In his talk, Dr. Germano introduces the varieties of Tibetan Buddhist meditation, describes the difficulties to define meditation as a distinctive type of human practice, providing an 11 fold topology of Tibetan Buddhist meditation.
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3 The Varieties of Tibetan Buddhist Meditation
David Germano
4 Tantric Practices and Scientific Research
Geoffrey Samuel
In his talk, Dr. Samuel elaborates on several pointes related to Tantric practices and scientific understanding of meditation. In particular, issues such as lack of a category in western science to place tantric practices, their social context, and their potential to enhance cognition and creativity are discussed.
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5 Meditation, Buddhist Psychology and the Regulation of the Mind-brain
Antonino Raffone
Buddhist psychology has offered refined models of the mind-body system, such as in terms of the five aggregates and dependent co-arising. These models remarkably converge with contemporary developments in cognitive and affective psychology and neurosciences. In particular, current developments about emotion patterns, the self pattern and the interplay of brain networks, seem to resonate with Buddhist psychology models. Meditation states and traits can thus be understood as related to such converging models and findings. After considering such theoretical aspects, I will address our neuroimaging and neuroelectrical studies with the outstanding participation of Theravada Thai Forest Buddhist monks, with related findings about meditation states and traits. Taken together, our findings highlight an enhanced regulation of the mind-brain in the long-term meditators, which may resonate with other traditions, such as in Vajrayana practices.
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6 Meditation and the Neurophysiology of Self
Rael Cahn
I will present an overview of findings on the neurophysiology of self-related processing across different meditative practices. Overall, there is a small but growing body of work demonstrating that there are neurophysiological correlates to the transformation in the experience of self through meditation practice. This will include an in-depth summary of the work my colleagues and I have done assessing the impact of long-term meditation practice in the Himalayan Yoga, Isha Yoga, and Vipassana meditation traditions on the Self Name paradigm. We found that long term meditators in all three of these traditions showed a common difference from non-meditators - a significant decrease in the involuntary P300-related responding to Self vs. Other names. Moreover, we found that the amplitude of this response (which was found to be significant in non-meditators but minimal in meditators) was inversely correlated with mindfulness scores and positively correlated with negative affect. These findings indicate that this measure of self-related processing may be a sensitive marker to the transformation of the experience of self through meditative practice of different traditions with relevance to the beneficial effects of meditation on well-being.
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7 Neurocognitive Mechanisms of Meditation
Arnaud Delorme
Despite decades of research, effects of different types of meditation on electroencephalographic (EEG) activity are still being defined. We compared practitioners of three different meditation traditions (Vipassana, Himalayan Yoga and Isha Shoonya) with a control group during a meditative and instructed mind-wandering (IMW) block. All meditators showed higher parieto-occipital 60–110 Hz gamma amplitude than control subjects as a trait effect observed during meditation and when considering meditation and IMW periods together. Moreover, this gamma power was positively correlated with participants meditation experience. Independent component analysis was used to show that gamma activity did not originate in eye or muscle artifacts. In addition, we observed higher 7–11 Hz alpha activity in the Vipassana group compared to all the other groups during both meditation and instructed mind wandering and lower 10–11 Hz activity in the Himalayan yoga group during meditation only. We showed that meditation practice is correlated to changes in the EEG gamma frequency range that are common to a variety of meditation practices.
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8 Vajrayana Practices: Towards Scientific Conceptualization of Meditation
Maria Kozhevnikov
I will review research evidence which shows that types of meditation developed out of certain traditions such as Vajrayana Tantric Buddhism lead to heightened sympathetic activation and phasic alertness boost in focused attnetion), while types of meditation from other traditions such as Theravada and Mahayana elicit heightened parasympathetic activity and tonic alertness (vigilance). Such findings validate Buddhist scriptural descriptions of heightened arousal during Vajrayana practices and a calm and alert state of mind during Theravada and Mahayana types of meditation and demonstrate the importance of the cultural and philosophical context out of which the meditation practices develop. Furthermore, I will talk about neurophysiological correlates of main classes of Vajrayana practices, such as Generation stages (Deity self-visualization), Completion stages with sign (Tummo), and Completion stages without Sing (Mahamudra), and will show that Generation and Completion with sign stages produce the state of arousal and associated phasic alertness, later employed in Completion without sign culminating meditations.
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9 Hemodynamic observations of Tumo (G-Tummo) yoga Practitioners in a Himalayan environment
Alexander Levitov
Background: Few attempts have been made to evaluate the physiology of traditional Eastern health practices. The goal of this study was to evaluate the hemodynamic effects of the mysterious Buddhist practice of tumo. Tumo is a meditative practice that produces inner heat through the alleged cultivation of body energy-channels.
Methods: This study was performed by members of an international expedition to the Himalayan Mountains in the Republic of India. The study was performed in an unpopulated outdoor mountainous area at an altitude of 16,400 ft with ambient temperatures between -10 and -15(°)C. Two (2) cohorts of subjects were studied: healthy non-yogi volunteers and tumo practitioners. All of the subjects were stripped down to their underclothes and exposed to the subzero atmospheric temperatures for 5 minutes. The volunteers were then passively rewarmed while the tumo practitioners performed tumo for up to 10 minutes. Blood pressure, heart rate, and stroke volume index (SVI) and cardiac index were measured noninvasively using a NICOM™ hemodynamic monitor, while carotid blood flow and biventricular performance were determined echocardiographically at each stage of the experiment. The total peripheral resistance index (TPRI), left ventricular ejection fraction (LVEF), and tricuspid annular plane systolic excursion (TAPSE) were determined using standard formula.
Results: Fourteen (14) subjects (six volunteers and eight tumo practitioners) completed the study. There was one female subject in each group. With cold exposure, the SVI and carotid blood flow decreased while the TPRI increased significantly in both groups. In the volunteer group, these changes retuned to baseline with rewarming. Following tumo, the cardiac index (4.8±0.6 versus 4.0±0.5 l/m(2); p<0.01), carotid blood flow (445±127 versus 325±100 mL/min/m(2), p<0.01), LVEF (68±5 versus 64±7%; p<0.05) and TAPSE (2.9±0.4 versus 2.4±0.5 cm; p<0.01) were significantly higher when compared with baseline, while the TPRI was significantly lower (1786±189 versus 2173±281; p<0.01).
Conclusions: Tumo was associated with a hyperdynamic vasodilated state with increased biventricular performance. We postulate that tumo results in a massive increase in sympathetic activity with activation of brown adipose tissue and marked heat production. The increased heat production may explain the paradoxical vasodilatation in tumo practitioners exposed to subzero temperatures.
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10 Cultivating Relationships with Invisible Beings: The Phenomenology and Cognitive mechanisms of Tulpamancy
Michael Lifshitz
Tulpamancy is the practice of rigorously training the imagination to cultivate friendly dialogues with invisible companions called “tulpas”, or thought-forms. Tulpas are understood to share the mind and body of the person who created them, but to have their own autonomous free will and agency. They are typically experienced by those who create them (i.e., the tulpamancers) as close friends and confidants with distinctive personalities and strong opinions. Originally inspired by European interpretations of Tibetan vajrayana practices, contemporary tulpamancy practice has recently gained popularity among secular practitioners through online message boards and chat servers. In this talk, I will describe preliminary findings from an ongoing multi-methods project that brings together phenomenological interviews and functional neuroimaging to investigate the cognitive mechanisms of tulpamancy. I will also propose that similar mechanisms may play a role in religious practices such as evangelical Christian prayer, in which practitioners train their minds to develop relationships with invisible spiritual beings. This research illustrates how imagination-based contemplative practices can open new modes of subjectivity and pattern fundamental aspects of human experience, right down to the basic feeling of agency over one’s innermost private thoughts.
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11 Contemplative Techniques of Cognitive Lucidity and Embodiment in Tibetan Dream Yoga
Michael Sheehy
Asking, “What do dream yoga practitioners do in their sleep?” – this talk gives attention to contemplative techniques and dynamics operative during the practice of dream yoga. Given the diversity among Tibetan dream yoga practices, we detail the descriptive structure, mechanisms, and operations that comprise dreaming practice in dream yoga instruction manuals on the Six Dharmas of Niguma. The third in a series of six yogic techniques attributed to the 11th century Indian Buddhist female adept Niguma, the yoga of dreaming is a core practice detailed by Shangpa Kagyü scholars. The focus is six distinct procedures to perform during dream yoga prescribed by the Tibetan yogin Kyungpo Neljor (1050-1140), progenitor of the Shangpa order. To better understand the descriptive structure and theoretical operations of the practice, as well as correlative components and mechanisms, we analyze this succinct sequence of procedures to be performed while asleep. Specific attention is given to training the dreamer’s body with the mind (sems kyis lus sbyong) and training the mind with the body (lus kyis sems sbyong) to make observations about embodiment and cognitive lucidity during dreamtime. In an effort to advance interdisciplinary collaborations on dream research, we conclude with reflections on areas of prospective intersection with the cognitive sciences, particularly with the neurophenomenology of dreaming and recent research on real-time dialogue with dreamers.
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12 Recent findings in the Cognitive Neuroscience of Lucid Dreaming
Ben Baird
Lucid dreaming occurs when one recognizes that one is dreaming during ongoing sleep. This unique state is an emerging area of scientific research and a promising method for the study of dreaming. Lucid dreams can be objectively verified on a polysomnogram through volitional eye movements. Lucid dreams occur during REM sleep and are associated with increased brain activation and markers of physiological arousal. In this talk I will discuss several of our recent findings that shed new light on the neurobiology of lucid dreaming, including neuroimaging and pharmacological studies.
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13 From Neuroscience to Conversing with Lucid Dreamers
Ken Paller
I will give an overview of some of my research on human memory, starting with an emphasis on the distinction between memory capabilities that allow for conscious experiences of recollection versus implicit memory functions that apparently unfold in an unconscious manner. I will then describe research on memory processing during sleep. Our work has made use of methods for modifying this memory processing during sleep through sensory stimulation that does not cause awakening. Finally, I will cover our recent studies in which we engage sleeping individuals in a two-way dialogue during their dreams. The many opportunities for bridging to Vajrayana practices are intriguing and worthy of discussion.
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For those who are interested to know more about Gebchak Nunnery and its practices, please click here for Elizabeth McDougal's PhD thesis.