Conservatives! Meditate!
Meditation works.
Despite the #OWS vibe, and the initial feeling of silliness when you close your eyes and hum, it's an established scientific fact: meditation makes your brain healthier. From the LATimes:
The brains of experienced meditators appear to be fitter, more disciplined and more "on task" than do the brains of those trying out meditation for the first time. And the differences between the two groups are evident not only during meditation, when brain scans detect a pattern of better control over the wandering mind among experienced meditators, but when the mind is allowed to wander freely.
Those insights emerge from a study to be published next week in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, which looked at two groups: highly experienced meditators and meditation novices, and compared the operations of the "Default Mode Network" -- a newly identified cluster of brain regions that go to work when our brains appear to be "offline."
"I think it's safe to say this is brain-training at work," says Yale University psychiatrist Judson Brewer, who conducted the study with psychologists from Yale, the University of Oregon and Columbia University. "It makes sense," adds Brewer. "Anything you train to do, you do better."
This makes sense to me. When I used to practice meditation more diligently -- and I'll pause here to allow you all to snicker uninterrupted for a moment....all done? Okay, to continue:
When I used to practice meditation more diligently, I found it easier to concentrate, easier to focus, and actually more enjoyable to sit for a while and write. Meditation has many definitions, of course. You don't have to sit cross-legged like a swami and burn incense. Monks chanting is a form of meditation. So is prayer for some people. Whatever it is, this is the goal:
During meditation and in the mental rest periods in between, a brain region known to be important in focusing and maintaining attention, the dorsolateral anterior cingulate cortex was more likely to activate in tandem with the posterior cingulate cortex in regular meditators than in those who are new to the practice: that, says Brewer, suggests that during meditation and in everyday life, meditators may have more skill in reining in their wandering thoughts and bringing the brain back "on task"-- than those who don't routinely meditate.
We conservatives have a lot of work to do. We have to scrap the current tax code, restore America's entrepreneurial greatness, fundamentally reform the school system, and prepare for a more competitive future. We're going to need dorsolateral anterior cingulate cortices in fighting shape.
So, take twenty minutes and meditate.
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Oct '10
Re: Conservatives! Meditate!
No Daniels, no Ryan, no Rubio.
SERENITY NOW!
Feb '11
Re: Conservatives! Meditate!
I do yoga & other hippie stuff. The most stressful part is its mostly libs, who have somehow managed to carve out a latte drinking stressfree lifestyle that doesn't seem to involve working, long commutes or anything like that, unless posting crazy politics every day on facebook is work.
Jul '10
Re: Conservatives! Meditate!
Chris Campion: Here's meditation for you. Guaranteed to clear the baffles and leave you feeling healthier, refreshed, and all the garbage that's been accumulating in your head for the past several days will magically disappear:
Go run for an hour. You'll be glad you did. Bonus: Your heart will thank you, too. · Nov 29 at 4:09am
How many people do you think can run for an hour?
I find running to be the exact opposite of meditation. It's unbelievably boring so my mind wanders and I think of stuff.
Aug '10
Re: Conservatives! Meditate!
Michael Tee
Chris Campion: Here's meditation for you. Guaranteed to clear the baffles and leave you feeling healthier, refreshed, and all the garbage that's been accumulating in your head for the past several days will magically disappear:
Go run for an hour. You'll be glad you did. Bonus: Your heart will thank you, too. · Nov 29 at 4:09am
How many people do you think can run for an hour?
I find running to be the exact opposite of meditation. It's unbelievably boring so my mind wanders and I think of stuff. · Nov 29 at 6:39am
Yay, Michael Tee! We agree!
Oct '10
Re: Conservatives! Meditate!
Meditation requires not the emptying of ones mind, but the concentration of one's thoughts on a focal point.
Judith... you have probably already learned how to meditate in some areas. Call it worry. When you worry, you concentrate your thoughts, focus them on a perceived problem in your life. That is meditation.
Prayer is meditation, in which the focus of your mind is God. Many people believe that prayer is an event. You can schedule prayer, interrupt activity with prayer, formalize prayer, recite prayer.
For some, it is a way of life. Prayer is not an event, it is a flowing stream in your life. I find myself talking with God all day long. I tell Him my concerns, my joys, my enthusiasms, and my wants. I listen to Him for guidance, encouragement and hope. I listen to Him for instruction and specific direction in my day.
Most important, I examine my conversation with God in the light of Scripture. God has revealed Himself to us there, and it is there I go to measure the truth of our conversation.
Am I being honest with God, and am I really hearing the God of Scripture, or my own thoughts?
Oct '10
Re: Conservatives! Meditate!
This is the only way I listen to Law Talk.
Given the discussion, I have some new things to try and reading to do.
Re: Conservatives! Meditate!
Judith, the simplest book I've found and used is "The Relaxation Response" by Dr. Herbert Benson. It's the classic go-to book. I urge you to get it.
And thanks, Rob, for reminding me to go back to meditating. I recently sang in a multi-faith choir on Thanksgiving that was hosted by a Hindu-based temple and we practiced guided meditation for a few minutes. So relaxing.
Jan '11
Re: Conservatives! Meditate!
It’s easy. To control your mind, you control your body. As every athlete knows, if you control your breathing, you control everything else.
I took a class in psycho-biology in college, where transcendental meditation was the prime topic. Skip all the mystical-sounding “be the ball” nonsense, and it comes down to two simple facts:
Most of the "techniques" have one goal: to quiet the body. Sit with your back straight (to avoid having your spine complain). Don’t shut off any blood flow. Give your body no reason to complain.
When your brain no longer spends all its attention on the body, it frees the other synapses. That’s where the “altered states” feeling comes from.
Oct '10
Re: Conservatives! Meditate!
I'm sure meditation in itself works for many people, but I do find that to discipline the mind, it helps to engage the body. I'll put in a plug here for tai chi, which I have done for the last six years. If you can find a good teacher, you can discover quite a bit about the relationship between mind, chi, and body.
Of course, yoga is also good, especially because it will help you discipline your mind to ignore the lib-chat that typical yogers indulge in before and after.
Re: Conservatives! Meditate!
There must be something to it, because I see thousands of drivers each week with heads completely clear of all thought. Personally, I found that the incense makes me sneeze, which can be a problem when driving an 18 wheeler.
Mar '11
Re: Conservatives! Meditate!
Funnily enough, I have recently re-started meditating -- in my youth I used to have a Guru, so I am using the mantra he gave me -- it still seems to work.
I think I'm doing it because the World is now so crazy.
When I look back on my days in the Ashram, it seems spookily like the Obama "cult". But I eventually learned that you can meditate alone, as an individual, so there is no conflict with conservatism.
Feb '11
Re: Conservatives! Meditate!
Judith, as Denise Moss recommends, read Relaxation Response by Dr. Herbert Benson. Decades ago Dr. Benson brought the meditation practices of the Tibetan monks to the Western world and adapted them to our crazy lifestyles. His book has sold millions and millions have learned to relieve the stresses of daily life. Dr. Benson's research discovery is that there is an opposite to the fight-or-flight response that triggers stress; he called it the Relaxation Response and developed simple practices for evoking it. Dr. Benson is now the director emeritus of the Benson-Henry Institute for Mind Body Medicine at Massachusetts General Hospital. Its website has easy instructions on how to meditate. www.massgeneral.org/bhi. For example, MGH has integrated these relaxation practices to help anxious patients prior to surgery and patients undergoing cancer treatments. Ten minutes every day can do wonders, because your body actually builds up its stress resistance the more you meditate. Prayer can play a part: Dr. Benson recommends, if you're religious, starting your meditation with a calming word or phrase such as "Shalom" or "Mary, pray for us" to evoke the Relaxation Response.