Mindfulness Talks

Mindfulness is the practice of purposely bringing one's attention to the present-moment experience without evaluation, a skill one develops through meditation or other training. Mindfulness derives from sati, a significant element of Hindu and Buddhist traditions, and is based on Zen, Vipassanā, and Tibetan meditation techniques. Though definitions and techniques of mindfulness are wide-ranging, Buddhist traditions explain what constitutes mindfulness such as how past, present and future moments arise and cease as momentary sense impressions and mental phenomena. Individuals who have contributed to the popularity of mindfulness in the modern Western context include Thích Nhất Hạnh, Herbert Benson, Jon Kabat-Zinn, Richard J. Davidson, and Sam Harris.

Clinical psychology and psychiatry since the 1970s have developed a number of therapeutic applications based on mindfulness for helping people experiencing a variety of psychological conditions. Mindfulness practice has been employed to reduce depression, stress, anxiety, and in the treatment of drug addiction. Programs based on mindfulness models have been adopted within schools, prisons, hospitals, veterans' centers, and other environments, and mindfulness programs have been applied for additional outcomes such as for healthy aging, weight management, athletic performance, helping children with special needs, and as an intervention during the perinatal period.

Clinical studies have documented both physical- and mental-health benefits of mindfulness in different patient categories as well as in healthy adults and children. Studies have shown a positive relationship between trait mindfulness (which can be cultivated through the practice of mindfulness-based interventions) and psychological health. The practice of mindfulness appears to provide therapeutic benefits to people with psychiatric disorders, including moderate benefits to those with psychosis. Studies also indicate that rumination and worry contribute to a variety of mental disorders, and that mindfulness-based interventions can enhance trait mindfulness and reduce both rumination and worry. Further, the practice of mindfulness may be a preventive strategy to halt the development of mental-health problems. However, according to one opinion article, too much mindfulness may produce negative effects.

Evidence suggests that engaging in mindfulness meditation may influence physical health. For example, the psychological habit of repeatedly dwelling on stressful thoughts appears to intensify the physiological effects of the stressor (as a result of the continual activation of the sympathetic nervous system and the hypothalamus-pituitary-adrenal axis) with the potential to lead to physical health related clinical manifestations. Studies indicate that mindfulness meditation, which brings about reductions in rumination, may alter these biological clinical pathways. Further, research indicates that mindfulness may favorably influence the immune system as well as inflammation, which can consequently impact physical health, especially considering that inflammation has been linked to the development of several chronic health conditions. Other studies support these findings. Additionally, mindfulness appears to bring about lowered activity of the default mode network of the brain, and thereby contribute towards a lowered risk of developing conditions such as dementia and Alzheimer's disease.

However, critics have questioned both the commercialization and the over-marketing of mindfulness for health benefits—as well as emphasizing the need for more randomized controlled studies, for more methodological details in reported studies and for the use of larger sample-sizes. While mindfulness-based interventions may be effective for youth, research still needs to determine the most appropriate methods in which mindfulness could be introduced and delivered in schools.

From Mindfulness on Wikipedia

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Title Speaker

Teachings for the Welfare of the World

In this summer series, teachings will be offered for those who aspire to embrace and sustain the great earth and all living beings in order to realize peace and freedom in our troubled world.

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YRB-2019-Summer, Silence, Mindfulness, Addiction, japanese, zen meditation, Duality,...
Jul 23 2019
5/7
The Yoga Room

Silent Sitting & Social Action

Zen students often ask how our practice of silence and stillness relates to injustice and our environmental crisis. In this class we explore this question and study the intimate interplay of...

YRB-2018-Fall, Intimacy, Silence, Doubt, Addiction, unconscious process, Attachment,...
Nov 20 2018
6 of 7
The Yoga Room

Remembering Fred Maroth

Buddha Ancestors, Heart Sutra, Mindfulness, Birth-and-Death, resistance, Faith,...
Nov 23 2013
Morning
No Abode Hermitage

Observing the Breathing Body and the Mind of No Abode 

Perfect Wisdom, Breath, Observe, Mindfulness, Don't Know Mind, Buddha Mind,...
Aug 10 2013
Morning
No Abode Hermitage

A Family Style for Realizing the Oneness of All Families 

true dharma, Lay, Birth-and-Death, Mindfulness, Family Practice, Big Mind, Mill...
Mar 10 2012
Morning
No Abode Hermitage

Embracing the Mahayana: Do You Want to be an Artist? 

Lotus Sutra, Interview, Karmic Consciousness, Heart Sutra, Suzuki Roshi, Birth-and-...
Jul 16 2011
Morning
No Abode Hermitage

Training for the Selfless Heart 

Patience, Addiction, Bodhidharma, difficulty, Enthusiasm, Don't Know Mind,...
Apr 15 2010
The Yoga Room

On Enlightenment and Delusion 

Silence, Karmic Consciousness, Mindfulness
Nov 19 2009
The Yoga Room

For a Sentient Being to be a Sentient Being is just not to Move 

Silence, Impermanence, Mindfulness, Manjushri, American, Breath, Karmic Consciousness...
Nov 14 2009
Morning
No Abode Hermitage

Meditation on Pride 

Tenshin Reb Anderson
Samdhinirmonchana Sutra (Part X),
Chapter Four, Morning Dharma Talk
Saturday August 15, 2009, A.M.

Doubt, Four Foundations, Building, Heart Sutra, japanese, Attachment, Interview,...
Aug 08 2009
Morning
No Abode Hermitage

Causation and Non-Self 

causation, Faith, Four Noble Truths, Two Truths, Aspects of Practice, Attachment,...
Mar 19 2009
The Yoga Room

The Practice That Fills and Is Filled by the Entire Universe and the Bodhisattva Precept of Not Killing 

Lotus Sutra, Soto Zen, Bodhisattva Precepts, Buddha Ancestors, Buddha Mind, soto,...
Nov 22 2008
Morning
No Abode Hermitage

Buddha Sitting as Us; Us Sitting as Buddha 

Funeral, Mindfulness, confusion, Birth-and-Death, Buddha Mind, Bodhisattva Precepts,...
Oct 18 2008
Morning
No Abode Hermitage

Buddha Sitting as Us; Us Sitting as Buddha 

Birth-and-Death, Lotus Sutra, War, Mindfulness, American, Samsara, Practice Period,...
Oct 18 2008
Afternoon
No Abode Hermitage

Current Heightened Awareness of Fear 

Samsara, Greed, Fox, Mindfulness, Nirvana, War, Attachment, Commitment, Desire,...
Sep 20 2008
Morning
No Abode Hermitage

Practicing the Four Frames of Mindfulness as Gates to Totality 

Mindfulness, confusion, Birth-and-Death, Intimacy, War, Attachment
Sep 06 2008
Afternoon
No Abode Hermitage

Entering and Embodying Truth 

Mindfulness, Enemies, Discrimination, Cultivation, zen meditation, Bodhisattva Vow,...
Jul 15 2008
The Yoga Room

Bodhisattva Vows 

Suzuki Roshi, Building, Bodhisattva Vow, Bodhisattva Way, Evil, Bodhisattva Precepts...
Sep 08 2007
Afternoon
No Abode Hermitage

Happiness

The pursuit of happiness vs. wanting others to be happy; happiness from absorption in activity

Teachings on Happiness for Dancing Mountains Sangha newsletter
Date: February 3, 2007...

Desire, zen meditation, Religion, Bell, Culture, Patience, Confession-and-Repentance...
Feb 03 2007
AM
No Abode Hermitage