a post by Derek Beres for the Big Think blog
If you’ve ever meditated, you likely know the positive feelings that follow a seated practice. You feel lighter, calmer, focused – the general contours of the interplay of conscious intention and neurochemistry. Later, in the midst of chaos – stress at work; relationship trouble; death of a loved one; spending five minutes on Twitter – you wonder where that sense of inner peace went.
Life is always relatively turbulent and peaceful. Meditation is no cure-all, though its effects persist long beyond the initial experience. At least seven years, according to a recent study conducted at the University of California, Davis, published in Journal of Cognitive Enhancement, proclaims.
The goal of this study was to discover if attentional capacities last beyond an initial period after intensive meditation. The team, led by Clifford Aaron, a research scientist at UC Davis’s Center for Mind and Brain, and lead author Anthony Zanesco, a postdoctoral researcher at the University of Miami (formerly at UC Davis), had already assessed the cognitive benefits on attentional performance after three months of “full-time meditation”. This new study represents a seven-year follow-up.
Continue reading and ignore the monk in a lotus position half-way up a mountain. Neither the physical position nor the mountainous geography are necessary.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment