When under great stress, or when in great fear, our biological fight or flight response is triggered strongly, the amygdala is highjacked, which then highjacks our frontal cortex and our brain, and destroys both our peace, and also our capacity for rational thought. Knowing how to respond to, or better,
Continue readingTag: meditation
Writings of J. Todd Ring: Buddhism: Surface & Depth; Or, Big Mind & Baby Minds
Buddhist meditation and mindfulness are very popular now, and have become mainstream. Hospitals, churches and secular classes are now offering meditation and mindfulness training and practice. That is a good thing, and it need not go with any kind of religious conversion; and in Western popular Buddhism, generally it does
Continue readingWritings of J. Todd Ring: Why Do Yoga?
Yoga is now practiced by champion boxers, football players such as the Miami Dolphins, and celebrity musicians such as Sting. Yoga is now being practiced by people as diverse as pre-school children, to 90+ year old grandmothers; and everyone from hippies to red necks, corporate office workers to
Continue readingWritings of J. Todd Ring: Science, “Scientism”, Group-Think, & Radical Healing
Like acupuncture, which was pooh-pooh for decades as unscientific bunkum and hocus-pocus, but is now acknowledged by the mainstream conventional Western medical establishment to work – though our crude medical model, which is outdated by a century with the advent of quantum physics, cannot fathom how it works; things
Continue readingWritings of J. Todd Ring: Meditations For Difficult Times
What do you do when the world has gone insane? Well, you stay calm, and keep working for justice, peace, democracy, ecological balance, and freedom. You also have to stay well. That does not mean unthinkingly obeying irrational fascist orders. It does mean managing stress, eating well, getting exercise,
Continue readingTHE CAREGIVERS' LIVING ROOM A Blog by Donna Thomson: SELF CARE? YOU HAVE TO BE KIDDING.
Last evening I presented a workshop on self-care for caregivers in my city of Ottawa, Canada. Going in, I knew that this group had huge challenges at home and that they were pretty cynical about the standard ‘just have a bubble bath’ approach to self-care. These were parents who need
Continue readingThings Are Good: Practicing Meditation Changes Your Brain and Sense of Self
Achieving mindfulness through mediation can help you relax and even assist you in achieving a more fulfilling life. Recent fMRI studies have shown that this can be proven by looking at the brain itself; indeed, structures inside your brain tend to alter based on how much meditation one does! This
Continue readingThings Are Good: Lessons on Happiness From the Happiest Man Alive
What’s the key to happiness? Not thinking about yourself. Matthieu Ricard is a Tibetan Buddhist monk who has been deemed the world’s happiest man. Researchers scanned his brain to prove it. He has used his training to hone his brain to be ‘light’ and not carry burdens – something we can all learn from. A […]
The post Lessons on Happiness From the Happiest Man Alive appeared first on Things Are Good.
Continue readingmark a rayner: The Digital Sabbath, or Why I Never Reply to Your Emails on Saturday
If it’s Saturday and you’re reading this, I am far away from you. That’s because every week, I unplug and celebrate what I call the digital sabbath. I know, I know, it’s kind of blasphemous, but it is the best way to think about the activity of disconnecting from the Internet to
Continue readingThings Are Good: Mindfulness Meditation Effective in Improving Sleep
Mindfulness meditation is already pretty great, and it keeps getting better! Not only can it help you go amongst your day in a more thoughtful, productive, focussed manner, it can even help you sleep! A six week trial of getting people who had trouble sleeping to mediate proved to help
Continue readingThe Canadian Progressive: Compassion creates happiness, freedom and better relationships
Kozo Hattori, a writer and counselor, explains how compassion creates happiness, freedom from gender stereotypes, and better relationships with others. The post Compassion creates happiness, freedom and better relationships appeared first on The Canadian Progressive.
Continue readingWritings of J. Todd Ring: The Meditative Brain
The Meditative Brain.
Continue readingmark a rayner | scribblings, squibs & sundry monkey joys: Thag do meditation!
Every morning before they started the hunt, Thag would sit down away from the others, close his eyes, and listen to the wind. It was more than that, but that is what he told the other hunters. Really what he … Continue reading →
Continue readingLeDaro: Human Brain and its capabilities
“We know that the human brain is a powerful organ, but many of us aren’t aware of how much the mind is truly capable of — and much more powerful it can become through deliberate training. By exercising the brain (yes, you can use repetition and habit as you do
Continue readingDeath By Trolley: Don’t We All Hear Voices? A Mindfulness-Informed View of Schizophrenia and the “Normal” Mind
The hallmark of schizophrenia is perceiving things that are not there. Auditory hallucinations, including “hearing voices”, is particularly common. What if this clinically distinguishing feature of schizophrenia differs from the cognitively distinguishing feature? What if, cognitively speaking, what distinguishes schizophrenia is not the presence of voices, but rather how one
Continue readingThus Prate the Pundit » Social Critique: What Would Happen if You De-occupy the Cognitive Surplus?
The “West” is known for its consumers. Much of the rest of the world is trying its best to head in that direction too. Reading Clay Shirky’s recent blog post, Gin, Television, and Social Surplus, got me thinking about the stance of the passive consumer. I’m wondering if the new
Continue reading