Divide and Conquer: How the Essence of Mindfulness Parallels the Nuts and Bolts of Science

Google Tech Talk
January 28, 2010

ABSTRACT

Presented by Shinzen Young.

The purpose of this talk is threefold: (1) to describe how senior adepts use mindfulness to reduce suffering and gain insight into selfhood and emotions. (2) To point out how the method they use in many ways parallels what scientists do when confronted with a complex and inscrutable system in nature. (3) To discuss how this fundamental parallelism between the two endeavors can become the basis for a productive collaboration in the future.

Bio: Shinzen Young became fascinated with Asian culture while a teenager in Los Angeles. Later he enrolled in the Ph.D. program in Buddhist Studies at the University of Wisconsin. Eventually, he went to Asia and did extensive training in each of the three major Buddhist meditative traditions: Vajrayana, Zen, and Vipassana. Upon returning to the United States, his intellectual interests shifted to the burgeoning dialogue between Eastern internal science and Western technological science. In recognition of his
original contributions to that dialogue, the Institute of Transpersonal Psychology has awarded him an honorary doctorate. Shinzen's innovative techniques for pain management derived from two sources: The first is his personal experience dealing with discomfort during intense periods of meditation in Asia, and during shamanic ceremonies with tribal cultures. The second is some three decades of experience in coaching people through a wide spectrum of chronic and acute pain challenges. Shinzen leads meditation retreats in the mindfulness tradition throughout North America, and has helped establish several centers and programs.

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  Science & Technology

[deimossonofares]

Thank you Google for providing this high qualitiy knowledge for free. Keep up the good work !!

Greetings from Germany.

[c4chaos]

awesome! Shinzen is the best meditation teacher i've encountered so far. his very lucid and scientific approach to meditation really takes the mist out of mysticism

[Owen Lowe]

If I'm not mistaken, but I believe that there was actually a research article I had found that explained how meditation through a regular basis had actually increased the brain's plasticity. Now I have no fine understanding of neuroscience, but if I'm not mistaken. Wouldn't the increased plasticity, depending on where it is coming from, essentially help in restoring those damaged areas? Feel free to correct me if this not be the case.

[jacobsczgmail]

Can you tell me by large about the Csikszentmihaly subject?Thank yoy.

[tabula123456]

No...not at all. The subjective experience can not be tested scientifically but the effects can be objectively tested. Such as heart rate, anxiety levels, etc. Even subjective anecdotal evidence can become scientifically valid if it becomes statistically significant. There is a difference between subjective experience, objective observation and subjective evidence.

[Misha Chavarha]

I wonder how can you study mediation scientifically, if meditation inherently is subjective experience. And as soon as you start introducing subjectivity into scientific method you might as well throw it out of the window, or at least don't call it science.

[CybranM]

I saw "high quality", checked resolutions, 480p :c

[tabula123456]

NO!...not at all. Please keep your fictional character out of this. This is a scientific approach to meditation, with proper studies and tests used to determine its effectiveness. Adding fictional characters and bizarre belief systems only distorts the results. You simply do not need a cruel and fictional character to meditate. In fact I think it would be detrimental to meditation, because instead of spending your time in awareness your now lost in imaginations and fairy-tales.

[jarcherjarcher]

This is harmless but certainly not based on anything but imagination and pseudo-technical terminology for the obvious. If this is deep our society is in bad shape. The average techie is so narrowly educated that she is impressed by anything vaguely humanistic. It is a good wholesome instinct so I support it, but I hope one who becomes entranced by this video

[Abdunnoor1]

My friend, brain has the ability to rewire itself, and thats how people learn. to second thing i like to mention to make the results of meditation much more powerful is to use the Name of God Allah, as Sufis do, such as breathing in while mentaly saying Allah, then breathing out while mentally saying Hu. Doing so it will run the negative entities that are living in the aura of one, and help him to be more focused and happy. Try it then tell me your experience please. thanks