by Peter Carlson | Mar 31, 2016 | Listen to Dharma Talks
This talk concludes a series of explorations of the neuroscientific discoveries about how mindfulness of breathing meditation restructures important neural pathways during the process of awakening. The topic for this discussion reviews some of the progressive steps in mindful breath awareness as they are manifested in important neural pathways to promote samadhi/passadhi (stable attention/emotional balance), and how that supports vipassana (insight) during the process of awakening.
Next week’s discussion will begin a series of explorations of how various difficult mental processes such as depression, anxiety, addiction and substance abuse are beneficially addressed by mindfulness and lovingkindness meditation practices.
Here are the notes prepared for this talk: NEUROPHYSIOLOGY AND MINDFULNESS OF BREATHING
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by Peter Carlson | Mar 24, 2016 | Listen to Dharma Talks
This talk and discussion continues exploring last week’s review of what research is revealing about what happens in the brain to manifest consciousness and a sense of self. The focus of the current night was on what happens in the brain when Buddhist mindfulness of breathing training is applied to strengthen the neurological functions to manage self-awareness and self-regulation, fostering the process of awakening from greed, aversion and ignorance.
The intention of the explanation is to increase understanding that there are two processes that mindfulness effectively cultivates: a “top-down” function that becomes aware of distorted and dysfunctional self-talk and substitutes more adaptive and functional internal narratives (equivalent to modern cognitive psychotherapy), and a “bottom-up” function that focuses on the feeling tone generated by the emotional and motivational structures of the limbic brain system, disregarding any self-talk, to just experience “feeling as feeling” to decrease impulsive reactivity, as described in the second foundation of mindfulness. This second function is more in line with traditional Buddhist teachings on the path to awakening.
This was followed by discussion among those present for clarification and sharing of how this applies to lived experience.
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by Peter Carlson | Mar 19, 2016 | Listen to Dharma Talks
During this talk, Peter reviewed the extensive research literature that supports contemporary understanding of self-organizing functions. Prior to this era, Buddhist concepts were derived from culturally determined mythology, which is hard for contemporary Westerners to believe and make best use of for spiritual development.
Next week’s discussion will focus on how the practice of mindfulness of breathing and lovingkindness meditation practices effectively change the structures of the brain described in this talk, enhancing self-awareness, self-regulation and social harmony.
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by Peter Carlson | Mar 10, 2016 | Listen to Dharma Talks
During this talk, the development of meditation as an evolutionary process was reviewed. The first images of a person in a meditative position dates from about 5,000 years ago. The initial motivation likely was to find a way to appease the forces of nature, typically a god, to promote good fortune. The Buddha radically transformed this conceptual process towards personal responsibility rather than appeasement through the emphasis on ethical guidelines for relief from the stresses of life. In the current era, scientific empiricism has replaced the gods–not necessarily in an atheistic way, but to place responsibility for salvation in the hands of individuals, and, by extension, the dynamics of cultural values. Meditation practices foster the ability to be responsive in ethical ways to modern consumer culture. This talk prompted discussion about the personal implications of committing to regular meditation practice.
Next week the discussion will explore what modern research reveals about how the brain operates and how regular meditation practice changes the structure of the brain in ways that support a more personally, socially and ecologically responsible world citizen.
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by Peter Carlson | Mar 4, 2016 | Listen to Dharma Talks
It is customary for the meeting after a major retreat experience to be dedicated to reviewing the retreat. The annual one week retreat at Deerhaven was reviewed, with Peter providing an outline of the retreat schedule and daily dhamma talk topics. This description was followed by lively accounts from 3 of the 14 participants about the insightful experiences they had during and after the retreat.
Here are the notes with a more complete review of the retreat schedule and the various topics and practices introduced for practice during the retreat: REVIEW NOTES FOR THE 2016 DEERHAVEN RETREAT
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