Category: Videos

This story by ABC News Nightline, Dan Harris, has so much information and value.

 

Finally: Science is Thawing the Resistance to Mainstream Meditation

I understand that most people need science to justify new things that have been serving humanity for thousands of years. Believe me. I am a degreed electrical engineer who relies on logic for much of life and had to do a lot of training to balance out my thought processes to include more intuitive and creative thoughts. But that logical mind runs amok at times and prevents us from doing things that are good for us, especially practices that have proven to help some communities for hundreds of years.

AND the good news is that the re-burgeoning field of neuroscience, now that they have the equipment to do so, is measuring the immediate and noticeable impact on human’s brains while meditating. I caught part of the story on ABC’s Nightline last night and it was great!

Click the link below to see several very interesting short stories about meditation

Each segment has a different person and focus. Very well done!

Link: Meditation finds more acceptance in the mainstream

(I am looking for a way to embed this video on this page since ABC News doesn’t make it easy like other streaming sites do. Until then you will be rewarded by clicking the link.)

There are four segments from 1 to 8 minutes each. Each one is great

 

Segment 1: Benefits of meditation

It is estimated that 20 million Americans are regular meditators.

Look at the graphs of brain activity while meditating which shows a marked increase in activity. Soon after someone starts meditating the parts of the brain associated with compassion and awareness grow while the parts associated with stress shrink. Plus researchers found that these new meditators were less mean to each other and began to use ‘we’ instead of ‘I’, a sign of letting go of our controlling egos. Great solution to emotional self management, a skill that is needed by all.

They also mention how meditation has made it into some of mainstream America; in Fortune 500 Corporations, elementary schools, musicians, etc.

 

Segment 2:  An interview with the Dalai Lama

Even the Dalai Lama says that he loses his temper once in a while. He continues: if someone does not ever lose their temper then he doesn’t believe them. And if that’s true then they must come from some other space (indicating that they are aliens).

YIPPEE! I SO AGREE. We are not designed to be completely positive. This is a misconception about the impact of meditation. This validates my concept in this blog post Gossip & Effective Communication under ‘Positive Facades’. We are not designed to never have difficulty. We are designed to be authentic. Life is designed as a place where we continue to learn how to be greater. And at times there are ‘downs’.

Segment 3: Overview of meditation

A 1 minute introduction to meditation

 

Segment 4 – Book: Real Happiness

This is a discussion with Sharon Salzberg, author of Real Happiness. She is one of the US’s foremest meditation teachers. Dan Harris asks her about her childhood and how she overcame that through meditation. Interesting.

Summary

To my students and coaching clients: please listen to this as motivation to do your daily practice. Remember how it felt in class and make a choice to better your lives for your sake and for your family.

To anyone else: Check this out. Consider it. We have to do something different in life when we want a different outcome.

Trust the science over your internal resistance. Once you begin to do just a few minutes daily in a few weeks you will start noticing a difference to how you view yourself, view life and have more self control and direction. I have taught meditation in Spiritual Centers and through a scientific method that just takes minutes to practice and I still find value and an increasing inner strength plus a stronger sense of self. However you learn it, use it.