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Gnosis
USA
68 Posts |
 Posted - Nov 12 2007 : 1:58:27 PM
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The ancient yogis were the original transpersonal psychologists and neuroscientist. They had knowledge of the implicate reality and a deep knowledge of the physical and subtle energy functions of the body.
Here is a cool study done about the deep effects on the nervous system that yogani speaks about in his book Deep Meditation. The new word for changes to the brain and nervous system are called neuroplasticity.
It's a great article, about the long term effects on the nervous system brought about by long term deep meditation practices. The effects are studied not only in meditation but also the permanent changes to the brain even when not in meditation.
Enjoy
http://www.urbandharma.org/pdf/monksmedstudy.pdf |
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tallis
Hungary
71 Posts |
Posted - Nov 13 2007 : 03:40:38 AM
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Hi Gnosis,
Yes, very interesting! While it doesn't seem so surprising to find a correlation between the number of hours spent in meditation with long-term changes in brain-wave activity, I've always wondered whether the age of the subject plays a role - which it apparently doesn't. It had been my suspicion that, as the brain ages and the number of neural pathways diminishes, the possibility for long-term change in the structuring of those pathways would also diminish. But it seems there's hope for everyone!
While the article deals with Buddhist concentrative meditation, it would be interesting - as pointed out near the end - to learn also what the differences in brain-wave activity would be in 'objectless' meditation. I was wondering about our own AYP mantra. It's a kind of anti-concentration, isn't it: loosely concentrating on the mantra in order to lose oneself. Somehow I can't imagine it leading to the same results as those in the study. Maybe one day we'll find out for sure. |
Edited by - tallis on Nov 13 2007 05:53:24 AM |
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Gnosis
USA
68 Posts |
Posted - Nov 14 2007 : 11:42:53 PM
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It would be interesting to compare the different meditation disciplines in a rigorous scientific method and figure out if there is a more efficient one or not, or if they all do the same thing.
I really don't like to differentiate between meditation disciplines too much, I think what works best for each individual is best.
I think most people start to become senile in old age due to entropy mostly. I could be genetic to a degree, but according to Bruce Lipton our beliefs control our dna, so even a genetic predisposition to some extent it still mental.
I think the body due to evolution, is a use it or lose it system. The goal of the body is survival, and to do that requires effiencey. During meditation almost the entire brain becomes activated as the rt. and lt. hemispheres of the brain begin to synchronize, this is true especially in deep theta and delta meditation, but is also quite pronounced in alpha as well.
I think a lot more integration between science and spiritual practices should be done. I think it would be useful to find a place that can do an eeg scan of your brain during both normal consciousness and meditation, then I think when a couple months goes by maybe about 3, we should get another scan to see the differences of our daily practices on our brain neuro functioning.
I think people do not see result with meditation as they do with other exercises, the changes reflected in meditation are so subtle, they are hard to detect. So people can sometimes lose motivation.
Not only does the brain become more efficient at entering higher states of consciousness, but it actually changes shape and, MEDITATION MAKES YOUR BRAIN BIGGER!!!!
http://www.physorg.com/news10312.html
The brain is like a muscle, when rigorously trained, it can do amazing things. |
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Neuroscience and Deep Meditation
