Mind the Bump: Mindfulness and how the brain works

Mind the Bump: Mindfulness and how the brain works

7 Days Kindfulness Course

7 Days Kindfulness Course

Audio Resources for Mindfulness Meditation

http://www.mindful.org/audio-resources-for-mindfulness-meditation/

Audio Resources for Mindfulness Meditation

A collection of free guided meditations.
By Mindful Staff | November 25, 2015

Cultivate Tranquility, Harvest Insight

http://www.lionsroar.com/cultivate-tranquility-harvest-insight/

Cultivate Tranquility, Harvest Insight

BY AJAHN BRAHMAVAMSO| JULY 3, 2016

Meditation stages according to the Thai Forest Tradition

External Mindfulness, Secure (Non)-Attachment, and Healing Relational Trauma: Emerging Models of Wellness for Modern Buddhists and Buddhist Modernism

https://docs.google.com/viewerng/viewer?url=http://www.globalbuddhism.org/jgb/index.php/jgb/article/viewFile/170/185

External Mindfulness, Secure (Non)-Attachment, and Healing Relational Trauma: Emerging
Models of Wellness for Modern Buddhists and Buddhist Modernism

by Ann Gleig, University of Central Florida

The Unconscious Motivations for Meditation Practice, by J.Engler

https://mettarefuge.wordpress.com/2011/12/09/the-unconscious-motivations-for-meditation-practice/

The Unconscious Motivations for Meditation Practice

2011/12/09 BY STEVEN GOODHEART 

These remarks are excerpted from a day-long program given by Jack Engler at the Barre Center for Buddhist Studies (BCBS) on November 1, l997. Jack has had a long association with Dharma study and practice. He studied Pali language and Abhidhamma at the Post-Graduate Institute of Buddhist Studies in Nalanda, Bihar, and practiced meditation for several years in India with Anagarika Munindraji and Dipa Ma. He also studied with the Ven. Mahasi Sayadaw in Burma. He is co-author of Transformations of Consciousness (Shambhala, l986), and has been a clinical psychologist for more than twenty years. Jack is on the BCBS board of directors, and teaches in Barre from time to time.

Sharon Salzberg on getting started with meditation

http://www.lionsroar.com/how-to-meditate-sharon-salzberg-on-getting-started/

Sharon Salzberg on getting started with meditation

BY SHARON SALZBERG| AUGUST 15, 2014

Sharon Salzberg explains the ins and outs of a core technique—meditating on the breath.

How to do Mindfulness Meditation

http://www.lionsroar.com/how-to-do-mindfulness-meditation/

How to do Mindfulness Meditation

BY SAKYONG MIPHAM RINPOCHE| MARCH 1, 2016

“Mindfulness practice is simple and completely feasible, says Sakyong Mipham Rinpoche. “Just by sitting and doing nothing, we are doing a tremendous amount.”

Buddhism and meditation for beginners — a Lion’s Roar guide

http://www.lionsroar.com/beginning-with-buddhism-and-meditation/

Buddhism and meditation for beginners — a Lion’s Roar guide

BY LION'S ROAR STAFF| MARCH 24, 2016

New to Buddhist meditation or Buddhist teachings? Then you probably have a lot of questions — and here you’ll find helpful answers, by way of articles from theLion’s Roar and Buddhadharma magazines. This page is a work in progress; we’ll be adding to it constantly to help you get started with your exploration of Buddhist thought and practice — and keep it going. 

Creating a Good Ground for Meditation

http://www.lionsroar.com/creating-a-good-ground-for-meditation/?utm_source=Lion%27s+Roar+Newsletter&utm_campaign=9a0251da2a-LR_Weekend_Read_May_13_20165_12_2016&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_1988ee44b2-9a0251da2a-20974389&goal=0_1988ee44b2-9a0251da2a-20974389

Creating a Good Ground for Meditation

BY THANISSARO BHIKKHU| MAY 1, 2004

Meditation isn’t a one-way street—you can’t just meditate and your life will get better. You have to change the way you live to improve your meditation. Thanissaro Bhikkhu outlines five principles of the ethical, restrained life conducive to meditation practice.

Buddhist Meditation and Depth Psychology

http://www.accesstoinsight.org/lib/authors/burns/wheel088.html

Buddhist Meditation and Depth Psychology

by

Douglas M. Burns

© 1994

Contents

• Introduction
• The Goals of Meditation
• Preparations
• Psychological Obstacles
• Material Considerations
• Social Factors
• Individual Variations
• The Techniques of Meditation
• Mindfulness of Breathing
• Mindfulness of Postures and of Actions
• Repulsiveness, Material Components, and Cemetery Meditations
• Discursive Meditations
• Mindfulness of Feelings, Consciousness, and Mental Objects
• The Eighth Step
• Other Forms of Meditation
• Scientific Evaluations of Meditation
• The Social Fruits of Meditation
• Appendix
• Notes

HuffPost: Cutting Through the Corporate Mindfulness Hype

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/ron-purser/cutting-through-the-corporate-mindfulness-hype_b_9512998.html

Cutting Through the Corporate Mindfulness Hype

Co-authored with Edwin Ng, 
Lecturer, School of Communications and Creative Arts, Deakin University

There has been a chorus of recent articles touting the benefits of mindfulness at work. But have they really distinguished between fact and fad, science from ideology, and the risks versus the benefits with regards to mindfulness at work? Part One addresses how the corporate mindfulness movement draws from the dubious discipline of “management science,” which historically has been a political endeavor to secure and legitimate the interests of corporations. Part Two will clarify that we are not dismissing the potential of mindfulness as a disruptive technology against prevailing systems, and invite readers to consider how they might use mindfulness to experiment with critical self-care.

A selection of Mindfulness Articles

A selection of Mindfulness Articles

https://www.dropbox.com/s/q0cdx7il37ong3q/mindfulness.pdf?dl=0

A selection of Mindfulness articles

June 5, 2015

Mindfulness has lost its Buddhist roots, and it may not be doing you good

Miguel Farias, Coventry University and Catherine Wikholm, University of Surrey

The mindfulness technique is being blindly sold and we are buying it hook line and sinker.

February 25, 2015

Good sleep gets harder as we age, but mindfulness could help

Jo Abbott, Swinburne University of Technology and Imogen Rehm, Swinburne University of Technology

By learning to become more aware of present-moment experiences, we learn not to react to thoughts and worries that can interfere with sleep.

September 22, 2015

How corporates co-opted the art of mindfulness to make us bear the unbearable

Zoë Krupka, La Trobe University

Corporate culture has stripped the ancient practice of mindfulness of its spirituality and re-branded it as a modern solution to over-work.

January 10, 2016

Mindfulness can improve living with a disability

Yoon-Suk Hwang, Australian Catholic University

A recent review of studies has shown that mindfulness meditation helps people with intellectual disabilities and autism spectrum disorder reduce their mental and physical problems.

January 1, 2014

Meditation, mindfulness and mind-emptiness

Ramesh Manocha, University of Sydney

Ever been unable to sleep because you can’t switch off that stream of thoughts that seems to flow incessantly, mercilessly through your head? When your mental noise distracts you from the task at hand…

October 2, 2014

Mindfulness: how to be in the moment … right here, right now

Maarten Immink, University of South Australia

Remember then: there is only one time that is important – Now! It is the most important time because it is the only time when we have any power. This quote by Leo Tolstoy in What Men Live By and Other…

August 5, 2015

Mindfulness therapy alleviates soldiers' PTSD, but only in the short term

Ian Hickie, University of Sydney and Jane Burns, University of Melbourne

A new study has found returned service people who underwent mindfulness-based therapies had a sharper short-term decline in PTSD symptoms than those undergoing other conventional therapies.

April 14, 2015

How a mindful approach to computer and smartphone use might just make you happier

Anastasia Papazafeiropoulou, Brunel University London and Jeremy Hunter, Claremont Graduate University

Computers and smartphones make us stressed and ill. It's about time we rethought how we should be using them.

December 15, 2014

How mindfulness could give you the gift of a calmer Christmas

Anna Leyland, University of Sheffield

In the run-up to Christmas we find our to-do lists bloated with added chores: present shopping, card writing, preparing to travel or receive guests. We are bombarded with adverts telling us what to buy…

February 13, 2015

From A to zen: mindfulness in seven days

Alessandro R Demaio, Harvard University

If you’re anything like me, one thing you find really hard to do - is nothing. I mean, really - doing nothing. Taking a moment out for yourself, meditating on life, reflecting on your day, getting to that…

June 9, 2011

Mindfulness meditation offers help with the travails of chronic illness

Monika Merkes, La Trobe University

Drugs to relieve pain for people with chronic diseases are expensive and can have harmful side effects. But there are alternatives that promise benefits exceeding pain relief. Mindfulness meditation…

November 7, 2013

‘Mindfulness’ training improves self-control for youth in jail

New York University

The meditation-based therapy known as “mindfulness” training has been found to improve concentration in incarcerated adolescents…

April 3, 2014

Approach your laptop mindfully to avoid digital overload

Anastasia Papazafeiropoulou, Brunel University London

Information overload has become an everyday experience for anyone who works with computers, owns a smartphone or waits at a bus stop with minute-by-minute updates about arrival times. And this information…

May 5, 2015

When it comes to information overload, we’re like frogs in boiling water

Andy Tattersall, University of Sheffield

There's ways to help tackle digital distraction - but they all revolve around you wanting to change.

November 1, 2013

Rumination and remedy: five ways to improve your outlook

Peter Kinderman, University of Liverpool

It is the events that happen in our lives that determine the state of our mental health, rather than some inherent personal inadequacy or genetic flaw. And psychological processes, such as rumination and…

January 18, 2012

Beyond spirituality: the role of meditation in mental health

Jonathan Krygier, University of Sydney and Andrew H Kemp, University of Sydney

Meditation has traditionally been associated with Eastern mysticism but science is beginning to show that cultivating a “heightened” state of consciousness can have a major impact on our brain, the way…

June 29, 2015

Why meditation should be taught in schools

Lea Waters, University of Melbourne

New research in the fields of psychology, education and neuroscience shows teaching meditation in schools is having positive effects on students' well-being, social skills and academic skills.

August 26, 2014

How neuroscience is being used to spread quackery in business and education

Matt Wall, Imperial College London

During World War II, residents on the islands in the southern Pacific Ocean saw heavy activity by US planes, bringing in goods and supplies for the soldiers. In many cases, this was the islanders' first…

January 25, 2016

How science can teach us to be more relaxed

Trudi Edginton, University of Westminster

Modern life creates long-term stress our bodies aren't designed to cope with – but all is not lost.

March 18, 2015

How branding 101 can make leaders more mindful of diversity

Renée Richardson Gosline, MIT Sloan School of Management

Not in terms of the Kardashian-style "personal brands" in vogue these days, but by using the practice's core principles to make leaders better and more mindful of diversity.

May 15, 2015

Mental health momentum mustn’t give way to political expediency

Tony Warne, University of Salford and Sue McAndrew, University of Salford

Demand for mental healthcare continues to rise, and so should our demands to make provision for it.

September 11, 2015

Knitting your way to a healthier, happier mind

Ian Hickie, University of Sydney and Jackie Randles, University of Sydney

Neural Knitworks, an event first staged for National Science Week in 2014, has since grown into an Australia-wide engagement project promoting connections between knitting and brain health.

October 8, 2014

From decisions to disorders: how neuroscience is changing what we know about ourselves

Barbara Sahakian, University of Cambridge; Abdul Mohammed, Linnaeus University; Alejandro Anton Fernandez, Polytechnic University of Madrid; Andrea Santuy, Cajal Institute; Diana Furcila, Cajal Institute; Francesco Cavarretta, University of Milan, and Léon Homeyer, University of Stuttgart

People have wanted to understand our motivations, thoughts and behaviours since the ancient Greeks inscribed “know thyself” on the Temple of Apollo at Delphi. And understanding the brain’s place in health…

August 18, 2015

Yoga may be the missing link to stroke survivors' rehabilitation

Maarten Immink, University of South Australia

One in six Australians will have a stroke in their lifetime. That's about 51,000 strokes per year, or one every ten minutes.

March 10, 2014

Mass online meditation lets you zone out in cyberspace

Sue Thomas, Bournemouth University

For the past year I’ve been experimenting with meditating live online with people around the world. Their chosen spot is not a temple or a church hall or a sitting room, but cyberspace. Meditation is fast…

April 8, 2015

Students with autism need targeted attention – not a cage

Leigh Burrows, Flinders University

A review has been announced into school policies in Canberra after it was reported that a school was restraining a child with Autism in a cage-like structure.

January 26, 2015

The unhealthy underside of the wellbeing agenda

Andre Spicer, City University London and Carl Cederström, Stockholm University

Last week, the 0.1% met at World Economic Forum annual gathering in the Swiss mountain resort of Davos. While the official excuse to go there is to discuss and shape the global agenda – the theme dominating…

January 22, 2015

Well-being programmes in schools might be doing children more harm than good

Kathryn Ecclestone, University of Sheffield

Apocryphal depictions of an unprecedented crisis in young people’s mental ill-health and their general vulnerability have been accompanied by increasingly alarmist claims that only schools can address…

23 January, 2016

http://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2016/jan/23/is-mindfulness-making-us-ill

Is Mindfulness Making us ill ?

It’s the relaxation technique of choice, popular with employers and even the NHS. But some have found it can have unexpected effects

Guided Meditations

https://www.tarabrach.com/guided-meditations/

Guided Meditations

by Tara Brach

Use Wisdom to cultivate compassion

http://www.tricycle.com/feature/head-heart-together?page=0,0

Use Wisdom to cultivate compassion

By Thanissaro Bhikkhu

Tara Brach : FAQ for Meditation

https://www.tarabrach.com/faq-for-meditation/

Tara Brach : FAQ for Meditation

Beginners introduction to Zazen

Beginners introduction to Zazen

http://meditationseeds.com/beginners-introduction-to-zazen/

Tricycle: Walking: Meditation on the Move

http://www.tricycle.com/practice/walking-meditation-move?page=0%2C4

Walking: Meditation on the Move

Achaan Chah, Sylvia Boorstein, Yasutani Roshi, Jon Kabat-Zinn, Thich Nhat Hanh, Joan Halifax, Bruce Chatwin, Henry David Thoreau, Matsuo Basho

Dharma World Magazine , Chaplaincy resources

http://www.rk-world.org/dharmaworld/dk_backissues.aspx

Dharma World Magazine , Chaplaincy resources

July-September 2015, Volume 42Religious Rituals and Their Meaning for Today Apri-June 2015, Volume 42Religion's Contributions to Society January-March 2015, Volume 42Cultivating Hearts That Welcome the Other October-December 2014, Volume 41Buddhism and Language July-September 2014, Volume 41Life After Death Apri-June 2014, Volume 41Building an East Asian Community: Roles of Religions January-March 2014, Volume 41Aging Societies and Religion October-December 2013, Volume 40Nuclear Power and Contemporary Religion July-September 2013, Volume 40Where Does the Buddha Live Now? April-June 2013, Volume 40Modern Meanings of Festivals January-March 2013, Volume 40Transforming Greed October-December 2012, Volume 39Religions Coping with Prejudice July-September 2012, Volume 39The Significance of Religious Communities April-June 2012, Volume 39Buddhist Teachings on Spiritual Liberation January-March 2012, Volume 39The Meaning of Modern Pilgrimage October-December 2011, Volume 38The Evolution of Funerals in Japan July-September 2011, Volume 38Buddhism in North America April-June 2011, Volume 38Religion and the Power of Women January-March 2011, Volume 38What Is True Wealth? October-December 2010, Volume 37Dialogue Draws Religions Closer July-September 2010, Volume 37Tackling the Question "What Is the Lotus Sutra?" April-June 2010, Volume 37Religion's Role in Abolishing Nuclear Weapons January-March 2010, Volume 37Help in Overcoming Alienation October-December 2009, Volume 36Religion and Prayer July-September 2009, Volume 36Religion and Media April-June 2009, Volume 36Religion and Health January-March 2009, Volume 36The Changing Forms of the Family and the Role of Religion October-December 2008, Volume 35The Meaning of Giving in the Contemporary World July-September 2008, Volume 35 Buddhism in the Face of Environmental Crisis April-June 2008, Volume 35The Many Forms of the Bodhisattva Kuan-yin January-March 2008, Volume 35 Article 9 of the Japanese Constitution October-December 2007, Volume 34 Buddhism and Bioethics July-September 2007, Volume 34 Respect for Ancestors April-June 2007, Volume 34 Self-Examination and Peace Work January-March 2007, Volume 34 Buddhism and Social Responsibility: Boddhisattva Practice Today October-December 2006, Volume 33 Buddishm in Dialogue July-September 2006, Volume 33 Religions Working for Peace April-June 2006, Volume 33 Creating the World of the One Vehicle: The Centennial of the Birth of Rev. Nikkyo Niwano

Practical Meditation: Meditation Related Links

http://www.sankhara.com.au/links/meditation-related-links.html

Meditation Related Links

 

 

Free ebooks about meditation and the Buddhist way

A huge amount of information about Buddhism as a way if life, and a philosophic view. Anyone curious about meditation should download a few of these books to read how sensible and practical it can be if practiced.

 

 

Free ebooks, largely of Theravada Buddhist texts

Buddhism is a very subtle view which relies on us all making our own sense of it from the plethora of information available. All these books are written by very reliable terachers - people who have been through all the stages any meditator is likely to go. As such these free texts are invaluable.

  

Free audio teachings on Buddhism and meditation
To hear teachers speak is often all the more vivid, because intonation and voice can speak the unspeakable.

Dhamma Talks by the greatest Teachers of Vipassana

 

If you're at all fascinated with meditation and want to know more, you simply MUST print out and read these Dhamma talks ... each full of clarity, wisdom and insight.  Essential reading for anyy meditator.   

 

Vipassana: Surviving 10 days of meditation

CNNGo.com - Taylor Jacobson

When people speak of Vipassana, the meditation technique of the Buddha, they talk about rules. For 10 days, this means no talking, no reading, no writing, no music or singing, no eye contact; no killing, including mosquitoes; two light meals per day; ......

 

Meditation is an emotional rollercoaster

The Guardian

About four days into my first meditation retreat, I started crying. Not little droplets of tears, but great, big, uncontrolled sobs – it felt like I was throwing up wave after wave of stale sadness. I'd expected the long days of sitting to be boring, 

 

Meditation Retreat: The Good, The Bad and The Surprises

Huffington Post (blog) 

Attending a silent meditation retreat can produce deep, lasting rewards. But for short-term pleasure, nothing beats that magical moment when you perceive that, having slogged through several difficult days doing nothing and saying even less, ...

Meditation can help in weight loss

Journalism.co.uk (press release) 

Meditation is often considered as a practice for relaxing and only for the mind, however, people fail to realise that meditation practice can actually act as a effective tool for weight loss. The most important reason why people fail to lose weight is ... 

 

Why Meditation Relieves Chronic Pain And Stress

Lifehacker Australia - Melanie Pinola 

We've seen before that meditation can guard against information overload. Now new research shows howmeditation works on our brains to help us focus more and possibly relieve chronic pain. ...

 

How Meditation Can Support Cancer Treatment

Huffington Post (blog) 

In this blog we'll look at a very popular complementary treatment: meditation. Let's begin by acknowledging that millions of people have used meditation for general health and mental health benefits for centuries. When I was a graduate student in ...

 

Meditation & chronic pain

My Fox Boston

A new study from MIT and Harvard neuroscientists is helping to shed some light on this mindset with information that reveals how the practice of meditation helps tune out distractions and relieve pain, information that could be extremely helpful for ...

 

Can meditation help boost brain power?

Herald.ie - John Hearne

New research shows that daily meditation improves memory and diminishes stress. John Hearne looks at the evidence By John Hearne Think meditation and you probably think hippies with long hair and sandals, sitting cross-legged somewhere chanting mantras 

 

Meditate for a bigger brain, better memory

The Province - Mehmet Oz, Michael Roizen - ‎May 3, 2011‎

In the time it takes you to read this column, you can master the basics of meditation -- and make your brain bigger, too. Yep, we started our daily practices back when we YOU Docs thought meditation would just ease stress. Then we found that it reduced ......

 

Busy? 5 Ways to Make Time for Meditation

Huffington Post (blog) - ‎May 4, 2011‎

By learning to meditate. Right. As if you could go sit in a cave like a yogi. Guess what? You don't have to leave the world to meditate. A few minutes in your bedroom at the start of the day is all you need. Despite my totally crazy busy schedule, ... 

My Turn: Don't panic — meditation can help

Los Angeles Times - Margaret Finnegan - ‎Apr 18, 2011‎

So I did the smartest thing I ever did: I started meditating. I've been doing Vipassana meditation for about three years now. In Vipassana, we focus on the breath. When we realize our minds have wandered, we go back to the breath. ......