than the relative randomness.

"Lawson English" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
"]news:[email hidden]...
|
| "Nana Weedkiller" <[email hidden]> wrote in message news:LxYya.55980 [...]
| > This seems screwy to me.
| >
| > Wouldn't there be less brain activity in a calm and serene person?
|
| Various parts of the brain are more active in certain situations
and less
| active in others.

In a way that is, itself, extremely-dynamic.

K. P. Collins

--
"Schmitd! Schmitd! Ve vill build a Shapel!"

"Tsu Dho Nimh" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
"]news:[email hidden]...
| "Nana Weedkiller" <[email hidden]> wrote:
|
| >> Using new scanning techniques, neuroscientists have discovered
that
| >> certain areas of the brain light up constantly in Buddhists, and
not
| >> just when they are meditating, which indicates positive emotions
and
| >> good mood.
|
| >This seems screwy to me.
| >
| >Wouldn't there be less brain activity in a calm and serene person?
|
| less activity in some areas, more activity in areas having to do with feeling good.
|
| Tsu

If there's actually 'feeling-good' in-there, =except= in instances in which relatively-small
novelty is encountered [AoK, Ap5; "inverting reward"], it's =always= relatively-'minimized'
activation, overall.

K. P. Collins

--
"Schmitd! Schmitd! Ve vill build a Shapel!"

| --
| To doubt everything or to believe everything are two equally convenient solutions; both dispense
| with the necessity of reflection.
| - Jules Henri Poincaré

In sci.life-extension Ian Goddard <[email hidden]> wrote:

: There is a growing body of evidence emerging that is giving us an understanding of the neurology
: of meditation and mystical experience. It may be a reasonable hypothesis that we will discover
: that a variety of meditations correspond to a variety of neurological results. It's my view that
: Eastern schools of philosophy with their specific forms of mental programming such as meditation
: have been centuries-old pioneering ventures in neuroscience. It's exciting to see the West
: finally catching up!

The ancients were smart - they invented martial arts, yoga, meditation - and had some impressive
medical knowledge.

We have a big advantage over them, however - stemming largely from standing on their shoulders.
--
__________
|im |yler timtyler.orgtimtyler.orgOpen ↗ [email hidden]

Ian Goddard said:

Kartik Vashishta said:

Yoga and Meditation predate Buddhism by several centuries. Yoga is the correct, efficient and
effective method to inner - and outer happiness. "Buddhist Meditation" is a misnomer, it is really
yoga - under the name "Buddhist meditation". This research is just that re-search, the Indian
texts, specially Ayurveda recommend yoga and meditation for calmness/happiness etc.... Control of
the vital energy, - prana means vital. Controlling the vital energy - by controlling the the
breath - pranayama aims at happinness - a state of inner joy - reflected not only outside, but to
others as well.

Quoted message said:

There's no question that yoga predates Buddhism. However, consider that there are subtle
variations in meditations practiced among Buddhist schools as well as between Buddhist and Hindu
schools. While it is likely reasonable to hypothesize that the apparent effects of Buddhist
meditation observed by Flanagan et al may be found in meditations as practiced by other schools,
it's also reasonably prudent to ascribe given findings only to the given variety of meditation
under examination.

It is well-known among Buddhists that some people who do poorly at the Zen-type medititation can
usually do well with Vipassana or chanting meditation or visualization meditation or ... there's a
wide choice out there.

Tsu

--
To doubt everything or to believe everything are two equally convenient solutions; both dispense
with the necessity of reflection.
- Jules Henri Poincaré