TruthBook Religious News Blog

Thursday, 19 Nov 2009
Trish VanPilsum

MINNEAPOLIS - You've seen me do some extreme things for stories. Go through the ice, ride a motorcycle, but now something on the extreme opposite end of the spectrum. I take an eight week class of meditation. Can a person find peace in eight weeks? Let's see.

From my early morning workout, to my late night combination of meal prep and teen study sessions, my life is a study in escalation and juggling. To survive is to multi-task. To multi-task is to develop what is sometimes called monkey mind.

“Our minds are just racing with thoughts that just whip right out right after another," Mary Jo Kreitzer, PhD, RN, Director of the Center for Spirituality and Healing said.

Or, maybe your mind feels something like my teacher, Terry Pearson calls: thought, thought, thought.

"There comes a time where we say this is not the way I want to live my life," Pearson said. "I'm not as happy. I don't feel at peace or at ease. This is too hard. So our life has to change."

Change is coming for anyone who walks into the University of Minnesota’s Center for Spirituality and Healing. The class is a mindfulness based stress reduction class. Science speak for meditation. Among those taking the class are several doctors:

"I think the doctors are coming because there is so much research now that shows meditation does actually calm the brain." Pearson said.

There is also a nurse, the director of a poverty program and me. Terry Pearson has been teaching at the U’s program for six years.

"It's just so interesting and exciting to see people change," Pearson said.

We'll measure change in a couple of ways.

Meet Jesus Vega. His mom is the director of the poverty program. I ask him why his mom took the class.

"She said it would calm her down." he said.

And if this class makes a difference he'll notice it. In my case we will actually try to document whether any real change happens. I take two surveys, one a quality of life questionnaire that asks if I tend to overreact. I say yes. It asks if I tend to be judgmental of my own flaws and inadequacies? Yes, I answer who isn’t?

And it asks if I fixate on what's wrong. Again, the answer is yes. The other is a mindfulness survey to see how well my mind focuses on one thing at a time. I'll retake these tests at the end of the eight week course. Which of course, has me wondering: what does breathing possibly have to do with all these things?

Breathing, it seems is just the beginning.

This is page one of a two-page article. Please click on "external source" for the entire article; and on Page two, there are some links to meditation videos.

Labels: meditation, mindfulness, Trish VanPilsum

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Thursday, September 03, 2009

In pursuit of happiness

AMRITA MULCHANDANI
4 September 2009

What can make a youngster happy and content? Love? Well, not really. It’s spirituality
that can bring in a dash of sunshine. A recent survey by a music channel found out that youngsters who practice spirituality are much more happier than the ones who don’t.

"I am a great believer in spirituality. I meditate once in a day for twenty minutes," says Gunjan Patel, 22 who has been doing it since she was seven. So what makes youngsters get attracted to soul matters?

"I think, being spiritual alters one’s belief system and changes your perspective towards various things. Practicing spirituality helps a lot during difficult times and makes one optimistic," replies Patel. Forty four per cent of the youngsters consider themselves spiritual, and ten per cent say that spirituality is the most important thing in their lives.

"This is a positive trend that youngsters are inclined towards spirituality but they don’t know the right direction. Things should be presented to them in a way they understand. Being spiritual depends on how one takes it. It isn’t limited to what we see or feel but it is something we experience beyond our senses," says Archarya Brahmachari Atharvana Chaitanya associated with a leading centre of yoga and spirituality.

There are some youngsters who are open to learn about spirituality. "I believe in spirituality but not completely. I have just started to learn more about it. I think it really gives peace of mind and makes an individual calm."

Please click on "external source" for the complete article

Labels: Amrita Mulchandani, meditation, spirituality

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Friday, August 14, 2009

Buddhism strengthens ties to church

By Electa Draper
The Denver Post
Posted: 08/09/2009 01:00:00 AM MDT

What in the recent past seemed exotic and foreign is now almost routinely folded into "the fold."

Buddhism is not only accepted as a mainstream American religion, it is a path increasingly trod by faithful Christians and Jews who infuse Eastern spiritual insights and practices such as meditation into their own religions.

When John Weber became a Buddhist at age 19, his devout Methodist parents were not particularly pleased.

In recent years, however, they've invited their son, a religious studies expert with Boulder's Naropa University, to speak at their church about Buddhism.

"That never would have happened before," Weber said. "They would have been embarrassed."

The Pew Forum's Religious Landscape Survey in 2007 found that seven in 10 Americans who have a religion believe there is more than one path to salvation. A growing number of people are contemplating more than one each.

And they are contemplating contemplation itself.

There are Jubus — Jews who bring Buddhism into their practice of Judaism — and Bujus, who are Buddhists with Jewish parents. Then there are UUbus, or Unitarian Universalist Buddhists, and Ebus, or Episcopalian Buddhists. There are Zen Catholics.

"There is a definite trend and movement that will not be reversed," said Ruben Habito, a laicized Jesuit priest, Zen master and professor of world religions at Southern Methodist University in Dallas. "We are in a new spiritual age, an inter-religious age."

Search can lead back home

People are hungry for a deeper spiritual experience — meditation, mindfulness, personal transformation, deep insight, union with God or the universe.

Habito, who calls himself a Zen Catholic, is one of the experts who say the search is a little like Dorothy and her ruby slippers. The quest for meaning ultimately leads some, like Dorothy, to their own backyards.

Judaism, Catholicism and Islam have rich traditions in contemplative practices, yet these had all but disappeared from everyday congregational life.

For many Christians cut off from the past, or alienated from the faith of their upbringing, Buddhism has served as the bridge to ancient wisdom.

"The problem is the contemplative tradition in the Christian Church has had its ups and downs over the centuries," said Father Thomas Keating, a Trappist monk and leader in the Centering Prayer movement, a modern revival of Christian contemplative practice.

"We sensed that the Eastern religions, with their highly developed spirituality, had something we didn't have," Keating said. "In the last generation, 10 to 20 years, some didn't even think there was a Christian spirituality, just rules — do's and don'ts and dogma they didn't find spiritually nourishing. It's important to recover the mystical aspects of the gospel."

Please click on "external source" for the complete article.

Labels: Buddhism, Christian, Electa Draper, God, interfaith, meditation, religion, spirituality

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Friday, July 24, 2009

Meditation as medicine

Ancient practice is helping people slow down and find serenity and, evidence suggests, improve their health

By KELLY BOTHUM • The News Journal • July 21, 2009

Russ Apple has practiced meditation for 35 years as a way to live in the moment and find the calm amid the sea of chaos around him. Through meditation, he has explored what it means to live life from the inside out and learned how to escape a mind always in motion.

While others boast of their Bluetooths and BlackBerrys that allow them to juggle five tasks simultaneously, Apple remains deliberate in finishing one thing at a time. A one-on-one conversation is just that -- him and another person talking, with no other distractions or filters to get in the way.

His appreciation for the power of meditation has only deepened since his diagnosis of appendiceal cancer in 2008. Despite two surgeries and several rounds of chemotherapy, the cancer has not abated. But Apple has found strength in continuing to live life in the present, one of the key focus points of meditation.

"The thing with cancer is, there's this threat of death. And the threat of death is the understanding that the tomorrow may not be," said Apple, who has decided to forego traditional cancer therapies and follow alternative treatments. "The blessing, if one's willing to look at it like that, is that I no longer live in the tomorrow or in the past. I've got today."

On the surface, something as simple as sitting silently or chanting mantras in a lifelong search for inner peace seems out of place in an always-on-the-go, technology-driven society. But it's an ancient practice that has remained popular despite our infatuation with speeding up life and staying busy.

An estimated 20 million Americans had practiced meditation within the past year, according to a 2007 survey by the National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine. By comparison, about 15 million people had practiced meditation in 2002.

Across the country, medical centers like St. Francis Hospital in Wilmington are even offering guided imagery and other relaxation techniques to help patients preparing for surgery or living with chronic health problems.

This is the first of a five-page article about the benefits of meditation. Please click on "external source" for the whole article.

And, here is another view, with a Jesusonian twist; this article discusses "Jesus-Style" meditation

Labels: cancer, health, Kelly Bothum, meditation, National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine

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Friday, May 08, 2009

This is your brain on religion

David Ian Miller
Monday, April 27, 2009

Want to build a better brain? Ramp up your spiritual practice, says Andrew Newberg, a neuroscientist at the University of Pennsylvania. Meditation and prayer can improve your physical, intellectual, and emotional well-being and may even slow the brain's aging process.

Newberg, who is also the director of the Center for Spirituality and the Mind, is the author of four books, including the recently released "How God Changes Your Brain," which discusses the results of brain scans that he and his team conducted on more than 100 meditating or praying people. The research shows that the physical and emotional benefits of spiritual observances dramatically accrue over years of practice, but even recent converts exhibit healthier brains -- in one study Newburg's team scanned the brains of people who had never meditated before, then taught them simple meditative methods. After eight weeks of meditating 12 minutes a day, an evaluation showed considerable improvement in memory scores and a measurable decrease in anxiety and anger.

Atheists can feel free to jump right in here as Newburg's research indicates that faith in a divine being isn't required to benefit from meditation. But pessimists may be out of luck -- faith in a positive outcome is necessary for the best results.

The remainder of this article consists of an interview with the author about his research. Please click on "external source" to access the complete article.

Labels: Andrew Newberg, David Ian Miller, meditation, neuroscience, prayer

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Friday, May 01, 2009

Study: Prayer Leads to Good Health

Monday, April 27, 2009

By: Phil Brennan

Writing in his new book, "How God Changes Your Brain," Andrew Newberg, reports the results of brain scans that he and his team conducted on more than 100 meditating or praying people.

Newberg, director of the Center for Spirituality and the Mind, says his research shows that the physical and emotional benefits of spiritual observances “dramatically accrue over years of practice, but even recent converts exhibit healthier brains,” according to the San Francisco Chronicle’s David Ian Miller.

In one of Newberg’s studies his team did brain scans on people who had never meditated before and went on to teach them simple meditative methods, Miller writes. After a mere eight weeks of just 12 minutes a day of meditation, there was a considerable improvement in memory scores and a measurable decrease in anxiety and anger.

Newberg’s study echoes a 1999 study, "Scientific Research of Prayer: Can the Power of Prayer Be Proven?" by researcher Debra Williams.

Williams looked at more than 4,000 participants over the age of 65. She learned that those who pray and attend religious services on a weekly basis, especially those between the ages of 65 and 74, had lower blood pressure than their counterparts who did not pray or attend religious services, according to Jet magazine.

Moreover, they found that the more religious a person, particularly those who prayed or studied the Bible weekly, the lower the blood pressure. These people, the study showed were 40 percent less likely to have high diastolic pressure or diastolic hypertension than those who did not attend religious services, pray, or study the Bible.

Labels: Andrew Newberg, Center for Spirituality and the Mind, Debra Williams, health, meditation, neurotheology, Phil Brennan, prayer

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Monday, April 27, 2009

Medical Miracles

By Carrie Davis
Published: April 23, 2009

You’ve heard the stories of the impossible happening. Someone recovers from a disease and doctors can’t explain why.

Now a recent study shows an overwhelming majority of people, including doctors, believe in medical miracles and many think religion plays a big part in these miracles.

We talked to an Upstate man who is living proof miracles do happen and his doctor to find out why.

According to some people, Bill Pitts shouldn’t be here. He’s walking a life path he never thought possible and he’s been given a second chance to try a passion he’d only ever dreamed about.

You see Bill Pitts has stage four colon cancer. Three years ago he stopped all his treatments to live out his last days enjoying time with his family and his art.

According to his doctor, Dr. Steve Courso, Pitts is a medical miracle.

He says, “He was here just last month and he looks great. we can’t see any signs of the cancer in him.“

Dr. Courso says no one can figure out why these miracles happen. They are unexplainable by modern science.

Dr. Courso admits, “I don’t have a medical explanation. I just simply smile and realize God’s presence is in these patients.“

At Spartanburg Regional Medical Center, Chaplain Carson Rogerson says he’s seen cases like Bill Pitts before. He says he believes the miracles may occur when a persons mind, body and soul all get in line.

There is some proof supporting healing power of prayer. A study done at Pacific College of Medicine found that people who received prayer were six times less likely to be hospitalized than those who didn’t have someone praying for them.

According to national survey, 72 percent of doctors believe miracles have occurred compared to 86 percent of the general public.

Today, 70 percent of physicians and 85 percent of general public believe a miracle is possible now.

When asked about prayer, 54 percent of doctors say they pray for their patients to get better.

Please click on "external source" for further information, and links to other articles regarding studies on prayer and healing.

Labels: Carrie Davis, medicine, meditation, miracles, prayer, worship

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Sunday, April 05, 2009

Meditation has health and spiritual benefits

By Kenesha Beheler

March 31, 2009

Meditation is a process of reflection, contemplation and devotional exercise that has been practiced around the world for centuries. Christians pray and Buddhists chant; even nonreligious practitioners use the techniques to improve mental and physical health.

“There have been studies done at major universities, so it’s not just a lot of anecdotal evidence. For people who are spiritually inclined or not spiritually inclined, there is a tremendous physical benefit and also a psychological benefit,” said Grace Fogle, a local resident who has practiced meditation for many years. “Some of us meditate purely for health reasons, and a lot us meditate for the combined physical and spiritual benefits that we feel we receive.

“[As for the health effect] my studies in the clinical area show that any form of meditation you might learn, and there is a wide range, [is beneficial],” she said. “But there are definitely clinical studies that show that your blood vessels relax, therefore your heart has to do less work and your blood is moved through the body in a more natural, less stressful way.

“Your pulse rate drops significantly and that has to do again with the slowing of the heart; the ease in which all your body can perform its functions comes through meditation. And there is just a healing process that seems to occur because the body has its own wisdom in terms of how to heal itself. What you are doing is really enabling yourself. So even if you are taking a medication or whatever you are doing for your health, you are enhancing that therapy.

Fogle has been practicing meditation off and on for over 40 years, but within the last five she has been steady in her practice and has seen significant improvements in her own health.

“I find in my older years that now I’m turning much more to it, and it helps me mature in age more gracefully,” she said. “I am more grateful for every day and every moment, and I know my health benefits from it. It is not that you don’t have health challenges, but you deal with them very differently. Hopefully you recover quickly and with less trauma from things that you might have to go through.”

There are many forms of meditation: mantra, yoga, Tai Chi, prayer and Chi Gong. They are usually classified into two kinds: mindfulness and concentrative.

“You can incorporate meditation into every part of your life. So you can do walking meditation, where you are grateful for every step that you take. People do this now in many ways, but they just don’t call it meditation,” said Fogle. “What do you think the monks are doing or the nuns in the convents are doing? This is all prayerful meditation. If you are following a rosary or chanting, music or prayers, you are meditating. It is all the same, except it is a different form.”

Guided meditation is another form that is used, explained Fogle, in which a leader will teach the participant to sit, close the eyes, relax and take slow breaths as the leader guides the listener through a story. This form of meditation is often practiced for healing purposes and as a way to overcome challenges.

For many years people have carried a misunderstanding of meditation, she said, thinking that one had to be of a particular faith, religion or nationality to practice the methods. However, she said, anyone with an open mind can do it.

For anyone not doing it for spiritual reasons, it helps to refocus and reorganize the mind.

Labels: health, Kenesha Beheler, meditation, spirituality, stress

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Friday, March 27, 2009

Faith In Focus: Meditation as a spiritual practice

By James Bowman, Special to the Sentinel,
March 26, 2009

NOTE: Another kind of meditation is to be found here - called "Jesus-Style" meditation, it is a different, and very effective form of meditation practiced by the Master while he walked the earth.

What is meditation? Depending on who you ask, you might get a variety of different answers.

These days, many people are interested in meditation because it relieves stress and contributes to overall health and fitness.

For millennia, meditation has not only been a way to relax, but also a very important part of spiritual life for Buddhists.

If you have ever been to a group meditation, you know that everyone sits silently, and it can be hard to know what’s happening. This is how it works: In a single meditation session we actually engage in two types of meditation, one called analytical meditation and the other called placement meditation.

First, it is helpful to begin by taking a few moments to allow the flurry of distracting thoughts that normally consumes our minds to settle. One simple way to do this is to sit comfortably and focus on the sensation of the breath as it passes through the nostrils. With practice, distractions gradually diminish, and a peaceful feeling arises in their place.

Then, with our minds clear and free of distractions, we can begin analytical meditation. With this type of meditation we spend time analyzing or contemplating the meaning of a spiritual teaching.

For example, Buddha explained that having compassion for others leads to inner peace. If we deeply contemplate how others have been very kind to us, the disadvantages of selfish attitudes and the advantages of cherishing others, we will be able to develop a caring attitude toward others.

Once this caring attitude arises in our minds, we have found what we call the object of our meditation, which is said to be virtuous because it causes our mind to become peaceful and happy.

At this point we stop contemplating and begin the second type of meditation, placement meditation. This means we simply hold our caring attitude toward others for as long as possible without thinking of anything else. Gently allow your mind soak it up and become familiar with it. If the object of meditation is lost among other thoughts, then simply repeat the process, beginning with analytic meditation again.

Labels: Buddhism, compassion, James Bowman, meditation, peace, spirituality

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Wednesday, March 11, 2009

Religion Reduces Anxiety—A Matter of Faith or Fact?

March 06, 2009
by Rachel Balik

This article reference a number of studies, and provides links for further exploration of this most interesting topic.

Two studies show that the brains of religious people have less intense responses to error, suggesting that faith in God can reduce anxiety.

God on the Brain

Many previous studies have tried to determine whether religion has a positive effect on mental health. In February 2008, the Ian Ramsey Centre for Science and Religion and the Centre for Anthropology and Mind at Oxford began a three-year study to develop a scientific understanding of why humans believe in God. Researchers will look for evidence that faith in God is a desirable evolutionary trait, and attempt to discover what aspects of religion can be attributed to nature, and which must be taught.

Psychologists compared a group of students trained for a month in mindfulness meditation with another that was taught somatic relaxation. Both techniques reduced stress, but meditation was more effective at reducing “distractive and ruminative thoughts and behaviors,” indicating that it offered a “unique” method for minimizing distress.

Mindful meditation has also been found to alter the structure and functioning of monks’ brains, The Wall Street Journal reported in 2004. Five neuroscientists visited the Dalai Lama to explore neuroplasticity (the brain’s ability to rewire itself) and its relation to meditation. The brains of novice and experienced monks were scanned as they meditated; the experienced monks showed a significantly higher level of gamma waves, a type of brain activity that plays a key role in consciousness.

Religion’s effect on the brain has yet to be fully assessed. However, research suggests that incorporating spirituality into children’s lives can help them navigate the difficult choices of adolescence. Several studies have shown that children raised with a spiritual or religious tradition are less likely to make poor choices about drugs and alcohol.

And in hard times, many find comfort in religion. In September, as the foundation of Wall Street began to crumble, many financiers turned to God and organized religion for support. Churches and synagogues throughout New York City reported a higher number of congregants in business suits.

Labels: believers, God, meditation, mental health, Rachel Balik, religion, science, Stroop

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Tuesday, October 14, 2008

Meditation goes mainstream

Bonna Johnson
October 10, 2008

A report released this year showed an astonishingly high number of Protestants - nearly half - say they meditate at least once a week. Among the public, 39 percent meditate at least weekly, according to a report by the Pew Forum on Religion & Public Life.

It's no surprise that people are seeking paths to peace and serenity in our high-octane, 24-hour world.

"We're a mentally focused, hard-core, achievement-oriented society," says Dr. J. David Forbes, a medical doctor and meditation teacher in Nashville, Tenn. "People are finding it hard to quiet the brain down."

Once they do, he says, meditation may lead not only to new insights but also to a healthier, happier life, he says. Studies show daily practice can reduce stress and anxiety, lower blood pressure and even increase life expectancy in the elderly, he says.

Meditation has been, at times, eyed with suspicion. The Vatican in 1989 went so far as to say that methods such as Zen, yoga and transcendental meditation, can "degenerate into a cult of the body" and be dangerous.

And the notion that meditation is too way out there for Christians, if not rooted in the Bible, still exists today.

"The idea of emptying the mind is not biblically based," says Don Whitney, associate professor of biblical spirituality at the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville, Ky. "There can be a danger."

Referring to meditation's long association with Hinduism, Buddhism and other Eastern religions, Whitney says, "Some of the yoga stuff, where you're given a mantra, that is rooted in false religions." He sees no problem with stretching, but once you start chanting, you're treading on treacherous ground, he says.

But for many Christians, meditation fits quite nicely into their religious life. They're drawn to biblical Scriptures, such as in the Psalms, which says, "Be still, and know that I am God."

For them, meditation has brought deeper meaning to their lives.

Labels: Bonna Johnson, meditation, Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life, protestants, religion

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Wednesday, September 24, 2008

More students 'searching for a spiritual meaning'

by Allison Stice

Page one of two: Please click on "xternal link" at the bottom of this page for complete article

College students at this university and around the country are increasingly finding meditation a part of their overall health care, as health care providers learn more about the health and cognitive benefits of meditating.

Student groups like the Meditation Club and classes through the University Health Center and Campus Recreation Services are proliferating and promoting meditation as a means to combat anxiety, depression and even drug abuse, while meditation techniques are an integral part of other therapies like the smoking cessation and stress management programs.

At the Center for Health and Wellbeing, Coordinator of Wellness Programs Tracy Zeeger said last spring's decision to add free meditation classes - which became popular right away and continue to bring in about seven students per class - twice a week was encouraged by University Health Center Director Sacared Bodison as a means to bolster the alternative medicine programs at the health center. Zeeger said she has also seen an increase in her appointments for wellness counseling, where she incorporates meditation techniques like concentrated breathing and guided visual imagery into offerings such as relaxation training.

"Meditation falls very neatly into the category of wellness in that it not only promotes physical health but mental and spiritual health as well," Zeeger said. "It can help with students who suffer from depression or mild anxiety. … There are alternatives to prescription pills."

Attendance at the meditation class tallies about as many as the main lobby for the Center of Health and Wellbeing can comfortably hold.

At the Meditation Club meeting on McKeldin Mall Monday, about 30 students gathered in a circle, casting long shadows under the glare of the street lamp as they practiced meditation in silence. The club encourages students from all religious backgrounds to attend, junior history major Ryan Zembik said, and has helped him with stress and controlling his temper.
Continued...

Labels: Allison Stice, anxiety, college, meditation, stress, students

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Tuesday, September 02, 2008

Sacramento’s Self-Realization Fellowship

By Keleigh Friedrich

Indian yogi Paramhansa Yogananda, founder of Self-Realization Fellowship, argues that we are all one spirit. “When you experience the true meaning of religion, which is to know God, you will realize that He is your Self, and that He exists equally and impartially in all beings.”

Yogananda founded SRF in the United States in 1920, to make available worldwide the sacred spiritual science called Kriya Yoga—methods of concentration and meditation designed to attain “direct personal experience of God.” The yoga techniques are described in detail in Yogananda’s famous life story Autobiography of a Yogi.

One of the cornerstones of the SRF religion is that we are all connected by underlying unity, and that the benefits of yoga and meditation can be enjoyed by anyone, regardless of faith. SRF honors a long line of masters, and addresses God as Heavenly Father and Divine Mother, Beloved and Friend. Sunday readings and service typically consists of a passage from the both the Bible and the Bhagavad Gita.

The service ended with a few moments of meditation, an offertory and a prayer for healing and world peace, closing with “Om, peace, amen.” Folks milled into the book shop, socialized in the dining area and ate brunch on the back patio. I talked with Michael, who hailed from Scotland, and a man named Robert, originally from the South, who explained that the organization is run by volunteers and loaded me up with information on upcoming events, like visiting monastics, India Night and weekend retreats. I told them I was sorry there wasn’t more chanting, but that I loved the sense of inclusiveness.

“Yoga means ‘unity,’” Robert said as he led me out to the creek. After pointing out the crayfish with the excitement of a country kid, he added, “With things like yoga and meditation becoming more mainstream, I’m hoping the world is catching on.”

Labels: God, Keleigh Friedrich, meditation, Paramhansa Yogananda, religion, Self-Realization Fellowship, yoga

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Tuesday, July 29, 2008

An ever-present help

The American Psychological Association does an annual survey of attitudes and perceptions of stress among the general public.

Last year's survey revealed that 77 percent of Americans experienced stress-related physical symptoms and 73 percent reported psychological symptoms. Issues related to work and money topped the list of major stressors.

Things have not improved since this last survey; in fact, the economy has significantly worsened, with daily headlines proclaiming housing foreclosures, increases in gas prices and failing banks.

According to an Associated Press poll released in June, debt stress is 14 percent higher this year than in 2004.

How, then, are we to cope with this enormous pressure? Some stress is manageable, even helpful in channeling our energy and resources, but multiple stressors can feel overwhelming, especially those over which we have little control.

Most of us already know something about stress management. We're told to identify the sources, understand how we are personally affected by stress, modify our behavior, exercise and spend more time in leisure activities or with family and friends. We know about healthy eating, sleep hygiene and work-life balance.

If all else fails, we may seek the services of a professional or ask our physicians for some medication, but only a small percentage of us actually do that. A billboard by a freeway proclaims that it is better to buy an expensive sports car than to seek therapy. We are a nation that is independent-minded, and we prefer to handle things on our own.

How well do these tools work for us in the midst of overwhelming circumstances? How much can we reasonably expect to handle?

There is another source of help during difficult times and that is what we believe exists outside of ourselves.

It is our spirituality, and it is an important source of strength, meaning, direction and hope. It is through the cultivation of spirituality that we feel connected to the larger universe. It fosters a perspective that takes us away from everyday difficulty and enables us to envision a better future.

Spirituality is complex and hard to define. It can take the form of religious observance, nature, music, art or some other personal experience. Alcoholics Anonymous practitioners subscribe to a "power greater than ourselves" and turn chaotic lives over to "God as we understand Him." However we define it, spirituality is a powerful force for good.

Psychologist Viktor Frankl, after surviving a concentration camp, noted that those who had found meaning in life were the ones most able to withstand the incredible hardships there.

Research continues to document greater health benefits, including decreased stress, for those who cultivate their spirituality. Prayer is cited as the most common spiritual practice, and some recent studies on intercessory prayer have provided provocative evidence that the benefits to those praying are even greater than to those prayed for.

Meditation is another form of spiritual practice that can be used to enhance spiritual communion. Reading and studying religious or spiritual writings and journaling about experiences can deepen faith journeys. However, attempting too much too soon is a common recipe for failure in the building up of spiritual habits.

Many choose to explore different faith traditions to see what fits. Sharing spiritual discovery and expression with others helps to build relationships and connects us to a larger world of believers. Having an "accountability partner" whom we trust and regularly meet with can enhance spiritual discovery and growth.

Mind, body and spirit are interconnected and important dimensions of optimal health and wellbeing. To neglect one part is to negatively affect the whole. Quality of life, especially in an era of higher and more chronic levels of stress, is hard to maintain without the benefits of spiritual belief and practice. Keep it in mind when all the other tools come up short, as they invariably will.

Deborah Barber, PhD, is a clinical psychologist in Westlake Village. Contact her at (818) 5127923. Send questions/comments to askDrDB@yahoo.com or visit www.DrDeborahBarber.

Labels: American Psychological Association, Deborah Barber, meditation, spirituality, stress

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Monday, June 23, 2008

Part II of U.S. Religious Landscape Survey

WASHINGTON, June 23

Part II of U.S. Religious Landscape Survey details Americans' religious
beliefs and behaviors as well as their social and political attitudes

WASHINGTON, June 23 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The Pew Forum on Religion & Public Life today released its second report on the U.S. Religious Landscape Survey, which finds that while many Americans are highly religious, most are not dogmatic in their approach to faith. This new analysis examines the diversity of Americans' religious beliefs and practices as well as their social and political attitudes. It follows the first report of the Landscape Survey, which was published in February 2008 and detailed the size, internal changes and demographic characteristics of major religions in the United States.

"The fact that most Americans are not exclusive or dogmatic about their religion is a fascinating finding," said Luis Lugo, director of the Pew Forum. "Most people will be surprised that a majority of adherents in nearly all religious traditions, including a majority of evangelical Protestants, say that there isn't just one way to salvation or to interpret the teachings of their own faith."

Based on interviews conducted in English and Spanish with a nationally representative sample of more than 35,000 adults, part two of the Landscape Survey includes a wealth of information on the religious beliefs and practices of the American public. It also explores the social and political attitudes of religious groups, including members of many small religious traditions - such as Mormons, Jehovah's Witnesses, Jews, Hindus, Buddhists, atheists and agnostics - not typically analyzed in public opinion surveys.

"This report illustrates, chapter and verse, the amazing diversity and dynamism both between and within religious traditions in America," noted John Green, senior fellow at the Pew Forum. "And this diversity of affiliation, belief and practice matters when it comes to social and political questions."

The second report of the U.S. Religious Landscape Survey finds:

* Although many Americans are highly religious, they are not dogmatic in their faith. Seventy percent of Americans with a religious affiliation say that many religions - not just their own - can lead to eternal life. Most also think there is more than one correct way to interpret the teachings of their own faith.

* This does not mean, however, that Americans take religious matters lightly. Most, in fact, say they rank the importance of religion very highly in their lives, and a plurality wants to preserve the traditional beliefs and practices of their faith, while only a small minority wants to accommodate their religion to modern culture.

* There is tremendous diversity of religious beliefs and practices in the U.S. Important religious differences exist between the major religious traditions, but there are also important differences within religious traditions.

* While more than nine-in-ten Americans (92%) believe in the existence of God or a universal spirit, there are considerable differences in the nature of this belief. Six-in-ten adults believe that God is a person with whom people can have a relationship; but one-in-four - including about half of Jews and Hindus - see God as an impersonal force. Similarly, seven-in-ten Americans say that they are absolutely certain of God's existence, while roughly one-in-five (22%) are less certain in their belief.

* Three-quarters of Americans report praying at least once a week, with large majorities among most religious traditions saying they pray on at least a weekly basis. Even among the unaffiliated, roughly one-in-three pray on a weekly basis. At the same time, however, there are those among all faith groups who pray much less frequently; overall, one quarter of the public says they pray a few times a month or less often.

* Almost two-fifths of Americans report meditating at least once a week. This practice is particularly common among Buddhists, but nearly half of evangelical Protestants and Muslims say they meditate at least weekly. About one-quarter of the unaffiliated report weekly meditation. These patterns may incorporate elements of both Christian and non-Christian traditions.

* Politics and religion in the United States are intertwined, and religion is highly relevant to understanding politics in the U.S. Yet while the diversity of religious affiliation, belief and practice translates into important differences on many social and political issues, differences on other issues are less pronounced.

* Religion is closely linked to political ideology. The survey shows that Mormons are among the most politically conservative groups in the population. Jews, Buddhists and Hindus, by contrast, are among the most likely to describe their ideology as liberal.

* People who regularly attend worship services and say religion is important in their lives are much more likely to identify as conservative, and this pattern extends to many religious traditions. For example, within the evangelical, mainline Protestant, historically black Protestant, Catholic, Mormon and Orthodox Christian traditions, those who attend church weekly are significantly more likely than those who attend less often to describe themselves as political conservatives. And among Jews, those who say religion is very important to them or pray every day are more likely than others to be politically conservative.

* The connection between religious engagement and political attitudes appears to be especially strong when it comes to hot button social issues such as abortion or homosexuality. For instance, about six-in-ten Americans who attend religious services at least once a week say abortion should be illegal in most or all cases, while only three-in-ten who attend less often share this view. This pattern holds across several religious traditions.

* On other topics covered in the survey, such as views on the role and size of government and foreign policy attitudes, the role of religion is less clear and there appears to be greater consensus across and within religious traditions. For instance, a majority of nearly every religious group supports stricter environmental regulations and believes the government should do more to help Americans in need. Similarly, most Americans, including majorities of most faiths, say it is more important to focus on problems here at home than to be active in world affairs.

In conjunction with the release of this report, the Pew Forum is updating its online presentation of the findings at religions.pewforum.org. Updated features include interactive mapping by state, dynamic charts and a variety of other tools that allow users to explore the beliefs and practices as well as social and political views of major religions in the United States.

Subsequent releases will include a re-contact survey that delves deeper into the relationship between religious and political identity, issues related to conversion and attitudes toward religious pluralism in America.

The Pew Forum on Religion & Public Life delivers timely, impartial information on issues at the intersection of religion and public affairs. The Forum is a nonpartisan, non-advocacy organization and does not take positions on policy debates. Based in Washington, D.C., the Forum is a project of the Pew Research Center, which is funded by The Pew Charitable Trusts.

SOURCE Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life

Labels: beliefs. practices, God, meditation, Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life, politics, prayer, religion, U.S. Religious Landscape Survey

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Wednesday, May 07, 2008

Western medicine meets the meditative tradition

By Paul Scott
Wednesday, May 7, 2008

ROCHESTER, MINN. — The press that followed a recent visit by the Dalai Lama to the Mayo Clinic focused primarily on the spiritual leader's comments about the Chinese crackdown on protest in Tibet. It isn't hard to imagine why. The meeting's contentious international backdrop — a conflict underscored by the sidewalk appearance of a strangely polished crew of 50 or so pro-Chinese demonstrators mounting a lonely crusade to tarnish the cause of Tibetan autonomy — was an easier tale to tell than the less easily digested topic of the daylong event itself.

The oversight was unfortunate, because the case being made during the April 16 colloquium titled "Investigating the Mind-Body Connection: The Science and Clinical Applications of Meditation," seems far more destabilizing than the political movement in Tibet.

It's one thing to ponder the irony of a professional-seeming protest in defense of a government that does not allow protest. It's quite another thing to witness the brain trust behind the brand more associated with Western medicine than any other giving forum to the emerging science of mindfulness training, acceptance, positive thinking and compassion. The first cause is about political change. The second is cosmological.

The Buddhist meditative tradition

The Dalai Lama's prescription is that of the Buddhist meditative tradition: selecting and focusing on positive mental states such as compassion, gratitude and joy, while challenging negative mental states such as anger, jealousy, anxiety and a distracted state of being. In practice this means daily meditative practice intent on clearing mental clutter and developing more clarity of attention and moment-by-moment awareness.

The Dalai Lama has long believed that so-called mindfulness meditation has beneficial effects on human health and well-being, and thanks to research conducted by Davidson and others, we now know that the brain and body do indeed change for the better as a result of such practice, and through measurable physiological pathways more complex than had previously been imagined.

Researchers have known for years, for example, that a bilateral brain region known as the prefrontal cortex, or PFC, is involved in developing responses to emotionally laden thoughts, and that the way we respond to the events and thoughts in our lives is often determined by whether the brain draws on the rights side of our PFC or its left. Operating below the level of awareness, the right side of the prefrontal cortex responds to problems with an eye toward punishments and avenues of withdrawal, while the left side processes thoughts which are generally positive and tuned to rewards. Damage the left prefrontal cortex and depression increases; those who tend to preferentially use the left side of their prefrontal cortex tend to get over problems faster than do those who process emotion-laden thoughts from the right. Significant for the discussion of physical health, those who preferentially use the left prefrontal cortex show lower baseline levels of the stress hormone cortisol.

The dangers of chronic frustration

A separate area of research has linked chronic frustration with disruption of your heart-rate variability, which, sustained over time, the body begins to recognize as its baseline state, bringing about an inhibition of the vital bodily calming mechanism that is your parasympathetic nervous system. Feel frustrated long enough and your body ceases to calm itself.

By wiring EEG sensors to the heads of Buddhist monks and those attempting to meditate for the first time, then examining brain activity as expressed on functional MRI images, Davidson and Kabat-Zinn have learned that meditation employs the left prefrontal cortex — some monks he has studied have greater left prefrontal orientation than ever previously observed — and that over time, meditative practice can change the orientation from the right to the left of those who take up the activity. Brain circuitry is not fixed, in other words. To the contrary, said Davidson during a research-based session at Mayo, "the brain is the organ that is built to change in response to training. Happiness, compassion, and clarity of attention are the product of skills, and these skills can be enhanced through mental training."

After hearing the case that meditative mental training can help people stay healthier and recover more quickly from illness, the Mayo audience of 350 or so faculty and staff entered more culturally problematic territory — subject matter that seemed to be talked around as much as it was examined. In short, while medicine is beginning to take seriously the notion that the cultivation of compassion and mindfulness is beneficial for physical health, medicine as practiced today is often antithetical to the very mindfulness and spiritual "present-ness" sought after in meditative practice.

An East-West paradox?

The clinic may have established a "mind-body" Department of Integrative Medicine and gathered with earnest enthusiasm to hear from the top names in mind-body research, but Mayo is nothing if not the face of Western medicine in all its dichotomous cleaving of the spirit from the biology, both in culture and practice. The medical embrace of meditative compassion would seem to face a paradox: The grueling rise to the highest levels of medical specialization does not appear conducive to regular breaks for contemplative meditative practice, nor does the culture of omnipotence, authority and spirit of conquest within medical training seem a smooth fit for the sense of acceptance embodied in Buddhism.

The bad news came in large part from Roshi Joan Halifax, a Zen priest and medical anthropologist whose remarks suggested that embracing the Buddhist prescription will likely require more than stocking the patient information center with brochures on the value of meditation. For example, the Dalai Lama's thoughts on death are clear: "I think the most important thing," according to a Web collection of his sayings, "is to try and do our best to ensure that dying person may depart quietly, with serenity and in a peace." Caregivers of those at the end of life experience high rates of burnout, said Halifax, due to the "moral stress" brought on by the damage done to this peace by conflicting agendas of medicine in the face of death.

"A lot of clinicians feel reluctant to speak openly about the trajectory of an illness," she said, "with death being the end of the road." Halifax described the multipronged source of the physician's moral stress that leads him or her to avoid the dying: interventions which cause pain and suffering, lack of communication about the goals of care, and "the prolonging of dying through technology." While she acknowledged their role in transitory illness, flashing a picture of an iconic string of ICU life preserving tubes and machinery, she said simply, "This is our nightmare, to be put on a respirator."

Cultivating compassion, wisdom in the face of death

Halifax advocated helping physicians and caregivers in "cultivating compassion and wisdom in the presence of death." The ability to "presence pain and suffering without pitying, consoling or denying," said Halifax, requires "a quality of attention that is panoramic, perceptive and nonjudgmental." While meditative practice would seem to develop the skill in question, hanging over her argument was a question that went unasked: How likely are these skills to be developed in medical training, much less the culture and bureaucracy of large medical centers like Mayo? Research may support the benefits of meditative practice for patients, but if they are to care for the dying and gravely ill, physicians would appear to need an extra dose the same medicine. Is the Buddhist tradition even possible within the umbrella of Western medicine?

"Allow yourself to experience that futility," she said when a Mayo doctor from Brazil asked how he should handle his negative emotions that gave rise when watching patients in his homeland die unnecessarily due to a lack of resources. "To be with things as they are. There is still a resource that is there — your presence."

For the Mayo brothers, looking down from nearby oversize vintage photos upon the gathering, this could not have seemed a stranger request for the heirs to their legacy. Nor could the answer given to a similar question a few minutes later — and which had been put to Mattieu Ricard, a French-born monk from Katmandu and a subject of Davidson's EEG experiments on the brain activity of expert level meditation.

"Transform your attitude to the suffering person," said Ricard, who has spent more than 10,000 hours in contemplative meditation. "Let your heart become a mass of brilliant white light, and the suffering becomes dissolved in it."

The nature of compassion and suffering

After a lunch-hour break, the audience stood silently to greet the Dalai Lama, a sometimes impish figure who held forth bare-armed and robed from an armchair in the center of the stage. Answering questions put to him by Goleman and later the audience, the Dalai Lama alternated from English to long statements toward his interpreter, presumably in Tibetic, touching on the nature of compassion and suffering and its intersection with medical care. He rambled at times in a way that indicated no worries about social pressures like staying on message, making easily digestible bullet points, winning over his audience — and yet winning over his audience regardless.

He explained his position that the human dilemma is one whereby anger and attachment — while useful if a transitory emotion in species throughout the animal kingdom — are given undue extension by the human skill for imagination, with negative results.

"This is where the problems arise," he said. "Because of this, we need a special effort to increase our affection."

He called compassion "an immune system for the toxins of the mind." He also, early in his remarks, slipped in mention of the problem at hand, a statement that sparked no shortage of nervous laughter in the highly credentialed crowd.

"In Tibet we have a saying," he said. "The physician is a great scholar, but his medicine is not effective because his heart is not that good."

Paul Scott is a freelance writer based in Rochester.

Labels: Dalai Lama, Mayo Clinic, medicine, meditation, Mind and Life Institute, mind-body connection, Paul Scott, stress

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Sunday, March 30, 2008

Doctor is harbinger of healthy living

April 1, 2008,
Posted On: 3/28/2008

Singh’s new book details physical, mental balance

By Paul Imbesi

SAN JOSE, Calif. – Dr. Bindya Singh, 45, has been interested in living healthy – physically and mentally – since her teenage years, which gives her a lot of expertise on the subject. In her new book, “Nine Easy Steps to Complete Health and Well-Being,” Singh puts this expertise to work.

Singh became interested in spiritual health when she was about 15 years old when she accompanied both of her arthritis-stricken grandmothers to religious conferences, looking for help with their affliction. According to Singh, she enjoyed the religious trips with her grandmothers because she learned about the peace and calm that can come from spiritual conversations.

A healthy mind, body and spirit are the three cornerstones to Singh’s new book on health. “Unless you can control your mind, you really cannot address the needs of your body,” she said. Singh is the director of outreach and community education at Santa Clara Valley Medical Center, specializing in neonatology and pediatrics, and a clinical faculty member at Stanford University. She went to medical school at Lady Hardinge Medical College in New Delhi, India. Singh is also the founder of the Healthy Center Foundation, a nonprofit organization that promotes healthy living.

In her book, Singh talks about the importance of a stress-free, positive attitude mindset. She said negative attitudes can have long-term effects on bodies, which can lead to harmful physical effects like hypertension, stress-induced heart attacks and depression.

She added that people can relieve their minds from stress through meditation, which she delves into by talking about simple steps to master the practice.

Singh’s book also covers topics like eating right, sleeping right and exercising. She said her book addresses the long-term needs of living well, which helps differerentiate it from many of the other diet and exercise books out there today.

“This book completes the picture because it gives you all the aspects of health that you need to get under your belt,” she said.

The roots of Singh’s book stem from a period in her life when she was reading and attending conferences and seminars on health-related subjects.

According to Singh, she took copious notes on these topics and began writing her book about nine years ago, after deliverying a baby. She admits she still cannot explain why she started writing, but said it consumed her.

She said she originally wrote for herself, her family and friends, but her parents told her to go further with her information since it presented such a full view of health, unlike today’s segmented books that only focus on eating well or the body, for instance.

Singh said her book is for anyone who cares about themselves, their families, and want to attain not just physical, but also long-lasting mental and spiritual health. She said it contains information to help anyone looking to control their life and be healthy and happy.

“Destiny is the choices you make with the chances that you’re given. So I hope that we all can make healthy and happy choices,” she said.

Labels: Bindya Singh, meditation, mind-body connection, Paul Imbesi, spirituality

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Monday, February 18, 2008

Meditation May Cut Future Heart Disease Risks

ISLAMABAD: Meditation can help heart health, a study from the Medical College of Georgia shows.

The study was small, but its results were encouraging. Meditation may prove to be a beneficial addition to lifestyle and/or medical approaches to heart disease, say Frank Treiber, PhD, and colleagues.

Treiber directs the Georgia Prevention Institute at the Medical College of Augusta. He and his colleagues reported their findings in Orlando, Fla., at the Second International Conference on Women, Heart Disease, and Stroke.

Participants were 36 black females who were about 16 years old. All of them had high to normal systolic blood pressure (prehypertension). That increased their risk of future heart disease.

The girls were assigned to either get four months of training in transcendental meditation (TM) or health education without meditation. Before the groups got underway, researchers checked the pliability of a blood vessel wall in the girls’ arms. Studies have shown that African-Americans have decrease pliability of blood vessels. TM has been shown to improve this function in young people with prehypertension.

Normal healthy blood vessels contract and expand; a very early sign of blood vessel disease is when this ability is impaired. A decrease in blood vessels’ ability to contract and expand is seen in high blood pressure.

The blood vessel pliability test was repeated four months later. The researchers compared the change in blood vessel function to the earlier test.

By the four-month follow-up, the transcendental meditation group had "improved significantly" its blood vessel function compared to the group which received health education only, say the researchers.

That might bode well for the girls’ future heart health. The blood vessel problems studied have been linked to high blood pressure, poor cholesterol, and coronary artery disease, say the researchers.

Transcendental meditation was popularized in recent decades by Maharishi Mahesh Yogi. It’s easy to learn and doesn’t require any particular religious, spiritual, or philosophical beliefs, says Robert Schneider, MD.

Schneider directs the Center for Health and Aging Studies in Fairfield, Iowa. He is also a professor of physiology and Maharishi Ayurveda. He discussed meditation and aging in a previous WebMD Live Event.

Meditation has garnered lots of research attention. It’s been found to be good for the heart, immune system, PMS, and even breastfeeding and hot flashes. There seems to be no down side to meditation, but it doesn’t take the place of needed conventional medicine.

"There are many different forms of meditation," says Patricia Monaghan, author of Meditation, The Complete Guide. In a live event with WebMD, she counted more than 50 kinds of meditation.

You don’t need a mantra or a Zen-like room, and you don’t have to twist yourself into a pretzel, says Monaghan. Sitting and focusing on your breath works. So does meditating while walking. Classes teach the techniques, and the practice takes as little as 10 minutes a day, says Monaghan. "Everyone has 10 minutes," she says.

Labels: African-Americans, Frank Treiber, heart disease, Medical College of Georgia, meditation, transcendental meditation

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Sunday, September 30, 2007

American Buddhism: Eastern faith seeing Western growth

By Ryan Holeywell — The Monitor
September 29, 2007

EDINBURG — Government security forces in Myanmar have reportedly killed at least three Buddhist monks who were peacefully participating in massive, ongoing protests against that country’s military government.

Tensions started to rise last month, when the government drastically raised fuel prices in the impoverished country.

Persecution of Buddhists in Myanmar and Tibet have consistently garnered media attention and cries for justice from activist groups in the United States.

Experts say the number of Americans who actually identify themselves as Buddhists — as opposed to just sympathizing with them — continues to steadily grow.

Appeal to Westerners

About 401,000 Buddhists lived in America in 1990, but by 2001 that number had climbed to more than 1 million, according to a City University of New York survey. There are an estimated 6 million Buddhists living in America today, said Charles Prebish, a professor at Utah State University.

Experts attribute the growth of Buddhism in America to the increased volume of literature on the subject available in books and online, as well as the growing number of university courses about the religion.

“Buddhism tends to appeal to Westerners because it’s very rational,” Kojin Dinsmore, a priest at the Austin Zen Center.

“(Buddhism) doesn’t ask you to believe in anything. It is mostly psychological.”

Those in the Valley drawn to Buddhism say one of its aspects that they find particularly attractive is meditation, a central component of the religion.

“When you meditate you have to clear your mind and think only of the present moment,” said Jen Klement, who lives near La Feria. “That’s not easy to do because these thoughts keep coming in. You mainly focus on your breathing. If you’re thinking about your breathing you can’t be thinking about much else.”

Growth in America

Buddhism first found its way onto the U.S. religious scene with Chinese and Japanese immigrants in the 19th century. It resurged during the Vietnam War era as Asian immigrants came to the United States.

But about 20 percent of Buddhists in the United States are not of Asian descent, which means there are more than 1 million American converts by Prebish’s estimates.

Labels: America, Buddhism, meditation, Ryan Holeywell