The most experienced practitioners of mindfulness that have been measured in the West are Buddhist monks with many thousands of hours of practice. Their EEG and brain imaging results have been compared with Westerners allegedly trained in the same tradition. It's not just MBSR and related clinical practices that have been tested.
L --- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, "emptybill" <emptybill@...> wrote: > > > So called "mindfulness" (as advertised and taught in the Western world) > is a meditation practice based upon Pali Buddhist scriptures but > truncated to the Western sense of "practicality". > > As conducted, it is founded upon the attentional function of > observation. > > Get it? Observation! > > "Mindfulness meditation" is nothing more than observation of the > activities of the (omni)-perceptional process � sensations, > volitions, thoughts. > > While valuable as a self-monitoring process, it is shallow when compared > to the requirements of classical Buddhist dhyana-samaapatti � total > absorption in the "object" of attention through multiple level > of subtly until the subtlest value of experience (neither perception nor > non-perception) is recognized. > > > > > > > --- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, "sparaig" wrote: > > > > I never said that mindfulness is unhealthy. > > > > There are many health benefits associated with mindfulness. > > > > However, the success is due mostly to a very nicely coordinated effort > by American Buddhists to publish research and promote its practice. The > specific health benefits (cognitive benefits may be a different issue) > of mindfulness are NOT, in general, comparable to those found in TM, but > mindfulness teachers are more easily created than TM teachers, and the > practice itself is less subject to distortion (being a distortion in the > first place, IMHO). > > > > L > > > > --- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, nablusoss1008 no_reply@ wrote: > > > > > > > > > > > > --- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, "sparaig" wrote: > > > > > > > > > http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/choke/201106/how-mindfulness-meditat\ > ion-alters-the-brain > > > > > > > > How Mindfulness Meditation Alters the Brain > > > > Mindfulness quiets brain regions responsible for our sense of self > > > > > > > > > > > > TM, on the other hand, actually brings about a higher activation > of some of the same regions of the brain that mindfulness represses. > > > > > > > > > > > > Mindfulness represses self. TM broadens/expands/enhances self. > > > > > > > > L > > > > > > It seems mindfulness is unhealthy yet it is having a huge success in > the West today. Do you have any explanation for this ? > > > > > >
