Tuesday, July 3, 2018

The Dalai Lama in Central Park



His Holiness the Dalai Lama is one of Central Park’s most notable visitors and speakers. According to the NY Times, His Holiness “made his first appearance in the park in 1991, at a meditation session that drew about 5,000 people.” The Dalai Lama spoke in Central Park’s East Meadow on two occasions, on August 15, 1999, before an audience of 200,000 people, and again on September 21, 2003, to an estimated 65,000 people. 

Central Park ~ August 15, 1999

The Dalai Lama’s 1999 public talk in Central Park was sponsored by the Tibet Center and The Gere Foundation. The New York Times published an article at the beginning of His Holiness’ four-day visit to New York that culminated with the Central Park talk. The New York Times wrote:
 

"'It is good that everybody knows the Dalai Lama,'' said Tenzing Ukyab, owner of the two Tibet Arts & Crafts stores in downtown Manhattan. ''He has compassion for everybody. He talks about peace for the whole world, not just the Tibetan people. And it is good that everybody knows the Tibet situation.'"

With 13th Visit, Dalai Lama Has Gone From Obscurity to Celebrity
by Barbara Steward, August 11, 1999 https://www.nytimes.com/1999/08/11/nyregion/with-13th-visit-dalai-lama-has-gone-from-obscurity-to-celebrity.html


The following day, The New York Times underestimated the crowd size by about 160,000. More importantly, Amy Waldman's reporting on the content of His Holiness' speech and participants' experiences was excellent. Waldman's August 16, 1999 New York Times article conveyed the essential points of His Holiness' message on the importance of mind training for developing compassion and his advice on how to practice compassion:
"My life, when I look back, has not been easy," he said, referring to his years in exile and China's repression of Tibet. "One thing I learned," he said, "was that compassion, a sense of caring, thinking about other's welfare, that sort of mental attitude brings me inner peace."

Just as he practiced his mental transformation, he said, every human being has equal potential to do so -- maybe more. And then he took the crowd through eight prayers to train the mind. "I have nothing to offer you, miracle things -- nothing," he said, by way of saying it would not be easy.

He stressed a few central themes, lacing them with jokes and personal anecdotes: Problems would not be solved by material things. Anger is destructive. The way to inner peace is nonviolence, which he said was not just the absence of violence, but "the manifestation of compassion." But, he said, nonviolence does not mean that "we remain indifferent about problems -- we must fully engage."

He stressed the increasing interconnectedness of all human beings in a global world, so that "the destruction of your neighbor is actually the destruction of yourself."

He talked about the great wealth in America, and the great poverty, and said that the capitalist system should be used to make money -- and the socialist system to help the poor benefit from the profits.

He encouraged society to embrace those -- whether criminals or persons with AIDS -- that it had cast out.

He said inner spiritual development was not necessarily linked to religious faith and he encouraged the crowd to weave the practice into their own religious traditions. 
40,000 in Central Park Hear Dalai Lama on Peace by Amy Waldman, August 16, 1999  - https://archive.nytimes.com/www.nytimes.com/library/national/regional/081699nyc-dalai-lama.html

The full text of His Holiness the Dalai Lama’s 1999 Central Park talk was published in An Open Heart: Practicing Compassion in Everyday Life, by The Dalai Lama, edited by Nicholas Vreeland (2001). The full text [was] also available online in Amazon’s An Open Heart “Look Inside” feature. Regarding An Open Heart, Buddhist scholar, teacher and humanitarian Geshe Pema Dorjee said, “If you read just one book by the Dalai Lama, read this one. It has everything.” 



Here’s the description of the extraordinary Central Park event, in An Open Heart:

“Finally, the Sunday morning of the talk arrived. We rather anxiously drove His Holiness from his hotel to the East Meadow, just off Fifth Avenue and Ninety-eighth Street, where he would enter Central Park. His Holiness asked how many people were expected. We told him we would be delighted with 15,000 to 20,000, but we simply didn’t know. As we made our way up Madison Avenue to the site, we strained to look up the side streets to see if there was any sign of people. As we approached Eighty-sixth Street, we began to see the crowded sidewalks and people moving toward the park.

We took His Holiness to the holding tent behind the stage and went to peek through the curtain. We were overwhelmed to see that the entire East Meadow was filled beyond capacity. It was a beautiful and thrilling sight. We later learned that more than 200,000 people had peacefully gathered there. The area was filled with blessings. The rain that had been falling earlier had stopped. With a massive sound system and video monitor ready to project his teachings to the enormous crowd, His Holiness stepped onto a stage decorated with flowers and a single wooden chair placed in the center.

His Holiness chose to speak in English. Through his simple style he inspired all present to engage in virtuous ways. Surely, many of those present generated bodhicitta, the aspiration to attain full enlightenment in order to help others. We might imagine that upon returning home, all in attendance shared the experience with family and friends, thereby inspiring even more virtuous thoughts and actions. Others read about the event or saw it on television. Consequently, millions of people generated good thoughts as a result of that morning in Central Park.”

An Open Heart, pp. 185-187 - this excerpt from the Afterward is also available on Amazon's “Look Inside”

The Dalai Lama in America: Live in Central Park, with an Introduction by Richard Gere (audio, abridged) https://www.amazon.com/dp/0743508998/

Richard Gere introduced His Holiness at Central Park’s East Meadow (August 15, 1999).

Richard Gere: 

His Holiness the Dalai Lama is a religious leader and a head of state. Since Tibet was a Buddhist country and quite isolated, it had not maintained a modern army. And China’s communist forces very quickly overwhelmed Tibet’s modest defenses by 1950. Until 1959 the Dalai Lama and the Tibetan goverment strove for peaceful co-existence with the Chinese, who had promised not to alter the governance of Tibetan or dismantle its Buddhist traditions and culture. By the mid-1950’s it became clear that China had not intentions of honoring these promises, and rebellions began to break out against the Chinese all over Tibet. On March 10th 1959, a popular uprising erupted in Lhasa, the capital, when it was reported the Chinese planned to abduct the young Dalai Lama. The Chinese suppressed this uprising with brute force, killing thousands, and the Dalai Lama fled into exile with 80,000 Tibetans.

Believing that they’d be able to return soon, they set up makeshift camps in India and elsewhere, and throughout the Himalayan region. But to this day the Dalai Lama has not been able to return, as I’m sure all of you have seen the story in Kundun, the film of last year. Every year, still, thousands of Tibetans escape the repression in Tibet, finding their way over the high Himalayas, mostly in the worst part of the winter, in very little clothes, tennis shoes, thousands make their way — sometimes three, three and half thousand a year - get through. Thousands more die on that journey, but they still continue to try to make this incredible journey out of Tibet.

The exiled government of Tibet is now set up in Dharamsala in northern India, where the Dalai Lama has devoted himself to helping the Tibetan people regain control over their destiny and to continue Tibet’s rich and ancient Buddhist traditions. In doing this, he has traveled all over the world, and his universal messages of compassion and total non-violence have reached an ever growing international audience. In recognition of his efforts and achievements, the Dalai Lama has been conferred countless awards, and honorary degrees, and doctorates, and in 1989 he was awarded the Nobel Prize for Peace.

And as it was stated in the Nobel Committee’s statement, “The Nobel Committee wants to emphasize the fact that the Dalai Lama, in his struggle for the liberation of Tibet, consistently has opposed the use of violence. He has, instead, advocated peaceful solutions, based upon tolerance and mutual respect, in order to preserve the historical and cultural legacy of his people. The Dalai Lama has come forward with constructive and forward looking proposals for the solution of international conflicts, human rights issues and global environmental problems.

Now, just so you know what the program is going to be today, His Holiness will speak for about an hour and a half, you know, the weather willing. The first part of that will be on the Eight Stanzas of Mind Training (by Langri Tangpa, 11th century), which is a particularly important text, and one that is important to all Buddhists. After that, His Holiness will confer initiation, as it were, in a declaration of altruism, and that will be the end of the program. So, it is my great great pleasure now, to introduce to, all are friends, no strangers here, The Dalai Lama.  (Applause)

The Dalai Lama:
 

Hello. Good morning, brothers and sisters. (laughs) I am here just to share some of our common interests. That is, of course, I believe — every human being, by nature, wants happiness and does not want suffering. And certainly, I believe, the very purpose of our life, is happiness, joyfulness. And then, here, I believe, every human being has the same potential to create inner peace, and through that way, happiness and joyfulness. [end of free audio]


From An Open Heart: Practicing Compassion in Everyday Life by His Holiness the Dalai Lama

In An Open Heart, the Dalai Lama continues:

Whether we are rich or poor, educated or uneducated, black or white, from the East or the West, our potential is equal. We are all the same, mentally and emotionally. Though some of us have larger noses and the color of our skin may differ slightly, physically we are basically the same. The difference are minor. Our mental and emotional similarity is what is important.

We share troublesome emotions as well as the positive ones that bring inner strength and tranquility. I think that it is important for us to be aware of our potential and let this inspire our self-confidence. Sometimes we look at the negative side of things and then feel hopeless. This, I think, is a wrong view.

I have no miracle to offer you. If someone has miraculous powers, then I shall seek this person’s help. Frankly, I am skeptical of those who claim extraordinary powers. However, through training our minds, with constant effort, we can change our mental perceptions or mental attitudes. This can make a real difference in our lives. 


If we have a positive attitude, then even when surrounded by hostility, we shall not lack inner peace. On the other hand, if our mental attitude is more negative, influenced by fear, suspicion, helplessness, or self-loathing, then even when surrounded by our best friends, in a nice atmosphere and comfortable surroundings, we shall not be happy. So, mental attitude is very important: it makes a real difference to our state of happiness.  

I think that it is wrong to expect that our problems can be solved by money or material benefit. It is unrealistic to believe that something positive can come about merely from something external. Of course, our material situation is important and helpful to us. However, our inner, mental attitudes are equally important -- if not more so. We must learn to steer away from pursuing a life of luxury, as it is an obstacle to our practice.

(Ibid. pp. 5-7)

Poet-and-so-much-more Brian Hassett summed up the sheer awesomeness of the 1999 East Meadow occasion in a poem titled


Dalai-Rama!

or

the Light at the End of the Tunnel

is the Twinkle in Your Own Eye!
 
And here’s the spoiler for Brian Hassett’s radiant “heart-warmer” poem:

 
Don Farber captured His Holiness the Dalai Lama’s 1999 visit in images. Don Farber's Central Park photos, numbered 278-299, are posted here: http://www.buddhistphotos.com/Don_Farber_Photography/Dalai_Lama_NYC.html 

The Dalai Lama in New York by Marta Macbeth, Snow Lion Newsletter, Autumn 1999

His Holiness the Dalai Lama in Central Park September 21, 2003  (Image from Phayul.com)

Central Park ~ September 21, 2003

On September 21, 2003, the International Day of Peace, two years after the September 11 attacks, the Dalai Lama once again spoke for peace and nonviolence in Central Park.

The day after His Holiness’ 2003 talk, the New York Times captured, in just a few lines, the Dalai Lama’s humor, humility and key message of compassion, not only for friends and strangers, but also for so-called enemies:
 

“I have nothing to offer, no special thing,'' he said with a chuckle. ''Just some blah, blah, blah.''

''More compassion automatically opens our inner self,'' he said. ''Too much self-centered attitude closes our inner door.''


''The very concept of war is out of date,'' he said to applause. ''Destruction of your neighbor as an enemy is essentially a destruction of yourself.’'


Secular Ethics: The Dalai Lama's Vision for a Peaceful Humanity

His Holiness the Dalai Lama is not only a religious leader, but also a great promoter of secular ethics for all humanity. His Holiness' words of peace, compassion and wisdom are a great blessing and inspiration for Central Park employees, volunteers and visitors, New Yorkers, all Americans and all members of our one common human family.

May His Holiness the 14th Dalai Lama of Tibet, Tenzin Gyatso, enjoy long life, good health and the realization of all his holy and extraordinary wishes for inner peace and world peace for all.


~
The Dalai Lama in Central Park tweets by @RealJannaWeiss
https://twitter.com/RealJannaWeiss/status/1162032546198241281 August 15, 2019
https://twitter.com/RealJannaWeiss/status/1147805702175567872 July 7, 2019
https://twitter.com/RealJannaWeiss/status/1029800944870014976 August 15, 2018
https://twitter.com/RealJannaWeiss/status/1028882927789195266 August 13, 2018
https://twitter.com/RealJannaWeiss/status/1017266274307584000 July 12, 2018
https://twitter.com/RealJannaWeiss/status/1017270047159484416 July 12, 2018
https://twitter.com/RealJannaWeiss/status/1014328395264675841 July 3, 2018

Sunday, April 8, 2018

Healing Violence

Mental health means non-violence. The moment physical, verbal or mental violence arises, mental health is absent. The Dalai Lama, the neuroscientist Richard Davidson and Daniel Goleman (author, Emotional Intelligence, Destructive Emotions, A Force for Good) use the term: emotional hygiene, mental hygiene. 

We are, by nature, non-violent creatures. We do not have fangs, or claws for grasping prey. We do not enjoy eating raw meat dripping with blood. We prefer the colors, smell and taste of fruits.

The human mind is capable of causing enormous harm. The human mind, the same mind, has enormous potential to do good, to benefit countless others.

It’s very important that we get to know our mind, how it functions, what are its constituent parts, what are the causes for happiness and inner peace, and what are the causes for suffering and violence. If we do not familiarize ourselves with our own mind, with how the wish to harm others arises in the mind, and with the importance of applying antidotes against harmful intent, against the wish to harm others, when it arises in the mind, we ourselves will not be happy. The wish to harm others is itself a moment of suffering.



The Public Health Model to Heal Violence explains how the wish to harm others arises in the mind. The model presents the mental causes for the wish to harm others. Breaking the model down into more steps shows how violence arises in the mind in finer detail. 


In Israel, and outside Israel, there is a lot of violence. People are violent towards one another, in the family, in the community, and at every level. If we want genuine peace, we will need to change.

Tibet was once a very violent society. The Tibetans internalized the importance of education for non-violence, and for 1300 years (with some gaps here and there, like during the reign of King Langdarma), the Tibetans created a compassionate society, a society that values virtues such as humility, patience, contentment, rejoicing in the joy of others, respect, kindness, honesty.

The different religions are precious precisely because they are treasuries of methods and ways to cultivate virtues, good qualities. Secular people also need practical knowledge in cultivating virtues and reducing violence.

It’s possible to overcome the wish to harm anyone. In Judaism, the person who overcomes the wish to harm anyone is called a hero
(גיבור, gibor),

Peace Pilgrim on the true hero:

"It concerns me when I see a small child watching the hero shoot the villain on television. It is teaching the small child to believe that shooting people is heroic. The hero just did it and it was effective. It was acceptable and the hero was well thought of afterward.

"If enough of us find inner peace to affect the institution of television, the little child will see the hero transform the villain and bring him to a good life. He’ll see the hero do something significant to serve fellow human beings. So little children will get the idea that if you want to be a hero you must help people."



The path to peace runs through the heart.
“Anything that softens the heart.”
A meaningful life is a life spent helping others with sincerity and kindness.
Dialogue is the path to peace.  

The Middle Way Approach
http://mwa.tibet.net/
Public Health Model to Heal and Eradicate Violence
http://therealjannaweiss.blogspot.com/2014/08/getting-to-root-of-violence-integrative.html

--
Translated from Hebrew http://cafe.themarker.com/post/3425779/
 

Saturday, February 17, 2018

Mindfulness and Loving Kindness Meditation ~ Richard Davidson & Dawn Bazarko

Mindfulness and Meditation: Techniques That Can Help Improve Your Well-Being

Free online video course
Created by AARP and Taught by Richard Davidson

Unit 2 Full Transcript

Four meditations: Three mindfulness meditations (breathing, body scan, open monitoring) and loving kindness meditation. The "why" from a scientific perspective is explained by famed neuroscientist Richard Davidson in Unit 1


Cultivate Well-Being - Richard Davidson

Mindfulness meditation. We’ve heard a lot about it here in this course already. You’ve also seen the cover of Newsweek, the cover of National Geographic, New York Times, Washington Post. It’s all over the place. Fundamentally, mindfulness has to do with awareness. We are all born with the capacity to be aware of our external environments as well as our internal environments. When we talk about the internal environment here, we’re referring to our thoughts and our feelings.

And mindfulness is fundamentally about being aware of what is actually occurring in the present moment. At first blush, this may seem obvious. It may seem like we’re always aware of the present moment. But, how many of you have had the experience of reading a book and actually knowing what each word is and turning the pages, and going through one page, a second page, and maybe by the third page, you realize you have absolutely no idea what you've just read. Yet you're aware of each word. But you're lost.

So mindfulness is really about paying attention to the present moment and harnessing this extraordinary faculty of awareness that we’re all endowed with. Mindfulness can also be used as we cultivate it, to change specific aspects of our emotional style. We can change outlook. We can change resilience. We can change attention through these simple practices of mindfulness.

Certain meditation exercises have been proven to lower stress, anxiety, and depression. They have also been shown to change the self-awareness, attention, and resilience dimensions of emotional style. 



Intro to Awareness of Breath: Mindfulness Breathing - Richard Davidson


And so the very first simple practice of mindfulness that we will describe is mindfulness of breathing. Now, why do we start with something like the breath?

Breathing is something that we carry around with us all the time, and so we can become mindful of our breathing at any point in time as we go about our daily lives. Now, let’s be honest — breath is not the most interesting stimulus that we can pay attention to that may be around us.

But this is actually the secret sauce of training mindfulness. If we can learn to pay attention to our breathing, we can learn to pay attention to virtually anything. 



Mindfulness Breathing Meditation - Dawn Bazarko

I’ll be leading you now through an awareness of breath meditation. Let’s begin with tuning into our posture. So we can meditate sitting on a chair, like we are, sitting on a meditation cushion on the floor, even standing, walking, lying down. So, as we sit in the chair, just moving your body forward just a little bit so you’re nice and stable, feet on the floor, legs uncrossed, and allowing your hands to just rest on your thighs or cradled in your lap — wherever they’re comfortable. There’s no special way you need to hold your hands. And just embodying a posture that’s upright and balances relaxation yet wakefulness.

And if you wish, allowing your eyes to close gently. Or just a soft gaze on the floor a few feet out in front of you. Let’s begin by just taking a few deep breaths in [pause] and out [pause].

Just inviting a little bit of relaxation and ease to your day. And just feeling your body seated here, supported by the chair.

Feeling your feet on the floor connected to this earth. And let’s begin by checking in with our intention for our practice. Why are we practicing?

Tuning in to our intention, our motivation, taking this time to connect our minds and our hearts together — it’s a practice that benefits ourselves and so many people in our lives, people throughout the entire world.

It’s really a profound act of generosity. Begin by just exploring how we’re feeling here today. Our inner landscape — beginning with the mind, tuning into the condition of the mind. What thoughts are there to be noticed in the mind? Perhaps observing a thought arising and passing away again. And as best you can, simply allowing thoughts to be mental events, nothing more.

Resisting the temptation to get carried up in the thought. Now tuning in to how you’re feeling, your emotions. What emotions are present to be experienced?

Perhaps you’re noticing a sense of anxiety or even some stress. Perhaps there’s a sense of peacefulness and ease — just allowing things to be just as they are, not needing to change anything. [brief pause]

And now tuning into the body, doing on your own, a brief scan of the body, starting at the top of the head. Noticing sensations, the head and the face.

Dropping down to the jaw. You want your jaw to be relaxed and loose. Scanning, sweeping now through the neck and the shoulders, a place we may carry a lot of tension or tightness.

Exploring sensations in the torso, the arms, the hands. Noticing what’s present, again, without needing to change anything. It’s just your experience in this moment.

Dropping your focus down, now, through the abdomen, the hips, thighs, knees, lower legs. All the way to the tips of your toes, both feet. And any time you run into places in the body where you might notice some tingling or tightness, or even pain, seeing if you can allow those places to just soften and relax. Even channeling your breath right into those places.

And now gathering up all of your attention and directing it right into the body, where you can feel the sensations of the breath most vividly today.

Most people experience the breath at the tip of the nose, the upper lip. Or the movement in the belly or the chest. So selecting a place where it’s easiest to make contact with your breathing. Connecting your attention right there with the sensations of the natural breath in the body.

Feeling the rising and expansion when you breathe in and noticing how the body feels when you breath out as it settles back to the spine. Allowing the breath to be an anchor into this present moment. The breath is always in the now. It’s not in the future, not in the past.

Now see if you can follow the cycle of just one breath. The rising and expansion as you breathe in and the settling as you breathe out. Allowing the breath to breathe on its own. You may find from time to time that your attention has been pulled off to thoughts, to sounds, to planning. Even sounds in the room. In that moment of noticing is a moment of waking up, a moment of mindfulness. And it’s not a problem. It’s all part of the practice.

And just directing your focus of attention once more, and reconnecting with your breathing. And doing this over and over again. The nature of the mind is to wander. Just invite it back. Back once more to the sensations of breathing.

So let’s sit here in silence together for just a few moments, following the sensations of your breathing, noticing if your attention is pulled off. And just begin again. It’s not a problem. (15 second pause)

So I’ll bring the practice to a close now with the ringing of the bell. (brief pause)

Thank you for your practice. Opening your eyes when you’re ready, if you closed them. 



Intro to the Body Scan - Richard Davidson


Once you feel like you’ve gained some experience becoming aware of your breathing, the next mindfulness practice that we can try is called the body scan. The body scan is simply bringing awareness into our bodies. We are embodied beings, and yet we spend so much of our day focused on the external world, focused on the sights and sounds and smells and tastes around us. We spend very little time actually becoming aware of what’s going on in our bodies. And the body scan is an invitation to explore in the present moment what is actually arising in our bodies.
By doing a body scan, we can help relieve certain kinds of stress and anxiety. The body scan can also help us to sharpen our attentional focus. The body scan also brings more awareness to ourselves, more awareness to what’s going on inside, which is tremendously beneficial for empathy and for compassion and for self-awareness.
The following is a complete body scan demonstration, but for the purposes of this course, it may be slightly condensed. For this exercise, feel free to watch the video and try again on your own later or simply listen along. Let’s try it. 



The Body Scan Meditation - Dawn Bazarko


I’ll be leading you now through the Body Scan meditation practice. So the Body Scan is a practice of focusing our attention with the sensory experiences in our bodies. So I’ll be leading you through a systematic review of regions of the body. And we’ll be bringing our attention inside the body to experience what’s to be felt, the sensations in the body. So the Body Scan is a wonderful practice to connect our minds into what we’re experiencing in our bodies. And it’s also a wonderful focused practice. So as we’re performing the Body Scan, if you find that you're lost in thought or exploring a different part of the body, it’s not a problem.

You can always come back to the sensations of breathing or back to the place in the body that we’ll be scanning. The Body Scan can be done in a chair, just like we’re sitting now, or lying down. Many people like to do the Body Scan lying down at night before they fall asleep. It can feel very relaxing. It’s a practice to fall awake, not so much fall asleep. But if you do find yourself getting a little sleepy through the Body Scan, just open your eyes. Okay?

So we’ll begin with checking in with our posture. With our feet on the floor, resting your hands on your thighs or cradled in your lap. And just observing the back stretched upward. Inviting that posture of wakefulness and restfulness. And dropping your gaze on the floor a few feet in front of you if you wish, or closing your eyes completely. And just taking a few deep breaths in and out. Inviting yourself into this moment.

Breathing in some relaxation and ease. And letting go on the out breath anything you might be holding that doesn’t serve you well. And grounding with your intention for the practice. Your motivation for taking this time for self care. This act of generosity that benefits ourselves, those around us, and the world. And we’ll begin by just checking in to our inner experiences right now.

Starting with observing what thoughts there are in the mind. Noticing how thoughts arise and pass away again. Exploring your heart’s center. How are you feeling today? What emotions are to be noticed? Allowing things to be just as they are. And now directing your attention back into the body. Feeling the weight of your body seated here. Your hands resting on your thighs or cradled in your lap. Feeling your feet on the floor, connected to the earth.

Let’s begin now by stabilizing our attention by connecting with our breathing. Wherever you feel your breath in your body most vividly right now. You might notice sensations of breathing at the tip of the nose, over the lip, the chest, or deep in the belly. Just choosing a place now that’s easiest for you to connect your attention with the sensations of breathing. Not thinking so much about breathing, but sensing the breath from inside the body. What does this breath feel like in this moment? Is it deep or shallow? Long? Short? Are you feeling your breath at the top of your lungs or deep in your belly?

Bringing a little bit of curiosity, even some playfulness to the practice. Now, as the mind begins to settle, as the body does too, we’ll begin to scan the body, starting with our feet. So directing your focus of attention all the way down the body to both feet. And noticing sensations in the toes, the soles of your feet, the tops of your feet, even the ankle region. Perhaps you’re noticing some coolness, or tingling, heaviness. Just observing sensations in this part of the body, the feet, the ankles. Without judging your experience, just noticing what’s to be felt in this part of the body. Now breathing in. And on the out breath, directing your focus of attention up through the lower legs, the knees, all the way through the thighs, both legs. Taking in this part of the body and exploring all the sensations that are to be felt here.

You might notice the weight of your clothing. Perhaps a little bit of tightness or heaviness. Feeling your hands making contact with your thighs, perhaps. Just exploring all sensations in this entire region of the body, just as it is. And any time you run into tightness, or bracing, or tension, see if you can just channel your breath right into those places. Breathing right into the legs, knees, lower legs.

Now, breathing in. And on the out breath, moving your attentional focus now up to the buttocks, pelvis area, the abdomen. Exploring all that’s to be felt here. Perhaps feeling the weight of your body supported by the chair.

You might even notice sensations of digestion or hunger in the belly. Or you may not notice anything at all and just register not noticing. That’s okay too. And any time you find that your attention has been pulled off from the body to sounds or thoughts, just notice where it’s gone.
And gently, but firmly, with lots of self-kindness, direct it back to the region of the body that we’re exploring. The abdomen, the buttocks, the pelvis.

Now breathing in. And on the out breath, letting go of that part of the body and moving your attention now up into the torso. The back part of the body, the front part of the body. It’s part of the body that does so many things for us. Supports our circulation, our lungs, breathing air in. All our vital organs that work so hard to keep us alive.

And exploring what’s to be felt in this entire region of the body. You might be feeling your heartbeat. This is also a part of the body where we hold lots of emotion. Exploring all that’s to be felt without judging and allowing things to be just as they are.

Now breathing in and breathing out, letting go of this part of the body, and directing your focus of attention down both arms to the tips of your fingers. And exploring all the sensations in this entire region of the body. So many nerve endings in our hands and fingers. You might be feeling pulsing or vibration. Even a little bit of tingling or moisture.

Exploring sensations through the full hands, the wrists. These hands that do so much work for us, and we often don’t pay such kind, close attention as we are now.

Directing your focus up through the lower arms, the upper arms, all the way to the place that the arms connect with the shoulders. Noticing all that’s to be experienced in this moment in the arms, and the hands, fingers. Breathing in, and on the out breath, letting go of this region of the body and directing your focus of attention now up into the shoulders. The back and front part of the neck, even the lower jaw.

Noticing, feeling the sensations in this part of the body. You might notice some tensing or tightness in the shoulders, lowering the shoulders to just relax and soften. You might be noticing even some tightness and bracing in the jaw. Allowing the jaw to be loose, even separating your lips just a little bit.

And again, you might not be feeling anything at all. And that’s okay. Just bringing awareness into this part of the body, directing your focus of attention right here. Now breathing in, and breathing out, moving your attention now up to explore sensations in the face, forehead, the top of the head, scalp, even the ears.

Noticing sensations of your furrowing your brow and the forehead. Space around the eyes, behind the eyes. And noticing sensations in the ears. These ears that receive sound all day. And exploring what there is to be felt at the top of the head, scalp. And breathing in and letting go of this part of the body, and breathing out and taking in your entire body as a whole, seated here.

Breathing in through your entire body, from the top of your head to the tips of your toes, fingertip to fingertip. Breathing in and breathing out. (brief pause)

And just sensing the body seated here, whole and complete. And as I draw the meditation to a close, once more, just connecting with the sensations of breathing, the natural breath in the body. Wherever it calls to you, the chest, the abdomen. Or even feeling like your whole body is breathing. Because it is. And if you wish, even bringing a little smile to your face, even if you don’t feel like smiling. Just bringing a little smile to your face for taking this time to nourish yourself in this way. To nourish yourself, to nourish those around you through this practice of mindfulness. And I’ll end the meditation now with the ringing of the bell. (Bell ringing)

Thank you for your practice, body scan, and opening your eyes, if you closed them. 



Intro to Open Monitoring - Richard Davidson

If you’d like to build more awareness of the world around you, and perhaps loosen your tight attention focus, I suggest you try open monitoring meditation, also known as open presence meditation. This type of meditation doesn’t have you focus on one specific object, but it allows you to take in all the ongoing feelings and emotions and sensations that may be occurring.
In essence, it’s meant to cultivate awareness of awareness. I mentioned this in my book, but many people who practice this type of meditation say it gives them a panoramic view of their world by helping them understand their own thoughts, their own feelings, and the world around them in an integrated way. So let’s please try it. Feel free to watch the meditation instruction or simply to listen along. 




Open Monitoring Meditation - Dawn Bazarko


This practice is called Open Monitoring or Open Awareness, so it’s going to be a little bit different of an experience. Before, the instruction has involved focusing attention in a very specific way into the body, following the sensations of the breath, or even in the Body Scan. Really focusing on the parts of the body that we were sensing. This time we’re going to open up our awareness broadly, as if a spotlight, a spotlight of awareness, and invite in anything that presents.

And we’re going to maintain a sense of openness and acceptance, non-judgement, to all of these experiences, and holding them all in our field of awareness. There may be some things that present in the foreground and then fall to the background, so it’s going to be a little bit different of a practice this time.

So let’s begin by settling into our meditation posture, relaxed and awake, allowing your eyes to remain open in a soft gaze, or a few feet out in front of you on the floor, or eyes closed entirely.

And just taking a few deep breaths in and out to invite yourself into this moment. Inviting in some relaxation and ease, and letting go on the out breath anything you might be holding that doesn’t serve you well.

And as we settle, making an intention of exploring our motivation for the practice, this practice that benefits ourselves and those in our lives, our loved ones, and all people throughout the world. It’s a profound act of generosity and compassion and goodness. And connecting your attention to begin with the sensations of breathing, settling with the breath to calm the mind as we transition to open monitoring.

Following the cycle of your breathing, connecting with the breath in the body, wherever it’s most vivid for you, where you feel the breath most clearly. And now when you’re ready, opening up your field of awareness, that spotlight of awareness, to invite in and observe everything that presents in your mind. If you notice a thought, observing the rising and passing of a thought, without getting tangled up in the content of thinking.

As if watching thoughts from afar, being an objective observer of your thinking. If you experience sound or noises in the room or outside of the room, just receiving sound, observing the quality of the sound, the intensity of the sound and how it passes away, without judging sound as beautiful or noise. Just receiving sound. This is a practice of building awareness of awareness. Meta-awareness.

If you notice body sensations or strong emotions in the foreground of your attention, just observing [pause] them, the experience of the sensation, the pull of the emotion in the body, without getting tangled up in the emotion or the sensation or judging, just experiencing it. Holding all of your experiences in your field of awareness, treating all things equally, not judging anything as good or bad, just allowing them to be your experiences in this moment.

And as I bring this practice to a close, once more I invite you to connect with your breath in the body, help stabilize the mind, settle the body, very helpful any time we become unsettled. And sending yourself a little bit of appreciation for taking these moments to practice in this way, to nourish the mind, nourish the body, profound act of self care. And I’ll bring the practice to a close now with the ringing of the bell. (Bell ringing)

And gently opening your eyes if you closed them. Thank you for your practice. 



Intro to Loving Kindness Meditation - Richard Davidson

A popular type of meditation for building compassion and empathy is called “Loving Kindness” meditation. It’s very similar to another type of meditation that you may have heard of called “Compassion Meditation.” Loving Kindness is designed to break down feelings of resentment, of hatred, and of greed. It builds your love for yourself and your love for others, even those who may challenge you, which has many positive benefits.

It’s been used to lower stress and anxiety, and also to build well-being. The way it works is pretty simple. You just say uplifting phrases about yourself and about others in your mind. Sounds very easy but the results can be enormously powerful. Over time, loving kindness can help you open your heart to others, and even build your love for yourself. It can also help in the beginning process of forgiving yourself or someone else.


Loving Kindness Meditation - Dawn Bazarko

I’ll be leading you now through a compassion practice. And it’s a wonderful practice that recalls our true nature of goodness and kindness and love. It’s also a practice that reminds us that we’re all deeply interconnected. We’re all part of the condition of being human. It’s a practice that helps us open our hearts and our minds to ourselves and to others. It’s a very lovely, profound practice. So the practice will involve me reciting words or phrases, and we’ll be directing these phrases, these wishes to ourselves and to other people in our lives, including people in our lives that we might have some difficulties with. So it’s not so much about the words or the wishes, it’s around the heartfelt intention, of extending this heartfelt expression of kindness and love and. compassion to others.

So the typical phrases that are utilized in the practice are words like: May I be safe. May I be happy. May I be healthy. And may I live with ease. And we’ll begin with ourselves, because often it’s hardest to express these wishes to ourselves. We’re often putting other people first. But we’re going to experiment, extending these wishes to ourselves. And then I’ll be instructing you to extend these wishes to a benefactor, a person in your life that’s helped you, a loved one, a neutral person, a difficult person. And then we’ll close at the end by extending these wishes to all people throughout the world. So let’s begin by settling into our meditation posture, feet on the floor, legs uncrossed, hands resting on your thighs or cradled in your lap, eyes open or closed, whatever feels comfortable for you.

I’m spending a moment now silently reflecting on our intention for the practice, this practice of generosity, of kindness, love, compassion that benefits ourselves and so many throughout the world. Begin by connecting with the sensations of breathing in the body, using the breath as an anchor to place your attention in this moment, connected into the now, into this moment and allowing the breath to just settle into its own natural pace. (short pause)

And we’ll begin by extending these wishes of kindness, compassion, and loving kindness to ourselves. So bringing to mind an image, maybe a memory of yourself. Sometimes its helpful as if you envision sitting, looking right into your very own eyes and repeating these phrases at a pace that feels comfortable and authentic for you. Don’t worry so much about the words. It’s again, the intention, and extending these wishes to yourself.

May I be safe. May I be healthy. May I live with ease.
May I be safe. May I be healthy. May I live with ease.

And allowing the feelings of compassion and loving kindness to flow through your entire body. You might even notice an opening, a warmth in the heart or a warmth through your entire body perhaps, or not noticing anything at all, and that’s too, fine. Now bringing to mind someone who has helped you in your life, might be a grandparent, a teacher, someone who has really supported you, bring that person into your awareness, your mind’s eye, holding this person in your awareness and extending these heartfelt wishes to that individual, or persons. Maybe there’s more than one person.

May you be safe. May you be healthy. May you live with ease.
May you be safe. May you be healthy. May you live with ease.

And now letting go of this person or persons, and bringing to mind a dear loved one, a purely uncomplicated relationship, could be with a child, a spouse, a dear friend, bringing that person to mind as if they’re right here with you, right now, and extending these wishes to that person or persons.

May you be safe. May you be healthy. May you live with ease.
May you be safe. May you be healthy. May you live with ease.

And now letting go of that person or persons, and bringing to mind a neutral person, someone you don’t really know that well, don’t really feel one way about them or the other, could be the person who works at the coffee shop, could be the janitor, someone you don’t know very well, and reminding ourselves that this person or persons wants the very same thing that we want, and bringing that individual to mind now and extending these heartfelt wishes.

May you be safe. May you be healthy. May you live with ease.
May you be safe. May you be healthy. May you live with ease.

And just taking a moment now and reconnecting with the breath and the body. Sometimes when we practice this way, we might notice strong emotion, feeling of warmth in the chest. It’s all natural. It’s a feeling of loving kindness, of opening our hearts.

Now I invite you to bring to mind someone that’s difficult, maybe not the most difficult person in your life, but someone with whom you experience some friction or tension, inviting them into your awareness, holding them in your mind’s eye, and now extending those wishes to that person and a gentle reminder that they, too, want what we want, even the people in our lives tat we have difficulties with.

May you be safe. May you be healthy. May you live with ease.
May you be safe. May you be healthy. May you live with ease, just like I want to.

And now we’ll bring to mind all people throughout the world everywhere without any exception, all people, fish in the sea, the birds in the air, the planet Earth, all beings throughout the world, and extending these wishes to all beings everywhere without any exception.

May all beings everywhere be safe. May all beings everywhere be healthy.
May all beings everywhere live their lives with joy and ease.

May all beings everywhere, ourselves included, find peace.
May all beings everywhere find peace.

And in the final moments of the practice, once more reconnecting with your heart, if you wish, even placing a hand or two hands over your heart as a gesture of compassion, kindness, generosity to ourselves and to the world, and sending some appreciation to yourself for practicing in this way, extending compassion and kindness and goodness to ourselves and to all people throughout the world. And I’ll ring the bell now to end the meditation. [Bell ringing]

And opening your eyes, if you closed them, when you’re ready.
---





Course Conclusion - Richard Davidson

We’ve come to the end. Thank you so much for taking this course and for your practice. We’ve learned a lot. We’ve learned about six dimensions of emotional style, all really important for our well-being and for our life. We’ve also taught you some very simple meditation practices and mindfulness exercises. These are practices which you can take anywhere. You can do them as you’re commuting, you can do them at home, do them at work, even for just a few minutes a day.
Please think of this as a kind of mental exercise that may complement physical exercise. It’s a sort of mental hygiene practice. I hope that you can use the exercise that we’ve taught to ignite your passion for training your mind, rather than leaving the conditioning of our minds to the happenstance circumstances around us. We have many more resources on the web page so that you can continue your journey. We wish you well, and thank you again for your attention and for your practice. 




Go to Unit 1
 ----

More Resources

To Practice Mindfulness, Counting Your Breaths - Breathe In and Out
http://centerhealthyminds.org/news/to-practice-mindfulness-start-by-counting-your-breaths

Innate Kindness- Learn More About Kindness
http://centerhealthyminds.org/join-the-movement/innate-kindness

Mindfulness and Beyond - Consider a variety of contemplative practices
http://centerhealthyminds.org/news/mindfulness-and-beyond

The Center for Healthy Minds
http://centerhealthyminds.org/

Meditation and Attention
http://centerhealthyminds.org/news/study-can-meditation-sharpen-our-attention

Brain Power - free course 45 min Taught by Wendy Suzuki, PhD
http://ula.thebigknow.com/course/brain-power-improve-brain-health-cl1-uhc/session/brain-power-improve-brain-health-cl1-uhc


~
Unit 2 full transcript posted here with permission from AARP.


May all beings be happy, free of suffering and its causes.

Tuesday, January 23, 2018

Mindfulness and Meditation: Six Dimensions of Emotional Style ~ Richard Davidson

Mindfulness and Meditation: Techniques That Can Help Improve Your Well-Being

Free online video course
Created by AARP and Taught by Richard Davidson

Unit 1 Full Transcript

About This Course

Famed neuroscientist Richard Davidson has spent the last 30 years researching the intimate relationship between meditation, emotions, and brain health. And he’s found that by practicing a few specific meditation exercises, it’s possible to change your brain and build well-being. In this course from Life Reimagined, Dr. Davidson explains what he calls the 6 Dimensions of Emotional Style, which are a guide to show how we behave during social interactions while facing adversity, and while navigating life’s curveballs. He shows participants how to find out where they fall on the spectrum for each dimension of emotional style. And he shows meditation practices that can help participants change their brains and emotional style to increase focus, decrease stress, and help cultivate a more caring and mindful life.


His Holiness the Dalai Lama and Richard Davidson

A 30-Year Journey

 
I was a graduate student at Harvard in the mid 1970s and I was really fortunate to be around some people whose demeanor and whose presence was really infectious to me. One of the things all these people had in common is an interest in a practice of meditation and that’s what first kindled my interest in this whole area.

This was the era when neuroscience was first beginning, and I was more and more convinced that for a scientific understanding of the mind, we needed to approach this through the brain.

Research on the brain and emotion largely was relegated to studies in rats, and I was convinced that there was a way to do this in human beings and we can begin to investigate how changes in emotions were associated with changes in the brain using non-invasive strategies.

I went to India for the first time in 1974. I think it’s fair to say that most of the faculty at Harvard thought I was going off the deep end. I went on my first meditation retreat and that experientially really ignited my passion for pursuing work in this area.

I first met His Holiness the Dalai Lama in 1992 and he was interested in encouraging serious neuroscientific research on meditation. He heard that I was a neuroscientist and also was open to investigating meditation because of my own personal interest.

Up until that time I had just dabbled in this area, and I mostly focused on how stress and anxiety was represented in the brain. The Dalai Lama challenged me and he said, “You’ve been using tools of modern neuroscience to study anxiety and fear and depression and stress. Why can’t you use those same tools to study kindness and compassion?” And that was a wake up call for me.

And I made a commitment to the Dalai Lama that I was going to redirect my life and my career and put qualities like kindness and compassion squarely within the crosshairs of modern science, and that is something that we’ve been doing ever since.

The world is suffering and in fact now is a propitious time in human history for bringing these simple mindfulness and other kinds of practices to cultivate well-being. Well-being is actually a skill. If we practice at it we’ll get better. This is something that’s in each of our capacities, and we really can change the world by cultivating these simple habits on a large scale.


Welcome 

Hi. I’m Dr. Richard Davidson and I’m a psychologist and a neuroscientist by training. And I’m the founder of the Center for Healthy Minds at the University of Wisconsin Madison.

In the very early years of my career, I was captivated by one central question: Why is it that certain people are vulnerable to life’s slings and arrows, and other people appear to be more resilient, and how can we nudge people along that continuum, to promote increased resilience, to promote increased well-being?

We have been, in our center, conducting research on how we can cultivate healthier habits of mind.

And the key insight that all of this work leads to is that well-being is actually a skill. We can actually cultivate well-being in the same way that we engage in physical exercise, in the same way that we may learn to play a violin. If we practice at it, we’ll get better.

And in this course, we will showcase Six Dimensions of Emotional Style that emerge from our research, that all play a fundamental role in impacting our well-being. And here’s the really cool insight. 



6 Dimensions of Emotional Style 
  • Resilience
  • Outlook
  • Social Intuition
  • Self-Awareness
  • Sensitivity to Context
  • Attention
Each one of these constituents of well-being and emotional style are controlled by circuits in the brain that exhibit plasticity. They can be changed by experience and they can also be changed through intentional practice.

And so the invitation in this course is that we can actually change our brains for the better by engaging in simple exercises to cultivate positive habits of mind. 


 
Six Dimensions of Emotional Style

We all respond differently to the same challenges in life. And that has always intrigued me. We spend a lot of time in airports. And if a plane is delayed, all I need to do is scan the passengers around to see the extraordinary variation in emotional reactivity in action. There’s the businessman yelling at the flight crew, the teenager with headphones who’s oblivious to the fact that the flight was even delayed, and the mortified parents with the newborn now dealing with a a very crabby baby. Each of these individuals has their own emotional style.

Through years of research, I’ve come up with what I call “The Six Dimensions of Emotional Style.”

These dimensions include: resilience, outlook, social intuition, self-awareness, sensitivity to context, and attention. And just as each person has a unique fingerprint, we all have unique emotional styles. And that’s a good thing. That makes the world such a special place. We need people with different emotional styles.

But sometimes our emotional styles can hold us back from being who we want to be or living the kind of life we wish to lead. What I’ve found by studying meditation and other well-being exercises is that we can actually change the dimensions of our emotional style. They are not fixed. It’s actually possible to strategically and specifically change our brains to better suit our lives, to reduce stress and anxiety, to boost qualities like compassion and empathy, and ultimately, to cultivate well-being.
 

Neuroplasticity
 

I will get to emotional style in a bit, but first. I want to explain a very important concept in neuroscience. And it’s called plasticity and it’s truly astonishing.

Simply put, plasticity means that our brains have the ability to change, and that change occurs automatically, without us even knowing about it, from the barrage of experiences and relationships that we have in our lives.

But we can also change our brains on purpose to fit our emotional needs and to promote well-being, by practicing a handful of simple mental exercises. Think about that. It’s empowering. Especially if you understand exactly what you want to change about your brain and why.

So that’s what this course is about. And if you choose to do so, that’s what we’ll do together.

In the first half of this course, I’ll teach you how our brains and emotions interact with each other and we’ll explore the Six Dimensions of Emotional Style. You’ll even be able to find your own set point for each of these dimensions, so that you’ll be able to see and judge for yourself whether or not you need improvement in a specific style.

In the second half of the course, I’ll show you simple introductory mindfulness and compassion exercises that can change these dimensions, and if you so choose, to better suit your lifestyle, and your personal goals.

I’ll also share with you simple ways to change your lifestyle to better suit your different emotional styles. Because sometimes, a simple lifestyle change is more effective than meditation or anything else we can do strictly with our minds.

And for what’s not covered in the videos in this course, I’ll give you other resources that you can refer to that can benefit you as well.

I need to take a moment here to tell you that some dimensions of emotional style are easier to change than others. And some people can change these emotional styles more easily than others.

It’s possible that none of the techniques that we’ll offer will help you change your emotional styles. You know your body and your brain better than anyone else. And if you have any questions or concerns about any of these strategies, please consult with your physician or with a mental health professional.

In Sanskrit, the word meditation literally means familiarization. These are practices that can help us familiarize ourselves with our own mind. You’ll need to familiarize yourself with the dimensions of each of your emotional styles.

1. ATTENTION



Karen

Attention - Karen

My name is Karen and I’m a flight attendant. Why meditate? That’s where I start for the day. It is important for me to have that sense of centeredness. Because my work environment has that heightened anxiety added to it. So, people get on board. They get nervous. They get anxious. They’re afraid. They are looking to me for guidance and looking for me to be kind of the rock in the situation. So, I know the part I play. In order for me to feel that way, I have to be balanced. I have to have that centeredness and I have to feel good about starting out the day.



Attention - Richard Davidson

Welcome to the Attention Dimension. Attention. This is our ability to block out external noises and distractions, and focus on just one thing. You might think that attention would be a strange thing to include as part of an emotional style. But I’ve included it because attention is driven in large part by instances and events which are clearly emotional. You have to admit that with all the screens and lightings and distractions and gadgets that are blasting at us, all the time on a daily basis, it’s amazing that we’re able to maintain even a kernel of attention in the first place. But we’re humans, and we have a really extraordinary capacity to focus our attention.

There are two types of attention that I’d like to showcase today. The first we call selective attention. This is our ability to focus on just one thing closely, and ignore other things that may be happening at the same time. It’s our ability to talk to a person next to us at a baseball game while the crowd is going nuts and the beer man is walking by.

The next type of attention is what we call open non-judgmental awareness. This is our ability to take in all of what’s happening around us, including our thoughts and feelings that are popping up in our head, and to bring all of these subtleties to bear at the same point in time. To put it another way, it’s our ability to accept all of the sights and sounds and other sensations around us without getting fixated on any particular one of them. People are really good at focusing their attention, and those people who are good at it are able to zone out physical and emotional distraction so that they can get things done.
 

Unfocused ________________ Focused
ATTENTION

And coincidentally, those that fall at the extreme end of this spectrum are people who we would call focused, or even hyper-focused. And, believe it or not, that’s not always a good thing. Some people get so caught up in the minutiae of what they’re doing that they actually miss other critical things that are happening around them.

Imagine that you’re working at home on something extremely important, some business assignment, for example, and your mind is so locked into the task at hand. Meanwhile, your kids are yelling for you, your dog is scratching at the door begging to be let out, and the UPS man is attempting to drop off an important package. But you’re so completely zoned in on your work that you missed all of the other things around us.

There are those that I would consider to be unfocused, on the other end of the spectrum. Their minds wander from one thing to the next, from their job, to their bills, to an argument that they may have had with their spouse, and the list goes on and on. They can have a hard time finishing tasks, and they sometimes forget that they’ve read something, by the time they get to the bottom of the page.




Now, since I’m a neuroscientist, I really have to talk a little bit about the brain. The pre-frontal cortex controls a lot of attention and guides our behavior. It helps us choose which type of external or internal factor to focus on, and which to ignore. This ability, the ability to choose what we focus on, is fundamental to our learning.

A recent study shows that the average American adult spends 47% of her or his waking life not paying attention to what they’re doing. That’s really an extraordinary fact. They’re too focused on their phones. They’re getting caught up in other activities like getting a cup of coffee. And there are just a multitude of tasks that they’re trying to do simultaneously.

So, how do you increase your attention? My suggestion comes from my experience as a scientist as well as a meditation practitioner. There are simple exercises of mindfulness meditation that can be helpful here. I’ve found that by studying long term meditation practitioners, that simply focusing on one object can boost activities in certain parts of the brain responsible for attention. Specifically, becoming mindful of our breathing, something that we carry around with us all the time. And also something known as the body scan. Both have been shown to improve our attention. We’ll show you how to do both of these exercises in the next unit.

If you are too focused, and you want to be able to have a more open view of what’s happening around you, I suggest that there’s another form of meditation, a simple kind of practice that we call open monitoring meditation. This allows you to accept non-judgmentally all the different external factors and sensations that are happening around you. Here you don’t focus on any one thing in particular, but rather, your awareness is panoramic. This is actually meant to build awareness of awareness itself.

Attention is our ability to focus on specific thoughts, on feelings and sensations that enter our mind, so that we can actually finish what we begin, and we can choose what we think about.

2. RESILIENCE


Anne

Resilience - Anne

My name is Anne and I’m a Certified Nurse’s Assistant for hospice. I meditate every morning so I kinda go to work fully resourced. I meditate, usually at lunch. In a good day I’ll get a break between every client. In hospice, there are very drastic changes that occur. My energy has to change. The family’s energy might be different. The client might have moved into pain from not being in pain. And so, meditation is all about that, where you really don’t know where you’re going until you arrive somewhere and it feels like new territory.


Resilience - Richard Davidson

Resilience is our ability to recover or bounce back quickly from a setback. If you’re a resilient person, you’re able to overcome adversity and move on with the activities of life. But if you lack resilience, you let the problems linger and they trickle into other aspects of your life and can hold you back. It may even keep you stuck in this aspect of your life for the remainder of your life, if you choose to do that. Every emotional style has a spectrum, that ranges from low to high and resilience is no different.
 

Slow to Recover __________________ Fast to Recover
RESILIENCE

On the low end of the spectrum are the people whom I consider to be slow to recover. These people are vulnerable. They are the kinds of people who suffer from depression and anxiety, and they sometimes lose their ability to function normally. For example, if this person gets cut off in traffic, he might fume for hours. At work, he might let the everyday problems that arise amplify his anger, and negatively affect his performance and his relationship with his colleagues. And when he gets home, he might take this anger out on his family and his loved ones, all because of a fairly minor incident.

On the high end of the spectrum are those who I consider to be fast to recover, or these are the resilient types. Maybe you know someone like this, a friend or a relative who is fired from their job or suffered some other sort of illness or setback. And within a matter of days or weeks, they seem to be back to their normal self. Some people are even able to spin a setback into something positive and actually benefit from it. Just like a scene out of a movie, the underdog gets fired and comes back even better than ever.

Now, there are what are called normative recovery times for every scenario, no matter how severe. For example, most people would expect the recovery from the loss of a loved one to take a considerable amount of time. That’s absolutely expected. But the reality is, from person to person, the recovery time for each of these different instances varies enormously. And that is interesting. Those differences have driven my research.  




So what are the brain mechanisms that are associated with resilience? In large part, there are two sectors of the brain that are important here. One is the pre-frontal cortex and the other is the amygdala. The pre-frontal cortex controls judgment and planning and other executive functions. And the amygdala is really important for our emotions, particularly for certain negative emotions and anxiety and the sense of being threatened.

What we’ve learned through our research is that people are able to recover quickly and become more resilient, and these people have heightened interactions between the pre-frontal cortex and the amygdala. And it’s pretty amazing to actually see this in a brain scan.

How do you change your resilience? Well, if you want to increase your resilience and speed up your ability to recover from adversity, you’ll need to strengthen the connections between these two parts of the brain that I just spoke about.

The first thing I’d recommend is to try a simple mindfulness practice, such as mindfulness of breathing, which we’ll cover in a basic way later in this course. Mindfulness meditation can have many great benefits. It can cultivate well-being. It can decrease anxiety. It can reduce stress. It can improve our attentional focus, and the list goes on and on. But in terms of resilience, it promotes mental balance. It allows you to gain control of your thoughts and prevent your mind from spinning out of control.

If you’re low in resilience, it’s possible, your mind will move from one catastrophe to the next, compounding the problem. And if that’s the case, this may be a really good option for you.

Another way to increase your resilience may be with Cognitive Reappraisal Training. This comes from cognitive therapy, and it can teach people to look at life’s problems in different and less catastrophic ways.

For example, if you make a dire mistake at work, instead of allowing your negative thoughts of losing your job to take over, you’ll think: “I’ll never make this mistake again. This is not me.” You’ll tell yourself the mistake doesn’t define who you are and you’ll be able to move on more easily. Cognitive therapy is not something you should try yourself. You need to seek help from a professional.

Now, believe it or not, it’s possible to have too much resilience. Extremely resilient people tend to slough off real problems, leaving them to linger and to worsen. And these types of people often lack empathy and compassion for themselves and for others. So, if you wish to lower your resilience, and weaken the connections between the brain circuits responsible for resilience, here’s an exercise you can try. I know it may sound really simple, but think deeply about it.

Think about something bad that may have happened to you for a long period of time, and to take it one step further, write down the difficult and negative feelings that you’re having and read them over and over again. In other words, try to really put yourself in the situation of suffering. And so, that is a way that you can decrease your resilience, if you find that you are recovering too quickly in a particular situation.

So, resilience: our ability to bounce back from adversity or recover from those inevitable setbacks in life.

3. OUTLOOK


Al


Outlook - Al

My name’s Al and I’m a potter and just a creative person. I wanted something more out of life. I wanted some equanimity, if you will, some answers. I thought, maybe I should meditate, and it’s a way to get away from the hustle and bustle of life. And if you remember that there’s a point where you can come and sit down and forget about it all. I’m less affected by the negative aspects of life. I understand that there’s evil and all crazy things in the world, but you can’t fix any of that until you fix yourself. And it makes so much sense to me. It doesn’t mean that you’re going to be necessarily quote unquote a “spiritual leader” or some kind of guru or anything like that. It has nothing to do with that. It has something to do more with finding more of a purpose in your own life.



Outlook - Richard Davidson

Do you know someone who has always had a smile on his or her face? It seems like nothing can ever get them down? A person like this clearly has a positive outlook which is the next dimension that we’re going to talk about. People who fall on the positive end of this spectrum are the positive types and they’re naturally able to savor these positive moments and sustain positive emotions.  


Positive Type ______________ Negative Type
OUTLOOK
  
On the other end of the spectrum are those who tend to be cynical and pessimistic. It’s as though they have a dark cloud hovering over them. In more extreme cases, people with a low outlook can have depression. They can have trouble accomplishing goals. They can have problems planning and they have trouble sustaining their positive emotions. People who fall on the negative end of this spectrum are known as negative types.  


There are a number of different parts of the brain that contribute to this quality of outlook.
Again, our friend the pre-frontal cortex is involved, but it’s connected to another part of the brain that we haven’t yet spoken about called the nucleus accumbens. The connection between these two parts of the brain is part of what’s been called the Reward Circuit. And people who have high levels of outlook are able to show strong connections between these two parts of the brain.



So, naturally, to increase our outlook, we’ll need to strengthen this Reward Circuit. So how can we do this? One of the ways is by resisting immediate rewards and opting for smaller longer term goals. Imagine a cupcake sitting right in front of you, but if you don’t eat it and if you save it for later, when you might be able to share it with friends and family, that would be potentially more rewarding. Every time you resist that cupcake, it’s like a push-up for your brain. It strengthens this Reward Circuit.

If you’re really gutsy, you can seek out and experience with an instant reward and pull yourself away from it or make it difficult to follow through with it. For example, if you feel the urge to go shopping, please go, but don’t take money with you. Just look at all the clothes or whatever it is that you’re shopping for, and think about all the money you’re saving by not buying that pair of designer jeans. Do this everyday for about fifteen minutes and you’ll be on your way to a brighter more positive outlook.

Another simple thing that you can do to increase your positive outlook is to surround yourself with pictures of friends and family and to listen to music that you like. Just make sure to rotate the pictures frequently to keep them fresh. Now, believe it or not, there are some people who actually have an overly positive outlook.

On that extreme of the spectrum are people who are so positive that they may have trouble seeing legitimate mistakes. They might think no matter what, no matter how severe the problem, everything is going to be okay. And that’s simply not always the case. So, if you’re a little too pie-in-the-sky and want to weaken the connection between the pre-frontal cortex and the nucleus accumbens, the heart of this reward circuit, here’s a simple exercise that you can try.

Imagine negative outcomes. I know it sounds like a bummer. But if you’re tempted to purchase a brand new motorcycle, write down all the things that can go wrong. Write down the possibility of getting into an accident, for example. Motorcycles are dangerous. Your insurance will go up. You just made a really big negative list and you can just reflect on it for a while. This might dim your outlook in a situation where it is important to decrease it.

So there we have it. That is outlook, the way you see the world.

Outlook: The way you see your world.
 


Invite a Friend  - Richard Davidson

I hope you’re enjoying taking the course as much as I’ve enjoyed teaching it. If you are, please invite your partner, a friend, a co-worker, members of your family or your community to sign up too. This course is free, and everyone can benefit from learning about their own mind. Please click one of the share options provided to help put someone on the path toward well-being.


4. SOCIAL INTUITION


Ezekiel


Social Intuition - Ezekiel

My name’s Ezekiel and I am a senior business systems analyst. I meditate because of how stressful my days are. I had an incident where I knew this was going to be a really really stressful situation. So, a half hour before the meeting I just booked a conference room and I just took that opportunity to be in a quiet space and plan mentally what I was going to do. I was able to keep my resolve because I had already centered myself and I had already prepared myself for that level of stress. If you are a very practical person who thinks that this is just a bunch of hooey, I would suggest to just give it an honest go. Like, you will see how it changes your mindset. 



Social Intuition - Richard Davidson

Social Intuition: Ability to read other people’s nonverbal signals.

Social intuition is our ability to pick up on vibes, pick up on body language, on nonverbal cues, and this is the next dimension of emotional style that we’ll explore.

Maybe you’ve been caught in a situation like this. You’re with a family member or a friend and they start talking, and talking and talking. And all the while, your eyes begin to glaze over and you completely zone out. Yet, they don’t even notice. They just keep on going and going, totally ignoring your obvious disinterest in what they’re saying. At the extreme low end of the spectrum are those I consider to be puzzled.
 


Puzzled _______________________ Socially Intuitive
SOCIAL INTUITION

Or, you may know someone like this, a person who can almost read a stranger’s emotions, by just looking or listening. This is a person who has a keen ability to pick up on the nonverbal cues of others, on their facial expressions, on their vocal tone. And sometimes they even seem to know what someone else is feeling before they themselves know what they’re feeling. This is the type of person who notices when a co-worker is having problems at home, and invites them to let it all out and to talk about it. They’re also the ones who know when not to talk to someone else, and instead, give them some appropriate space. People who fall at the extreme high end of the social intuition spectrum are socially intuitive. They’re full of empathy, and also, of compassion. They see the struggle in others, and they’re able to take action to remedy the situation. In the recent past, this has also been referred to as emotional intelligence.

One of the great opportunities that I’ve had as a scientist is to spend time around the Dalai Lama. And he is an extremely socially intuitive person. To watch him show this is really a very special treat. He has the ability to pick out someone who may be suffering in a crowd of thousands and give them his complete and undivided attention, and simply ask them if they’re okay. Very unusual.

People with autism often fall on the other end of the spectrum, the low end. They have a hard time picking up on the nonverbal cues of others. And they’re often afraid of making eye contact. In fact, one of the hallmark signs of a person with autism is the inability to make eye contact, because this stresses them out, and they actually get scared from it. Which brings us to the brain. 



There’s a circuit in the brain that involves two important parts that is critical for regulating how socially intuitive a person is: the amygdala and the fusiform gyrus. Someone who is low on the social intuition spectrum has low levels of activity in the fusiform gyrus which helps to decode facial expressions, and they also have very high levels of activity in the amygdala, which is responsible for negative emotions and stress and anxiety.

There are a few ways that you can increase your social intuition. The first is by studying and paying attention to the social interactions of strangers. When you’re out in public, check out the facial expressions of people deep in conversation. Then try to predict their facial expressions and their body language. Notice whether or not they’re making physical contact, and how long they make that contact for. Try to listen to the tone of their voice, and the volume, and observe whether it matches their facial expressions. Once you feel comfortable listening to strangers, try this exercise on people you know. Observe their facial expressions, their body language, and the tone of their voice.

There are two types of meditations that can also help to build social intuition. The first is simple mindfulness meditation, and the second is what’s called loving kindness meditation. I spoke about mindfulness meditation in a previous lesson. It’s about awareness of breathing or awareness of other qualities, and reflecting on our thoughts in a non-judgmental way.

Loving kindness meditation involves saying positive things about people to ourselves and reflecting on their positive attributes. Just that act alone, simply cultivating this kind of positivity has many benefits to our well-being. And we’ll show you a simple loving kindness meditation later in this course.

But maybe you find yourself fixating a little too much on people’s eyes and their body language, and you want to lessen your social intuition. This can occur. One way to do this is by simply avoiding eye contact. Another way is to schedule time to interact with people instead of interacting with them throughout your entire day. This will ease your temptation to fixate on others.

So there we have it. Social intuition. It’s our ability to read other people’s nonverbal signals.


5. SELF-AWARENESS


Krista


Self-Awareness - Krista

I am Krista and I’m a real estate agent. It’s a high stress job. I’ve been yelled at on the phone before. I’ve been sworn at. I’ve been called very nasty names by agents because they’re frustrated with their day as well. Mindfulness and meditation helps me keep myself in as sane and sound mind as possible. If something didn’t go right or something changed, it’s up to me to really bring everybody back into the present moment. So, anybody who’s thinking about it, just start. Quiet your mind. Quiet your room. I mean, even in the car, turn the radio off and just observe who you are in that present moment.




Self-Awareness - Richard Davidson

Self-Awareness: Ability to read signals that your body is sending you.

Self-awareness is your ability to pick up on the signals, on the feelings and on the messages that our body is continually sending to us. Does this sound familiar? Overall, you think you’re feeling emotionally normal. But then a friend or a loved one will come along and ask if you’re doing okay. Because in reality, you look anxious, you may look nervous, you may look sad, and you’re wearing all that on our sleeve. In fact, you’re actually sweating, you have increased heart rate, yet the whole time, you thought you’re fine. 


Self-Opaque _____________________ Self-Aware
SELF-AWARENESS

Some people have a really hard time feeling their own feelings. It’s not that they’re ignoring their feelings. There are signals that are continuously happening in our body. It's that they’re simply unaware that these signals are occurring.

At the extreme low end of self-awareness are those I call self-opaque. This can be dangerous. Imagine if you’re ill and you have an infection and you ignored all the signals your body was giving you. Or, potentially, worse. Imagine that you had tightness in your chest and you ignored that too, which may signal a serious health concern.

Self-awareness matters for our emotions too. If we can't sense when we’re angry or when we’re depressed, imagine what consequences that can have on our loved ones. We could be a ticking time bomb ready to blow up at any moment.

Then, there are those on the high end of the spectrum that I call self-aware. They know exactly why they feel the way they do and they’re emotionally tuned in to the messages their body is giving them. Maybe they had a bad day at work and they’re angry. And just acknowledging where that anger comes from allows them to take a step back and stop themselves from saying something they may regret later on.

Higher levels of self-awareness are common in empathic people. Since they’re able to know how they themselves feel, they can tune in to how others are feeling.

But too much self-awareness can actually come at a cost as well. Some people actually sense the pain, anxiety and stress of others all the time. And when that happens, they can experience an increase in stress hormones like cortisol. They can experience an elevated heart rate. You can imagine that these high levels of self-awareness can play a role in the burnout that is sometimes experienced by doctors and nurses and teachers and others who are surrounded by the pain and suffering of those around them.

At the most extreme high end of this spectrum, are people who are so tuned into their body that they can actually suffer from panic disorders and from hypochondriasis. These are people who where every little new sensation or feeling or emotion can make it hard for them to live their life in a normal healthy way, because they get so fixated on these messages from their body, and they interpret them as signs of danger. 



The part of the brain that controls self-awareness is really interesting. It’s a part of the brain called the insula, and it’s really a cool part of the brain because its the only part of the brain that we know that has what is called a viscero-topic map of the body. This means that all of the visceral organs, like our heart, our liver, our sexual organs, our lungs, our stomach, they’re all mapped to a specific location in this sector of the brain. This part of the brain monitors these organs, and it lets us know when we’re in danger. Think of this part of the brain as the hub of communication for the mind, the brain and the body to all come together. Heightened activation in this sector of the brain is linked to increased awareness of physical sensations, of emotions and higher levels of self-awareness in general.

So how can we change our self-awareness? The best treatments we’ve found come from cognitive therapy. For example, if someone on the extreme end of the spectrum, say, someone with hypochondriasis, is in physical pain, instead of reacting to the pain, we can teach them to tell themselves that their body feels lots of different kinds of sensations, and this is just another one of those sensations and it will pass. Cognitive therapy can decrease activity in the parts of the brain that control self-awareness, and therefore reduce symptoms of anxiety and panic.

Another way to reduce self-awareness is, paradoxically, through mindfulness meditation, which we’ll cover in Unit 2. This type of meditation helps us to allow all of the feelings and emotions come into our mind without judgement. We can see them, but we don’t need to react to them.

You can understand how that might help someone who is hyper-aware of all the sensations that are occurring in their body. Mindfulness meditation doesn’t teach us to ignore these sensations, but it helps us to change our relationship to these sensations, to be able to experience them in a non-judgmental way.

I’ll get into more of this later. But our research shows that even after a short period of practicing mindfulness meditation, people can show some improvement on this dimension.

Ironically, one of the best ways to become more self-aware is also through mindfulness meditation. So, in other words, mindfulness meditation can really help us to achieve some balance. By starting to identify the sensations and feelings that are occurring in our body, not judging them, we can build up awareness of our self.

Another simple way that we can build self-awareness is to rearrange our environments to suit us better. We can start by decreasing distractions in our life. We can put down our phones and unplug, and find a quiet space to reflect on our feelings, and to pay attention to the signals that our body is sending us. So, this is self-awareness — the ability to react to the signals our body is sending us.

6. SENSITIVITY TO CONTEXT


Dawn Bazarko

 Sensitivity to Context - Dawn Bazarko

Hi. My name is Dawn Bazarko. I’m a nurse and a change agent in health care. My mindfulness work at United Health Group began with company nurses back in 2009. I got my certification as a facilitator at UCLA and it has since evolved into standing up this new business Moment Health, and offering programs both in mindfulness and mindful self compassion. I started meditating because I was facing a fairly major crisis in my life and went on a weekend meditation retreat and left feeling like a different person, like something had happened to me. I wasnt sure what it was, but it was probably the first time that I really slowed down. I found that it helped me emotionally regulate and not deal with stress so reactively. It also helped me cultivate more patience and self-awareness so that I understood the impact that I was having on others and the impact that stress and burnout was having on me.


Sensitivity to Context - Richard Davidson

Sensitivity to context is our ability to regulate how we behave in certain contexts and situations and pick up on the natural rules of social interaction that are appropriate for a specific context. Think of it as the emotional style that allows you to project outwardly onto others and to your environment.

For many of us, the way we act at home, for example, is not the same way we would act in the office. And the way we act with our friends is not the same way we might act with our family. But picture this, a man is in a business meeting with the CEO of a Fortune 500 company. And in that moment, out of all the ways to break the ice, he tells an extremely raunchy joke. Everyone in the room is appalled, yet the man is actually confused as to why everyone can’t take a joke.


Tuned out ___________________________ Tuned in
SENSITIVITY TO CONTEXT

This is a classic case of someone saying the wrong thing at the wrong time, and we would say being inappropriately attentive to context. Those who fall on the extreme low end of the sensitivity to context spectrum are people I call tuned out, and those who are on this extreme low end of the spectrum may be those who suffer from post-traumatic stress disorder.

For those of you who don’t know, PTSD or post-traumatic stress disorder, is a condition often seen in soldiers returning from combat or people who have experienced a significant traumatic event. What happens is sights and smells and sounds that are similar to those from the traumatic context trigger flashbacks. For example, the sounds of bangs and booms on a construction site may trigger a memory of an IED (Improvised Explosive Device) exploding and that memory could trigger feelings of panic. I think of PTSD as fundamentally a disorder of disrupted context. On the other end of the spectrum are those that I consider tuned in. These people understand how to behave under a wide variety of circumstances, whether with their family, their friends, their colleagues, or complete strangers.

But a person can be too tuned in. Some people are so high on the spectrum that they are afraid of acting in a certain way in public and humiliating themselves. These people also may act one way to their friends, another way to their relatives, and yet another way to their colleagues and actually start doubting who they are as people. They can have a sort of identity crisis. 






The part of the brain that controls our sensitivity to context is a really interesting part of the brain called the hippocampus. And it's known for helping us to create long term memories, but it also helps us shape our behavior in certain contexts or situations. Those who are tuned in have strong activity in this area, and those who are tuned out have weak activity in this area.

Low activity has been linked to trouble forming new memories of contextual situations, which makes sense when we think about post-traumatic stress disorder. From my example earlier, if someone with PTSD hears the construction noise, they automatically associate it with an explosion. In other words, they’re not making the appropriate contextual distinctions between the safe context of observing a construction site and the traumatic context of being in a war zone.

One way to possibly build sensitivity to context is with something called exposure therapy, which is commonly used for people with post-traumatic stress. This is not something you try out on your own. This needs to be done under the care of a skilled therapist, but the idea is very simple. Expose someone who’s gone through a trauma to a similar type of trauma but in a safe context.

For example, if a woman was assaulted in an alleyway and now she’s afraid to leave her house, her therapist might ask her to first learn a simple breathing exercise to help keep her calm, but then have her think about the alley. Then, over time when she gets the hang of that, her therapist might take her to a street near the alley. Then, when she feels comfortable with that, she can take her first steps in the actual alleyway in daylight, and so on and so forth.

The idea is that over time the woman will again feel safety in the area and not associate that alley with the traumatic context, and this enables her to develop better context distinctions. There haven’t been any research studies done on ways to move people toward the tuned out end of the spectrum, but again I suspect that mindfulness meditation may help cultivate our sense of self-awareness. And this might helps us understand our thoughts and feelings and sensations better, and keep us aware of the things that are happening around us.

So, again, sensitivity to context is our ability to regulate how we act in certain social situations.
 
Unit 1 Wrap Up - Richard Davidson

Congratulations to all of you. You’ve made it to the end of Unit 1. I know we’ve covered a lot of territory with the Six Dimensions of Emotional Style, but it’s really crucial that you learn about the relationship between your brain and emotions. They really are tied together and they drive our sense of well-being. But once you know where you fall on the spectrum of each dimension, then you can start to take steps to alter these dimensions in ways that might suit you better.

Through our research, we’ve found that if you spend just a few minutes a day training your mind with specific mindfulness and well-being exercises, you can change your brain for the better, and that is really powerful. And that’s what we’re going to cover in Unit 2.

I’ll show you ways to change your set points for these dimensions. We’ll talk briefly about some exercises that can help to build compassion and empathy, and may even help to reduce your stress. I'm going to focus primarily on simple meditation exercises because they not only can change your emotional style, but they’re simple to do and they can be done at home, they can be done yourself, without the guidance of a medical professional. And they’re also just a great way to cultivate well-being anywhere and anytime.

Which reminds me of something. You don’t need to be a yogi or a Buddhist monk in a temple to practice meditation. You can start with just small amounts of practice for a few minutes a day in your office or at home, and you can steadily increase from there.

But know this. Scientists are actively studying the dosage of meditation and there isn’t a one-size fits all answer. What works well for one person might not work for another. And also, we’re just beginning to understand how all of this works and why some treatments are more effective than others for particular types of people. But don’t let that stop you. If you choose to, you can take a formal course.

And just so you’re aware, the following guided meditations are not meant to be comprehensive. They’re just a starting point. But we’ll show you some very short versions of popular meditation techniques that you can use. Ready? Now the real fun can begin. 


Go to Unit 2

~
Unit 1 full transcript posted here with permission from AARP.

May all beings be happy, free of suffering and its causes.