Meditation of the week

[Guest guest]

Meditation of the week

 

Does Meditation Make You A Leftist?

 

A man works hard, has a lot of stress and thinks, " If I could just get

away from all this I would be happy. " So he takes a vacation to a

tropical paradise and finds himself feeling about the same as he did at

home. Different things are irritating, but he is still grumpier than he

thinks he should be under the circumstances.

 

Another man, a Tibetan monk, is run out of his country after it is

taken over by communists, sees his people killed, his culture

destroyed, his religious treasures profaned and demolished; He has no

money, no house, no car, no wife, and yet he seems to be smiling and

happy all the time. What's the deal?

 

Neuroscientists are finding evidence that people have different

biologically determined set points for mood. It is as if we have mood

thermostats that limit how high or how low our moods will go. Some of

us would find this news depressing, but there is good news to go with

it. Related research suggests that training and practice in mindfulness

and meditation can alter our mood set points in a positive direction.

The suggestion is that meditation and mindfulness may change the

activity patterns in our brains.

 

According to a February 4, 2003 article in The New York Times by Daniel

Goleman, when we are distressed, we will have more activity in circuits

converging on the amygdala, a part of the brain associated with fear

and anger, and in the right prefrontal lobe of the cerebral cortex.

When we are happier, the left prefrontal cortex is more active and the

amygdala and right prefrontal cortex are quieter. It may be that the

left side suppresses activity on the right. Measuring subjects using a

functional M.R.I., Dr. Richard Davidson, director of the Laboratory for

Affective Neuroscience at the University of Wisconsin observed that of

175 test subjects, the person with the highest left to right brain

activity ratio was a Tibetan Lama, a person highly trained in

meditation and mindfulness. Based on this and other studies of the

effect of meditation and mindfulness training on mood, it is

hypothesized that we can alter our emotional set points by practicing

mediation and mindfulness.

 

Serious meditators will not find this suggestion surprising. Those of

us who could use a little more motivation to get serious about our

meditation practice can take heart that sitting still doing nothing may

not be doing nothing after all. It may be fundamentally changing the

way our brain behaves and laying the groundwork for a less anxious,

more energized and happier life.

 

 

For more detail on the studies mentioned above go to the article

Finding Happiness: Cajole Your Brain to Lean to the Left by Daniel

Goleman.

http://www.buddhistnews.tv/current/mindful-brain-050203.php

 

 

These ideas are also contained in Daniel Goleman's book, Destructive

Emotions: A Scientific Dialogue with the Dalai Lama, Bantam Doubleday

Dell Pub, 2003. As one reviewer said, this book is not a " how to "

meditate, but a " why to. "