HW410 Chapter 19: "Meditation and Mindfulness" Flashcards

Question

What are the four brain waves and what are that indicative of?

Answer 1

Beta - Anticipatory, logical, rational, worried, investigative, challenaged, in-flow 14-50 cps Alpha - At ease, neutral, sluggish, pleasant, floating 8-13 cps Theta - Ambiguous, fuzzy, internal, vacillating, unreal, dreamlike, in reverie. Pre-sleep brain waves (Studies reveal that people who meditate on a regular basis achieve the theta (brain wave) state of consciousness, which is closest to the delta wave pattern observed when sleeping which helps to combat insomnia) 4-7 cps Delta - Sleep 3 cps and below Can be measured with an EEG.

Answer 2

Detached Observation. The goal of inclusive meditation is to observe the observer, meaning that you learn to step outside yourself to observe your own thought processes. In doing so, you retrain your mind to keep an even keel during times of stress in a manner that is called “domesticating the ego,” not overreacting.

Answer 3

Zen (Zazen) meditation. It can be restrictive or unrestrictive and usually used inconjunction with a Koan

Answer 4

Attention, intention, and attitude.

Answer 5

Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction. The underlying premise of this mindfulness exercise is that as you become more aware of your thoughts and actions, you can control your thoughts (through detached observation) to the point where you are less stressed. (This program and the raisin exercise)

Answer 6

Sitting meditation: Sitting still, back straight, eyes closed, with an undivided focus on your breathing. Body scan: Moving your awareness from the top of your head, down to your neck, shoulders, torso, arms and hands, legs, and feet. Gentle yoga (stretching): This aspect includes a series of simple hatha yoga asanas performed lying down. Walking meditation: Walking (preferably outside) for a specific duration, being mindful of your foot placement, the sights, the sounds, the smells, and so on. Loving kindness meditation: Enhancing one’s sense of connection to others and the world by observing one’s thoughts with an intention of loving kindness to people, events, and the like to create a more harmonious living environment. This meditation is often done by repeating an affirmation phrase such as “May you be happy.”

Answer 7

Altered state of consciousness. An effect that can be achieved with meditation... and less commonly advertised with drugs and alcohol produce a similar response. (Review the brain waves for these altered states of consciousness (nominally 7-10 cycles per send) and their cycles per second)

Answer 8

A significant decrease in sensory input or a desensitization effect. (Sleep produces delta and some theta waves, with beta waves during rapid-eye-movement periods.) In many ways, an altered state of consciousness closely parallels the functions characteristically observed in the right hemisphere of the brain: The mind is open to suggestion, receptive to new ideas, and able to observe without judgment.

Answer 9

Time distortion - As an altered state, one’s perception of time is changed or distorted so that a segment of time seems either longer or shorter than it actually is. Ineffability - Experiences that cannot be expressed verbally; especially common during meditation. Present-centeredness - An altered state in which one is fully aware of the present moment with no regard to past or future time periods. Perception distortion - A sense during meditation (an altered state) in which, for example, one’s arms and legs seem extremely heavy. Enhanced receptivity - In the practice of meditation, one’s mind opens to become more receptive to ideas that are often censored by the ego during normal consciousness. Self-transcendence - A sense of becoming one with something bigger than oneself; a mystical experience that occurs in meditation.

Answer 10

Mood states, immune function, sleep, chronic pain, and various aspects of mental, emotional, and physical well-being. Longtime meditators who meditate on the theme of loving kindness and compassion produce a significant level (30 times stronger) of gamma brain wave activity. (This is normally so low, it cannot be detected with non-meditators.) There is increased activity in the left prefrontal and limbic regions of the brain with meditation, reflecting processes of sustained attention and emotion regulation (Rubia, 2009). Even a short program in mindfulness meditation produces measurable effects on brain physiology and the immune system. Portions of the brain used in meditation practice grow in size and undergo neural rewiring, now known as neuroplasticity. Portions of the brain associated with compassion increased in size, leading researchers to wonder whether meditation could affect the brain physiology of depression.

Answer 11

Blood flow decreases to the limbic system, an area associated with stress-based emotions. Meditation appears to reorient the brain from a mode of stress to a sense of acceptance and contentment. It appears that regular meditation causes neurons to adapt to less sensory information by activating frontal lobe brain tissue that is responsible for present-moment awareness. Portions of the brain responsible for time and space awareness are rewired to be more receptive and less judgmental, while the hippocampus decreases neural input, thereby softening the boundaries of the self and increasing the sense of oneness.

Answer 12

Neurotheology

HW410 Chapter 19: "Meditation and Mindfulness" Flashcards

(37 cards)