Friday blog
In yoga this morning a phrase that Richard used struck me as particularly poetic. Use the sound of the breath as "an acoustic thread of concentration".
Waking up at 5:50, with only five hours of sleep behind you, it's hard to believe how awake and alive you can feel a mere fifteen minutes later when yoga class really gets rolling. I now believe in my ability to get up early, even with limited sleep but it really impedes meditation and wakefulness later in the day!
The first morning presentation was by Clif Saron of the Shamatha Project, an ongoing international research project of the effects of meditation, modeled off the Human Genome Project. You can read about it at shamtha.org. One of the findings which I did not fully understand but seemed really exciting was that comparing retreatants with non-retreatants was that that had more telomerase indicating that these practices can change us on a very deep level. Shortened telomeres are related to aging, so essentially, if you come to my yoga classes, i can promise that you will live forever ;)
Then John Dunne from Emory presented on some philosophical considerations we should make before engaging in further mindfulness research. He proposed that many of us are presenting mindfulness/meditation as a magical black box where things (psychological things, health things, etc) mysteriously change. When meditation is viewed as a black box the motivation for reach may covertly become the meditation itself. Meditation research becomes just about proving meditation is good. On this model mechanism is inaccessible. It's difficult to operationalize the term meditation and Dunne encourages researchers to be very clear to themselves and others about what exactly they are studying, to gather data from practitioners, from contemplative scholars, and translators/interpreters even within the course of "hard" scientific or psychological research. He encourages researchers to work in a "trilogue" to operationalize the construct. Other concepts that stuck with me--- in regards to only using ancient texts he cautions that a prescription is not a description. Similarly he said that authenticity does not matter...even if MBSR is not an "authentic" practice it's what people are doing, so study it! In closing he reminded us that even in Buddhist tradition there is no consensus on what meditation is. It is just a convenient term to include a family of human practices. He proposes that we look at "a family resemblance model" (a DSM type list of characteristics). In the Q&A session following, some frustration was vocalized by the two Geshes that they were not included on the stage recognized as scholars. I didn't follow exactly what this arose from but unfortunately it made me realize that like all human organizations, this one too is imperfect, even with lofty ideals.
In the afternoon there was a session on Abhidhamma Analysis" but I was too tired to process much of it. Later I attended a breakout session for people interested in the embodiment of awareness in terms if yoga, tai chi, etc. There was really only time for everyone to introduce themselves and their own research but the woman leading the session is interested in somatosensory maps and how they are affected by various contemplative traditions so I have lots of new scientific reading to get into!
The last presentation was by Michel Bitbol and enchanting and endearing and brilliant French man that i spoke with early in the week. He wrapped up the week's presentations and presented some very eloquent philosophy that (for me at least) boiled down to a reminder that "Scientific truth is not all the truth!"
Our final full day concluded with a performance by Ottmar Liebert, an incredible guitarist who is also a Buddhist monk. The show was accompanied by some of his contemplative photography which was poignant and funny and really beautiful. The best part of the night however was the friendship that I formed with Geshe Jampel Senge who was intrigued by my iPad I had been taking notes on and proceed to get sucked into his own email and the wonders of touchscreen typing and predictive text! Another monk sat down on the other side of me and I asked if he wanted to trade spots to sit by his friend and he said "you are my friend! Everyone is my friend!"
Sunday, June 19, 2011
Day 5
Thursday blog
On Thursday I finally had to catch up on sleep and miss morning practices :(
The first morning presentation was from Amrishi Jha who studies working memory (WM). I like that she opened with a statement about the paradigms used to index enlightenment and noted that they do not all need to fall into the realm of executive control (the cognitive functions most commonly studied in the neuroscienctific world, including WM). However, this is her area of research and although it's a very common psychological construct to study, she takes a fairly novel approach to the use of mindfulness training by studying is capacity to promote resilience in a population under considerable stress--pre-deployment military trainees. Military members who logged more personal practice time during the eight week course had improved WM capacities, whereas those with less practice time had decreased WM much like the control group. Is it some magic threshold of practice time or is it some other propensity that explains the difference? An interesting study but the most powerful moment of the presentation was when she discussed ahimsa and her personal struggle with the question of whether it ethical for her to engage in this kind of research ("helping" the military). Obviously she came to the decision that it was, and that is controversial for some but I appreciated hearing about her thoughtful consideration. Not your typical conference, eh?
The next presentation was the most talked-about of the week. Willoughby Britton presented preliminary research on adverse effects of meditation. She collected anecdotal evidence from prevalent meditation teachers all over the country including Jack Kornfield and Alan Wallace about the number of retreatants they estimated to have had psychotic episodes or long-lasting psychological problems. The number of suicides that seem to be related to meditation experiences was low (although still a frightening potential outcome). The number of psychiatric problems leading to hospitalizations was slightly higher. And the biggest category of all were people who had long-lasting impairments in life responsibilities (because of a different perception of reality). She interviewed 18 of these people and categorized their reports into 5 types of symptoms.
Cognitive
Perceptual/sensory: pixilated, constable reality, hallucinations, distortions in time or space. Disorientation, confusion
Affective
Anxiety, panic, rage, euphoric mania, agitated mania, emotional flattening, depression, de-repression of psychological materials (trauma).
Dissolution of self-structures
Loss of sense of self, narrative identity, temporal disintegration, body awareness, boundary between self and others
Somatic
Agitation, tachycardia, "voltage" feelings, insomnia, decreased appetite, fatigue, pain, vibration, pressure, tingling, tics, flapping, twisting,
"Other" category
Worldview confusion, validity of conventional life, inability to meditate, and a lack of a framework of interpretation for things like feeling kundalini rising up spine
What was particularly interesting is not just the severity of the symptoms but the duration (1-3 years). Also the lack of significant comorbidities, meaning that most of the participants had no previous trauma or mental diagnoses. Those that did have more trauma in their pasts had longer lasting problems though. Also interesting, the fact that even though these people might have been on long retreats, most developed symptoms within the first two weeks. one similarity amongst the subjects was that they all reported being "ptty hardcore" pointing to the dangers of overzealousness, even in the positive an important work of understanding (no)self and (the fluidity of) reality.
So are these experiences progress on the path to enlightenment or pathology? While there was some disagreement amongst scholars and practitioners it is interesting to note that many of them considered these symptoms to be part of the path toward enlightenment, that these correspond to steps along the path in the Theravadan tradition amongst others, and that even the APA manual has a special note that these self-induced symptoms are not to be diagnosed as schizophrenia or other serious disorders.
When the presenter asked people in the audience to raises their hand if they knew someone with these symptoms over half raised their hands! Anecdotally i can not even tell you how many conversations i had over meals over the next couple of days where new friends would tell me about their own experiences with anxiety, losing sense of self, or distorted sense of reality brought on by meditation. The take-away msg I got was that as researchers and practitioners we need to be talking about these possibilities and providing a support network and context for people who have these experiences. On a personal level it made me ask the question of whether these "extreme sports"-type conditions of long silent retreats are necessary/positive/healthy.
In the afternoon I went to a talk by Richie Davidson about the emergence of contemplative neuroscience. I will not write about that here, even though it was interesting because I've been at this screen for too long already! Would be glad to talk about it in person though.
Later in the afternoon I went to a breakout session with one of the Geshes where we listened to his wisdom about the nature of reality. He used all kinds of funny metaphors about pizza, dreams, and policemen. One section from my notes that I particularly liked was:
Mdflns is like a policeman. Introspection is like a spy. If spy finds info that police don't care about, the spy will get lazy, rigor will disappear over time. So what do we work on? Laxity and excitement are two forms of mind, what spy and policemen are on the lookout for.
In the evening there was another poster session where i once again sought out the education-related researchers there and spent time talking with a school psychology PhD student researching a program called Soles of the Feet. Have to look it up but I'm happy to see this research from school psych people, as they are one of the best bridging disciplines between research and practice.
On Thursday I finally had to catch up on sleep and miss morning practices :(
The first morning presentation was from Amrishi Jha who studies working memory (WM). I like that she opened with a statement about the paradigms used to index enlightenment and noted that they do not all need to fall into the realm of executive control (the cognitive functions most commonly studied in the neuroscienctific world, including WM). However, this is her area of research and although it's a very common psychological construct to study, she takes a fairly novel approach to the use of mindfulness training by studying is capacity to promote resilience in a population under considerable stress--pre-deployment military trainees. Military members who logged more personal practice time during the eight week course had improved WM capacities, whereas those with less practice time had decreased WM much like the control group. Is it some magic threshold of practice time or is it some other propensity that explains the difference? An interesting study but the most powerful moment of the presentation was when she discussed ahimsa and her personal struggle with the question of whether it ethical for her to engage in this kind of research ("helping" the military). Obviously she came to the decision that it was, and that is controversial for some but I appreciated hearing about her thoughtful consideration. Not your typical conference, eh?
The next presentation was the most talked-about of the week. Willoughby Britton presented preliminary research on adverse effects of meditation. She collected anecdotal evidence from prevalent meditation teachers all over the country including Jack Kornfield and Alan Wallace about the number of retreatants they estimated to have had psychotic episodes or long-lasting psychological problems. The number of suicides that seem to be related to meditation experiences was low (although still a frightening potential outcome). The number of psychiatric problems leading to hospitalizations was slightly higher. And the biggest category of all were people who had long-lasting impairments in life responsibilities (because of a different perception of reality). She interviewed 18 of these people and categorized their reports into 5 types of symptoms.
Cognitive
Perceptual/sensory: pixilated, constable reality, hallucinations, distortions in time or space. Disorientation, confusion
Affective
Anxiety, panic, rage, euphoric mania, agitated mania, emotional flattening, depression, de-repression of psychological materials (trauma).
Dissolution of self-structures
Loss of sense of self, narrative identity, temporal disintegration, body awareness, boundary between self and others
Somatic
Agitation, tachycardia, "voltage" feelings, insomnia, decreased appetite, fatigue, pain, vibration, pressure, tingling, tics, flapping, twisting,
"Other" category
Worldview confusion, validity of conventional life, inability to meditate, and a lack of a framework of interpretation for things like feeling kundalini rising up spine
What was particularly interesting is not just the severity of the symptoms but the duration (1-3 years). Also the lack of significant comorbidities, meaning that most of the participants had no previous trauma or mental diagnoses. Those that did have more trauma in their pasts had longer lasting problems though. Also interesting, the fact that even though these people might have been on long retreats, most developed symptoms within the first two weeks. one similarity amongst the subjects was that they all reported being "ptty hardcore" pointing to the dangers of overzealousness, even in the positive an important work of understanding (no)self and (the fluidity of) reality.
So are these experiences progress on the path to enlightenment or pathology? While there was some disagreement amongst scholars and practitioners it is interesting to note that many of them considered these symptoms to be part of the path toward enlightenment, that these correspond to steps along the path in the Theravadan tradition amongst others, and that even the APA manual has a special note that these self-induced symptoms are not to be diagnosed as schizophrenia or other serious disorders.
When the presenter asked people in the audience to raises their hand if they knew someone with these symptoms over half raised their hands! Anecdotally i can not even tell you how many conversations i had over meals over the next couple of days where new friends would tell me about their own experiences with anxiety, losing sense of self, or distorted sense of reality brought on by meditation. The take-away msg I got was that as researchers and practitioners we need to be talking about these possibilities and providing a support network and context for people who have these experiences. On a personal level it made me ask the question of whether these "extreme sports"-type conditions of long silent retreats are necessary/positive/healthy.
In the afternoon I went to a talk by Richie Davidson about the emergence of contemplative neuroscience. I will not write about that here, even though it was interesting because I've been at this screen for too long already! Would be glad to talk about it in person though.
Later in the afternoon I went to a breakout session with one of the Geshes where we listened to his wisdom about the nature of reality. He used all kinds of funny metaphors about pizza, dreams, and policemen. One section from my notes that I particularly liked was:
Mdflns is like a policeman. Introspection is like a spy. If spy finds info that police don't care about, the spy will get lazy, rigor will disappear over time. So what do we work on? Laxity and excitement are two forms of mind, what spy and policemen are on the lookout for.
In the evening there was another poster session where i once again sought out the education-related researchers there and spent time talking with a school psychology PhD student researching a program called Soles of the Feet. Have to look it up but I'm happy to see this research from school psych people, as they are one of the best bridging disciplines between research and practice.
Thursday, June 16, 2011
Day 4
Wednesday. "This too is wonder"
We did probably 5 hours of seated meditation throughout the course of the day, in thirty to sixty minute segments broken up by yoga and walking meditations. I don't know if i was more amazed at my physical or my mental/emotional stamina! Not to say that it was perfect but my legs didn't once fall asleep, I wasn't agonizing over whether to reposition my body or not (just do it...unless you're zen!), and I didn't have to run away for the "sanity" of life outside my own head.
This experience verified a pattern i thought I had seen in my own practice too, and I'm curious to find out how common it is. Lovingkindness and Tonglen practices come so much easier to me than the seemingly simple awareness and concentrative practices. There is so much immediate satisfaction, a sense of interconnectedness, and prosocial impulses, that it honestly makes me question how necessary the other practices are...although I feel kind of ignorant saying that.
We had a dharma talk at the end of the day which Roshi Joan opened with the announcement that her fellow Zen teacher, Joko Beck had died that morning and that her final words were "this too is wonder". A beautiful gift to leave for us. It really made me question the wider implications why and how I teach secular mindfulness to students. Lots of people here are highly educated Buddhist scholars and practitioners and the question of teaching practices out of the context of ethics, without the goal of enlightenment, and without the support of an experienced sangha keep coming up.
The final piece of wisdom from the day that I'd like to share is something that Barry Kerzin, an MD, monk, and leader of most of our practices on Wednesday, said about the relationship between knowledge and wisdom. He was explaining why HH the Dalai Lama is such a big believer in scholarship as a path to wisdom and he said that we can think of Knowledge like two sticks rubbing together and eventually they produce the spark of wisdom, at which point the sticks (conceptual understanding) burn away because they are no longer necessary.
It felt good to talk again at the end of the day and to call some of my beloveds finally to talk with their answering machines today. The voice and verbal expression are really something to be grateful for.
We did probably 5 hours of seated meditation throughout the course of the day, in thirty to sixty minute segments broken up by yoga and walking meditations. I don't know if i was more amazed at my physical or my mental/emotional stamina! Not to say that it was perfect but my legs didn't once fall asleep, I wasn't agonizing over whether to reposition my body or not (just do it...unless you're zen!), and I didn't have to run away for the "sanity" of life outside my own head.
This experience verified a pattern i thought I had seen in my own practice too, and I'm curious to find out how common it is. Lovingkindness and Tonglen practices come so much easier to me than the seemingly simple awareness and concentrative practices. There is so much immediate satisfaction, a sense of interconnectedness, and prosocial impulses, that it honestly makes me question how necessary the other practices are...although I feel kind of ignorant saying that.
We had a dharma talk at the end of the day which Roshi Joan opened with the announcement that her fellow Zen teacher, Joko Beck had died that morning and that her final words were "this too is wonder". A beautiful gift to leave for us. It really made me question the wider implications why and how I teach secular mindfulness to students. Lots of people here are highly educated Buddhist scholars and practitioners and the question of teaching practices out of the context of ethics, without the goal of enlightenment, and without the support of an experienced sangha keep coming up.
The final piece of wisdom from the day that I'd like to share is something that Barry Kerzin, an MD, monk, and leader of most of our practices on Wednesday, said about the relationship between knowledge and wisdom. He was explaining why HH the Dalai Lama is such a big believer in scholarship as a path to wisdom and he said that we can think of Knowledge like two sticks rubbing together and eventually they produce the spark of wisdom, at which point the sticks (conceptual understanding) burn away because they are no longer necessary.
It felt good to talk again at the end of the day and to call some of my beloveds finally to talk with their answering machines today. The voice and verbal expression are really something to be grateful for.
Tuesday, June 14, 2011
Day 3
Quick thoughts once again. On Tuesday, about Tuesday.
Meditation is hard when you're tired, as I learned this morning after two nights of a mere 6 hrs of sleep. That's the reason that I'm going to just get this post out there in the waves, so that I can sleep tonight! Also tomorrow is a full day of silence so I will be sans screen and I want to go ahead and check one thing off the mental, monkey-mind to-do list.
Basic take-away messages from today. Buddhism as many of us know it in the west is actually a modern incarnation (pun intended). This doesn't make it any less "real" than the traditional versions of the religion as practiced by laypeople in Buddhist countries, but the emphasis on person meditation practices is really modern! This blew my mind. The presenter, David McMahan, gave a clear and understandable overview of such a difficult topic. The second presenter was an expert on Indic philosophies. .... There was a panel discussion that was one of my favorite things so far. A Christian, a yogi, and four buddhists on a stage. Sounds like the beginning of a joke, eh? Geshe was quite adamant with his reminder to young researchers that the total number of hours of meditation (a common way to classify meditation practitioners) is not important compared to the QUALITY of meditation. So then someone asked him how to measure quality and he suggested physiological measures, like goosebumps. This got a laugh but he was quite serious about the physical response to deep states of meditation. I hear at long meditation retreats many people experience great warmth etc. Would love to hear about your physical reactions to deep meditation. In the a panel discussion there was also thought provoking discussion about studying and using practices out of the context of where/how they were originally developed. The point was raised by our "token christian" on the panel as he calls himself jokingly, that unlike in Buddhism there is no distinction in Christianity between religion and philosophy and science. I went to a breakout session with andrew later to learn about Christian contemplative practices because there are so many Christians I know and love and I feel rather ignorant about this mainstream religion sometimes! Most of what we talked about, the "mystical" practices of visualisation and meditative/contemplative reading techniques are ancient practices associated with the catholic church. However, he said that many protestant churches now embrace them. The practice I had heard the most about is Centering Prayer which was actually developed in the 1970s as a response to the Buddhist and Hindu influences coming in from the east. I missed a yoga breakout session AND a yoga class because this topic was so interesting so this is one i would especially like to talk about to anyone interested in person! Phew. Unedited thoughts might not be very useful for you but that was surprisingly good for me. Would love to hear any questions or thoughts you might like to share. Will post again Thursday about my experience with silence tomorrow!
Meditation is hard when you're tired, as I learned this morning after two nights of a mere 6 hrs of sleep. That's the reason that I'm going to just get this post out there in the waves, so that I can sleep tonight! Also tomorrow is a full day of silence so I will be sans screen and I want to go ahead and check one thing off the mental, monkey-mind to-do list.
Basic take-away messages from today. Buddhism as many of us know it in the west is actually a modern incarnation (pun intended). This doesn't make it any less "real" than the traditional versions of the religion as practiced by laypeople in Buddhist countries, but the emphasis on person meditation practices is really modern! This blew my mind. The presenter, David McMahan, gave a clear and understandable overview of such a difficult topic. The second presenter was an expert on Indic philosophies. .... There was a panel discussion that was one of my favorite things so far. A Christian, a yogi, and four buddhists on a stage. Sounds like the beginning of a joke, eh? Geshe was quite adamant with his reminder to young researchers that the total number of hours of meditation (a common way to classify meditation practitioners) is not important compared to the QUALITY of meditation. So then someone asked him how to measure quality and he suggested physiological measures, like goosebumps. This got a laugh but he was quite serious about the physical response to deep states of meditation. I hear at long meditation retreats many people experience great warmth etc. Would love to hear about your physical reactions to deep meditation. In the a panel discussion there was also thought provoking discussion about studying and using practices out of the context of where/how they were originally developed. The point was raised by our "token christian" on the panel as he calls himself jokingly, that unlike in Buddhism there is no distinction in Christianity between religion and philosophy and science. I went to a breakout session with andrew later to learn about Christian contemplative practices because there are so many Christians I know and love and I feel rather ignorant about this mainstream religion sometimes! Most of what we talked about, the "mystical" practices of visualisation and meditative/contemplative reading techniques are ancient practices associated with the catholic church. However, he said that many protestant churches now embrace them. The practice I had heard the most about is Centering Prayer which was actually developed in the 1970s as a response to the Buddhist and Hindu influences coming in from the east. I missed a yoga breakout session AND a yoga class because this topic was so interesting so this is one i would especially like to talk about to anyone interested in person! Phew. Unedited thoughts might not be very useful for you but that was surprisingly good for me. Would love to hear any questions or thoughts you might like to share. Will post again Thursday about my experience with silence tomorrow!
Day 2
Written Monday
Monday blog
I'll begin with my slightly embarassing yoga story...took morning and evening class with a very nice woman and man who I knew simply as Mary and Richard. They taught a very slow and meticulous class with few poses but lots of interesting cues about physical sensations, physical alignment, etc. I didn't have a chance to thank them or speak with them til after the second class and had a nice long chat about this terrific breakthrough I had in their class feeling the connection between my soft palette and my pelvic floor, thanks to their terrific instruction. Finally, upon leaving the studio I read their names posted on the door...Richard Freeman and Mary Taylor, very well-known yogis! Whoops! Not that I would have or should have engaged with the class any differently but it's pretty hilarious that i went up afterwards to ask whether they were Ashtangis :)
Have you read Happiness by Mathieu Ricard? If not, shut your computer immediately and go get it! Mathieu Ricard is a Buddhist monk and former professional scientist who led our morning meditation. There was a strong emphasis on intention-setting and compassion. The guided practice was so beautifully led it was like turning your heart into a millefeuille cake! Acknowledge the suffering of a loved one, feel it deeply, cultivate courage and hope....the layers went on and on. Loved it!
At home I have been reading a terrific book by Sharon Salzberg called Lovingkindness (rubber soul library shout-out!) It was a lovely coincidence then when i found out then that Sharon, along would Roshi Joan Halifax, would lead our thrice daily meditations. The two of them in tandem are quite the pair. I also went to a breakout session today with Sharon, a small group of 15 or so, free to discuss anything we wanted. As we went around introducing ourselves, so many people had research and personal references to the term "mindfulness" that one participant, very knowledgeable about Buddhism brought up the question of why Westerners had attached to this one small facet of the path to liberation. I suggested that as an educator working with public schools, it was simply a matter of using terminology firmly rooted in secular, research-oriented language. Sharon also shared the story about when she and several other prominent practitioner/teachers came back from the east in the 1970s and how that word seemed to be one of the common denominators in the various traditions they had studied. Mindfulness can be seen as a the engine of wisdom. We discussed the differing perspectives of whether ethics must be taught explicitly or whether they would naturally arise out of mindfulness. I'm curious where any of you who might be reading this stand! I teach secular mindfulness à la Jon Kabat-Zinn to my undergraduates but i have not ironed out my own take on the issue if ethics. One final answer from that session that stuck with me (about why only a narrow slice of the path to liberation might be taught) was that the clients/students we work with might not have the GOAL of liberation! They just might have the goal of getting by. This was an aha! moment for me (btw, "aha" is one way to feel spontaneous lift in the soft palette ;) ) This actually made me think about eating habits and how some people might honestly not CARE about being their absolute most healthy self. And in fact, considering that i eat a more diverse diet than a calorically restricted raw vegan diet, I guess I'm even one of them! It struck me as a terrific way to talk oneself out of a fundamentalist perspective, whether dietary, religious, or otherwise. Meet people where they are, I've heard it a million times but sometimes it takes a million and one to click!
Also there were a lot of bio/neuroscience talks that I'm not in a position to summarize here! Questions about the relationship between autopoeisis and neurophenomenology? Spontaneous thought? The neural correlates of mind wandering? I know it's been on your mind...don't be scared to speak up! Haha.
Final thoughts before I hot tub it and sleep for 7 hours :( The energy here is incredible. So much acceptance and curiosity and willingness to be scientific explorers. As with last year's Mindfulness in Education conference at Omega, it's amazing to really have the immediate sense that you're part of something cutting edge.
Monday blog
I'll begin with my slightly embarassing yoga story...took morning and evening class with a very nice woman and man who I knew simply as Mary and Richard. They taught a very slow and meticulous class with few poses but lots of interesting cues about physical sensations, physical alignment, etc. I didn't have a chance to thank them or speak with them til after the second class and had a nice long chat about this terrific breakthrough I had in their class feeling the connection between my soft palette and my pelvic floor, thanks to their terrific instruction. Finally, upon leaving the studio I read their names posted on the door...Richard Freeman and Mary Taylor, very well-known yogis! Whoops! Not that I would have or should have engaged with the class any differently but it's pretty hilarious that i went up afterwards to ask whether they were Ashtangis :)
Have you read Happiness by Mathieu Ricard? If not, shut your computer immediately and go get it! Mathieu Ricard is a Buddhist monk and former professional scientist who led our morning meditation. There was a strong emphasis on intention-setting and compassion. The guided practice was so beautifully led it was like turning your heart into a millefeuille cake! Acknowledge the suffering of a loved one, feel it deeply, cultivate courage and hope....the layers went on and on. Loved it!
At home I have been reading a terrific book by Sharon Salzberg called Lovingkindness (rubber soul library shout-out!) It was a lovely coincidence then when i found out then that Sharon, along would Roshi Joan Halifax, would lead our thrice daily meditations. The two of them in tandem are quite the pair. I also went to a breakout session today with Sharon, a small group of 15 or so, free to discuss anything we wanted. As we went around introducing ourselves, so many people had research and personal references to the term "mindfulness" that one participant, very knowledgeable about Buddhism brought up the question of why Westerners had attached to this one small facet of the path to liberation. I suggested that as an educator working with public schools, it was simply a matter of using terminology firmly rooted in secular, research-oriented language. Sharon also shared the story about when she and several other prominent practitioner/teachers came back from the east in the 1970s and how that word seemed to be one of the common denominators in the various traditions they had studied. Mindfulness can be seen as a the engine of wisdom. We discussed the differing perspectives of whether ethics must be taught explicitly or whether they would naturally arise out of mindfulness. I'm curious where any of you who might be reading this stand! I teach secular mindfulness à la Jon Kabat-Zinn to my undergraduates but i have not ironed out my own take on the issue if ethics. One final answer from that session that stuck with me (about why only a narrow slice of the path to liberation might be taught) was that the clients/students we work with might not have the GOAL of liberation! They just might have the goal of getting by. This was an aha! moment for me (btw, "aha" is one way to feel spontaneous lift in the soft palette ;) ) This actually made me think about eating habits and how some people might honestly not CARE about being their absolute most healthy self. And in fact, considering that i eat a more diverse diet than a calorically restricted raw vegan diet, I guess I'm even one of them! It struck me as a terrific way to talk oneself out of a fundamentalist perspective, whether dietary, religious, or otherwise. Meet people where they are, I've heard it a million times but sometimes it takes a million and one to click!
Also there were a lot of bio/neuroscience talks that I'm not in a position to summarize here! Questions about the relationship between autopoeisis and neurophenomenology? Spontaneous thought? The neural correlates of mind wandering? I know it's been on your mind...don't be scared to speak up! Haha.
Final thoughts before I hot tub it and sleep for 7 hours :( The energy here is incredible. So much acceptance and curiosity and willingness to be scientific explorers. As with last year's Mindfulness in Education conference at Omega, it's amazing to really have the immediate sense that you're part of something cutting edge.
Monday, June 13, 2011
Day 1
Witten sunday night
I'm sitting in a window seat in a Former Franciscan monastery listening to the rain, drinking chamomile tea and giving myself a mere 20 minutes in front of this glowing screen to reflect formally on the first day of the Mind&Life Summer Research Institute 2011. In his opening statement, one of the founders, Al Kasniak said that his motivation as a social activist and one of the founders of Mind & Life Institute was to create healthy minds. This is neither a direct quote nor the main idea of his talk but as an educator it struck me immediately. Isn't that the goal of raising children? The goal of education? The goal ofhumanity? How do we cultivate healthy minds (physical and emotional fitness, as Al put it)? The question lingered; the guiding question of my life's work. There was also a powerful caution against the search for a panacea...a call to exploration, to inquisitiveness without attachment.
The search for an answer becomes an ache. Aching for an answer when there are multiple, when there are none. The resonating note from the documentary on cognitive scientist and Mind & Life founder, the belated Francisco Varela, was that the most difficult and important thing is to be able to stay, rest, sit with a question. May science not rush to judgment on contemplative traditions, all the while searching, aching for a deeper understanding of what it is to be human, to be whole.
I'm sitting in a window seat in a Former Franciscan monastery listening to the rain, drinking chamomile tea and giving myself a mere 20 minutes in front of this glowing screen to reflect formally on the first day of the Mind&Life Summer Research Institute 2011. In his opening statement, one of the founders, Al Kasniak said that his motivation as a social activist and one of the founders of Mind & Life Institute was to create healthy minds. This is neither a direct quote nor the main idea of his talk but as an educator it struck me immediately. Isn't that the goal of raising children? The goal of education? The goal ofhumanity? How do we cultivate healthy minds (physical and emotional fitness, as Al put it)? The question lingered; the guiding question of my life's work. There was also a powerful caution against the search for a panacea...a call to exploration, to inquisitiveness without attachment.
The search for an answer becomes an ache. Aching for an answer when there are multiple, when there are none. The resonating note from the documentary on cognitive scientist and Mind & Life founder, the belated Francisco Varela, was that the most difficult and important thing is to be able to stay, rest, sit with a question. May science not rush to judgment on contemplative traditions, all the while searching, aching for a deeper understanding of what it is to be human, to be whole.
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