In the 1970’s a few post graduate students most notably Jon Kabat-Zinn at MIT began investigating the effects of meditation with a scientific approach. This was a risky career venture for Zinn and others. At the time, the science community viewed meditation as nonsense. But Zinn, Richard Davidson and a few other young postdoctoral scientists working in the field of neuroscience at different universities could not ignore what they were learning about the health and mind benefits of meditation. They wanted a hard scientific understanding of what was going on in the human brain during meditation and what its specific effects are on the mind and body. It’s not hard to get a sense of what those young research pioneers faced in their professional milieu as they set up experiments to study meditation on people. Even in 2016 if you mention meditation to someone the response is generally dismissive. Well, the science community and the general public have had to capitulate to the extraordinary research findings of the health rewards of mindfulness training thanks to Zinn, Davidson and other scientists who thought out of the box decades ago despite extreme unpopularity in their academic field.

Usher in the age of Mindfulness which is the state of meta-awareness. I use the term meta-awareness to describe the bountifulness of this practice. It’s simply amazing and it’s all scientific fact! What you thought were essentials in the American fast lane eventually drop off from the meditator like the bulky first stage of a spacecraft on its way to Earth orbit. Being mindful moment to moment is a bit indescribable.

Stay tuned for more on the merits of meditation and your health.

Paul Benavidez, MFA
Fillmore Active Adult Meditation Class, 805-524-3030