Brain Imaging Reveals How Mindfulness Program Boosts Pain Regulation
by Admin
Posted on 21-08-2022 10:28 AM
Mar. 4, 2022 mindfulness meditation is a stress-management
practice
with ancient lineage that cultivates nonjudgmental awareness of the present moment, often by
objective criteria: subjective experiences
mindfulness program boosts pain regulation
how mindfulness meditation reduces pain
recognizing our voice and feeling in control
mindfulness: no structural brain change found
'near-death experiences': new guidelines
psychedelics and consciousness: new study
the brain on psychedelics.
Brain Circuit for Spirituality?
Whether you are a staunch atheist, a reserved agnostic, or a devout believer, you are equally likely to find the effects of religion on human brains astonishing.
Religious belief can increase our lifespan and help us better cope with disease. And, research in the field of “neurotheology” — or the neuroscience of theological belief — has made some surprising discoveries that are bound to change how we think about
spirituality
. For instance, some scientists suggest that religious experience activates the same brain circuits as sex and drugs. Other research has suggested that damage to a certain brain region can make you feel as though someone’s in the room when nobody’s there.
The Benefits of a Spiritual Life
Spirituality offers a worldview that suggests there is more to life than just what people experience on a sensory and physical level. Instead, it suggests that there is something greater that connects all beings to each other and to the universe itself. It also strives to answer questions about the meaning of life, how people are connected to each other, truths about the universe, and other mysteries of human existence. Spirituality has been a source of comfort and relief from stress for multitudes of people. While people use many different paths to find god or a higher power, research has shown that those who are more religious or spiritual and use their spirituality to cope with challenges in life experience many benefits to their health and well-being.
Lunar symbolism is present in nearly every religious tradition across the globe, and is especially prominent in astrology. “spiritually, the moon is a hugely influential entity that guides us enormously, energetically speaking,” says halley. “moon water is a way of really bringing that energy into ourselves and carrying it with us. ”halley says that a moon water ritual can help you to feel in “flow” with the universe. “it benefits spiritual practice in many ways by allowing us to energetically supercharge our life source, water, with an energy source, the moon, that’s so powerful it pushes and pulls the oceans,” she says.
The Search for Meaning
An instinct toward spirituality appears to be deeply ingrained in humans. We can't help but ask big questions: research finds that even declared religious skeptics can't stifle a sense that there is something greater than the physical world they see. As the brain processes sensory experiences, it naturally looks for patterns—and our conscious selves often seek meaning in those patterns. This can lead to the phenomenon known as " cognitive dissonance ," which describes how, once one believes in something, one is strongly inclined to try to explain away anything that conflicts with it. Cognitive dissonance is not unique to religion or spirituality, but often occurs in the context of such beliefs.
Christina puchalski, md, director of the george washington institute for spirituality and health, contends that "spirituality is the aspect of humanity that refers to the way individuals seek and express meaning and purpose and the way they experience their connectedness to the moment, to self, to others, to nature, and to the significant or sacred. "according to mario beauregard and denyse o’leary, researchers and authors of the spiritual brain, “spirituality means any experience that is thought to bring the experiencer into contact with the divine (in other words, not just any experience that feels meaningful). ”nurses ruth beckmann murray and judith proctor zenter write that “the spiritual dimension tries to be in harmony with the universe, and strives for answers about the infinite, and comes into focus when the person faces emotional stress, physical illness, or death.
Spirituality cannot be captured in one standardized definition. Spirituality is a rich, intercultural, and multilayered concept. As a guideline, zsolnai (2015, p. 4) proposes a working definition (developed by the european spes forum): spirituality is people ’s multiform search for the deep meaning of life that interconnects them to all living beings and to “god” or ultimate reality (european spes forum 2014). “it is reasonable to think that every human being has a spirituality” (haight, 1987, p. 21). According to roger haight (1987, p. 22), “the term spirituality can be understood on at least two levels, the one existential and the other reflective and explicitly conscious.
A few years ago in honolulu, my wife and i became acquainted with an attractive, japanese-american girl, who had spent her entire life in hawaii. As we got to know her better, she revealed that she was pondering and perplexed about whether she should go to college “on the mainland,” meaning san francisco. The idea of moving to san francisco and leaving hawaii for the first time was giving her no peace at all. On top of that her grandmother, who probably was a buddhist, had taught her to always seek peace in every part of her life. The young woman was searching for an answer.
Health in Your 20s
No direct causal link has been established, but research has consistently found that religious involvement is correlated with better physical and mental health , including better sleep , lower blood pressure, and an overall lower rate of mortality. Higher levels of spirituality have also been linked to increased compassion, strengthened relationships, and improved self-esteem. There may be a downside for people who avoid religion and spirituality altogether: some research has indicated that eschewing “ magical thinking ” and being unable to identify patterns in the surrounding world may be linked to depression or anhedonia, the inability to experience pleasure.
What aspect of spirituality affects your physical and mental health? can spirituality experts access a higher power? is there proof of a spiritual dimension? is there proof (like citations in medical research and journals) of the existence of a divine being? what does society say about near-death experiences and phenomena they can’t typically explain?.
The question of spirituality and relationship of a man and god should be topical today taking into consideration the present cultural and ethical situation in contemporary society. Nowadays mankind is lead by and inspired by material values, the main characteristic of our life and lifestyle is their being mercenary. The aims of people are very often reduced to achievement of a certain level of financial stability and to satisfaction of down-to-earth aspirations. The concept of harmony and happiness is distorted nowadays due to mercenary perception of life. However, new testament says: “be not drunk with wine, wherein is excess; but be filled with the spirit”.