Meditation & Science

I recently came across this article on the Institute of Noetic Sciences website.  Noetic Sciences study topics such as spontaneous remission, meditation, consciousness, alternative healing practices, spirituality, human potential, psychic abilities, and survival of consciousness after bodily death.  Noetic theory comes from a Greek philosophical term noētikos meaning to perceive with the mind.  


This article is an excerpt from the Institute of Noetic Sciences tele-seminar series "Exploring the Noetic Sciences."IONS Director of Research Cassandra Vieten talks with neuropsychologist and meditation teacher Rick Hanson, author with neurologist Richard Mendius, MD, of Buddha’s Brain: The Practical Neuroscience of Happiness, Love, and Wisdom. Rick will be speaking at the upcoming IONS International Conference taking place this July in San Francisco.  This article takes a few minutes to read.  I  find it VERY interesting - linking the science of meditation and our brain function is fascinating to me.  I hope you enjoy the article as well.  


Here is a link to the article:  Self-Directed Neuroplasticity:  A 21st-Century View of Meditation


"...So, if you regularly rest your mind on regrets, resentments, quarrels with others, self-reproach – you know, the voice in the back of the head yammering away about what a nobody you really are and if others only knew better, et cetera – if you rest your mind there, it will change your brain in that direction, because neurons that fire together wire together, for better or worse. On the other hand, if you rest your mind on wholesome themes, those things that are going well, what you’re grateful for, good connections you have with others, your good qualities, what you accomplish in a day, the conditions in the world that are okay, you're going to build up neural substrates and circuits of positivity."

Theologue, 1984, www.AlexGrey.com