Interesting article on meditation - 08/18/09 01:15 PM
Because most of the news organizations are being more cautious about copy rights, here's an excerpt with a link to the rest of the article:
Faith rites boost brains, even for atheists: book
By Tom Heneghan, Religion Editor Tom Heneghan, Religion Editor – Mon Aug 17, 1:17 pm ET
PHILADELPHIA (Reuters) – Buddhist monks and Catholic nuns boost their brain power through meditation and prayer, but even atheists can enjoy the mental benefits that believers derive from faith, according to a popular neuroscience author.
The key, Andrew Newberg argues in his new book "How God Changes Your Brain," lies in the concentrating and calming effects that meditation or intense prayer have inside our heads.
Brain scanners show that intense meditation alters our gray matter, strengthening regions that focus the mind and foster compassion while calming those linked to fear and anger.
Whether the meditator believes in the supernatural or is an atheist repeating a mantra, he says, the outcome can be the same - a growth in the compassion that virtually every religion teaches and a decline in negative feelings and emotions.
Read the rest here.
My guess--even paraliminals will do the trick. Has anyone done any research on brain changes after using paraliminals, I wonder?
Faith rites boost brains, even for atheists: book
By Tom Heneghan, Religion Editor Tom Heneghan, Religion Editor – Mon Aug 17, 1:17 pm ET
PHILADELPHIA (Reuters) – Buddhist monks and Catholic nuns boost their brain power through meditation and prayer, but even atheists can enjoy the mental benefits that believers derive from faith, according to a popular neuroscience author.
The key, Andrew Newberg argues in his new book "How God Changes Your Brain," lies in the concentrating and calming effects that meditation or intense prayer have inside our heads.
Brain scanners show that intense meditation alters our gray matter, strengthening regions that focus the mind and foster compassion while calming those linked to fear and anger.
Whether the meditator believes in the supernatural or is an atheist repeating a mantra, he says, the outcome can be the same - a growth in the compassion that virtually every religion teaches and a decline in negative feelings and emotions.
Read the rest here.
My guess--even paraliminals will do the trick. Has anyone done any research on brain changes after using paraliminals, I wonder?