This lecture by Tenzin Gyatso, the current Dalai Lama, was delivered at the Spirit and Nature Symposium at Middlebury College. He discusses Buddhist perspectives on the environment. (Steven Weinberger 2004-05-13)
In this article Benard explores the life of Machik Lapdrön. (BJN)
This experiment was designed to test whether reading disabled boys differ from matched controls on behavioral measures of interhemispheric transfer time (IHTT). Specifically, we proposed that language-disordered reading disabled children who had deficits in naming would show either faster or slower IHTTs compared with controls. From an initial group of 118 right-handed males, we selected a group of 25 disabled and 25 normal readers, matched on age. All subjects had to obtain a full scale IQ of 90 or above, a PIQ score of 85 or above, and a scaled score of 7 or above on the Block Design Subtest of the WISC-R. After meeting additional criteria for group assignment, manual reaction time (RT) measures of IHTT were obtained in response to simple visual and tactile stimuli during two laboratory testing sessions. Half the trials were conducted with the hands in an uncrossed orientation and half with the hands crossed in order to examine the effects of spatial compatibility on estimates of IHTT. The results revealed no overall group differences in IHTT for any of the conditions. However, correlations between IHTT measures and indices of cognitive performance indicated that faster IHTTs were significantly correlated with poorer performance on measures of reading and language function in the dyslexic group. These data are discussed within the context of a model of interhemispheric transfer deficits in disabled readers.
Baseline resting electroencephalogram (EEG) activity was recorded from 6 normothymic depressives and 8 controls using three different reference montages. Power in all frequency bands was extracted by Fourier transformation. Significant Group X Region X Hemisphere interactions were found consistently for alpha band power only. Previously depressed subjects had less left-sided anterior and less right-sided posterior activation (i.e., more alpha activity) than did never depressed subjects. Previously depressed subjects had no history of pharmacological treatment and did not differ from controls in emotional state at the time of testing. The pattern of anterior and posterior asymmetry in the previously depressed subjects is similar to that found in acutely depressed subjects and suggests that this may be a state-independent marker for depression.
The effects of two pranayama yoga breathing exercises on airway reactivity, airway calibre, symptom scores, and medication use in patients with mild asthma were assessed in a randomised, double-blind, placebo-controlled, crossover trial. After baseline assessment over 1 week, 18 patients with mild asthma practised slow deep breathing for 15 min twice a day for two consecutive 2-week periods. During the active period, subjects were asked to breathe through a Pink City lung (PCL) exerciser--a device which imposes slowing of breathing and a 1:2 inspiration:expiration duration ratio equivalent to pranayama breathing methods; during the control period, subjects breathed through a matched placebo device. Mean forced expiratory volume in 1 s (FEV1), peak expiratory flow rate, symptom score, and inhaler use over the last 3 days of each treatment period were assessed in comparison with the baseline assessment period; all improved more with the PCL exerciser than with the placebo device, but the differences were not significant. There was a statistically significant increase in the dose of histamine needed to provoke a 20% reduction in FEV1 (PD20) during pranayama breathing but not with the placebo device. The usefulness of controlled ventilation exercises in the control of asthma should be further investigated.
Weight reduction, alcohol restriction, mild salt restriction, eating a vegetarian diet and increasing aerobic exercise will generally lower the blood pressure in patients with essential hypertension. Eating a diet rich in potassium and reducing caffeine intake may also be helpful in reducing the pressure, but increasing the fiber or calcium intake will generally be ineffective. Reducing fat intake from the usual 40% of total calories to 25-30% may reduce hypertension directly or by weight reduction. Smoking, when combined with excessive caffeine or alcohol intake may have an additive effect on blood pressure. Monotherapy with such behavioral techniques as self-monitoring of blood pressure, biofeedback, meditation, yoga, progressive muscular relaxation or cognitive therapy may reduce the blood pressure to a variable degree, and combinations of these treatments may be even more successful.
The old Indian literature describes a technique known as Sutra-Neti. That is, passing a catheter or similar material through the nose and out of the mouth as a means of clearing the airway. One of our patients adapted this method, tying the catheter end to end, in order to control his severe snoring and obstructive sleep apnoea. This was effective for several months. He subsequently responded well to a uvulopalatopharyngoplasty.
This ground-breaking study reveals an unorganized and previously unacknowledged religion at the heart of American culture. Nature, Albanese argues, has provided a compelling religious center throughout American history.
Dharma Gaia explores the ground where Buddhism and ecology meet through writings by the Dalai Lama, Gary Snyder, Thich Nhat Hanh, Allen Ginsberg, Joanna Macy, Robert Aitken, and 25 other Buddhists and ecologists.
The paper summarizes some non-specific stress factors of work in the health services (e.g. shift work) and some relatively specific stressing factors (e.g. contact with grief, intense negative emotion and death). It deals also with the consequences of excessive stress, incl. the "burnout syndrome". It gives a brief account of possible preventive measures at the individual level and at the level of the organization. In the conclusion the author mentions the possibility to use yoga in the prevention of occupational stress in the health services. Work in the health services although, associated with considerable stress, is at the same time an opportunity for personality development and self-realization.
We all admire the altruism of a Mother Teresa or the heroism of people who risk their lives to save a drowning child. But when it comes to our own everyday lives, we tend to regard “looking out for number one” as more central to human nature than reaching out to others. Surprisingly, though, that cynical view does not hold up in the light of recent research. In this lively book, Alfie Kohn draws from hundreds of compelling studies in psychology, sociology, economics, and biology to demonstrate convincingly that we are more caring than we give ourselves credit for, and that our generosity cannot be reduced to mere self-interest. The Brighter Side of Human Nature shows that helping is every bit as natural as hurting.
Building on the concepts of professional competence that he introduced in his classic The Reflective Practitioner, Schon offers an approach for educating professional in all areas that will prepare them to handle the complex and unpredictable problems of actual practice with confidence, skill, and care.
Instructional photographs and simple text written by children introduce the basic, optional, and meditative poses of Hatha yoga.
The author investigated whether high levels of metacognitive knowledge about problem solving could compensate for low overall aptitude. To test this hypothesis, a 2 (high–low aptitude) × 2 (high–low metacognitive ability) design was used to analyze children's problem-solving performance. Processing differences between ability groups were determined through an analysis of "think aloud" protocols. Protocols were analyzed at two levels: (a) grouping of subroutines that function as heuristic processes and (b) grouping of subroutines that function as strategies. Regardless of aptitude, higher metacognitive children performed better than the lower metacognitive children. Higher metacognitive ability groups were more likely to rely on hypothetico-deductive (if–then propositions) and evaluation (check the adequacy of a hypothesis) strategies than was the lower metacognitive group. The results are discussed in terms of the independence of metacognition and general academic aptitude. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2016 APA, all rights reserved)
Global warming, acid rain, the depletion of forests, the polluting of our atmosphere and oceans--the threats to our environment are numerous, raising justifiable concern among most of us and genuine alarm in some. But as scientist Daniel Botkin argues in this provocative new book, our ability to solve these problems is limited--not by our scientific knowledge--but by the age-old myths and metaphors that shape our perception of the natural world. Indeed, our beliefs about nature have fallen well behind our knowledge. Daniel Botkin is a seasoned scientist. He has spent three decades in the field studying the changes and interactions of forests and animal species. In the 1960s he pioneered the use of computers to predict ecological trends. Now, in Discordant Harmonies, he combines his considerable expertise with the well-honed eye of the nature writer and a philosopher's sense of how ideas shape our perceptions of reality to take us on a marvelous guided tour of the natural world. His method is to introduce a problem in our beliefs about nature by giving us a fascinating case study: of predator-prey relationships, of forests evolving over centuries, of species nearing extinction, of the ways our "protection" of nature has had surprising--and often disappointing--results. Botkin's revealing case studies also highlight controversial present-day issues--like controlled burning in national forests, fishing and hunting quotas, and policy-making for management of natural resources. He looks at each of these cases in the light of past thinking and current research, revealing how old myths often blind us to the new technology and to the ways of thinking we need to solve our environmental problems. Above all, Botkin is concerned with finding the delicate balance between man and nature--that place where human needs and the intricate systems of nature can viably coexist. Whether discussing moose herds on Isle Royale or Yosemite's famous Mariposa Grove of Sequoias, Botkin writes vividly and insightfully about nature, challenging us to rethink some of our most cherished notions. Anyone who is concerned about the environment will find much here to ponder as well as the pleasure of meeting a stimulating and thoughtful mind at work.
Building on the concepts of professional competence that he introduced in his classic The Reflective Practitioner, Schon offers an approach for educating professional in all areas that will prepare them to handle the complex and unpredictable problems of actual practice with confidence, skill, and care.
To examine the extent to which advanced meditative practices might alter body metabolism and the electroencephalogram (EEG), we investigated three Tibetan Buddhist monks living in the Rumtek monastery in Sikkim, India. In a study carried out in February 1988, we found that during the practice of several different meditative practices, resting metabolism ([Vdot]O2) could be both raised (up to 61%) and lowered (down to 64%). The reduction from rest is the largest ever reported. On the EEG, marked asymmetry in alpha and beta activity between the hemispheres and increased beta activity were present. From these three case reports, we conclude that advanced meditative practices may yield different alterations in metabolism (there are also forms of meditation that increase metabolism) and that the decreases in metabolism can be striking.
The U.S. Department of Energy's Office of Scientific and Technical Information
ABSTRACT. Ninety children with mental retardation of mild, moderate and severe degree were selected from four special schools in Bangalore, India. Forty-five children underwent yogic training for one academic year (5 h in every week) with an integrated set of yogic practices, including breathing exercises and pranayama, sithilikarana vyayama (loosening exercises), suryanamaskar, yogasanas and meditation. They were compared before and after yogic training with a control group of 45 mentally retarded children matched for chronological age, sex, IQ, socio-economic status and socio environmental background who were not exposed to yoga training but continued their usual school routine during that period. There was highly significant improvement in the IQ and social adaptation parameters in the yoga group as compared to the control group. This study shows the efficacy of yoga as an effective therapeutic tool in the management of mentally retarded children.
Provides guidelines for the use of 3 approaches to stress management in children: guided imagery, yoga and autogenic phrases, and thermal biofeedback. It is advised that counselors, teachers, and parents should have personal experience with these methods before implementing them. Counselors should work with small groups (5–7 children) when they first learn these techniques. It is recommended that a program using these methods should extend for no less than 3 mo and include at least 3 practice sessions each week.
A prototype treatment developed to significantly reduce symptoms of stress among inservice teachers was tested in this experiment. Thirty participants selected for high stress levels were randomly assigned to treatment and control groups. They were assessed on environmental, personality, and emotional variables, using self-report and expert-judge measures, at both pre- and posttreatment. The experimental treatment was holistic, incorporating all processes previously found to be related to reducing teacher stress. At posttreatment, the treatment group averaged 1.02 standard deviations lower on the stress measures than the control group. Significant differences in the posttest means, favoring the experimental group, were found for 23 of the 39 variables measured on the three self-report instruments. As a group, the participants demonstrated substantially lower stress levels than the control group after the treatment, with a substantial decrease from their pretreatment stress levels. Since the control group received no treatment, some of the difference may be due to Hawthorne effect.
A prototype treatment developed to significantly reduce symptoms of stress among inservice teachers was tested in this experiment. Thirty participants selected for high stress levels were randomly assigned to treatment and control groups. They were assessed on environmental, personality, and emotional variables, using self-report and expert-judge measures, at both pre- and posttreatment. The experimental treatment was holistic, incorporating all processes previously found to be related to reducing teacher stress. At posttreatment, the treatment group averaged 1.02 standard deviations lower on the stress measures than the control group. Significant differences in the posttest means, favoring the experimental group, were found for 23 of the 39 variables measured on the three self-report instruments. As a group, the participants demonstrated substantially lower stress levels than the control group after the treatment, with a substantial decrease from their pretreatment stress levels. Since the control group received no treatment, some of the difference may be due to Hawthorne effect.
In the Hindu tradition, 'health' means the continued maintenance of the best possible working of the human body under normal, and sometimes even abnormal, environmental conditions. Hindu religious teaching on healthy living and ethical considerations culminate in spiritual objectives if the injunctions contained in the system are followed. Hatha yoga is a system of bodily care that is conducive to such health, which also corrects disease via the regulation of muscular action and in other ways. Other systems of medicine, such as Ayurveda and other traditional systems in Hindu culture, have been devised for the good of humanity. It is, however, the holistic approach to health in Hinduism that calls attention to such causes of ill health as climatic extremes, bacterial attack, nutritional deviance, stress, and other forms of emotional imbalance. A state of good health is within the reach of most persons if they cultivate habits that are conducive to physical and spiritual well-being. The concept of preventive medicine is probably also based on the tenet that the attainment of good health is a religious duty, and corresponding injunctions are found in abundance in Hindu scriptures. It is not the training of students in the medical profession that is most important for health care, but rather their concern for health and their willingness to apply themselves to the observation of the rules they would wish their patients to observe.
I present a Third World critique of the trend in American environmentalism known as deep ecology, analyzing each of deep ecology’s central tenets: the distinction between anthropocentrism and biocentrism, the focus on wildemess preservation, the invocation of Eastem traditions, and the belief that it represents the most radical trend within environmentalism. I argue that the anthropocentrism/biocentrism distinction is of little use in understanding the dynamics of environmental degredation, that the implementation of the wildemess agenda is causing serious deprivation in the Third World, that the deep ecologist’s interpretation of Eastem traditions is highly selective, and that in other cultural contexts (e.g., West Germany and India) radical environmentalism manifests itself quite differently, with a far greater emphasis on equity and the integration of ecological concems with livelihood and work. I conclude that despite its claims to universality, deep ecology is firmly rooted in American environmental and cultural history and is inappropriate when applied to the Third World.
