Mudita Journal

Mindfulness Archive

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Mindfulness & Organ Transplants

June 10, 2004  ·  Category: Mindfulness

Marshall pointed me towards this new study on the application of mindfulness meditation to the treatment of organ transplant symptoms. I continue to be amazed by the wide range of conditions that can be successfully treated through mindfulness (or, for which treatment is more effective when combined with mindfulness). Mindfulness meditation to reduce symptoms after organ transplant: a pilot study. Gross CR, Kreitzer MJ, Russas V, Treesak C, Frazier PA, Hertz MI. College of Pharmacy and School of Nursing, University of Minnesota, USA. CONTEXT: Solid organ transplant patients require life-long immune suppression that can produce distressing side effects and complications. OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the potential ...

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Does Meditation Change Your Philosophy?

April 9, 2004  ·  Category: Buddhism, Meditation, Mindfulness

Just posted this to Mudita Forum.... In response to Mike Enright: When I started my interest in buddhism I was told that if I meditated regularly I would eventually take on the buddhist philosophical positions. This came about because I was very interested in debating and understanding buddhist ideas say on the self and karma. My basic state of mind was that there was a lot to be said for some of these ideas (i.e. they desirved attention), but also that many of the statements of buddhists were too bizarre to really understand. The response was that the guy could go ...

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Meditation for High School Students

April 2, 2004  ·  Category: Meditation, Mindfulness

I've long been interested in the prospect of teaching meditation to high school students, so I especially appreciate that Marshall forwarded this article: A study by the Medical College of Georgia found that two 15-minute meditation sessions each day - once at home, the other at school - helped teenage students lower their blood pressure over four months. Their blood pressure even continued to drop for four months after the meditation sessions ended, researchers said Friday. One high school senior who benefited from the study was Nick Fitts. Fitts had a lot on his mind going into the research - two jobs, ...

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On the Motivation to Meditate

January 27, 2004  ·  Category: Eckhart Tolle, Meditation, Mindfulness

Kirez posts some interesting comments on his experiences with attempting to adopt a more regular meditation practice. Enjoyable reading. My meditation practice is aided greatly by the fact that, when I don't meditate, I feel lousy inside. That, and having discovered the joys of listening to Eckhart Tolle (or simply enjoying, and matching, the presence of his voice) in the car.

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More Benefits of Meditation

December 10, 2003  ·  Category: Buddhism, Health, Meditation, Mindfulness

Marshall Sontag writes to point out a Psychology Today article about meditation that's worth reading if you've been debating whether to take up meditation. I've written before about the benefits of meditation. Here are a few choice paragraphs from their article: More new research offers additional encouragement. In a study published last year in the journal Stroke, 60 African-Americans with atherosclerosis, or hardening of the arteries, practiced meditation for six to nine months. (African-Americans are twice as likely to die from cardiovascular disease as are whites.) The meditators showed a marked decrease in the thickness of their artery walls, while the ...

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Mind Identification

November 22, 2003  ·  Category: Buddhism, Eckhart Tolle, Mindfulness, Mudita Forum

Just posted to Mudita Forum in response to David Axel's excellent kick-off essay for chapter three in our topical discussion of The Power of Now: I greatly enjoyed David Axel's kickoff essay for chapter three. I'm particularly glad he brings up the subject of "mind identification," as I find this to be one of Eckhart's most important, and yet most challenging, ideas to understand and apply fully. David writes: As much as I agree with Tolle's recommendation that we "disidentify" from what he calls "mind," I nevertheless remain unwilling to disown my mind or to treat it as anything less ...

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You Are Not Your Mind

November 9, 2003  ·  Category: Buddhism, Eckhart Tolle, Mindfulness, Mudita Forum

Just posted to Mudita Forum: My thanks to Mark for his spirited kick-off essay introducing Chapter 1 in our discussion of The Power of Now. In some ways, this chapter is a tour-de-force of challenging ideas. Here is my personalized summary of some of the key points from the chapter: * Enlightenment is not a superhuman accomplishment, but rather a natural state of "felt connectedness with Being." * The experience of Being provides the basis of the spiritual life; however, Being is not something supernatural, but rather the supremely natural: existence itself, prior to being differentiated, by the mind, into existents. * Being can ...

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Eckhart Tolle Discussion

September 21, 2003  ·  Category: Eckhart Tolle, Mindfulness, Mudita Forum

I just posted the following to Mudita Forum. I'm pleased by the growth of this forum and I'm happy that our membership—and the interest in the topics we discuss—has grown beyond dyed-in-the-wool Rand admirers. I expect this to make our discussions even more interesting and fruitful. As listowner, I'd like to express my pleasure at having the Zen meditation teachers Craig Richards and, now, Michael McAlister in our group. I appreciate their ability to bring the fresh Zen perspective to our discussions and dialogues. Ultimately, whether we agree or disagree on the topics we discuss is less ...

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Reason and Awareness

July 9, 2003  ·  Category: Individualism, Intellectual, Mindfulness, Objectivism

A posting to Mudita Forum: In his excellent post on "Why you shouldn't believe anything I say," Craig Richards points out a number of profound examples of how we can be misled by our instinctive trust for thought. Here are my answers to some of his final questions. How can we know when we are able to trust our thinking? As phrased, this question could imply that there are instances where reason is fallible (and should not be trusted) and other instances where reason is infallible (and thus can be trusted). The latter is seldom the case, and yet we should ...

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Mindfulness Explained

June 5, 2003  ·  Category: Mindfulness

[I just posted the following to the psychology discussion group at wetheliving.com. I'll probably clean this up at some point to create a stand-alone essay. For now, here's the raw version.] I've enjoyed reading the conversation between Phil, Andrew, and Damian. I was out of town when the discussion started, but now I'm back in town and caught up, and I'm pleased to answer some of Phil's questions about the nature of mindfulness and how it is practiced. Damian is absolutely right that, at root, mindfulness is simply a matter of being attentive. As Phil notes, however, attention is ...

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