I have been waiting for this explanation most of my adult life. Now maybe I’ll stop screeching “Serenity now!”
Thanks, sunfoundation:
Why Do Freeways Come to a Stop?
This infographic explains what happens that makes freeways suddenly come to a stop. It also explains what the funnel effect is.
~reblogged by Trent Gilliss, senior editor
A Little Bit of Mindfulness Meditation Can Reduce a Lot of Pain
by Trent Gilliss, senior editor
MRI images of the brain of a novice meditator show signs of pain nearly disappear. (source: Robert Coghill/Wake Forest University School of Medicine)
“You might not need extensive training [in meditation] to realize pain-relief benefits. Most people don’t have time to spend months in a monastery.”
—Fadel Zeidan, neuroscientist
On the NPR Shots blog, Adam Cole highlights a study at Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center showing that even novice meditators are able to curb their pain after a few training sessions. Cole writes:
In the study, a small group of healthy medical students attended four 20-minute training sessions on “mindfulness meditation” — a technique adapted from a Tibetan Buddhist form of meditation called samatha.It’s all about acknowledging and letting go of distraction. …
So how did the researchers gauge the effect? They administered a very distracting bit of pain: A small, thermal stimulator heated to 120 degrees was applied to the back of each volunteer’s right calf. The subjects reported both the intensity and unpleasantness of the pain. If pain were music, intensity would be volume. Unpleasantness would have more of an emotional component, kind of like how much you love or hate a song.
After meditation training, the subjects reported a 40 percent decrease in pain intensity and a 57 percent reduction in pain unpleasantness. And it wasn’t just their perception of pain that changed. Brain activity changed too.
Be sure to read Cole’s article for the details.
(h/t stotheb, via almaswithinalmas)
I saw it as a sign from God that this was the right thing to do.
Sacred Spaces
Andy Dayton, associate web producer
A few weeks ago I took a break to attend a week-long retreat in rural Wisconsin. A change of setting was refreshing, and perhaps necessary. Much of my week was spent walking through open fields and gardens, a nice contrast to my cubicle here at SOF headquarters. I also went on two excursions to some unique and inspiring places: Frank Lloyd Wright’s summer home Taliesin, and Deer Park Buddhist Center.
Frank Lloyd Wright’s Taliesin. (photo: Andy Dayton)
Both of these spaces seemed to compliment each other as meeting spaces of the old and new. Taliesin’s modern-looking organic architecture was aged to the point that it almost seemed to crumble into the hillside, while Deer Park’s traditional Buddhist decorations were placed on a brand new, modern building. Both spaces carried a certain weight that stuck with me, especially the interior of Deer Park’s temple, which you see pictured at top.
Fitting then that I returned to a staff discussion about Esther Sternberg’s new book Healing Spaces: The Science of Place and Well-being. I’ve only just started reading it, but the book focuses on the relationship between health and the spaces we inhabit — an idea that I can easily connect with my week in Wisconsin. We’ve talked to Sternberg before — first as a voice for our program “Stress and the Balance Within,” then again as part of our Repossessing Virtue series. Sternberg’s book has been showing up in some unexpected places, and it’s raised the question of whether we might have another conversation with her. I look forward to continuing her book, and perhaps hearing from her again.
The view from Taliesin. (photo: Liz Sexe)
Image at top: inside the Deer Park Buddhist Temple. (photo: Liz Sexe)
Repossessing Virtue: Esther Sternberg on the Economic Crisis in Biological Terms
» download (mp3, 12:28)
Trent Gilliss, Online Editor
Esther Sternberg is a scientist’s scientist. And that, I believe, is what appeals to so many of us who listen to “Stress and the Balance Within.” But, it’s not the only thing. She has a way of taking objective data, verifying and analyzing it, and rendering her report. And then what makes her such a special and effective voice is her incredible ability to relate these scientific points on a personal level, often by looking inward and exposing the frailty of her own humanity.
Take, for instance, Kate’s interview with her on the economic crisis. Kate’s first question: “Do you consider this a moral or spiritual crisis?” Almost immediately, she says that she doesn’t see it in either term because she doesn’t know enough about the causes of the crises (i.e., she doesn’t have the data to make judgments, pronouncements). Rather she sees the crises in biological terms.
She could have left it at that and then talked at length about empirical data and scientific evidence. But, she rarely does. She references people and its impact on others — and then she relates by remembering her father, a Holocaust survivor who would read Psalm 23, her own anxieties about the downturn, the need for public service.
We’re releasing all of these mp3s for download in our podcast. And, check back here at SOF Observed for future conversations with wise thinkers, including Greg Epstein, Pankaj Mishra, and Shane Claiborne.
Also, we’re looking to our readers and listeners for fresh thinking and language about how to talk about the current economic crisis. How has this changed you, your family, your community? And not just financially, but in terms of personal conscience and values? We’d like to hear from you. Tell us your first person story about your experiences.
Beyond the Mind-Body Problem
Shiraz Janjua, Associate Producer
Ahead of our re-broadcast of the program on Stress and the Balance Within this week, our guest Dr. Esther Sternberg will be participating in an international symposium (co-organized with the United Nations) on the mind-body connection. It’s pretty interesting that an international body like the UN takes part in the scientific conversation around what human consciousness is about:
The Human Consciousness Project will conduct the world’s first large-scale multicenter studies at major U.S. and European medical centers on the relationship between mind and brain during clinical death. The results of these studies may not only revolutionize the medical care of critically ill patients and the scientific study of the mind and brain, but may also bear profound universal implications for our understanding of death and what happens when we die.
