Mindfulness

Meditation

What is Mindful Meditation?

One pointedness
Being in the here-and-now

Zen is not some kind of excitement, but concentration

on our usual everyday routine.
Shunryu Suzuki
Knowing what you are doing while you are doing it is
the essence of mindfulness training
Jon Kabat-Zinn

What is Mindful Meditation?

One pointedness
Being in the here-and-now
In this training of the mind, we learn to let go of the
thoughts and feelings that pull us out of the present
moment, and to steady our awareness on our
immediate experience.
Tara Bennett Goleman

A psychological need
The gift of the present
Mental hygiene

Lama Oser

Paul Ekman

Lama Oser
Left-to-right ratio in prefrontal cortex

Lama Oser
Left-to-right ratio in prefrontal cortex
Recognizing emotions in others
The startle response

Lama Oser
Left-to-right ratio in prefrontal cortex
Recognizing emotions in others
The startle response

Given that the larger someones startle, the more

intensely that person tends to experience upsetting
emotions, Osers performance had tantalizing
implications, suggesting a remarkable level of emotional
equanimity.
Daniel Goleman

Lama Oser

Left-to-right ratio in prefrontal cortex

Recognizing emotions in others
Control over the startle response
Social contagion

I couldnt be confrontational. I was always met with

reason and smiles; its overwhelming. I felt something
like a shadow or an auraand I couldnt be aggressive.

Growing Tip Statistic

The process itself has some extraordinary qualities, but
not necessarily the subject. The important idea is that
this process is within the reach of anyone who applies
himself or herself with enough determination.
Lama Oser
From the perspective of neuroscience, the point of all
this research has nothing to do with demonstrating that
Oser or any other extraordinary person may be
remarkable in him-or herself, but rather to stretch the
fields assumptions about human possibility. Some of
these key assumptions have already begun to expand, in
part due to a revolution in neurosciences supposition
about the malleability of the brain itself.
Daniel Goleman

Meditation for the Masses (Kabat-Zinn)

Decrease in anxiety
Mood change
Pre-frontal cortex activation
Immune response

Self-Esteem

(Sepah, 2004)

Self-Esteem

Meditation in the Work Place

Intelligence

Creativity
Cognitive flexibility
Memory
Reaction time
IQ

Being Mindful: Let Me Count the Ways

Breathing
If I had to limit my advice on healthier living to just one
tip, it would be simply to learn how to breathe correctly.
Andrew Weil

Being Mindful: Let Me Count the Ways

Breathing
Mantra
Music and dance

It happens that music and rhythm and dancing are

excellent ways of moving toward the discovering of
identity. We are built in such a fashion that this kind of
trigger, this kind of stimulation, tends to do all kinds of
things to our autonomic nervous systems, endocrine
glands, to our feelings, and to our emotions. It just
does.
Abraham Maslow

Being Mindful: Let Me Count the Ways

Breathing
Mantra
Music and dance
Progressive Muscle Relaxation (PMR)
The five senses
Flow
Yoga

Benefits of Yoga

Reduces stress and depression (Taylor, 2002; Berger & Owen, 1992)
Increases self-acceptance and self-esteem (Valente & Marrota, 2005; Harrison et al., 2004)
Helps overcome ADHD and asthma (Jensen & Kenny, 2004; Jain and Valecha, 1991)
Reinforces attitudes through persistent behavior (Body feedback hypothesis)
A caveat

The riches banquet, the most exotic travel, the most

interesting, attractive lover, the finest homeall of these
experiences can seem somehow unrewarding and
empty if we dont really attend to them fullyif our
minds are elsewhere, preoccupied with disturbing
thoughts. By the same token, the simplest of lifes
pleasureseating a piece of fresh-baked bread, seeing
a work of art, spending moments with a loved onecan
be amply rich if we bring a full attention to them. The
remedy to dissatisfaction is inside us, in our minds, not
in groping for new and different outer sources of
satisfaction.
Tara Bennett Goleman

Bibliography and Recommendations

Bennett-Goleman, T. (2002). Emotional Alchemy. Three Rivers
Press.
Benson, H. The Relaxation Response. HarperTorch.
Carrington, P. et al. (1980). The Use of Meditation: Relaxation
Techniques for the Management of Stress in a Working
Population. Journal of Occupational Medicine, 22, 221-231.
Derezotes, D. (2000). Evaluation of Yoga and Meditation
Trainings With Adolescent Sex Offenders. Human Science
Press, 17, 97-113.
Kabat-Zinn, J. (1990). Full Catastrophe Living: Using the
Wisdom of Your Body and Mind to Face Stress, Pain, and Illness.
Delta.
Hall, S. S. (2003). Is Buddhism Good for Your Health? New
York Times Magazine, September 14.
Shapiro, S. L. et al. (2002). Meditation and Positive
Psychology. In C. R. Snyder and S. J. Lopez (Eds.), Handbook
of Positive Psychology, 632-645. Oxford University Press.