Vegan blogs are your best source for finding plant-based inspiration that will make you forget all about the meat, stat. We are blown away by the creativity of these vegan bloggers, who take vegan eating to the most awesome level. From vegan yogurt to nut-based cheese to cauliflower steaks to vegan caramel, we have no doubt that you will have oodles of recipes to try.

Check out our favourite Top 50 vegan blogs, and please let us know in the comments if there are any good ones that weve missed.

Connect: http://www.ohsheglows.com

The Scoop: If you like food, youve heard of this blog. Filled with creative vegan recipes, mouthwatering photos and a heart-on-her-sleeve writing style, Angelas blog is a must-read for vegans.

Our Favourite Recipe/Post: Sundried Tomato, Mushroom and Spinach Tofu Quiche

Connect: http://www.minimalistbaker.com

The Scoop: Vegan baking doesnt require umpteen ingredients. This blog, run by John and Dana, a husband and wife team, offers simple, one-bowl recipes that can be whipped up in under 30 minutes. The photography here is spectacular too and they offer a food photography school, if youre so inclined.

Our Favourite Recipe/Post: Chocolate Chip Almond Butter Granola Bars

Connect:www.thefullhelping.com

The Scoop: This blog not only includes heavenly vegan recipes, but also thoughtful discussions about ethics, body image, eating disorders, emotional eating and learning to love ourselves.

Our Favourite Recipe/Post: Learning to Fully Embrace Health

Connect: http://www.veganricha.com

The Scoop: Vegan Richa is home to a crap-ton of ingenious vegan recipes. Theres more than a dozen veggie burger recipes alone! Many of the recipes have an Indian flair, but there are also flavours and spices for a variety of world cuisines.

Our Favourite Recipe/Post: Nut-Free Vegan Nacho Cheese Slices

Connect: http://www.picklesnhoney.com

The Scoop: Written by vegan blogger, SEO expert, dog lover and CNE program grad Amanda. This blog is jam-packed with simple, seasonal and fresh recipes.

Our Favourite Recipe/Post: How to Make Awesome Vegan Caramel

Connect: http://www.deliciouslyella.com

The Scoop: Ella overcame a rare illness by following a plant-based, allergen-friendly diet, and shes on a mission to share healthy, veggie-rich, delightful food that will help you feel awesome.

Our Favourite Recipe/Post: Turmeric and Lentil Soup

Connect: http://www.ohmyveggies.com

The Scoop: This site contains a mix of tasty vegan and vegetarian recipes, along with menu plans, tutorials, nutrition tips, and recipe roundups from the best of the web.

Our Favourite Recipe/Post: Black Bean Enchiladas with Roasted Red Pepper Cashew Cream

Connect: http://www.thugkitchen.com

The Scoop: Warning: this site contains a ton of expletives and bluntness, but as long as you dont mind the offbeat sense of humour, youll love the simple, affordable and delicious recipes here.

Our Favourite Recipe/Post: Grilled Chinese Five Spice Peaches with Noodles

Connect: http://www.keepinitkind.com

The Scoop: If youre looking for creative, outside-the-box vegan recipes that wont make you feel deprived or miss the meat, then Kristys site is the one for you.

Our Favourite Recipe/Post: Buffalo Cauliflower Wing Pizza with Tofu Blue Cheese Spread

Connect: http://www.kblog.lunchboxbunch.com

The Scoop: Kathy Patalskys infectious enthusiasm shines through each piece of content on her blog, from recipes to videos to interviews with other inspiring vegans. Shes also the founder of findingvegan.com, a food sharing site for vegan recipes.

Our Favourite Recipe/Post: Easy Sweet Potato Veggie Burgers

Connect: http://www.alimentageuse.com

The Scoop: Written by Toronto-based vegan blogger Lisa, this blog is home to many simple vegan recipes with a Vietnamese twist, along with honest and humorous musings about life.

Our Favourite Recipe/Post: Vietnamese Mung Bean Dumplings

Connect: http://www.blog.fatfreevegan.com

The Scoop: Susan has been blogging about vegan cooking for a decade, and has been a vegan herself since the late 198os. Her site contains hundreds of vegan recipes based on whole foods, so youll be spoiled for choice.

Our Favourite Recipe/Post: Polenta Lasagna with Portobellos and Kale

Connect: http://www.veganyackattack.com

The Scoop: Vegan Yack Attack covers a little bit of everything, from healthy meals to indulgent treats, making it easy for you to find something yummy to eat for your next meal.

Our Favourite Recipe/Post: Cauliflower Scramble

Connect: http://www.thefigtreeblog.com

The Scoop: This blog was mainly vegetarian until Winnipegger Courtney was diagnosed with a dairy allergy and made the switch to a vegan diet. Since ditching dairy and eggs, shes never felt better or more inspired in the kitchen!

Our Favourite Recipe/Post: Curried Coconut Lentil Stew

Connect: http://www.veganmiam.com

The Scoop: Written by Rika and Doni, a couple with a love for travelling, this blog features lovely vegan recipes along with reports of their vegan travel adventures around the world.

Our Favourite Recipe/Post: Sweet Potato Dumplings in Ginger and Jasmine Syrup

Connect: http://www.forkandbeans.com

The Scoop: Caras aim is to help people with dietary restrictions feel normal and she does just that with her delicious vegan and gluten-free recipes. Pay special attention to her infamous copycat treats, like healthy teddy grahams, animal crackers, pop tarts and vegan baked cheetos.

Our Favourite Recipe/Post: Easy Homemade Sprinkles with Coconut Sugar

Connect: http://www.theveganchickpea.com

The Scoop: You will get lost in this lovely blog that is packed with must-make vegan recipes, ethical beauty tips and animal-friendly fashion.

Our Favourite Recipe/Post: Homemade Sunshine Burgers

Connect: http://www.bittersweetblog.com

The Scoop: Longtime blogger and cookbook author Hannah is a truly talented recipe developer and photographer. Youll love scrolling through her amazing vegan recipes and her crafty posts that feature knitting, crocheting and sewing.

Our Favourite Recipe/Post: Tofu Poke

Connect: http://www.plantpoweredkitchen.com

The Scoop: With nearly 20 years as a vegan and with several best-selling cookbooks under her belt, Dreena is one of the pioneering vegans and her blog is filled with healthful, whole-food recipes that the entire family can enjoy.

Our Favourite Recipe/Post: Vegan Vanilla Cashew Yogurt

Connect: http://www.vegkitchen.com

The Scoop: Nava has been writing about the power of plant-based, vegetarian and vegan food since the 1980s. On her popular blog, youll find loads of vegan recipes, but also nutrition information, cooking videos, e-books, book reviews and a free downloadable app.

Our Favourite Recipe/Post: Quinoa Tacos

Connect: http://www.theppk.com

The Scoop: Written by the famed vegan queen and cookbook author Isa Chandra Moskowitz, this website has been around since the primeval time of blogging 2003! With plenty of recipes, videos and a reader forum, this blog definitely fosters an incredible vegan community.

Our Favourite Recipe/Post: Tempeh Chimichurri

Connect: http://www.thefirstmess.com

The Scoop: You will get lost in perusing Lauras stunning photos, thoughtful posts and recipes, which are filled with seasonal and whole ingredients. With her training as a chef, she adds unique twists to her recipes that bump up the flavour factor!

Our Favourite Recipe/Post: Fall Veg and Lentil Bowl with Gogi Ginger Tahini Cream

Connect: http://www.ohladycakes.com

The Scoop: If you like baking, this is the site for you. Ashlaes blog is packed with a ton of vegan, wholesome goodies (many of which are gluten-free), along with her quirky sense of humour and some travel stories for a lil variety.

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The Top 50 Vegan Blogs of 2018 | Vegan Recipes + Inspiration

June 27, 2018 By Richa Leave a Comment

Instant Pot Vegan Chili Oil-free Kidney Bean Red Lentil Chili. Easy Flavorful Bean Lentil Vegetarian Chili 18 Gm Protein! Vegan Glutenfree Nutfree Soyfree Recipe.

It was hot last week to give a glimpse of Summer, and then we hit a cold front again. So here we are enjoying a bowl of chili for dinner! Curries, stews, chili, Dal are all season meals in my house. A hearty 1 Pot meal with veggies and beans and flavors of choice!

This chili has veggies, red lentils and kidney beans. The lentils add a great texture and also thicken the chili really well. Add whichever beans you like to make up the bulk. I like to use chipotle and ancho chilies for flavor. Use dry or canned chipotle pepper to preference.

This chili is Simple, hearty, quick and Delicious.

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Filed Under: gluten free, Instant Pot, main course, soy free Tagged With: vegan, video

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Vegan Richa - Vegan Food Blog with Healthy and Flavorful ...

Having self-awareness means that you have a sharp realization of your personality, including your strengths and weaknesses, your thoughts and beliefs, your emotions, and your motivations.

If you are self-aware, it is easier for you to understand other people and detect how they perceive you in return.

Many people assume that they have a healthy sense of self-awareness, but it is best to look at a relative scale to see where you fall on it compared to others. Being aware creates an opportunity to make changes in one's behavior and beliefs.

While you develop self-awareness, your own personal thoughts and interpretations will begin to change. This change in mental state will also alter your emotions and increase your emotional intelligence, which is an important factor in achieving overall success.

Becoming self-aware is an early step in the creation of the life that you want. It helps you pinpoint what your passions and emotions are, and how your personality can help you in life.

You can recognize where your thoughts and emotions are leading you, and make any necessary changes. Once you are aware of your thoughts, words, emotions, and behavior, you will be able to make changes in the direction of your future.

Who originally came up with the idea of self-awareness?

Self-awareness was first theorized in 1972 by Duval and Wicklund in their book A Theory of Objective Self-Awareness. This book argues that if we focus our attention inwardly on ourselves, we tend to compare our behavior in the current moment to our general standards and values. This triggers a state of impartial self-awareness.

How does this concept/question relate to building positive habits?

Self-awareness is a vital first step in taking control of your life, creating what you want, and mastering your future. Where you choose to focus your energy, emotions, personality, and reactions determines where you will end up in life.

When you are self-aware, you can see where your thoughts and emotions are guiding you. It also allows you to take control of your actions so you can make the necessary changes to get the outcomes you desire.

This may include changes to your emotions, your behavior, or your personality. Until you achieve this, you will have a hard time making changes in the direction your life is taking you.

How can self-awareness be important in different fields?Leadership

You cant be an effective leader without being able to answer the "what is self-awareness?" question.

It provides the necessary base for having strong character, creating the ability to lead with purpose, trust, authenticity, and openness. Self-awareness explains our successes and our failures while giving us a clear understanding of who we are and what we need most from other people to have a successful team.

It also gives leaders the opportunity to identify any gaps that they might have in their management skills, and reveals the areas in which they are effective and where they might need additional work.

Knowing these things can help leaders make discerning decisions and increase their effectiveness in positively motivating their employees. Learning to be self-aware is not a simple process, but doing so can improve one's leadership skills and lead to a more supportive business culture.

Social Work

As a social worker, having self-awareness is an important part of preparing to encounter clients in their specific situations. Much of the process of becoming an effective social worker is made up of becoming self-aware. This can happen with encounters with professors, classmates, and clients that work to continuously challenge us to be aware of our feelings. While this is not an easy thing to do, it is a worthwhile achievement.

Social workers have to be aware of their own biases when they are dealing with clients so they can make sure they are treating every client equally.

Counseling

Self-awareness interplays with the therapeutic process of counseling. When one is able to gain a greater understanding of themselves through the input of a therapist, it leads to self-discovery.

Counseling is a journey of self-discovery, as one observes their own thought patterns and how they affect their mood and behavior. Observing ones own thoughts and feelings builds self-knowledge, and doing this with a counselor provides an objective opinion during the observation.

Education

Self-awareness plays a large role in education because it helps students become focused on what they need to learn. The ability of students to think about their thinking increases with age. When teachers work with students to teach them to reflect, monitor, and evaluate themselves, students are able to become more self-reliant, productive, and flexible.

Self-awareness plays a large role in education because it helps students become focused on what they need to learn.

Students improve their ability to weigh their choices and think about their options, especially when the correct answer is not obvious. When students have a hard time understanding a concept or idea, they use reflective strategies to acknowledge their difficulties and try to fix them. This also gives students tools to self-reflect and grow in their emotional and social lives.

Nursing

Self-awareness is used as a therapeutic tool for nurse-client relationships. A nurse who is self-aware can provide a therapeutic environment to care for their patient. Because of this, it is recommended that nursing schools should teach students about development and self-understanding.

It would also be beneficial for professional nurses to be able to get help and guidance to continue the growth process throughout their careers.

How to develop and increase self-awareness

1. Look at yourself objectively.

Trying to see yourself as you really are can be a very difficult process, but if you make the right efforts, getting to know your real self can be extremely rewarding. When you are able to see yourself objectively, you can learn how to accept yourself and find ways to improve yourself in the future.

So, what is an easy way to get started with this?

In the end, you will come out with a fresh new perspective on yourself and your life.

You can write about anything in your journal, even if it is not related to your goals. Recording your thoughts on paper helps to relieve your mind of those ideas, and clears it up to make space for new information and ideas.

Take some time each night to write in your journal about your thoughts and feelings, and your successes and failures for the day. This will help you grow and move forward in your achievements.

As you self-reflect, take some time to think about how you are a leader, and how people working under you likely view you. Think about what you do to help other people, and if you could possibly do more. What are your values, and what is most important to you right now?

Recording your thoughts on paper helps to relieve your mind and clears it up to make space for new information and ideas.

All of these self-reflection questions will help you get a better idea of who you are and what you want out of life right now.

Plan out your goals in a worksheet so they turn from ideas into a step-by-step process. Break down your larger goal into mini-goals so it seems less overwhelming, and tackle it head on.

4. Perform daily self-reflection.

In order to have self-awareness, you must do self-reflection. This requires setting aside some time, hopefully every day, to honestly look at yourself as a person and a leader. Committing to this practice can help you improve.

In our demanding business world, daily self-reflection is easier said than done. There is always pressure to do more with less, and an endless flow of information through our portable technology.

Because it takes time to self-reflect, start by setting aside just 15 minutes each day. Self-reflection is most effective when you use a journal and write down your thoughts. Its also best to find a quiet place to think.

Meditation is the practice of improving your mindful awareness. Most types of meditation focus on the breath, but not all meditation has to be formal. You can also find greater clarity from regular moments of reflection.

During your meditations, you may stop to think about some specific questions.

Practicing meditation and other mindfulness habits helps you find greater clarity and self-awareness.

One of the most frequent forms of meditation you may practice comes from carrying out everyday tasks that give you a sense of therapeutic serenity, such as washing dishes, going for a run, and going to church.

6. Take personality and psychometric tests.

Take these personality and psychometric tests to help understand what traits you have. Some popular tests that are aimed at increasing self-awareness include the Myers-Briggs test and the Predictive Index.

There are no right or wrong answers to these tests. Instead, they compel respondents to think about a set of traits or characteristics that closely describe them relative to other people.

7. Ask trusted friends to describe you.

How are we supposed to know what other people think of us? We have to listen to the feedback of our peers and mentors, and let them play the role of an honest mirror. Tell your friends when you are looking for open, honest, critical, and objective perspectives. Allow your friends to feel safe while they are giving you an informal yet honest view.

Make sure your friends know that they are doing this to help you, not to hurt you. Also, feel free to ask questions of your friends about topics they bring up if you feel like you need some more clarity to completely understand.

You can also ask friends to bring it to your attention when you are doing something that you know you want to change. For example, if you know you tend to "one-up" people when they are telling stories, have your friends discreetly let you know that is happening so you can learn to stop.

Ask trusted friends to describe you. Allow your friends to feel safe while they are giving you an informal yet honest view.

8. Ask for feedback at work.

In addition to consulting friends and family, use a more formal process at work to get some feedback. If your company does not provide a structured way to do this, try to implement one. Provided it is constructive and well done, having an option for formalized feedback allows us to self-reflect on our own strengths and weaknesses.

To have an effective formal feedback system at work, you need a proper process and an effective manager. Once the feedback process is finished, it is important to reflect on it by writing down your main takeaways. Write down any surprising strengths and weaknesses that you did not realize you had before.

It will take quite some time to increase your self-awareness and get to know yourself better. It can even take years and input from many people around you. Building the necessary habits to help you become more self-aware can positively impact other aspects of your life, especially your interpersonal and intrapersonal relationships.

What is self-awareness?

Hopefully this post has given you an answer to your question, "What is self-awareness?" Please share your self-awareness questions and breakthroughs in the comments below.

Don't forget to share it on your favorite social media network!

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What Is Self-Awareness? (and 8 Ways to Become More Self Aware)

The planet Mars is going retrograde on June 26th and will last until August 27th. This is something that occurs every two years, with the last one occurring in 2016 from mid-April until late June. This energy started building up when the pre-shadow began in mid-May as Mars started slowing down. Some of the themes of this retrograde may have begun sometime since then.

Retrograde periods are when a planet appears to be moving backwards in the sky due to its position around the Sun relative to Earths position. It is a period of re-working how we orientate ourselves with the themes and energies of that specific planet. The most significant retrogrades are those of Mercury, Venus, and Mars.

Mars is a yang/male planet that is associated with how we apply action in our lives. When retrograde, its energies get amplified as it ends up being opposite the Sun and appears at its brightest when looking at the night sky. This is like the Full Moon for Mars as it receives the most light from the Sun.

During this retrograde, Mars themes will be highlighted very strongly which ultimately help to facilitate some sort of adjustment. This could influence where to best apply our efforts, how we use our willpower, our motivations, our desires, a shift in our sex lives, and how we deal with aggression and anger. When a planet goes retrograde, the circumstances that manifest help us to ultimately express the energies of this planet in a new way.

Due to its energies being amped in retrograde motion, this can also be a time where many people can get more easily angered or irritated. This can be potentially the most negative manifestation of this period. People who have strong Mars energy or many of those who are dominant Aries or Scorpio may notice these effects the most.

There can be a build-up of inner tension which eventually can be expressed outwardly, sometimes in a passive-aggressive way. If this applies to you, it would be wise to find a healthy way to release anger and ease tension in a way that is not harmful to you or the people in your life.

Any frustrations that occur at this time could be as a result of things not flowing smoothly and wasted efforts. If this occurs to you, it would be good to consider that something needs to change with the way you are applying yourself and pay attention to signs from the Universe.

Usually, this occurs when taking new initiatives, but not in every case. If so, it may be better to revisit old tasks, projects, and efforts and you may find that doing this can be more productive. However, this will not make you immune to all of its effects which ultimately should help you in your personal development.

As Mars is also associated with sex, sometimes what happens is that a shift in our sex lives could occur. In some cases, there can be a change in a relationship or even a friendship. For example, some people may begin a sexual relationship with someone who they are already acquainted or friends with. In other cases, the opposite may occur. However, this wont apply to everybody and everyone will experience this retrograde in different ways in which many are expressed throughout this article.

The majority of this retrograde will occur in Aquarius with it ending in Capricorn where it will move forward again. Its themes may be oriented around the collective, groups, colleagues, friends, as well as humanitarian and social issues. It may even be connected to how we assert ourselves with our intellect or how we apply our innovative selves.

Mars will then return to Capricorn on August 12th/13th where Pluto and Saturn are currently located. This can bring in themes of re-orientation connected to our goals, ambitions, careers, responsibilities, and perhaps apply ourselves with better structure, resourcefulness, and in a more solid way.

In the weeks leading up to this period, Mars has been travelling near the South Node of the Moon and will also pass over it again during the retrograde. The South Node is associated with the past and could be connected to what can be holding us back. It is even considered to be a place where energy can dissipate. This could be about letting go of old approaches of how we use our Mars energy, but in this process, themes connected to the past may resurface during this time to help us make the changes.

On July 7th/8th, Mars will be going out of bounds and will stay like that until September 24th which is almost a month after the retrograde ends. At that time, we will still be in the post-retrograde shadow period (until October 8th) which is when things related to Mars begin to move forward more smoothly.

A planet is out of bounds when it travels beyond the limits in which the Sun travels in from our vantage point on Earth. This is generally a time when that planet expresses itself in unusual, unique, independent, unconventional, innovative, and even creative ways. It is sort of like it is exploring new territory beyond the normal constructs of society or how it usually expresses itself.

A major factor of this Mars retrograde is that it will be in a square with Uranus which will be strongest during the last week of July and the first week of August. Uranus has similar energy to a planet being out of bounds so therefore this aspect emphasizes what was mentioned above. This configuration can also trigger rebelliousness, impulsive actions, disruptions, sudden changes, and perhaps a need to break free out of inhibiting situations.

Circumstances that can come up can make it even harder to focus and direct our energy, and therefore it is best to be adaptable and to surrender that what isnt working. However, it would be wise to be cautious about taking impulsive action in case you may do something you may regret. It would be wise to think things over and reflect when triggered. Mercury will also be going retrograde at that time so we may easily not see things clearly.

This entire Mars retrograde period will also be occurring while three eclipses take place. We will have partial Solar Eclipses taking place on July 12th/13th in Cancer and on August 11th/12th in Leo. However, the most potent one, which is also strongly connected to Mars retrograde, will be a Total Lunar Eclipse in Aquarius on July 27th/28th.

The Lunar Eclipse will be aligned with Mars while it is in a square with Uranus which can carry some of the Mars/Uranus themes mentioned above over the following months even after the retrograde is over. Eclipses in general trigger changes which ultimately depends on how it is interacting with your natal astrology chart (personal astrological blueprint) based on your exact birth time. These themes of change are strongest in the month of each eclipse, however, they still can unfold over the following 3-6 months.

Due to the fact that the eclipse in late July is a Total Lunar Eclipse near the South Node, combined with the Mars/Uranus configuration, this really emphasizes the fact that this is a period of really letting go of certain aspects of our lives that are not serving us. Perhaps any wasted or challenging efforts we experience as a result of Mars retrograde may help to show us this. This Lunar Eclipse, also referred to as a Blood Moon, will be the longest Lunar Eclipse of the 21st century, lasting just over four hours.

I will be releasing more content about these Eclipses and Mercury retrograde as we get closer to those dates. You can join my mailing list here to ensure that you are notified when I release my latest content.

Are you asserting yourself appropriately in your life? What are you being shown by the Universe? How is the outside world responding to the way you take action? How do you feel inside? What adjustments do you need to make in order to proceed more effectively with your goals and aspirations? Which of your past decisions, ideas, or initiatives should you revisit and experiment with? What do you need to bring to an end? How can you express yourself in ways that are unique, creative, and unconventional? What are your true inner desires?

These are some examples of what to reflect on during this time. The retrograde ends on August 27th. From that point on until early October, many of the challenges of this summer will dissipate and most (or all) of the areas that were triggered during this period should move forward more smoothly with increased clarity. Any changes that have occurred will help to facilitate a better way for us to express ourselves.

Looking for insight on how this period is affecting you? Or perhaps looking to better understand your life and its potentials? Get a personalized astrology reading with Carmen (author of this article) specific to you based on your exact birth date, time, and location. Click here for more information or to order. You can also follow me on INSTAGRAM, FACEBOOK, YOUTUBE, or join my MAILING LIST for more astrology related content.

Your life path number can tell you A LOT about you.

With the ancient science of Numerology you can find out accurate and revealing information just from your name and birth date.

Get your free numerology reading and learn more about how you can use numerology in your life to find out more about your path and journey. Get Your free reading.

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15 Quotes By Osho That Will Touch Your Heart & Make You ...

Osho quotes can teach you lessons in life, about love, and thinking. These Osho quotes can from only one man, Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh, who later on called himself Osho. He was a philosopher and also a spiritual leader, who traveled throughout India in the 1960s as a public speaker. As a public speaker, most of his words inspired lots of people who later on shared and passed them to the next generations. Most of his words were about love, sexuality, lessons in life, and spirituality. If you are looking for quotes like these on the internet, Osho quotes are the one of the best. In here, we have collected some of the best Osho quotes that you can find. Here are the 52 Best Osho Quotes on Love, Life and Fear with Images that we have prepared just for you.

Originally posted by paolods.com

And lastly,

Life, Love and Fear

There are lots of lessons that we can learn in any aspects of life, whether in love, friendship, fear, or downfalls. In reading the ideas of other people who have been there, you can reflect from them and maybe you can apply them to yourself. Osho quotes are one of the best that you can find. Read and hear the words of Rajneesh and may you find the things you are looking for yourself. Hope you have enjoyed reading the 52 Best Osho Quotes on Love, Life and Fear with Images. Feel free to share them your friends and acquaintance in Facebook and other social media sites. You might also be interested in reading the 100 Best Quotes of All Time.

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52 Best Osho Quotes on Love, Life and Fear with Images

Group of Osho Lovers, a gathering of friends.

Group explores Active and Passive Meditations devised or recommended by Mystic Osho. Some of the meditations include: Dynamic, Nadabrahma, Kundalini, Vipassana, Nataraj, No-Mind, No-Dimension, Kirtan, Sufi Whirling, Tantra, Chakra Healing, Chakra Sound, listening to Osho, Osho Video, Spiritual movies, breathing techniques etc

Events are held in Kennesaw, Decatur, Suwanee, Douglasville, Norcross, Woodstock, Sandy Springs area.

Group organizes regular weekend, weekday and 1 to 3 day Meditation Retreats / Workshops.

It has been observance of several friends that meditation in a group has been very effective for them. This group is an opportunity for all to experience group meditation in a safe and friendly enviornment. The group is not promoting or selling or providing any service.

Group is an informal and non profit gathering of friends to meditate in group. The group is not part or affiliated to any organization in USA or abroad. The gatherings are held at the homes of organizers or at temporory rented space. Each participant makes a small contribution to cover the associated costs. If you are unable to afford the 'at-cost' suggested contribution for a specific event then please let the organizer know. No one will be refused participation due to their inability to financially contribute towards the event. In each gathering all participants - new or experienced are welcome. Detailed instructions are provided.

Group offers a free shared library of great books, audio and Videos of Osho, Eastern and Western mystics, and General Welness topics. The library has been developed by gifts from other members.

Osho does not teach any religion and does not belong to any particular religion. What he really teaches is religiousness - the real fragrance of all the flowers of existence, the Buddhas, the mystics and sages that this world has known.Osho has given thousands of discourses on all the well-known and not so known mystics of the worldfrom Ashtavakra to Zarathusthra.Osho is a modern day mystic whose wisdom, clarity and humor have touched the lives of millions of people around the world.His insights are creating the conducive atmosphere or Atma-Sphere for the emergence of what he calls the New Man or Zorba, the Buddha the combination of celebration, dance and song of Zorba and the silence, stillness and meditation of the Buddha, the meditation of the East and the materialism of the West.Zorba the Buddha is a totally new human being who is an awakened one, and he is life-affirmative and free.When someone asked Osho the definition of religion, Osho replied: To be in romance with life is religion.Osho teaches meditation for our inner transformation. Love and compassion are the natural expression of this transformation. We can meditate with Buddha, dance with Krishna and celebrate our love with Sufis.

https://secure.meetupstatic.com/photos/event/b/7/4/a/event_71446922.jpeg

For more information on Osho on web check http://www.osho.com (http://www.osho.com/), http://www.oshoworld.com (http://www.oshoworld.com/), http://www.oshona.com (http://www.oshona.com/), http://www.oshoviha.org (http://www.oshoviha.com/), http://www.oshoatlanta.com (http://www.oshoatlanta.com/) ; Youtube Osho Channel.

Love

You are invited!

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Osho Meditation Atlanta (Atlanta, GA) | Meetup

The disciples of the late Indian guru Osho are far from wild, particularly those in Spain. There are no assault rifles in their ashrams or poisonous potions for their rivals, nor do they plan to take over whatever cities they may live in.

In fact, their lives are far more ordinary than those depicted in the Netflix documentary series Wild Wild Country, a retrospective of the Osho communitys rollercoaster years in Oregon when it became embroiled in criminal activities and its leader was ultimately run out of the country.

Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh was a student of philosophy who shocked Indian society with his liberal ideas on sex and religion

The Osho Foundation now has its headquarters in Zurich, from where it peddles Osho products and promotes the Osho Meditation Resort in Poona, India, where the movement was first established in 1974 by the Indian mystic Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh.

Osho International recommends 16 centers in Spain to anyone interested in pursuing his teachings. Most are run by sannyasins disciples who have been renamed in an initiation ceremony. I had a friend who was a sannyasin and changed her name three times, says Jos Antonio Espeso, head of the Masunaga school in Coslada, Madrid, which offers shiatsu. In the end, you didnt know what her name was anymore. These rituals are somewhat infantile.

Born in India in 1931, Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh was a student of philosophy who shocked Indian society with his liberal ideas on sex and religion and who changed the spiritual landscape for foreign hippies who had been drawing their inspiration from that part of the world since the 1960s.

Decked in expensive robes and jewelry, he had a fleet of 90 Rolls Royce and owned more than a few private planes. His meditations were renowned for their dynamism and his lectures were direct and easily grasped.

At the height of his fame, Osho and his sidekick Ma Anand Sheela snapped up a 26,000-hectare ranch in Wasco County, Oregon, US, and set about constructing an Osho city called Rajnishpuram, which included an airport and armed security forces. Thousands of Osho disciples flocked to the commune to experience the idealistic Osho lifestyle, but instead found themselves mired in conflict with the US authorities on account of assassination plots, illegal immigration networks, wire tapping and attempts to rig local elections.

Osho blamed a mass food poisoning attack and plots to kill public officials on Sheela and her inner circle at the ranch. But his bid to sidestep prosecution was not wholly successful. In 1985 he was given a 10-year suspended sentence, agreeing to leave the US and not to return for five years without the permission of the US Attorney General. The commune was dismantled and his disciples followed him back to Poona where he died in 1990 of heart failure.

More than 190 of the gurus books have been translated into Spanish

Sannyasin Luis Martn-Santos aka Charna recalled last May on the radio station Cadena Ser how he used to see Osho pilgrims walking down Las Ramblas in Barcelona at the start of the 1980s, wearing the hallmark crimson tunics. He himself belonged to the Oregon commune between 1983 and 1985 and now acts as a literary agent, managing Oshos publishing rights in Spain. More than 190 of the gurus books have been translated into Spanish. Martn-Santos says hes overjoyed with the publicity Wild Wild Country is offering the Osho brand but is dismayed by the protagonism given to Sheela. It just shows that the press and the public idealize figures who are proven to have committed crimes or who personify a certain disorder.

Martn-Santos says there are probably thousands of sannyasins in Spain but says that only a few dozen Spaniards were involved in the beginnings of the Osho movement in India and that around 100 would have visited the commune in Oregon.

The sannyasins response to Wild Wild Country can be found on their social networks and in the foundations digital newspaper, The Osho Times: their leader did nothing wrong. He was, they say, a victim of Sheelas machinations and a conspiracy by the US government, which saw the cult as a threat to its conservative values.

Ana Mara Ramrez, a dentist in Tarragona, is one of Spains sannyasins. Her brother bought a camper van in the mid-seventies and traveled overland to India with his girlfriend. While in India, he came across Bhagwan Rajneesh and returned from Poona a changed man. Ana Mara, then just 16, fell under his influence and is now the head of an Osho information center. She believes that Wild Wild Country has been of more interest to journalists than to the population at large. Ramrez adds that while the documentary helps us to understand the corrupting effect of power on Sheela, it fails to enlighten us about Osho himself.

The Osho information center in Barclona is run by Mara Crespo, whose sannyasin name is Chiyono. Crespo is a New Age therapist, working with family constellations and a diet, exercise and massage-based approach to medicine known as naturopathy. Not long after her 20th birthday she became a sannyasin, influenced by a group of friends who had made the pilgrimage to Poona and Oregon. According to Crespo, the documentary has little relevance anymore, given the proliferation of similar movements.

Crespo admits that Osho was a controversial figure but insists that the free love angle has been exaggerated. As far as Sheelas conference in May in Barcelonas Contemporary Cultural Center (CCCB) is concerned, she didnt attend as she prefers to remain aloof from the goings-on in Oregon.

Francis Sendn, another sannyasin, runs an organic food store in Palma de Mallorca. He is convinced that the documentary is one of Sheelas strategies to clean up her image, hence the CCCB conference. Shes unlikely to be doing it for money, he says. They claim she took $70 million.

English version by Heather Galloway.

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Wild Wild Country: The wild Osho cult seen through ...

The Christian masters of the Middle Ages understood this matter better, perhaps, than anyone since in the western world. Speaking in a language we no longer fully (or in many cases even partially) understand, they described the necessary state as an awareness of sin.

This word used to mean something quite different than it does today and, once again, one could write an entire book about it. (The word is not derived from action or attachment in the outer world but applies in its esoteric sense exclusively to inner contradictions.) Gurdjieff, through his understanding of remorse of conscience and intentional suffering, more properly represents the question in front of us than any philosophy, whether theoretical or practical, of obliteration. Viewed from this perspective, liberation philosophies and doctrines of obliteration of Self are a cop-out.

A decent analogy of mankinds position in regard to the question of bliss is one of a parent owning a candy store. With the trusting parent in absentia, the child is left in charge of the sweets; but instead of respectfully guarding the wares, he or she begins to eat the sweets, not realizing that as tantalizing as they are, they are not meant for them.

There are fairy tales about such things, such as Hansel and Gretel and the gingerbread house. In that case we see that Hansel and Gretel very nearly become food for the house of bliss, rather than the other way around. It is their very unawareness, their naivet itself (the obliteration), that presents the danger. Lost and unconscious, they stumble across inner treasures; not knowing their right place or value, they enter the house (fully identify with its nature.) Tellingly, in this case, the ginger in the house is a spice from the east. The fairy tale may thusat its root, pun intended represent an esoteric warning against various naive forms of eastern liberation philosophy.

We can see the inherent danger in adopting philosophies or practices of oblivion; the annihilation (the making-into-nothingness) of the ego is not an answer. The ego exists to offer the opportunity to suffer it; extinguishment removes the source of conflict from which true suffering arises. Again, the metaphysical laws and reasonings behind this are complex; but the fact itself is rather simple. One doesnt need to know how all the gears work to know that the hands of the clock show us the time.

This leads me to the second question on the table in my discourse, which is the value of wordlessness. It follows on the philosophy of obliteration, since obliteration dovetails quite neatly into the evaporation of awareness, rationality, and everything they representincluding the words to describe them.

Its quite true that there is a place beyond words available to consciousness. As I have pointed out many times before, however, it is not just the metaphysically endowed (higher) states of awareness without words which we seek to encounter. There are awarenesses without words right next to us, so proximate in consciousness that we routinely take them for granted and ignore them; and these are the places (minds) without words that actually matter in the cultivation of our inner metaphysics, in the balancing of the centers Gurdjieff described as necessary in order to usefully receive higher states.

These two wordless minds are the intelligence of the body (sensation) and the intelligence of emotion (feeling.) Both are fully functioning fractions of our summary intelligence, ignored and suborned by the intellect in its prosecution of our rational (i.e., calculated) agendas. Yet these two wordless intelligences lie within our purview, not in some imaginary realm of better purity.

I would like you, for a moment, to imagine an idealized world without words in which all of the denizens never speak a single word to one another. I think we can agree that this world describes the world not of mankind, but of animals; and even they have languages, so perhaps we do not reach low enough down the scale when we say that. The point, i think, is that everything that human beings are, enlightened or otherwise, depends on the language we so eagerly banish when we try to speak about higher states of Being.

Without languagewithout words there is no art, no culture, no architecture, tradition, science, or society. Humanity as we know it ceases to exista welcome development, perhaps, for the proponents of oblivion, but clearly insufficient as either a condition, cause or objective of human existence. So these philosophies of oblivion, experiential or otherwise, are essentially inhuman.

They contradict the tradition of God as a person, of mankind as a microcosmic expression of God, and the entire nature of existence itself as it manifests in the juxtaposition of God and man. They are, in other words, so apophatic that they do away not only with the signs of man and God, but with man and God itself. The idea, once examined with intensity, is so profoundly and essentially stupid it would not be worth examining, but for the blithely unexamined Very Important Sounding things said in its name.

We are thinking creatures; it is part of our nature, and we deny it at our peril. God is, as well, a thinking nature-above-creation, a pre-existing thought before thinking. Our spiritual development does not, in other words, excuse us from thinking in an invitation to infinite realms of divine and nihilistic thoughtlessness; it requires an intensification of attention and thought, which is precisely what Gurdjieff brought, over and over again, to his pupilsand in his metaphysics and mythology. There are no realms of inattentive bliss mapped out in Beelzebubs cosmos; even purgatory (which would seem to be the most likely candidate) is a place of contemplation intensified to the level of the intolerable. Gurdjieffs famous aphorism, If you have not by nature a critical mind your staying here is useless, sums it all up; but all his aphorisms are directed at an intensification of intelligence that requires words.

Pretending that we can do without them is a form of rank sophistry; and yet one hears such talk quite often.

Yes; there are wordless places; yes, perhaps from time to time we touch them (or, more properly, they touch us.) Yet this is of no use in the enterprise of relationship, which demands that we do much more than just senseor just feelor just think. There is thought without thought; there is thought within thought; and there are parts that think without words, yet express in their own language nonetheless.

We should stop acting surprised about this. It is not the territory we stake out; it is the life we inhabit.

Let us stop speaking about the silence. Let us speak as we speak; and be silent as we may be silent; but in either case, let us be as we be, not as declarative shades of oblivion or wordlessness would have us be.Hosanna.

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For the purpose of this article, research on meditation concerns research into the psychological and physiological effects of meditation using the scientific method. In recent years, these studies have increasingly involved the use of modern scientific techniques and instruments, such as fMRI and EEG which are able to directly observe brain physiology and neural activity in living subjects, either during the act of meditation itself, or before and after a meditation effort, thus allowing linkages to be established between meditative practice and changes in brain structure or function.

Since the 1950s hundreds of studies on meditation have been conducted. Yet, many of the early studies were flawed and thus yielded unreliable results.[1][2] Contemporary studies have attempted to address many of these flaws with the hope of guiding current research into a more fruitful path.[3] In 2013, researchers at Johns Hopkins, publishing in the Journal of the American Medical Association, identified 47 studies that qualify as well-designed and therefore reliable. Based on these studies, they concluded that there is moderate evidence that meditation reduces anxiety, depression, and pain, but there is no evidence that meditation is more effective than active treatment.[4] 2017 commentary was similarly mixed.[5][6]

The process of meditation, as well as its effects, is a growing subfield of neurological research.[7][8] Modern scientific techniques and instruments, such as fMRI and EEG, have been used to study how regular meditation affects individuals by measuring brain and bodily changes.[7][9][10]

Meditation is a broad term which encompasses a number of practices.[vague][citation needed]

In June, 2007 the United States National Center for Complementary and Integrative Health (NCCIH) published an independent, peer-reviewed, meta-analysis of the state of meditation research, conducted by researchers at the University of Alberta Evidence-based Practice Center. The report reviewed 813 studies involving five broad categories of meditation: mantra meditation, mindfulness meditation, yoga, T'ai chi, and Qigong, and included all studies on adults through September 2005, with a particular focus on research pertaining to hypertension, cardiovascular disease, and substance abuse. The report concluded, "Scientific research on meditation practices does not appear to have a common theoretical perspective and is characterized by poor methodological quality. Firm conclusions on the effects of meditation practices in healthcare cannot be drawn based on the available evidence. Future research on meditation practices must be more rigorous in the design and execution of studies and in the analysis and reporting of results." (p.6) It noted that there is no theoretical explanation of health effects from meditation common to all meditation techniques.[1]

A version of this report subsequently published in the Journal of Alternative and Complementary Medicine stated that "Most clinical trials on meditation practices are generally characterized by poor methodological quality with significant threats to validity in every major quality domain assessed". This was the conclusion despite a statistically significant increase in quality of all reviewed meditation research, in general, over time between 1956 and 2005. Of the 400 clinical studies, 10% were found to be good quality. A call was made for rigorous study of meditation.[3] These authors also noted that this finding is not unique to the area of meditation research and that the quality of reporting is a frequent problem in other areas of complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) research and related therapy research domains.

Of more than 3,000 scientific studies that were found in a comprehensive search of 17 relevant databases, only about 4% had randomised controlled trials (RCTs), which are designed to exclude the placebo effect.[1]

A 2013 statement from the American Heart Association evaluated the evidence for the effectiveness of TM as a treatment for hypertension as "unknown/unclear/uncertain or not well-established", and stated: "Because of many negative studies or mixed results and a paucity of available trials...other meditation techniques are not recommended in clinical practice to lower BP at this time."[11]

2017 commentary was similarly mixed,[5][6] with concerns including the particular characteristics of individuals who tend to participate in mindfulness and meditation research.[12]

One meta-analysis supported the use of Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) to alleviate symptoms of a variety of mental and physical disorders.[13] A previous study commissioned by the US Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality found that meditation interventions reduce multiple negative dimensions of psychological stress.[4] Other systematic reviews and meta-analysis show that mindfulness meditation has several mental health benefits such as bringing about reductions in depression symptoms,[14][15][16] and mindfulness interventions also appear to be a promising intervention for managing depression in youth.[17][18] Mindfulness meditation is useful for managing stress,[15][19][20] anxiety,[14][15][20] and also appears to be effective in treating substance use disorders.[21][22][23] A recent meta analysis by Hilton et al. (2016) including 30 randomized controlled trials found high quality evidence for improvement in depressive symptoms.[24] Other review studies have shown that mindfulness meditation can enhance the psychological functioning of breast cancer survivors,[15] effective for eating disorders,[25][26] and may also be effective in treating psychosis.[27][28][29]

Studies have also shown that rumination and worry contribute to mental illnesses such as depression and anxiety,[30] and mindfulness-based interventions are effective in the reduction of worry.[30][31]

Some studies suggest that mindfulness meditation contributes to a more coherent and healthy sense of self and identity, when considering aspects such as sense of responsibility, authenticity, compassion, self-acceptance and character.[32][33]

In the relatively new field of western psychological mindfulness, researchers attempt to define and measure the results of mindfulness primarily through controlled, randomised studies of mindfulness intervention on various dependent variables. The participants in mindfulness interventions measure many of the outcomes of such interventions subjectively. For this reason, several mindfulness inventories or scales (a set of questions posed to a subject whose answers output the subject's aggregate answers in the form of a rating or category) have arisen. Twelve such methods are mentioned by the Mindfulness Research Guide[34]

In 2011, National Center for Complementary and Integrative Health (NCCIH) released findings from a study in which magnetic resonance images were taken of the brains of 16 participants 2 weeks before and after the participants joined the mindfulness meditation (MM) program by researchers from Massachusetts General Hospital, Bender Institute of Neuroimaging in Germany, and the University of Massachusetts Medical School. Researchers concluded that

..these findings may represent an underlying brain mechanism associated with mindfulness-based improvements in mental health.[35]

The analgesic effect of MM involves multiple brain mechanisms including the activation of the anterior cingulate cortex and the ventromedial prefrontal cortex.[36] In addition, brief periods of MM training increases the amount of grey matter in the hippocampus and parietal lobe.[37] Other neural changes resulting from MM may increase the efficiency of attentional control.[38]

Participation in MBSR programmes has been found to correlate with decreases in right basolateral amygdala gray matter density,[39] and increases in gray matter concentration within the left hippocampus.[40]

Mindfulness meditation also appears to bring about favorable structural changes in the brain, though more research needs to be done because most of these studies are small and have weak methodology.[41][7][9][10] One recent study found a significant cortical thickness increase in individuals who underwent a brief -8 weeks- MBSR training program and that this increase was coupled with a significant reduction of several psychological indices related to worry, state anxiety, depression.[42] Another study describes how mindfulness based interventions target neurocognitive mechanisms of addiction at the attention-appraisal-emotion interface.[22] A meta-analysis by Fox et al. (2014) using results from 21 brain imaging studies found consistent differences in the region of the prefrontal cortex and other brain regions associated with body awareness. In terms of effect size the mean effect was rated as moderate. (Cohen's d = 0.46) However the results should be interpreted with caution because funnel plots indicate that publication bias is an issue in meditation research.[41] A follow up by Fox et al. (2016) using 78 functional neuro-imaging studies suggests that different meditation styles are reliably associated with different brain activity. Activations in some brain regions are usually accompanied by deactivation in others. This finding suggests that meditation research must put emphasis on comparing practices from the same style of meditation, for example results from studies investigating focused attention methods cannot be compared to results from open monitoring approaches.[43]

Psychological and Buddhist conceptualisations of mindfulness both highlight awareness and attention training as key components, in which levels of mindfulness can be cultivated with practise of mindfulness meditation.[44] Focused attention meditation and open monitoring meditation are distinct types of mindfulness meditation, and the former relates to directing and maintaining attention on a chosen object (e.g. the breath).[45] Open monitoring meditation does not involve focus on a specific object, and instead awareness is grounded in the perceptual features of ones environment.

Focused attention meditation is typically practiced first to increase the ability to enhance attentional stability, and awareness of mental states with the goal being to transition to open monitoring meditation practise that emphasizes the ability to monitor moment-by-moment changes in experience, without a focus of attention to maintain. Mindfulness meditation may lead to greater cognitive flexibility [46]

Sustained attention Tasks of sustained attention relate to vigilance and the preparedness that aids completing a particular task goal. Psychological research into the relationship between mindfulness meditation and the sustained attention network have revealed the following:

Selective attention

Executive control attention Executive control attention include functions of inhibiting the conscious processing of distracting information. In the context of mindful meditation, distracting information would relate to attention grabbing mental events such as thoughts related to the future or past.[45]

Reductions in rumination have been found following Mindfulness meditation practise.[57][58]

Emotional reactivity can be measured and reflected in brain regions related to the production of emotions.[59] It can also be reflected in tests of attentional performance, indexed in poorer performance in attention related tasks. The regulation of emotional reactivity as initiated by attentional control capacities can be taxing to performance, as attentional resources are limited [60]

It is debated as to whether top-down executive control regions such as the Dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC),[70] are required [68] or not [61] to inhibit reactivity of the amygdala activation related to the production of evoked emotional responses. Arguably an initial increase in activation of executive control regions developed during mindfulness training may lessen with increasing mindfulness expertise [71]

An 8 week mindfulness course given to students was found to reduce the number subsequently needing treatment for mental illness by 60%, although the study was not of large size and commented that the effect could be due to 'non-specific effects', as the control group had received no attention at all, rather than an alternative intervention.[72][73]

A large part of mindfulness research is dependent on technology. As new technology continues to be developed, new imaging techniques will become useful in this field. It would be interesting to use real-time fMRI to help give immediate feedback and guide participants through the programs. It could also be used to more easily train and evaluate mental states during meditation itself.[74] The new technology in the upcoming years offers many exciting potentials for the continued research.

Vipassana meditation is a component of Buddhist philosophy. Phra Taweepong Inwongsakul and Sampath Kumar from the University of Mysore have been studying the effects of this meditation on 120 students by measuring the associated increase of cortical thickness in the brain. The results of this study are inconclusive.[75][76]

Sahaja yoga meditation is regarded as a mental silence meditation, and has been shown to correlate with particular brain[77][78] and brain wave[79][80][81] characteristics. One study has led to suggestions that Sahaja meditation involves 'switching off' irrelevant brain networks for the maintenance of focused internalized attention and inhibition of inappropriate information.[82] Sahaja meditators appear to benefit from lower depression[83] and scored above control group for emotional well-being and mental health measures on SF-36 ratings.[84][85][86]

A study comparing practitioners of Sahaja Yoga meditation with a group of non meditators doing a simple relaxation exercise, measured a drop in skin temperature in the meditators compared to a rise in skin temperature in the non meditators as they relaxed. The researchers noted that all other meditation studies that have observed skin temperature have recorded increases and none have recorded a decrease in skin temperature. This suggests that Sahaja Yoga meditation, being a mental silence approach, may differ both experientially and physiologically from simple relaxation.[81]

Kundalini Yoga has proved to increase the prevention of cognitive decline and evaluate the response of biomarkers to treatment, thereby shedding light on the underlying mechanisms of the link between Kundalini Yoga and cognitive impairment. For the study, 81 participants aged 55 and older who had subjective memory complaints and met criteria for mild cognitive impairment, indicated by a total score of 0.5 on the Clinical Dementia Rating Scale. The results showed that at 12 weeks, both the yoga group showed significant improvements in recall memory and visual memory and showed significant sustained improvement in memory up to the 24-week follow-up, the yoga group showed significant improvement in verbal fluency and sustained significant improvements in executive functioning at week 24. In addition, the yoga cohort showed significant improvement in depressive symptoms, apathy, and resilience from emotional stress. This research was provided by Helen Lavretsky, M.D. and colleagues.[87] In another study, Kundalini Yoga did not show significant effectiveness in treating obsessive-compulsive disorders compared with Relaxation/Meditation.[88]

The first Transcendental Meditation (TM) research studies were conducted at UCLA and Harvard University and published in Science and the American Journal of Physiology in 1970 and 1971.[89] However, much research has been of poor quality,[1][88][90] including a high risk for bias due to the connection of researchers to the TM organization and the selection of subjects with a favorable opinion of TM.[91][92][93] Independent systematic reviews have not found health benefits for TM exceeding those of relaxation and health education.[1][88][92] A 2013 statement from the American Heart Association described the evidence supporting TM as a treatment for hypertension as Level IIB, meaning that TM "may be considered in clinical practice" but that its effectiveness is "unknown/unclear/uncertain or not well-established".[This quote needs a citation] In another study, TM proved comparable with other kinds of relaxation therapies in reducing anxiety.[88]

The medial prefrontal and posterior cingulate cortices have been found to be relatively deactivated during meditation (experienced meditators using concentration, lovingkindness and choiceless awareness meditation). In addition experienced meditators were found to have stronger coupling between the posterior cingulate, dorsal anterior cingulate, and dorsolateral prefrontal cortices both when meditating and when not meditating.[94]

A meta analysis found meditation gave some benefits, but no evidence that it was better than other treatments, for mental illness.[4]

Meditation has been shown to change grey matter concentrations and the precuneus.[95][40][96][41][39]

An eight-week MBSR course induced changes in gray matter concentrations.[40] Exploratory whole brain analyses identified significant increases in gray matter concentration in the PCC, TPJ, and the cerebellum. These results suggest that participation in MBSR is associated with changes in gray matter concentration in brain regions involved in learning and memory processes, emotion regulation, self-referential processing, and perspective taking.

Studies have shown that meditation has both short-term and long-term effects on various perceptual faculties. In 1984 a study showed that meditators have a significantly lower detection threshold for light stimuli of short duration.[97] In 2000 a study of the perception of visual illusions by zen masters, novice meditators, and non-meditators showed statistically significant effects found for the Poggendorff Illusion but not for the Mller-Lyer Illusion. The zen masters experienced a statistically significant reduction in initial illusion (measured as error in millimeters) and a lower decrement in illusion for subsequent trials.[98] Tloczynski has described the theory of mechanism behind the changes in perception that accompany mindfulness meditation thus: "A person who meditates consequently perceives objects more as directly experienced stimuli and less as concepts With the removal or minimization of cognitive stimuli and generally increasing awareness, meditation can therefore influence both the quality (accuracy) and quantity (detection) of perception."[98] Brown also points to this as a possible explanation of the phenomenon: "[the higher rate of detection of single light flashes] involves quieting some of the higher mental processes which normally obstruct the perception of subtle events."[This quote needs a citation] In other words, the practice may temporarily or permanently alter some of the top-down processing involved in filtering subtle events usually deemed noise by the perceptual filters.[citation needed]

Herbert Benson, founder of the Mind-Body Medical Institute, which is affiliated with Harvard University and several Boston hospitals, reports that meditation induces a host of biochemical and physical changes in the body collectively referred to as the "relaxation response".[99] The relaxation response includes changes in metabolism, heart rate, respiration, blood pressure and brain chemistry. Benson and his team have also done clinical studies at Buddhist monasteries in the Himalayan Mountains.[100] Benson wrote The Relaxation Response to document the benefits of meditation, which in 1975 were not yet widely known.[101]

According to an article in Psychological Bulletin, EEG activity slows as a result of meditation.[102] The National Institutes of Health (NIH) has written, "It is thought that some types of meditation might work by reducing activity in the sympathetic nervous system and increasing activity in the parasympathetic nervous system,"[This quote needs a citation] or equivalently, that meditation produces a reduction in arousal and increase in relaxation.[citation needed]

Aging is a process accompanied by a decrease in brain weight and volume. This phenomenon can be explained by structural changes in the brain, namely, a loss of grey matter. Some studies over the last decade have implicated meditation as a protective factor against normal age-related brain atrophy.[103] The first direct evidence for this link emerged from a study investigating changes in the cortical thickness of meditators. Interestingly, the researchers found that regular meditation practice was able to reduce age-related thinning of the frontal cortex, albeit, these findings were restricted to particular regions of the brain.[104] A similar study looked to further expand on this finding by including a behavioural component. Consistent with the previous study, meditators did not show the expected negative correlation between grey matter volume and age. In addition, the results for meditators on the behavioural test, measuring attentional performance, were comparable across all age groups.[105] This implies that meditation can potentially protect against age-related grey matter loss and age-related cognitive decline. Since then, more research has supported the notion that meditation serves as a neuroprotective factor that slows age-related brain atrophy.[103][106] Still, all studies have been cross sectional in design. Furthermore, these results merely describe associations and do not make causal inferences.[107] Further work using longitudinal and experimental designs may help solidify the causal link between meditation and grey matter loss. Since few studies have investigated this direct link, however insightful they may be, there is not sufficient evidence for a conclusive answer.

Research has also been conducted on the malleable determinants of cellular aging in an effort to understand human longevity. Researchers have stated, "We have reviewed data linking stress arousal and oxidative stress to telomere shortness. Meditative practices appear to improve the endocrine balance toward positive arousal (high DHEA, lower cortisol) and decrease oxidative stress. Thus, meditation practices may promote mitotic cell longevity both through decreasing stress hormones and oxidative stress and increasing hormones that may protect the telomere."[108][109]

Studies have shown meditators to have higher happiness than control groups, although this may be due to non-specific factors such as meditators having better general self-care.[110][111][84][112]

Yongey Mingyur Rinpoche has said that neuro scientists have found that with meditation, an individual's happiness baseline can change.[113]

Positive relationships have been found between the volume of gray matter in the right precuneus area of the brain and both meditation and the subject's subjective happiness score.[114][95][40][96][41][39]

The following is an official statement from the US government-run National Center for Complementary and Integrative Health:

"Meditation is considered to be safe for healthy people. There have been rare reports that meditation could cause or worsen symptoms in people who have certain psychiatric problems, but this question has not been fully researched. People with physical limitations may not be able to participate in certain meditative practices involving physical movement. Individuals with existing mental or physical health conditions should speak with their health care providers prior to starting a meditative practice and make their meditation instructor aware of their condition."[115]

Adverse effects have been reported,[116][117] and may, in some cases, be the result of "improper use of meditation".[118] The NIH advises prospective meditators to "ask about the training and experience of the meditation instructor [they] are considering."[115]

As with any practice, meditation may also be used to avoid facing ongoing problems or emerging crises in the meditator's life. In such situations, it may instead be helpful to apply mindful attitudes acquired in meditation while actively engaging with current problems.[119][120] According to the NIH, meditation should not be used as a replacement for conventional health care or as a reason to postpone seeing a doctor.[115]

Meditation reduces pain perception.[121]

Although we can now scan the bran, inferring value from blood movements in a human brain remains debateable.

Numerous studies have demonstrated the beneficial effects of a variety of meditation practices. It has been unclear to what extent these practices share neural correlates. Interestingly, a recent study compared electroencephalogram activity during a focused-attention and open monitoring meditation practice from practitioners of two Buddhist traditions (17). The researchers found that the differences between the two meditation traditions were more pronounced than the differences between the two types of meditation. These data are consistent with our findings that theoretical orientation of how a practice is taught strongly influences neural activity during these practices. However, the study used long-term practitioners from different cultures, which may have confounded the results.[122]

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Research on meditation - Wikipedia