Dhyana
(Meditation)
“Dhyana
is the continuous flow of cognition toward that object.”
Yoga Sutras, 3:2
Meditation
is probably the most powerful yogic tool for studying and
understanding the mind.
Limitations
in climbing are often to do with the mind and not the body.
By
dedicating time every day to a meditation practice, the mind
can be trained to have more positive emotions , to be less
anxious and in the moment. Being aware of the mind (thoughts,
emotions, desires, actions, intentions, perceptions, expectations)
will significantly benefit your climbing.
Meditation has been found, in many scientific
research studies, to reduce anxiety
and increase positive emotions.
Research
has shown that the left side of the frontal part of the brain
becomes activated when a person feels positive emotions. Meditation
also produces the same affect, increasing activity in this
area of the brain which is asociated with a positive emotional
state and reduced anxiety.
Meditation and Emotions
The Dalai Lama has long advocated that
neuroscientists investigate the effect of spiritual traditions,
such as meditation, on the brain. In 1991, the exiled Tibetan
leader asked University of Wisconsin professor Richard Davidson
whether he would like to study the effect meditation had on
the brain. The neuroscientist’s assent led to the groundbreaking
discovery that activities like meditation can in fact “train”
the mind to react to situations with positive emotions. Last
May, Time magazine named Davidson one of the most 100 influential
people “who shape our world.” The director of
UW’s Waisman Laboratory for Brain Imaging and Behavior
was labeled a “pioneer in the exciting frontier of mind-body
medicine.” Davidson told the university’s Badger
Herald that meditation “changes circulations in the
brain that are critical for the development of emotion. [Thus,]
characteristics like happiness and compassion are skills that
can be trained.” Building on his research on the connection
between meditation and mental health, Davidson said he is
now studying how meditation and other spiritual practices
relate to physical health. “We’ve shown that those
circuits [that can be affected by meditation] are also related
to parts of the body that are important for physical health,”
Davidson said. http://www.mindfullivingprograms.com/meditationresearch.php
The University of Wisconsin's Dr Richard Davidson has tested
the brainwaves of meditating Buddhist monks, with extraordinary
results. Testing the abbott of a Tibetan Buddhist monastery
in India with an electroencephalograph, Davidson discovered
more activity in the area of the brain associated with positive
emotions - the left prefrontal lobes - than his laboratory
had ever measured. And that wasn't only while his subject
was meditating. http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2003/07/24/1058853174422.html
For each group, in addition to asking the participants to
assess how they felt, the research team measured electrical
activity in the frontal part of the brain, an area specialized
for certain kinds of emotion. Earlier research has shown that,
in people who are generally positive and optimistic and during
times of positive emotion, the left side of this frontal area
becomes more active than the right side does. The
findings confirmed the researchers' hypothesis: the meditation
group showed an increase of activation in the left-side part
of the frontal region. This suggests that the meditation itself
produced more activity in this region of the brain. This activity
is associated with lower anxiety and a more positive emotional
state.
Brain
and Emotions Research - http://www.news.wisc.edu/packages/emotion/8238.html
Mindfulness
Meditation
Mindfulness
is the quality of noticing, of being aware of what's happening
in the moment......
Dharana
(Focus) and Meditation
In
2001 Chris Sharma climbed the hardest sport climb on earth,
Realization, a 5.15a overhang in France. It took him thirty
attempts before he succeeded. He describes the climb as a
mental, not physical, challenge.
"To see the whole thing,
I had to be in the moment. Meditation is important for balance.
You need to rely on yourself to quiet the mind. I know having
more of a mental calm has helped me when I try something that’s
very difficult. It makes you realize that you’re not
always going to be at your best, because when you meditate,
you’re paying close attention to your body and how it
feels. As a result, you’re at ease when things don’t
work out. You learn to appreciate the lows, just let them
happen, learn from them, and go back and try again."
Chris
Sharma
Chris
Sharma climbing Realization..........
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-200477265572892748
BRAIN
AND EMOTIONS RESEARCH
University of Wisconsin-Madison
http://www.news.wisc.edu/packages/emotion/8238.html
The
Dalai Lama has been interested in science for many years and
has enjoyed an ongoing dialogue with many scientists for more
than 15 years, including long friendships with the late renowned
philosopher of science Sir Karl Popper, and with physicists
Carl von Weizsäcker and the late David Bohm. He founded
the Mind and Life Institute http://www.mindandlife.org/
The vision of this centre is,
"To establish mutually respectful working collaboration
and research partnerships between modern science and Buddhism
— two of the world's most fruitful traditions for understanding
the nature of reality and promoting human well-being."
Mind and Life Institute
http://www.paulekman.com/downloadablearticles.html
