<p>This book examines 400+ ancient monuments and rock art sites of upper Tibet discovered by John Vincent Bellezza. It is divided into two volumes: residential monuments and ceremonial monuments. The surveys of each site include photos, descriptions of the site, history of the site, etc. (Steven Weinberger 2012-06-26)</p>
<p>A multidisciplinary journal aimed at researchers and practitioners of Asian Medicine in Asia as well as in Western countries. It makes available in one single publication academic essays that explore the historical, anthropological, sociological and philological dimensions of Asian medicine as well as practice reports from clinicians based in Asia and in Western countries.</p>
<p>With the recent upsurge of interest in non-Western alternative approaches to health care, Asian Medicine - Tradition and Modernity will be of relevance to those studying the modifications and adaptations of traditional medical systems on their journey to non-Asian settings. It will also be relevant to those who wish to learn more about the traditional background and practice of Asian medicine within its countries of origin.</p>
<p>On account of its appeal to scholars from a range of academic backgrounds (such as history, philology,anthropology, sociology, archaeology) as well as to practitioners based in Asia and in Western medical institutions and alternative health care settings, the journal constitutes a unique resource for both scholarly and clinically focused institutions.</p>
Importance Concerns exist about the current quality of undergraduate medical education and its effect on students’ well-being.Objective To identify best practices for undergraduate medical education learning environment interventions that are associated with improved emotional well-being of students.
Data Sources Learning environment interventions were identified by searching the biomedical electronic databases Ovid MEDLINE, EMBASE, the Cochrane Library, and ERIC from database inception dates to October 2016. Studies examined any intervention designed to promote medical students’ emotional well-being in the setting of a US academic medical school, with an outcome defined as students’ reports of well-being as assessed by surveys, semistructured interviews, or other quantitative methods.
Data Extraction and Synthesis Two investigators independently reviewed abstracts and full-text articles. Data were extracted into tables to summarize results. Study quality was assessed by the Medical Education Research Study Quality Instrument (MERQSI), which has a possible range of 5 to 18; higher scores indicate higher design and methods quality and a score of 14 or higher indicates a high-quality study.
Findings Twenty-eight articles including at least 8224 participants met eligibility criteria. Study designs included single-group cross-sectional or posttest only (n = 10), single-group pretest/posttest (n = 2), nonrandomized 2-group (n = 13), and randomized clinical trial (n = 3); 89.2% were conducted at a single site, and the mean MERSQI score for all studies was 10.3 (SD, 2.11; range, 5-13). Studies encompassed a variety of interventions, including those focused on pass/fail grading systems (n = 3; mean MERSQI score, 12.0), mental health programs (n = 4; mean MERSQI score, 11.9), mind-body skills programs (n = 7; mean MERSQI score, 11.3), curriculum structure (n = 3; mean MERSQI score, 9.5), multicomponent program reform (n = 5; mean MERSQI score, 9.4), wellness programs (n = 4; mean MERSQI score, 9.0), and advising/mentoring programs (n = 3; mean MERSQI score, 8.2).
Conclusions and Relevance In this systematic review, limited evidence suggested that some specific learning environment interventions were associated with improved emotional well-being among medical students. However, the overall quality of the evidence was low, highlighting the need for high-quality medical education research.
In this chapter, the authors discuss the notion of health as applied to humans and to ecosystems, and they explain how in both domains the state of health cannot be adequately defined or assessed using scientific terms and measures. They show that the notion of human health is elusive and the various definitions that have been attempted have serious shortcomings. Importantly, the myriad attributes and domains that make up the concept of human health cannot be measured uniquely in any individual, and there is no consensus as to how to uniquely define human health. Health goes beyond the internal signs reflected by physiological and pathological parameters measured by physicians, and even goes beyond the exteriorized signs of disability; and can even include the concept of “well-being,” and how a person “feels” about their health. Moreover, health is an evolving process, and individuals change in different ways through time. In short, human health in its entirety cannot be measured in a specific individual. The authors thus conclude that defining ecosystem health by appealing to the analogy of human health is incorrect— and certainly incorrect when considering only physicians as diagnosticians and healers. Ecologists acting as physicians to diagnose and correct pathology are of course correct and essential. Ecologists have developed myriad indices to measure various attributes of ecosystems. In parallel with humans, it is unlikely that a finite set of indicators can be developed or measured to be able to claim that an ecosystem is “healthy.” More importantly, assessments of ecosystem function and states do not require a clear definition of ecosystem health. In particular, complex indices that combine elementary ones to measure ecosystem health cannot measure all of the dimensions in complex ecosystems, and the use of complex indicators must be benchmarked; claiming that an ecosystem is healthy based on these types of indices can be fraught with error. The authors conclude that using these indicators in ecological economics— especially in terms of monitoring the effects of human activities on ecosystems and species at the local, regional, and global levels— requires a judicious choice of objectives as to which indicators are to be measured for the purposes of remediation and for making statements of policy.
Civilized Shamans examines the nature and evolution of religion in Tibetan societies from the ninth century up to the Chinese occupation in 1950. Samuel argues that religion in these societies developed as a dynamic amalgam of strands of Indian Buddhism and the indigenous spirit-cults of Tibet.The book stresses the diversity of Tibetan societies, demonstrating that central Tibet, the Dalai Lama's government at Lhasa, and the great monastic institutions around Lhasa formed only a part of the context within which Tibetan Buddhism matured. Employing anthropological research, historical inquiry, rich interview material, and a deep understanding of religious texts, the author explores the relationship between Tibet's social and political institutions and the emergence of new modes of consciousness that characterize Tibetan Buddhist spirituality. Samuel identifies the two main orientations of this religion as clerical (primarily monastic) and shamanic (associated with Tantric yoga). The specific form that Buddhism has taken in Tibet is rooted in the pursuit of enlightenment by a minority of the people –l amas, monks and yogins – and the desire for shamanic services (in quest of health, long life, and prosperity) by the majority. Shamanic traditions of achieving altered states of consciousness have been incorporated into Tantric Buddhism, which aims to communicate with Tantric deities through yoga. The author contends that this incorporation forms the basis for much of the Tibetan lamas' role in their society and that their subtle scholarship reflects the many ways in which they have reconciled the shamanic and clerical orientations.
This book, the first full account of Tibetan Buddhism in two decades, ranges as no other study has over several disciplines and languages, incorporating historical and anthropological discussion. Viewing Tibetan Buddhism as one of the great spiritual and psychological achievements of humanity, Samuel analyzes a complex society that combines the literacy and rationality associated with centralized states with the shamanic processes more familiar among tribal peoples. (Steven Weinberger 2005-09-22)
<p>Civilized Shamans examines the nature and evolution of religion in Tibetan societies from the ninth century up to the Chinese occupation in 1950. Samuel argues that religion in these societies developed as a dynamic amalgam of strands of Indian Buddhism and the indigenous spirit-cults of Tibet.The book stresses the diversity of Tibetan societies, demonstrating that central Tibet, the Dalai Lama's government at Lhasa, and the great monastic institutions around Lhasa formed only a part of the context within which Tibetan Buddhism matured. Employing anthropological research, historical inquiry, rich interview material, and a deep understanding of religious texts, the author explores the relationship between Tibet's social and political institutions and the emergence of new modes of consciousness that characterize Tibetan Buddhist spirituality. Samuel identifies the two main orientations of this religion as clerical (primarily monastic) and shamanic (associated with Tantric yoga). The specific form that Buddhism has taken in Tibet is rooted in the pursuit of enlightenment by a minority of the people –l amas, monks and yogins – and the desire for shamanic services (in quest of health, long life, and prosperity) by the majority. Shamanic traditions of achieving altered states of consciousness have been incorporated into Tantric Buddhism, which aims to communicate with Tantric deities through yoga. The author contends that this incorporation forms the basis for much of the Tibetan lamas' role in their society and that their subtle scholarship reflects the many ways in which they have reconciled the shamanic and clerical orientations. This book, the first full account of Tibetan Buddhism in two decades, ranges as no other study has over several disciplines and languages, incorporating historical and anthropological discussion. Viewing Tibetan Buddhism as one of the great spiritual and psychological achievements of humanity, Samuel analyzes a complex society that combines the literacy and rationality associated with centralized states with the shamanic processes more familiar among tribal peoples. (Steven Weinberger 2005-09-22)</p>
Hariti is the ancient Indian goddess of childbirth and women healers, known at one time throughout South and Southeast Asia from India to Nepal and Bali. Daughters of Hariti looks at her 'daughters' today, female midwives and healers in many different cultures across the region. It also traces the transformation of childbirth in these cultures under the impact of Western biomedical technology, national and international health policies and the wider factors of social and economic change. The authors ask what can be done to improve the high rates of maternal and infant deaths and illnesses still associated with childbirth in most societies in this area and whether the wholesale replacement of indigenous knowledge by Western biomedical technology is necessarily a good thing.
<p>The article classifies two complementary orientations in early Buddhism. The first, labeled as <em>shamanic</em>, is characteristic of small-scale preliterate societies and is aimed at attaining Buddhahood. The other, which the text calls <em>clerical</em>, is common in more centralized states and is concerned more with describing and analyzing the attainment of Buddhahood. (Mark Premo-Hopkins 2004-03-23)</p>
Earth’s life systems face an expanding aggregation of anthropogenic impacts that by many measures has already overshot global ecological limits (Rockström et al. 2009; Carpenter and Bennett 2011; Berkhout 2014; Steffen et al. 2015). Humanity is caught between irreconcilable narratives of impossibility regarding the human prospect in the Anthropocene—a proposed geological epoch defined by human impacts (Crutzen and Stoermer 2000; Steffen et al. 2011). The currently dominant growth-insistent narrative says it is impossible to improve human and social welfare, and to protect the environment, unless the human economy grows indefinitely. The limits-insistent narrative says infinite economic growth inevitably leads to global ecological impacts catastrophic to present and future generations of human and other life, and that a downsizing and stabilization of the economy is urgently needed to reverse global ecological trends and restore degraded ecological functions. The Anthropocene prompts an urgent need to move towards a limits-insistent narrative that gives primacy to containing the human enterprise within ecological limits in a life-enhancing and mutually enhancing human-Earth relationship (Berry 1999)—whereby humans see themselves as members, not masters, of the entire community of life on Earth and interact with Earth and the life it supports respectfully and “for the benefit of the larger community as well as ourselves” (Berry 1999, p. 5).
Two studies of a mindfulness training programme are presented. Study 1 reports on a pilot investigation of the impact on well‐being of the Breathworks mindfulness‐based pain management programme. Significant positive change was found on self‐report measures of depression, outlook, catastrophizing and pain self‐efficacy in the Intervention Group, but not the Comparison Group. Particularly large effects were found for pain acceptance. These results support the short‐term efficacy of the Breathworks programme and reinforce the importance of acceptance for positive outcome with chronic pain patients. Study 2 investigated alterations in mindfulness following participation in the Breathworks programme. Subjective and non‐subjective measures of mindfulness were used. Scores on the Mindful Attention Awareness Scale were significantly higher at Time 2 in the Intervention Group, but not in the Comparison Group. There was no change on a measure of sustained attention. Results from an Implicit Association Test provided some support for an increased awareness of positive stimuli, following the intervention. These results are discussed with reference to the mechanisms of mindfulness.
Background. The purpose of this article is to review the evidence for the efficacy of hatha yoga for depression and possible mechanisms by which yoga may have an impact on depression, and to outline directions for future research. Methods. Literature review and synthesis. Results and conclusions. A literature search for clinical trials examining yoga for depression uncovered eight trials: 5 including individuals with clinical depression, and 3 for individuals with elevated depression symptoms. Although results from these trials are encouraging, they should be viewed as very preliminary because the trials, as a group, suffered from substantial methodological limitations. We would argue, however, that there are several reasons to consider constructing careful research on yoga for depression. First, current strategies for treating depression are not sufficient for many individuals, and patients have several concerns about existing treatments. Yoga may be an attractive alternative to or a good way to augment current depression treatment strategies. Second, aspects of yoga-including mindfulness promotion and exercise-are thought to be "active ingredients" of other successful treatments for depression. Third, there are plausible biological, psychological, and behavioral mechanisms by which yoga may have an impact on depression. We provide suggestions for the next steps in the study of yoga as a treatment for depression. (Journal of Psychiatric Practice 2010;16:22-33)
Background. The purpose of this article is to review the evidence for the efficacy of hatha yoga for depression and possible mechanisms by which yoga may have an impact on depression, and to outline directionsfor future research. Methods. Literature review and synthesis. Results and conclusions. A literature search
for clinical trials examining yoga for depression uncovered eight trials: 5 including individuals with clinical depression, and 3 for individuals with elevated depression symptoms. Although results from these trials
are encouraging, they should be viewed as very preliminary because the trials, as a group, suffered from
substantial methodological limitations. We would argue, however, that there are several reasons to consider constructing careful research on yoga for depression. First, current strategies for treating depression are not sufficient for many individuals, and patients have several concerns about existing treatments. Yoga may
be an attractive alternative to or a good way to augment current depression treatment strategies. Second, aspects of yoga—including mindfulness promotion and exercise—are thought to be “active ingredients” of other successful treatments for depression. Third, there are plausible biological, psychological, and behavioral mechanisms by which yoga may have an impact on depression. We provide suggestions for the next steps in the study of yoga as a treatment for depression.
What is the current state of traditional healing practices in contemporary Asian societies? How are their practitioners faring in the encounter with Western science and its biomedical approach? How are traditional healing practices being transformed by the politics of health within the modern nation-state and by the processes of commodification typical of modern economies? How do patients in Asian societies see the various healing options now open to them?The authors, all of whom are anthropologists, observe the clashes and complementarities between traditional therapies and biomedicine, which, in its many manifestations, is the dominant form of medicine supported by national governments, and is emblematic of the modernity to which they aspire. Some of the medical traditions, such as the sophisticated herbal-humoral systems of Tibetan medicine and Indian Ayurveda, are becoming well known in the West, both through scholarly study and through their increasing popularity with Western patients interested in their healing potential. This book adds a new dimension to their study, being focused unlike most previous writing on practice rather than textual tradition.
The Wiley Blackwell Companion to East and Inner Asian Buddhism combines outstanding contributions covering Buddhism as it developed and is practiced in this region. These newly-commissioned essays provide fresh scholarly perspectives on a wide range of concepts, texts, and practices. Offers a comprehensive and balanced survey of Buddhism within East and Central Asia, from the time of the Buddha through to the present day Provides fresh perspectives on a wide range of concepts, texts, traditions, doctrines, practices, and institutions – on topics spanning gender roles, tantric rituals, and the spread of Zen into Europe Brings together cutting-edge research by an interdisciplinary and international contributor team, including historians, literature scholars, and historians, as well as those from religious studies Presents a panoramic view of the extraordinary richness and variety of local Buddhist expressions and practices within Chinese, Korean, Japanese, and Tibetan, cultures
Using data for 25,780 species categorized on the International Union for Conservation of Nature Red List, we present an assessment of the status of the world’s vertebrates. One-fifth of species are classified as Threatened, and we show that this figure is increasing: On average, 52 species of mammals, birds, and amphibians move one category closer to extinction each year. However, this overall pattern conceals the impact of conservation successes, and we show that the rate of deterioration would have been at least one-fifth again as much in the absence of these. Nonetheless, current conservation efforts remain insufficient to offset the main drivers of biodiversity loss in these groups: agricultural expansion, logging, overexploitation, and invasive alien species.Though the threat of extinction is increasing, overall declines would have been worse in the absence of conservation.
Though the threat of extinction is increasing, overall declines would have been worse in the absence of conservation.
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