For thousands of years meditators have been claiming that meditation increases your level of happiness and inner well being but it had never been proven. Only recently have scientist been able to prove it.
In a study published by Psychosomatic Medicine (Davidson et al., 2003) researchers using state of the art brain mapping and MRI technology were able to determine that regular practice of mindfulness meditation activates the left prefrontal cortex of the brain. This is the area of the brain associated with positive emotions. ( Increases serotonin levels).
Employees of a biotech company who were taught the technique over an eight week period had significantly greater left -prefrontal activation that a control group. Not only immediately after their training but also four months later. In other words, their overall level of mental and emotional well being increased and remained so for a long time.
Even more surprising, the meditators had stronger immune system that the controls, as measured by the anti bodies produced in response to a flue vaccine---and the greater the left prefrontal activation the greater the boost to the immune system. In simpler terms, meditation brings an overall increased sense of well being and resistance to getting sick.
It is a well known fact meditation reduces stress, calms the body and relaxes the mind. (Benson, 1965) Numerous studies have corroborated this finding. The question which researchers needed to know is how does this translate into key physiological markers, such as blood pressure?
In a pioneering published in the British medical journal Lancet (Patel, 1973) 20 hypertension patients were taught yoga, breath meditation, muscle relaxation and meditation concentration. At the end of 12 months their systolic blood pressure had fallen from 159.1 to 138.7 - an average of over 20 points. In another study reported in the New England Journal of Medicine (Stone and Deleo, 1976) 14 subjects with moderate hypertension were taught a Buddhist meditation that involved counting their breaths for set periods each day for six months. At the end of this period their systolic blood pressure had dropped an average of 15 points. See also (American Journal of Hypertension Jan. '05) for a similar study which corroborated meditation reduces high blood pressure.
These and other studies showed that meditation by itself or in conjunction with other medications can be a significant alternative to blood pressure medications for people with moderate hypertension--- and most importantly with no down side after effects. It also supports the thesis that meditation may help accelerate or increase reduction of blood pressure levels in combination with other forms of therapy.
Although it is a well known fact that both diet and heredity certainly play a role in making you more susceptible to elevated cholesterol levels, research has shown that chronic stress plays an important role as well. It would therefore follow logically that practicing a good stress reduction technique like meditation would lower the cholesterol levels. This is exactly what a pioneering study in the Journal of Human Stress (Cooper and Aygen 1979) proved.
23 Subjects with hypercholesterolemia (subjects with very high cholesterol) were divided up into two groups: 12 who practiced TM or transcendental meditation for 13 months and 11 who did not. Paired comparisons showed that the meditators cholesterol dropped by as much as 30 points from an average of 254 at the beginning to 225 at the end. By contrast the control groups' cholesterol dropped only 5 from 259 to 254 over the same period. Another study, of 40 females' medical students who practiced TM and yoga reported that their average total cholesterol decreased form 196 to 165.
These results indicate that meditation by itself can significantly alter blood pressure levels. This does not imply that one should immediately drop one's medication. But it does argue for its use as a complementary form of therapy which as previously mentioned is risk free, without cost and readily available. Most importantly it points to the fact that the body and mind are inextricably entwined and cannot be thought of as indivisible and non-correlated. It also may point to another less obvious connection and that is that meditation alters the mind body functioning as a whole.
One study which has great practical implications was a study conducted by the Maharishi International University in Fairfield Iowa. In this study they sought to measure whether TM practitioners spent less time in hospitals and doctors offices than a non-meditating control group.
The study published in the Journal of Psychosomatic Medicine (Orme-Johnson 1987) compared how often 2000 regular participants in the TM program used medical insurance with how often a group of 600,000 non meditators of the same insurance carrier used their insurance over a five year period. The two groups were quite similar in terms of benefits, deductibles, coinsurance payments and distribution by gender. Yet the TM group used medical insurance less often in all categories -for example, 50 percent fewer impatient days and 47 percent fewer outpatient visits for children ages 0-18, 51 percent few impatient days and 47 percent fewer outpatient visits for young adults 19-39 and 69.4 percent fewer inpatient days and 73.7 percent fewer outpatient visits for older adults (over 40 years old).
Even after factoring in the likelihood that the TM practitioners ate better, smoked less, exercised more and favored uninsured alternative medical techniques the evidence points to the general likelihood that meditators in general will have better health than non meditators. In every major medical treatment category, including cancer, infectious disease, and mental illness, hospital admissions for the TM group were lower that the norm.
The most dramatic and persuasive study of the health benefits of meditation and related lifestyle changes appeared in 1998 in the Journal of the American Medical Association. This ground breaking study landed its lead author Dr. Dean Ornish, on the cover of Newsweek and finally established an unarguable link between meditation and heart health. The researchers found that meditation, coupled with low fat, whole-foods vegetarian diet, aerobic exercise; smoking cessation; and group support; not only lowers your risk of "cardiac events" but can actually reverse the ravages of coronary artery disease, the primary cause of heart attacks.
The study followed 20 men and women with moderate to severe heart disease that made and maintained intensive lifestyle changes, including regular meditation practice, for 5 years. Compared with a control group that made no lifestyle changes, these patients experienced half the number of cardiac events. Even more impressive, their coronary arteries became progressively less obstructed, whereas those of the control group got progressively worse.
Dr. Ornish's findings spurred a major change in the health care industry. HMOS and hospitals nationwide began adopting his Lifestyle Modification Program. At the core of his approach is the insight that love is the ultimate healer. "If you want to heal your heart." he writes, "you have to open your heart."
While most meditators would agree that their practice helps them tune into the feelings of others and actually makes you more empathic this study actually proved it.
In a study reported in the Journal of Humanistic Psychology (Lesh, 1970) one researcher investigated the relationship between Zen Meditation and the development of empathy in counselors, using psychologist Carol Rogers's characterization of empathy as both the capacity to sense what the client is feeling and the ability to communicate this sensitivity at a level attuned to the client's emotional state. One group of 16 students was taught zazen; another group of 12 students volunteered to learn zazen but was not actually taught; and a third group consisted of 11 students who were opposed to learning meditation. All subjects were tested before the experiment and then again 4 weeks later.
What the study showed was the group that practiced zazen did improve significantly in empathic ability, while the two other groups did not. The results indicated that those who started out least empathic and those who were most "open to experience" improved the most.
A study conducted by the TM movement which were reported in the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology (Alexander et al., 1989) found that older people who practiced meditation had improved cognitive and behavioral abilities and lived longer than those who did not.
This study suggests that if you meditate you will live longer, your mind will stay sharper and you'll be less prone to depression and other mental health problems. A similar study published in the -American Journal of Cardiology, (May '05) also found that meditation extends the life of those who meditate regularly.
Another study conducted by the University of Mass. Medical Center found that meditation could significantly alter and reduce the effect of stress related ailments like psoriasis. In a 1998 study published in Psychosomatic Medicine, Dr. Jon Kabat Zinn best selling author and founder of the Stress Reduction Clinic and his colleagues took 37 psoriasis patients who were about to undergo light treatment for their condition and randomly assigned them to one of two situations; a mindfulness meditation -based stress reduction intervention during treatments or a light treatment alone.
The results were testimony to the potential value of meditation as an adjunct to just about any treatment regime; the patients who meditated not only responded better to light treatment that to the non-meditating group but their psoriasis cleared up four times faster.
Several studies found that meditation boosts the body's natural concentration of phenylalanine-as well as serotonin both associated with enhancing production of the neurotransmitter that keep us happy.
In a study published in The Journal of Physiology and Behavior (Jevning et al., 1977), researchers measured amino acid levels in 28 subjects 15 of whom had practiced TM regularly for three to five years. During meditation, phenylalanine levels in the TM group rose an amazing 23 percent, compared with no change during relaxation for the control group. The good news is we have within us our own little sanctuary of peace which can produce happiness at your pleasure. Peace and happiness is an inside job for meditators.
One of the best documented clinical uses of meditation is the application of mindfulness meditation for the alleviation of chronic pain. During the 1980's Dr. Jon Kabat-Zinn and his colleagues published several studies proving its effectiveness.
According to a report in the Journal of Behavioral Medicine (Kaba-Zinn et al., 1985) 90 chronic-pain patients who were trained in mindfulness meditation in a 10 week stress reduction and relaxation program experienced significant reductions in present moment pain, negative body image, and the inhibition of activity. Not only that, they popped fewer pain pills and felt better about themselves except present moment pain, and the majority continued to meditate--- not a surprising finding, given that chronic pain can be one of most debilitating conditions imaginable, and one of the most difficult to treat.
One lesson can we draw from this study: If you suffer from chronic pain mindfulness meditation should be one of first alternative treatment options you try. A similar study published in the American Journal of Hypertension Jan.' 05 found that meditation helped reduce the need for the use of Hypertension Drugs.
The world into which the next generation of High School students is graduating will be a world fundamentally different from the world we grew up in and which we are accustomed to. The reality is we are living through the globalization of society at all levels and from a variety of perspectives. Steward cogently argues there are four trends which are contributing to this inevitable direction: 1) economics and the opening of Asia: 2) changes brought about by science and technology; 3) international health and security matters; and 4) changing demographics due to international migrations. I would add a fifth, which many scholars of a variety of backgrounds have been consistently missing the movement away from organized religion toward an interfaith globally engaged spirituality.
Trend One: The first trend is the globalization of economics and the rise of the Asian economies. Many have argued that the US is no longer the global super power it once was and both China and India have in many ways already surpassed us. Steward points out some sobering statistics worth noting; “Since 1990, 3 billion people in China, India and the former Soviet Union, have moved from closed economies into a global one. The economies of China, India and Japan, which represented 18 percent of the world’s gross domestic product (GDP) in 2004 are expected to represent 50 percent of the worlds GDP within 30 years.” (Wislon 2005) The implications of this are staggering for the American workforce according to the Committee of Economic Development (2006).
Read full article here.
Sant Kirpal Singh one of the great visionary and Spiritual Masters of the 20th century summarized the true goal of education when he said "the real aim of education is to develop the character and individuality of a pupil, his mind, will and soul power." If this is true as educators we need a more student centered, collaborative, holistic, and experiential approach to learning. Students should not be viewed as mere "deposit boxes" for the teacher's knowledge but co-creators of their own unique world view and destiny. The chief malady of current education is that it results in the dissociation of heart and head. It lays emphasis on the development of the intellect at the expense of the liberation of the heart. Great teaching should strive after the ideal of humility and self-sacrifice. Scholarship may be proud culture is humble.
At every age, but particularly early adulthood and late adolescence students learn more through experiential methods than by traditional lecture based mediums. The great Chinese philosopher Confucius summarized this when he said, "I hear and I forget. I see and I remember. I do and I understand.," Traditional models of education which emphasize lecturing, note taking, and standardized testing, merely fill the brain with other peoples thoughts. The real essence of education is to lead a person to find the truth within himself. I agree with the wise words of the great Italian astronomer Galileo who noted we "cannot teach a man anything; you can only help him find it within himself."
If this is true as educators our real task is to awaken the spirit of inquiry in each student. We would do well to remember that the word education is derived from two words, edu and care. The literal meaning of these two words is to draw out what is within. What then is the first task of educators? It is to awaken the spirit and love of knowledge. Albert Einstein was right when he said, "the important thing is not to stop questioning." If we can ignite the spark of learning then it will one day blaze up on its own embracing ever greater horizons of knowledge with an open mind and heart.
While providing varied learning styles and individualized assessment for each student is important, the expectation to achieve is even more critical. It is my belief that the higher the expectations the greater the effort and ultimate success of the student. Ultimately, all teaching is rooted in the relationship between the teacher and the taught and the profound respect each has for the other. As Goethe so eloquently wrote, "it was not the teachers who were the most brilliant who taught me the most, but those who loved me the most." Teachers should train students in the spirit of sympathy and love, blending information with inspiration and knowledge with love.
If the teacher's sympathy is of paramount importance in the development of the student, equally important is the teacher's ability to find what is relevant in the student's life. I agree with W.B.Yeats who said, "Education is not filling the mind with facts, but lighting the fire of inspiration." Every day educators should take time to personally connect with their students. A student without the motivation to learn is like a sailboat without a sail. Everyone needs to see a future for themselves and their world.
Lastly and most importantly, education should not be a dry exercise in intellectual showmanship. As Sant Darshan Singh world renowned mystic poet and Spiritual Master has remarked, "To get the best out of man, there should be a blending of studies which involve the mind with those which incorporate morality. Ethics and spirituality cannot be ignored." I would go even further and argue that education without a spiritual component is an absurdity.
In a world where all life is sacred and the spirit is nourished students come to see their interconnectedness with all life. They begin to search for deeper and more profound levels of meaning and purpose and are able to integrate themselves positively in their world around them. From this moral and spiritual base each person can find positive and life affirming expressions of their unique spirit. Such spirit centered education reaffirms our individual and communal value as humans while we build ever widening circles of community.
Once the province a few lone researchers, over the last 4 decades, research on the medical benefits of meditation has increased at an exponential rate. This increase has grown from a small group of researchers to a diversified field incorporating the latest modern technology and funded by such prestigious institutions as the National Institute of Health in Washington DC. Past and current research effort have ranged from the effects of meditation on stress related diseases to a wide variety of illnesses including, anxiety disorder, depression, pain alleviation, aging, blood pressure, cardiovascular disease and even cancer treatment. The clinical results of these studies is now documented in hundreds nay thousands of articles and hundreds of books. To give a sense of how vast the field of research has become a recent search in the Publications Medical site, a subsidiary of the National Institute’s of Health on articles dealing with meditation and stress reduction showed over 5000 articles or entries. The playing field has indeed grown. The focus of this paper is on the current research done on the effects of meditation on academic performance, behavioral changes and stress reduction treatment in adolescents. It might useful here to give a brief overview of the research over the last forty years and the shift in the kinds and focus of research now being done.
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Perhaps no doctrine is more central and critical to a right understanding of Islam and the role of the Prophet than the concept of Nur Mohammadiyya. Ironically, no concept in Islam is more shrouded in mystery and lack of understanding than this one. Few know the general importance of the concept and fewer still its mystical significance. Literally translated the term means the Light of Mohammad but it has also been referred to as the First Light, Prophetic Light and sometimes as the Ancient Word or Kalma i Qadim. This concept developed as early as 300 years after the death of the Prophet by mystics like Sahl al Tustari and al Hallaj, later became a central feature of classical Islamic philosophy under the authorship of Ibn Arabi perhaps the greatest of Islamic mystics and theologians. By understanding it in its totality and its varied implications we can do much to understand the role of the Prophet in Islam and prophetic revelation in general. By truly grasping its significance we can take a few baby steps in helping to heal the cultural and religious divide not only between Islam and other traditions but also within the Islamic community itself.
Let me begin by relating a Sufi story, which may provide for us a point of hypotheses in terms of our inquiry. This story, tells of a man named of Mullah Nasruddin known for his iconoclastic wisdom. As the story goes, he was a self-employed businessman who traveled back and forth between the borders of Saudia Arabia and Egypt. During this time, there was a border guard whose job it was to inspect all traders as they entered or left Egypt to make sure they were not carrying any contraband. Every time that he crossed the border, 7 days a week, 365 days a year, for four years, he would be accompanied by a donkey carrying a saddlebag on his back. Each time he was inspected by the border officer who never found anything suspicious. This continued for 4 years. Then, Mullah Nasruddin retired a wealthy man. One day, after his early retirement, he is sitting in a coffee shop in downtown Cairo sipping coffee. The former border guard happens to see him and is overwhelmed with curiosity. He wants to know how Mullah Nasruddin had become so wealthy in only four years. So introduces himself and says, "Mullah, I have retired myself and have no interest in persecuting you I just want to know how you became so wealthy in such a short time. What were you doing for those four years?"
The leader of the knight straightened himself and said, “Sire, we have been battling on you behalf all day, fighting hand to hand combat defeating other knights, and burning down the town of your enemies to the West.”
“You’ve been doing what?” asked the astonished king.
The knight repeated his statement louder and slower to make sure the king
heard it.
“But I don’t have any enemies in the West.” cried the
king.
“Oh, said the knight, and after a thoughtful pause, “Well, I
think you do now”.
Educational reform is nothing new in American society and in fact, we have a long history of educational reform movements dating back to the beginning of this century. As Terry Moe points out “Educational reform has become the new status quo. Every president aspires to be the education president, every governor the educational governor. The reform process has never ended because the reforms have typically led to disappointment—and to constant demands for still more reforms” (DaFour DaFour & Eaker, 2007. pg. 31). Yet despite the many attempts at reform, starting with John Dewey’s “new education movement” reform has not brought the systemic changes and improvements many had envisioned. To understand why educational reform has been stymied I believe we need to examine at the nature and structure of those reform movements and their results.
Read full article here.
When managing a business unit, the capabilities of individuals to perform noteworthy projects and assignments can be likened to the "hoarse power" of the unit. What the team can accomplish when making assignments is based on the total of the capabilities of individuals. Managers who want to excel by getting things done through their team need to pay close attention to the unit's "bench strength." The more skill, knowledge, experience and teamwork the unit possesses, the greater the combined capacity to perform. By focusing more time and attention on the development of their people managers will be in a position to take on more challenging projects.
This focus on building bench-strength through training and education is clearly a key component to successful management. Much is said and written on the importance of education in the corporate setting and more needs to be accomplished here. What is not so common in delegation management is clarity around the importance of motivation, lighting a fire inside the individual. When delegating assignments and action steps to members of the manager's team, there is the opportunity for creating "learning/doing" motivation. For the most part, managers delegate the work assignment without much if any consideration to creating "execution energy" through motivating the employee.
How much more energy, attention and positive attitudes can a motivated employee bring to the assignment? Plenty! The more challenging the assignment may require a higher level of motivation.That said, delegating regular work assignments or action step tasks for a Project may benefit from even basic motivation. As a starting point, consider the following steps when delegating assignments that will energize the employee.
1. Make sure the employee has the Big Picture: As part of the delegation, point out how the assignment fits into the overall project objective. Explain that by completing this assignment successfully and on schedule the employee will allow other people/assignments to move forward.
2. Point out any Learning Experiences associated with the assignment - People want to grow and feel they are gaining experience. If an assignment can be delegated with an emphasis on "what the employee" will learn by doing it, motivation takes hold.
3. Provide a Confidence Boost - Let the employee know why the assignment is crucial and how it will contribute to the project or business unit. The manager can then look the employee in the eye and say with believe and conviction..."I am counting on you and have every confidence you can get this assignment done correctly."
Just the straightforward application of these three steps will increase the execution energy for most any delegation assignment. Managers who regularly employ these techniques in their delegation and work management will find their business unit executing with greater energy, speed and motivation.