MIND-BODY CONNECTION DURING MEDITATION CAN NOW BE MEASURED, THANKS TO SCIENCE
There are some �scientists� out there who believe that the mind-body connection
is complete pseudoscience.
This is very strange, especially given the fact that countless peer-reviewed studies
published by many reputable scientists and institutions have shown a direct connection
between our mind and our body.
We�ll get to some more examples later in the article, but first let�s draw attention
to a group of researchers who say they�ve developed a way to measure the physiological
phenomena associated with mindfulness-based stress reduction.
They have proven the real-time physiological effects of spiritual practice, specifically
the way heart and brain activity actually synchronize.
Keep in mind that there are a number of studies that do show the measurable effect that meditation
can have on the body.
For example, within the past few years, Harvard scientists have published multiple studies
showing the biological/physiological effect meditation can have on the brain, as well
as the gut.
Physicists have also shown multiple times that consciousness is directly connected with
out physical material world.
�I regard consciousness as fundamental.
I regard matter as derivative from consciousness Everything that we talk about, everything
that we regard as existing, postulates consciousness.�
� Max Planck, the theoretical physicist who originated quantum theory, which won him
the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1918
For example, a paper published in the peer-reviewed journal Physics Essays explains how this experiment
has been used multiple times to explore the role of consciousness in shaping the nature
of physical reality.
It showed that meditators were able to collapse the quantum wave function at a distance.
This study showed: �Observations not only disturb what has to be measured, they produce
it.
We compel [the electron] to assume a definite position.
We ourselves produce the results of measurement.�
The researchers are from the University of Hong Kong�s Centre for Buddhist Studies,
from the Department of Electrical and Electronic Engineering.
In a statement given to Newsweek, Sik Hin Hung, Director of the Centre for Buddhist
Studies and the lead researcher of the paper, explained: �We talk about whether your mind
and body are in harmony, but there is no systematic way of measuring this.
We now can say with some kind of certainty that when you�re practicing MBSR your heart
and your mind become more synchronized and that�s very good for you.�
The �one of its kind� paper was published in the scientific peer-reviewed journal JoVE
Video Journal, which focuses mainly on study methodology.
It�s big on the issue of reproducibility in biomedical science.
Hung�s team recruited 11 graduate studies who signed up for an eight-week long course
on mind-body stress reduction (MBSR).
They were not experienced meditators.
They were connected to an electroencephalogram (EEG) and electrocardiogram (ECG), which collected
data while they were practicing MBSR as well as when they were breathing normally.
One measures brain activity, the other measures heart rate.
This research can now be included in a growing number of publications that are being put
out on the mind-body connection.
It�s definitely a trend and a newer area of interest for science, and yet another example
of ancient wisdom being confirmed by modern day science.
�In our daily life when we become stressed the sympathetic nervous system kicks into
action and suppresses the parasympathetic nervous [system] Through this research we
found out the practice of MBSR was able to synchronize these two systems, which is a
good thing.�
It�s similar to the studies that have been conducted on mass meditation and prayer.
As far as their effects on physical systems, numerous publications have yielded statistically
significant results.
Heart-Brain Synchronicity
The study above showed heart-brain synchronicity, and it�s not the first to do so.
Scientists over at the HeartMath Institute have been studying the same thing, and, according
to Dr. Rollin McCraty, Director of Research at the Institute:
Research findings have shown that as we practice heart coherence and radiate love and compassion,
our heart generates a coherent electromagnetic wave into the local field environment that
facilitates social coherence, whether in the home, workplace, classroom or sitting around
a table.
As more individuals radiate heart coherence, it builds an energetic field that makes it
easier for others to connect with their heart.
So, theoretically it is possible that enough people building individual and social coherence
could actually contribute to an unfolding global coherence.
Their research has shown that when we practice positive emotions, the heart sends out a unique
signal to the brain.
There are actually multiple ways the heart communicates with the brain, and the signals
it sends are triggered by our thoughts, feelings, and emotions.
David Paterson, Ph.D. a professor at Oxford University, also works in this field.
His research shows that your brain is not the sole source of your emotions, but rather,
your heart and brain work together to produce them.
Your heart actually contains neurons, similar to those in your brain, and your heart and
brain are closely connected, creating a symbiotic emotional whole.
His research has shown that when your heart receives signals from the brain, via the sympathetic
nerves, it pumps faster, and when it receives signals through the parasympathetic nerves,
it slows down.
As the HeartMath Institute points out:
One important way the heart can speak to and influence the brain is when the heart is coherent
� experiencing stable, sine-wavelike pattern in its rhythms.
When the heart is coherent, the body, including the brain, begins to experience all sorts
of benefits, among them greater mental clarity and ability, including better decision-making.
They emphasize that the heart communicates with the brain in four major ways
Neurologically, through the transmission of nerve impulses
Biochemically, via hormones and neurotransmitters Biophysically, through pressure waves
Energetically, through electromagnetic field interactions
Epigenetics/Placebo
Epigenetics (the study of changes in organisms caused by modification of gene expression)
has shown us that genes and DNA do not control our biology, but rather, DNA is controlled
by signals from outside of the cell, which include the messages that stem from our thoughts.
One of the leading authorities on how our emotions can regulate genetic expression is
cellular biologist Bruce Lipton.
He gives a fantastic and thorough explanation in his books The Biology of Belief and Spontaneous
Evolution.
It�s just another example of mind-body interaction.
The placebo effect is another great example, and one aspect of epigenetics.
According to Lipton:
The placebo effect should be the subject of major, funded research efforts.
If medical researchers could figure out how to leverage the placebo effect, they would
hand doctors and efficient, energy based, side effect-free tool to treat disease.
Energy healers say they already have such tools, but I am a scientist, and I believe
the more we know about science of the placebo, the better we�ll be able to use it in a
clinical setting.
In a book written by theoretical nuclear physicist Dr. Amit Goswami, titled The Quantum Doctor,
Deepak Chopra explains this phenomenon in the forward, outlining one of multiple studies
showing some remarkable results:
In one study, a group of patients suffering from chronic severe nausea were given a drug
that they were told was an anti-nausea agent.
Normally, in a placebo trial half the patients would be randomly selected to receive the
drug while other half received a dummy pill.
As expected, more than 30% percent of the subjects who took the dummy poll reported
that their nausea was alleviated.
Only this pill, they had been given an emetic, a drug that promotes nausea.
So powerful was their belief, however, that it somehow reduced their symptoms � or to
be more accurate, their minds reduced nausea in the face of
a drug that should have made them vomit.
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