The short guided mediation at the beginning of this vid is one of the best I’ve ever come across. I return to it again and again. Thank you for this, Joseph.
If you like the meditation (as I also do) I highly recommend looking up Jospeh’s “Mindfulness” on audible - it isn’t a book just some short lessons and then 20-30 min meditations which are like expanded versions of this one. I feel they must have been written in the same timeframe as the one in the video.
To the person who introduced Joseph: me too - i.e. how I started by listening to the 36 CD's at the time, that I got from Soundstrue true, over and over - over ten years. They were excellent introduction in depth and breath to the four foundations of mindfulness. ...and then the podcasts... and then the interviews here and there... so very very helpful to us to have that material accessible!! Namaste.
I hate to admit this but to me it seemed like he went on and on in his introduction to the simple mantra "not even one" pertaining to his smoking habit. I whispered to myself, "just tell us what it is already!" And when he finally did, I was like, that's it? However, in spite of my reaction to his long winded introduction to this seemingly unprofound little mantra, I applied it to my most destructive craving.... drinking. I'm a binge drinker you see. I would get started and couldn't stop. And the urge to get started on one of my binges at the end of the week was very strong. I sometimes binged in the middle of the week depending on the strength of the battle inside (and how bad the hangover had been from the weekend). After listening to this lecture, when the urge arose I started saying to myself, "not even one." Thanks Mr. Goldstein. This "little" mantra, in conjunction with mindfully training myself to deeply appreciate and honor my body, and every organ and cell in it, has helped me to not drink a single bottle or pint of beer or glass of wine in months. The urge rises and falls away as fast as I can say, "not even one." I had been in this dirty low down psychological and physical prison, poisoning the greatest scientific miracle on earth, for 30 years. I'm free!
Paddy: Though this reply is two years after you posted it and I hope you are still sober. The very definition of Alcoholism is the inability to control your drinking, not what you drink, not where you drink or who you drink with, its not even about how often you drink but how you have lost control over your drinking, once you start it only ends when you pass out and then wake up and forget how it all went down. I speak from experience in that head trip. I find it is much easier to tell myself that I will just not drink TODAY, tomorrow is another day and time, but just for today I will not touch a single drop of booze no matter how much I crave it. Just for today.
@@Blue_Dun : The mind wishes to complicate the life of the person, for reasons unknown, and so its best to keep it simple, I will not drink any booze today no matter what happens... maybe tomorrow as thats another day, however when I wake up I say... not today, maybe tomorrow...Read the Big Book of A.A. as it has all the answers to your questions, you can pick it for free at any AA meeting. check it out.
I found this so enlightening and helpful. Mindfulness, I now believe, is a cure to PTSD and CPTSD. It is all about thoughts - flashbacks and our feeling and reactions to them as if it were happening now. Practicing mindfulness can eliminate this currently "incurable" mental illness.
I love Joseph Goldstein as a teacher. I always appreciate the way he talks about Dharma and the examples he brings from his own life. To me, he is extremely user-friendly in his style approach. Joseph knows his stuff and it always sinks better with me when I listen to some of what he teaches again and again over time. Everytime, I 'get it' deeper and more clear. Thank you Joseph. I amso grateful for all you do!!
I got a deeper and richer understanding on Mindfulness. It was very well presente unlike a reay made talk but I got deeply connected with what was presented as well as with the presenter. I am very grateful to Dr. Joseph Goldstein for widening and deepening my understanding of Mindfulness.
The last answer was particurarly beautiful for me. It allows me to feel compassion for people ignorant of meditation and the possibility of a peaceful mind.
In a few words he just nailed it: living in a present moment without being mindful and not learning from experiences arising is something similar to animal existence.
Wonderful talk especially the ethical dimension of mindfulness and the racism around 1:05 . I had no formal training in mindfulness when I started and immediately noticed its power to calm myself and change harmful conditionings of mind
This is highly informative and a great asset to anyone like myself who stress binges. Thank you so much for providing such wonderful guidance to reign in the issues that trigger this symptom.
I love the short meditation at the beginning of this video. Does JG have any longer guided meditations where he uses similar instruction e.g. “There is a body”?
What Mindfulness Research Neglects Mindfulness is defined as non-judgmental or choice-less awareness. Choices in turn may be divided into non-perseverative choices (what to have for breakfast, what route to take to go home, or choices with no dilemmas) and perseverative choices (worries, distractions, and rumination, or mental dilemmas wherein every alternative is bad). All meditative procedures, including mindfulness, avoid both. The consistent avoidance of perseverative choice alone represents resting protocols, wherein the neuro-muscular activity is sharply reduced. In other words, when we want to be relaxed we isolate ourselves from distractive and worrisome events and thoughts. These states in turn correlate with increased levels of endogenous opioids or ‘endorphins’ in the brain. The benefits of this are manifest, as the sustained increase of endogenous opioids down regulates opioid receptors, and thus inhibits the salience or reward value of other substances (food, alcohol, drugs) that otherwise increase opioid levels, and therefore reduces cravings, as well as mitigating our sensitivity to pain. Profound relaxation also inhibits muscular tension and its concomitant discomfort. In this way, relaxation causes pleasure, enhances self-control, counteracts and inhibits stress, reduces pain, and provides for a feeling of satisfaction and equanimity that is the hallmark of the so-called meditative state. It may be deduced therefore that meditative states are primarily resting states, and that meditative procedures over-prescribe the cognitive operations that may be altered to provide its salutary benefits (that is, you just need to avoid perseverative choices, not all choices), and that meditation as a concept must be redefined. Finally, the objective measurement of neuro-muscular activity and its neuro-chemical correlates (long established in the academic literature on resting states) is in general ignored by the academic literature on mindfulness, which is primarily based upon self-reports and neurological measures (fMRI) that cannot account for these facts. The problem with mindfulness research is therefore not theoretical, but empirical, and until it clearly accounts for all relevant observables for brain and body, the concept will never be fully explained. More of this argument, including references, below including a link to the first study (published this year) that has discovered the presence of opioid activity due to mindfulness practice, as well as the 1988 Holmes paper which provided the most extensive argument to date that meditation was rest. www.amjmed.com/article/S0002-9343(16)30302-3/abstract www.scribd.com/doc/284056765/The-Book-of-Rest-The-Odd-Psychology-of-Doing-Nothing www.scribd.com/document/291558160/Holmes-Meditation-and-Rest-The-American-Psychologist
Bill; Thank you for your thoughtful comments. The independent measure for mindfulness entails ‘choice-less’ awareness, and if you are not making choices, it logically follows that you are avoiding them. My issue with mindfulness is that it simply overprescribes the types of choices that need to be avoided to effect a state of calm and equanimity. Namely, the avoidance of non-perseverative choice, or the day to day choices that we use to navigate our worlds is neither possible nor practicable, and decision making per se is not a cause of psycho-pathology, but the types of decisions we make. Also, to avoid perseverative choices does not impute that you are unaware of what you are avoiding. It means rather that you avoiding the active process of choosing between alternatives. The biological aspects of mediation are rarely addressed in the literature of meditation, yet as a whole equal the biology of relaxed states. The neurological aspects of mediation are interesting, but suffer because none of them use practical controls of people who are in relaxed states (which are indicated not by self-reports but by true measures of neuro-muscular activity such as the EKG) Finally, it is important to understand that there is a massive and perverse incentive to establish meditative states as unique from relaxation. Indeed, an entire billion-dollar field full of therapists and researchers depends upon it. As for relaxation, it is a state that is as complex as meditative states, but a simple perusal of its literature reveals startling similarities that force me to conclude that meditative and relaxed states are the same. Link below to a summary of this literature: books.google.com/books?id=HHijBQAAQBAJ&pg=PA135&lpg=PA135&dq=relaxation+opioids&source=bl&ots=e1lrB9SEEu&sig=Ywc9vdZxWKnvfJDHFFE3qpRLC8o&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0CCsQ6AEwADgKahUKEwiD0qDHs6HHAhXSOogKHes4DHg#v=onepage&q=relaxation%20opioids&f=false
Wow! That was a big reply! Perhaps I can give a reply that is empirical and clear. Meditative states are characterized as a state of pleasure or bliss. Pleasurable states are mediated in the brain by opioid systems, and besides being mediated by food, drink, and sex, they are also activated by sustained neuro-muscular deactivation or rest. Opioid systems are not mediated by any other known mechanisms, let alone concentrated attention. Thus I have no alternative but to equate meditative states with rest, or at the very least assume that relaxation is core to the experience. All neurological studies on meditation do not consider this fact because they are primarily based on fmri results or brain scans that only measure electrical activity in the brain. If you peruse my work on meditation, including my published journal articles ( a second one linked below), my primary interest in in the neuro-psychology of resting states. That I have segued into a critique of meditation is unavoidable, nonetheless it should be remarked that the meditation literature studiously avoids an understanding of resting states. As for your comments, they are very mentalistic and I often frankly have no idea what you are talking about. Sorry to be so candid, but throwing out so many cognitive terms that are unanchored to any real or empirical events invites only confusion. In summary, the biological markers for meditation and rest are the same. The neurological markers (fmri) may or may not be the same, as there have been no controlled studies comparing resting states to meditative states (as objectively measured by neuro-muscular activity). As for the subjective markers that you espouse, they are as resistant to objective criticism as the poetic views of a wine taster. And I return to my original assertion, that to achieve relaxation and a pleasurable emotional state, one needs only to avoid perseverative cognition. That's it, and none of it requires 'meditation'. Thanks again for your comments, I appreciate greatly the dialog even though we agree to disagree! www.scribd.com/doc/121345732/Relaxation-and-Muscular-Tension-A-bio-behavioristic-explanation
relaxation is not a vague term. It simply means that the musculature is inactive, and this state induces opioid activity. I understand and appreciate your Buddhist view point, but mindfulness is a practical procedure that is independent of religion, and although the Buddhist philosophy is laudatory, humans are simply not wired to be able to end cravings or desires. We can avoid or suppress them, but our instincts cannot be 'ended'.
+Abrar Ahmed Even Sam Harris, now who the hell is Sam Harris when it comes to understanding an ancient practice and culture, he is hardly any type of authority.
+Markandeya 108 I would agree that he is not an authority, but to say "who the hell is Sam Harris when it comes to understanding an ancient practice and culture" is to simply be confused. He has spent a lot of timing practicing meditation and went on many retreats in his 20s.
Markandeya 108 Ummmmm..... He has a degree in philosophy, a PhD in neuroscience and has spent thousands of hours meditating on retreats as long as a month. Perhaps he's not a qualified teacher but certainly his opinion is of some value.
I think the issue was perhaps with the word “even.” If someone said “Even Ed Sheeran says that Bob Dylan is the finest songwriter,” one would likely advise them to drop the “even.” It needlessly sets ES up as a kind of timeless arbiter. No disrespect to Harris or Sheeran’s accomplishments, but they’re comparatively recent and not in the same pioneering league. “Sam Harris called him the finest Vipassana teacher.”
It would seem that, after hearing the true meaning of mindfulness, people who are truly mindful are dependent on the rest of the population who are not mindful. The truly unmindful would be the only people who would accomplish anything terms of support of survival itself. Mindful people would be questioning every thought that arises to the point that growing food for example, or even eating, would be questioned to the point where nothing would be accomplished ... lost in thought’s thought. So this leads me to the question - what is the goal of being mindful? For peace of mind? For a better life, (which doesn’t seem to fit into its purpose)? For a better world? To prepare of an afterlife? For a lower blood pressure? I’m not trying to be difficult - I’m truly trying to understand its end purpose.
Does anyone know if there is a longer guided meditation online with Joseph where he mentions the instruction “There is a body” like he does in the beginning of this vid. I find that simple instruction has been so profound in my own practice.
Yes. This is the teaching of Maharsi Sayadaw from Burma ( Myanmar) well knows as an Arahant ( Highest level of Enlightenment) ua-cam.com/video/Tf_NyU_YaNU/v-deo.html
When he gets into filters which isn't mindfullness. Can someone explain this? For instance, When I'm meditating, there are thoughts that come though my head like future deadlines, which is a filter. I'm observing but with a filter, how would i observe without the filter
SLIP NORRIS “Free of filters” is the same as non-judgmental observation. You are observing and making sense of bare experience. Wisdom immerges from this type of observation. If a future deadline (thought) comes up during meditation, it is seen as merely a thought that comes up (that arises and ceases). You do not get entangled in that thought. You may understand this better by reading the following article: sgo.sagepub.com/content/5/2/2158244015583860
I think it will occur without trying. Right? you see the thing, you see yourself wanting to get rid of the thing... and then you see that you don't need to get rid of the thing, or of wanting to get rid of it... you just keep observing it all
More than once I felt like he should use the word "judgement." He gave an example of a physical sensation in his neck blocking his energy. That's a judgement. All he has is a sensation in his neck. It just is. He turned it into more than it is. "Perceptual filter" might be more specific. Applying a perception, filtering an experience based upon thought (judgement, rationalization, projection).
Sorry to be rude, watching this has been both interesting and valuable. Given my tendency to facetiousness, and those of many others I do have a related question. Why is division not a good thing? When we separate and judge people we do that because we have to don't we? We need questions, and so we need oppositions.
But being too passive does not make sense, in the way that Goldstein seems to advocate. (Also his comment on race, given his own ethnic (Jewish) background especially seems somewhat ironic, one sided - if not all too conscious of race). Our prejudices, that is, how we categorise other human beings, are not only ineradicable, but also very useful at times.
Marmamarquess The answer to that question is yes because you are posing it from a position of 'being in the world and the ways of the world'. However, in context of this teaching from Mr. Goldstein, the answer is No, because Mr. Goldstein is teaching something that leads to stepping away from the world, and the ways of the world, the end of rebirth in the existential state/dilemma. He who seeks to remain in the world within the wheel of cyclic existence will remain through remaining concerned about issue that need analysis, critique and judgement of differences, but he or she who seeks to escape cyclic existence must learn to see the emptiness of all such conditioned viewpoints. So No Marmamarquesas, your question does not really make sense in context with this particular youtube video (teaching) because it is an unworldly teaching, and your question is a worldly question. A worldly question in worldly context, is not applicable or answerable from an unworldly viewpoint.
Guess you need to meditate a lot before you (or rather Goldstein) say very prosaic ordinary things about the modern world. Then you can pretend that it was unworldly. I'll say he's unworldly, but more like in the teenager who can't drive cars and get a girlfriend sense.
+Marmamarquess I often wonder why you negative people come here just to insult people, seems you need to redefine what you are before you talk. That would not only help yourself but also help with others not be exposed to your drab uneducated comments.
I ask questions to find out more and I state things so that people know what they are . You on the other hand could teach me all about how to be negative, drab and insulting.
james kutty Joseph meditating & being aware isn't a special club where people are better than "those in the know". There was a time when you "had no clue". Be respectful...this video is obviously meant to help people who need guidance w/ this stuff, and that it does. Take the advice of the people teaching this stuff & "drop your ego" guy
james kutty Joseph I thought u were trying to sound cocky. Maybe I misunderstood u. This stuff can be terribly confusing to newcomers and it doesn't help that some of these "teachers" that claim to be "enlightened" get a pompous, holier than thou attitude. Goldstein seems to be alright though
Can anyone tell me please - and Im anguish about it -, for the last months I have felt that my back is being a motive of abreviating meditation...I don't have any problem at the back except it doesn't stand still for a very long time and I have to move it a quite good amount of times. Now I've just got very surprised that Im seeing in this video Goldstein meditating on an amrchair where his back seems to be straight - as we could expect - but somehow his back is being supported by the back part of the armchair. I have a guess I have to work out a little bit my core at the abdomen...It seems that when we have some issue with the sustentation of the back it has to do with strenghtening the core. I would appreciate so much if someone can enlighten me on this one !
dionisio454 dionisio454 yeah working out should help a good bit. Make sure your back is aligned properly. Working out your butt will help a lot too. Also ensure you aren't sitting strenuously straight. There's a couple videos on UA-cam that helped me a lot.
“I don’t want the present, I want reality’, minute 31:57. Bullshit. Reality can only be experienced in the present moment, so if you don’t want the present moment, then it’s very unluckily that you can have a direct experience with reality.
No. You don't get it. He didn't mean 'The Present' in the sense that you are talking about. Of course we are all in the Present. That's not the point. The point is that we don't see Reality the way we should, despite being in the Present. Why so ? Coz we don't Observe our Minds the way we are supposed to. We are Lost in Thought. Instead, we are supposed to Observe the Mind, to Experientially understand the Impermanent Nature of Thoughts ...
I understood that to mean "I want reality, and I'll define what that is" (the confabulating, narrating mind's version/amelioration of reality.). Presence is the absence of narration. Simply "wanting" something other than presence is a rejection of the present. That's the start of the confabulated existence.
@@markfuller : Reality is not something one wants unless one sees reality as an object. In that case reality is not a reality but a delusional mind playing tricks on one. Reality is not something that one wants but something that is constantly there.
@@markfuller ; “Presence is the absence of narration”. Excellent say. I couldn’t have found a better way to express it as you’ve just done it. Thank you!.
@@lorenacharlotte8383 I was thinking about that (reality & presence) more. We actually can't perceive reality, only the surface of it. We perceive reality through an interface. (Donald Hoffman talks a lot about this.). If I really wanted reality, then I would arrange all the bits in these characters in this message, and hand them to you. There's a lot details hidden behind the scenes between the message you wrote to me, and I'm righting to you. We're communicating on the surface of an interface. We don't care. It's easier. Reality is like that too. We "see" certain radio waves as colors.We hear others. Others are invisible, and interfaces give us access to them. 200 years ago, nobody knew this. Were they living in reality? Today we have AI making suggestions to us (about what to buy). That's an interface to our own preferences (a mirror based upon the AI observing our past expressions of likes/dislikes). "Assisted reality." I think any attempt at "I want reality" is an invitation to "I want it this way." The only thing that's real is the present moment. Everything else is a story we tell ourselves about how it could have been, should have been will be, won't be, will be, was, wasn't. (so it goes. That's the start of "ok, now where was I?").
“Live only, you say, in the present. But I don’t want the present. I want Reality.” - Fernando Pessoa. Nice one. He separates the human Consciousness from dogs, as if dogs are not living in the present reality. Man’s Reality, it seems, is higher than that of dogs. ‘Vanity of vanities. All is vanity.” Even if the dinosaurs were mindful, it lives and dies in the same Reality. So Mindfulness vs No-thought is not the same because the I (Ego) is practicing, observing Mindfullness, whereas No-thought is clearing the mind, including the doer (Ego) hence the quote of Krishnamurti that Meditation is the “total annihilation of the Self.”
Look here, those helped me quite a lot: ua-cam.com/video/ncpIt7znVm4/v-deo.html ua-cam.com/video/BntIfrELNio/v-deo.html ua-cam.com/video/oMve_AryN2I/v-deo.html
The short guided mediation at the beginning of this vid is one of the best I’ve ever come across. I return to it again and again. Thank you for this, Joseph.
Same here! 8 years later!
If you like the meditation (as I also do) I highly recommend looking up Jospeh’s “Mindfulness” on audible - it isn’t a book just some short lessons and then 20-30 min meditations which are like expanded versions of this one. I feel they must have been written in the same timeframe as the one in the video.
To the person who introduced Joseph: me too - i.e. how I started by listening to the 36 CD's at the time, that I got from Soundstrue true, over and over - over ten years. They were excellent introduction in depth and breath to the four foundations of mindfulness. ...and then the podcasts... and then the interviews here and there... so very very helpful to us to have that material accessible!! Namaste.
I've been reading and listening to dharma/mindfulness talks for about 10 years and this is one of the best I've come across
i'm glad i read yr comment before listening to it ! Wow !
I hate to admit this but to me it seemed like he went on and on in his introduction to the simple mantra "not even one" pertaining to his smoking habit. I whispered to myself, "just tell us what it is already!" And when he finally did, I was like, that's it? However, in spite of my reaction to his long winded introduction to this seemingly unprofound little mantra, I applied it to my most destructive craving.... drinking. I'm a binge drinker you see. I would get started and couldn't stop. And the urge to get started on one of my binges at the end of the week was very strong. I sometimes binged in the middle of the week depending on the strength of the battle inside (and how bad the hangover had been from the weekend). After listening to this lecture, when the urge arose I started saying to myself, "not even one." Thanks Mr. Goldstein. This "little" mantra, in conjunction with mindfully training myself to deeply appreciate and honor my body, and every organ and cell in it, has helped me to not drink a single bottle or pint of beer or glass of wine in months. The urge rises and falls away as fast as I can say, "not even one." I had been in this dirty low down psychological and physical prison, poisoning the greatest scientific miracle on earth, for 30 years. I'm free!
kudos to you sir!
Paddy J Thanks for sharing that paddy. Will try it myself. Respect from 🇮🇪☘️
Paddy: Though this reply is two years after you posted it and I hope you are still sober. The very definition of Alcoholism is the inability to control your drinking, not what you drink, not where you drink or who you drink with, its not even about how often you drink but how you have lost control over your drinking, once you start it only ends when you pass out and then wake up and forget how it all went down. I speak from experience in that head trip.
I find it is much easier to tell myself that I will just not drink TODAY, tomorrow is another day and time, but just for today I will not touch a single drop of booze no matter how much I crave it.
Just for today.
@@abw48 thanks for the comments. Still in control.
@@Blue_Dun : The mind wishes to complicate the life of the person, for reasons unknown, and so its best to keep it simple, I will not drink any booze today no matter what happens... maybe tomorrow as thats another day, however when I wake up I say... not today, maybe tomorrow...Read the Big Book of A.A. as it has all the answers to your questions, you can pick it for free at any AA meeting. check it out.
“Always speak in a way that brings people together.”
Mostly I appreciate the calm clarity of this lecture - I feel grateful
I found this so enlightening and helpful. Mindfulness, I now believe, is a cure to PTSD and CPTSD. It is all about thoughts - flashbacks and our feeling and reactions to them as if it were happening now. Practicing mindfulness can eliminate this currently "incurable" mental illness.
Hi I was diagnosed with clinical depression and complex PTSD. Mindfulness gave me my life back. Good luck on your journey.
@@mindfuleats4517 congrats & blessings!!! May I ask what type of mindfulness exercises if any, you use?
@@jjbella47 I’d recommend the waking up app as a jumping off point if you don’t hear back from him
One of the best teachings on Mindfulness....
I love Joseph Goldstein as a teacher. I always appreciate the way he talks about Dharma and the examples he brings from his own life. To me, he is extremely user-friendly in his style approach. Joseph knows his stuff and it always sinks better with me when I listen to some of what he teaches again and again over time. Everytime, I 'get it' deeper and more clear. Thank you Joseph. I amso grateful for all you do!!
I got a deeper and richer understanding on Mindfulness. It was very well presente unlike a reay made talk but I got deeply connected with what was presented as well as with the presenter. I am very grateful to Dr. Joseph Goldstein for widening and deepening my understanding of Mindfulness.
+Jagdish Dave 100%! me too!
Jagdish Dave - you're very welcome
Thank you Joseph Goldstein for your sublte, wise and clear teaching
The last answer was particurarly beautiful for me. It allows me to feel compassion for people ignorant of meditation and the possibility of a peaceful mind.
I have listened to this beautiful speech more than 100 times. I will continue watching forever ❤️
Probably at a certain point you don't even have to any more.
I wish that for you and as many others as possible.
All the best!
@@diggie9598 thank you for your kindness. Wishing you the best.
Mr Goldstein I totally agree that there is an ethical imperative to be mindful in our lives. A really enriching talk - thank you so much. Namaste sir.
One of my most favorites teaching me the true value of meditation. Thank you!
In a few words he just nailed it: living in a present moment without being mindful and not learning from experiences arising is something similar to animal existence.
Wonderful talk especially the ethical dimension of mindfulness and the racism around 1:05 . I had no formal training in mindfulness when I started and immediately noticed its power to calm myself and change harmful conditionings of mind
This is highly informative and a great asset to anyone like myself who stress binges.
Thank you so much for providing such wonderful guidance to reign in the issues that trigger this symptom.
Stress binging...I love it
a great charisma !!! as well as a charismatic leadership ! Thank you Joseph !
Truly an exceptional talk and discussion thereafter. Very much deepened my understanding of mindfulness and its practice. Much gratitude.
Fantastic talk, thanks Dr. Goldstein!
Thank You so much for sharing your wisdom and teaching. Blessings 🙏💜
Enlightenment begins @ 32:42 & 45:25
Many thanks to you from Moscow!
A treasure of wisdom... Thank you so much ❤
Follow Your Heart ❤️ one of my favorite companies 🌱
Sadhu! Sadhu! Sadhu!
Thank you for this - and especially for the discussion of racism
Studying ones own heartmind is a beautiful lifelong journey
Thank you so much for posting this on You Tube, it's a great resource.
I love the short meditation at the beginning of this video. Does JG have any longer guided meditations where he uses similar instruction e.g. “There is a body”?
What Mindfulness Research Neglects
Mindfulness is defined as non-judgmental or choice-less awareness. Choices in turn may be divided into non-perseverative choices (what to have for breakfast, what route to take to go home, or choices with no dilemmas) and perseverative choices (worries, distractions, and rumination, or mental dilemmas wherein every alternative is bad). All meditative procedures, including mindfulness, avoid both.
The consistent avoidance of perseverative choice alone represents resting protocols, wherein the neuro-muscular activity is sharply reduced. In other words, when we want to be relaxed we isolate ourselves from distractive and worrisome events and thoughts. These states in turn correlate with increased levels of endogenous opioids or ‘endorphins’ in the brain. The benefits of this are manifest, as the sustained increase of endogenous opioids down regulates opioid receptors, and thus inhibits the salience or reward value of other substances (food, alcohol, drugs) that otherwise increase opioid levels, and therefore reduces cravings, as well as mitigating our sensitivity to pain. Profound relaxation also inhibits muscular tension and its concomitant discomfort. In this way, relaxation causes pleasure, enhances self-control, counteracts and inhibits stress, reduces pain, and provides for a feeling of satisfaction and equanimity that is the hallmark of the so-called meditative state.
It may be deduced therefore that meditative states are primarily resting states, and that meditative procedures over-prescribe the cognitive operations that may be altered to provide its salutary benefits (that is, you just need to avoid perseverative choices, not all choices), and that meditation as a concept must be redefined.
Finally, the objective measurement of neuro-muscular activity and its neuro-chemical correlates (long established in the academic literature on resting states) is in general ignored by the academic literature on mindfulness, which is primarily based upon self-reports and neurological measures (fMRI) that cannot account for these facts. The problem with mindfulness research is therefore not theoretical, but empirical, and until it clearly accounts for all relevant observables for brain and body, the concept will never be fully explained.
More of this argument, including references, below including a link to the first study (published this year) that has discovered the presence of opioid activity due to mindfulness practice, as well as the 1988 Holmes paper which provided the most extensive argument to date that meditation was rest.
www.amjmed.com/article/S0002-9343(16)30302-3/abstract
www.scribd.com/doc/284056765/The-Book-of-Rest-The-Odd-Psychology-of-Doing-Nothing
www.scribd.com/document/291558160/Holmes-Meditation-and-Rest-The-American-Psychologist
Bill;
Thank you for your thoughtful comments.
The independent measure for mindfulness entails ‘choice-less’ awareness, and if you are not making choices, it logically follows that you are avoiding them. My issue with mindfulness is that it simply overprescribes the types of choices that need to be avoided to effect a state of calm and equanimity. Namely, the avoidance of non-perseverative choice, or the day to day choices that we use to navigate our worlds is neither possible nor practicable, and decision making per se is not a cause of psycho-pathology, but the types of decisions we make.
Also, to avoid perseverative choices does not impute that you are unaware of what you are avoiding. It means rather that you avoiding the active process of choosing between alternatives.
The biological aspects of mediation are rarely addressed in the literature of meditation, yet as a whole equal the biology of relaxed states. The neurological aspects of mediation are interesting, but suffer because none of them use practical controls of people who are in relaxed states (which are indicated not by self-reports but by true measures of neuro-muscular activity such as the EKG)
Finally, it is important to understand that there is a massive and perverse incentive to establish meditative states as unique from relaxation. Indeed, an entire billion-dollar field full of therapists and researchers depends upon it.
As for relaxation, it is a state that is as complex as meditative states, but a simple perusal of its literature reveals startling similarities that force me to conclude that meditative and relaxed states are the same.
Link below to a summary of this literature:
books.google.com/books?id=HHijBQAAQBAJ&pg=PA135&lpg=PA135&dq=relaxation+opioids&source=bl&ots=e1lrB9SEEu&sig=Ywc9vdZxWKnvfJDHFFE3qpRLC8o&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0CCsQ6AEwADgKahUKEwiD0qDHs6HHAhXSOogKHes4DHg#v=onepage&q=relaxation%20opioids&f=false
Wow! That was a big reply!
Perhaps I can give a reply that is empirical and clear.
Meditative states are characterized as a state of pleasure or bliss. Pleasurable states are mediated in the brain by opioid systems, and besides being mediated by food, drink, and sex, they are also activated by sustained neuro-muscular deactivation or rest. Opioid systems are not mediated by any other known mechanisms, let alone concentrated attention. Thus I have no alternative but to equate meditative states with rest, or at the very least assume that relaxation is core to the experience.
All neurological studies on meditation do not consider this fact because they are primarily based on fmri results or brain scans that only measure electrical activity in the brain.
If you peruse my work on meditation, including my published journal articles ( a second one linked below), my primary interest in in the neuro-psychology of resting states. That I have segued into a critique of meditation is unavoidable, nonetheless it should be remarked that the meditation literature studiously avoids an understanding of resting states.
As for your comments, they are very mentalistic and I often frankly have no idea what you are talking about. Sorry to be so candid, but throwing out so many cognitive terms that are unanchored to any real or empirical events invites only confusion.
In summary, the biological markers for meditation and rest are the same. The neurological markers (fmri) may or may not be the same, as there have been no controlled studies comparing resting states to meditative states (as objectively measured by neuro-muscular activity). As for the subjective markers that you espouse, they are as resistant to objective criticism as the poetic views of a wine taster.
And I return to my original assertion, that to achieve relaxation and a pleasurable emotional state, one needs only to avoid perseverative cognition.
That's it, and none of it requires 'meditation'.
Thanks again for your comments, I appreciate greatly the dialog even though we agree to disagree!
www.scribd.com/doc/121345732/Relaxation-and-Muscular-Tension-A-bio-behavioristic-explanation
relaxation is not a vague term. It simply means that the musculature is inactive, and this state induces opioid activity. I understand and appreciate your Buddhist view point, but mindfulness is a practical procedure that is independent of religion, and although the Buddhist philosophy is laudatory, humans are simply not wired to be able to end cravings or desires. We can avoid or suppress them, but our instincts cannot be 'ended'.
@@ajmarr5671 are you the same guy who stole my little girls ice cream and made her cry🧁
In my experience as soon as you become aware of thought it disappears so it's kind of not possible to observe it as it happens.
A wonderful presentation.
Simply beautiful explaination - thank you for your profound teaching
Superb lecture, most enlightening! ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
Even Sam Harris called him the finest Vippassana Teacher
+Abrar Ahmed Even Sam Harris, now who the hell is Sam Harris when it comes to understanding an ancient practice and culture, he is hardly any type of authority.
+Markandeya 108 I would agree that he is not an authority, but to say "who the hell is Sam Harris when it comes to understanding an ancient practice and culture" is to simply be confused. He has spent a lot of timing practicing meditation and went on many retreats in his 20s.
Markandeya 108 Ummmmm..... He has a degree in philosophy, a PhD in neuroscience and has spent thousands of hours meditating on retreats as long as a month. Perhaps he's not a qualified teacher but certainly his opinion is of some value.
I think the issue was perhaps with the word “even.”
If someone said “Even Ed Sheeran says that Bob Dylan is the finest songwriter,” one would likely advise them to drop the “even.”
It needlessly sets ES up as a kind of timeless arbiter. No disrespect to Harris or Sheeran’s accomplishments, but they’re comparatively recent and not in the same pioneering league.
“Sam Harris called him the finest Vipassana teacher.”
thank you joseph for being on this earth......
A wonderful man.
It would seem that, after hearing the true meaning of mindfulness, people who are truly mindful are dependent on the rest of the population who are not mindful. The truly unmindful would be the only people who would accomplish anything terms of support of survival itself. Mindful people would be questioning every thought that arises to the point that growing food for example, or even eating, would be questioned to the point where nothing would be accomplished ... lost in thought’s thought. So this leads me to the question - what is the goal of being mindful? For peace of mind? For a better life, (which doesn’t seem to fit into its purpose)? For a better world? To prepare of an afterlife? For a lower blood pressure? I’m not trying to be difficult - I’m truly trying to understand its end purpose.
I want to practice meditation under his guidance India
Good wishes from sri Lanka.
Extremely interesting.
Does anyone know if there is a longer guided meditation online with Joseph where he mentions the instruction “There is a body” like he does in the beginning of this vid. I find that simple instruction has been so profound in my own practice.
Yes. This is the teaching of Maharsi Sayadaw from Burma ( Myanmar) well knows as an Arahant ( Highest level of Enlightenment)
ua-cam.com/video/Tf_NyU_YaNU/v-deo.html
Best video ever ❤
When he gets into filters which isn't mindfullness. Can someone explain this?
For instance, When I'm meditating, there are thoughts that come though my head like future deadlines, which is a filter. I'm observing but with a filter, how would i observe without the filter
SLIP NORRIS
“Free of filters” is the same as non-judgmental observation. You are observing and making sense of bare experience. Wisdom immerges from this type of observation.
If a future deadline (thought) comes up during meditation, it is seen as merely a thought that comes up (that arises and ceases). You do not get entangled in that thought. You may understand this better by reading the following article: sgo.sagepub.com/content/5/2/2158244015583860
I think it will occur without trying. Right? you see the thing, you see yourself wanting to get rid of the thing... and then you see that you don't need to get rid of the thing, or of wanting to get rid of it... you just keep observing it all
SLIP NORRIS tI you like
Try to pay even closer attention to see if there's some part of you "adding" to the observation-- a judgement, an emotion, a desire, etc
More than once I felt like he should use the word "judgement." He gave an example of a physical sensation in his neck blocking his energy. That's a judgement. All he has is a sensation in his neck. It just is. He turned it into more than it is. "Perceptual filter" might be more specific. Applying a perception, filtering an experience based upon thought (judgement, rationalization, projection).
Please let me know of the title of the book mentioned in the introduction. Thanks
Sorry to be rude, watching this has been both interesting and valuable. Given my tendency to facetiousness, and those of many others I do have a related question. Why is division not a good thing? When we separate and judge people we do that because we have to don't we? We need questions, and so we need oppositions.
But being too passive does not make sense, in the way that Goldstein seems to advocate. (Also his comment on race, given his own ethnic (Jewish) background especially seems somewhat ironic, one sided - if not all too conscious of race).
Our prejudices, that is, how we categorise other human beings, are not only ineradicable, but also very useful at times.
Marmamarquess The answer to that question is yes because you are posing it from a position of 'being in the world and the ways of the world'. However, in context of this teaching from Mr. Goldstein, the answer is No, because Mr. Goldstein is teaching something that leads to stepping away from the world, and the ways of the world, the end of rebirth in the existential state/dilemma. He who seeks to remain in the world within the wheel of cyclic existence will remain through remaining concerned about issue that need analysis, critique and judgement of differences, but he or she who seeks to escape cyclic existence must learn to see the emptiness of all such conditioned viewpoints. So No Marmamarquesas, your question does not really make sense in context with this particular youtube video (teaching) because it is an unworldly teaching, and your question is a worldly question. A worldly question in worldly context, is not applicable or answerable from an unworldly viewpoint.
Guess you need to meditate a lot before you (or rather Goldstein) say very prosaic ordinary things about the modern world. Then you can pretend that it was unworldly. I'll say he's unworldly, but more like in the teenager who can't drive cars and get a girlfriend sense.
+Marmamarquess I often wonder why you negative people come here just to insult people, seems you need to redefine what you are before you talk. That would not only help yourself but also help with others not be exposed to your drab uneducated comments.
I ask questions to find out more and I state things so that people know what they are . You on the other hand could teach me all about how to be negative, drab and insulting.
Great!
20 min beats a blank!
what is awareness? This is more interesting that mindfulness...
They are the same.
JRE brought me here!
Which episode?
Wonderful..
4:20-20:15
EVEN FOR LISTENING TO THIS WE SHOULD HAVE PATIENCE ........ WHICH TRAINED PEOPLE ONLY HAVE .. SO FOR OTHERS THEY HAVE NO CLUE........
james kutty Joseph meditating & being aware isn't a special club where people are better than "those in the know".
There was a time when you "had no clue". Be respectful...this video is obviously meant to help people who need guidance w/ this stuff, and that it does.
Take the advice of the people teaching this stuff & "drop your ego" guy
Man i did not understand much so i just shared my thoughts , actually i like to understand but not able .. is that ego!! i wish if could grasp it ..
james kutty Joseph I thought u were trying to sound cocky. Maybe I misunderstood u.
This stuff can be terribly confusing to newcomers and it doesn't help that some of these "teachers" that claim to be "enlightened" get a pompous, holier than thou attitude. Goldstein seems to be alright though
ITS OK DEAR
4:20
Whos judd?
Hello Ruben,
Judson Brewer is the Research Director at the CFM: www.umassmed.edu/cfm/about-us/people/meet-our-research-team/brewer-judson/
正片20:54开始
You made friends with your fear. The famous monk Mingyur Rinpoche would say
Can anyone tell me please - and Im anguish about it -, for the last months I have felt that my back is being a motive of abreviating meditation...I don't have any problem at the back except it doesn't stand still for a very long time and I have to move it a quite good amount of times. Now I've just got very surprised that Im seeing in this video Goldstein meditating on an amrchair where his back seems to be straight - as we could expect - but somehow his back is being supported by the back part of the armchair. I have a guess I have to work out a little bit my core at the abdomen...It seems that when we have some issue with the sustentation of the back it has to do with strenghtening the core. I would appreciate so much if someone can enlighten me on this one !
dionisio454 dionisio454 yeah working out should help a good bit. Make sure your back is aligned properly. Working out your butt will help a lot too. Also ensure you aren't sitting strenuously straight. There's a couple videos on UA-cam that helped me a lot.
dionisio454 dionisio454 iiiii
✌🏾💕🙏🏾
Williams Christopher Robinson Timothy Garcia Sarah
1:20:15
🙏🙏🙏👌
If what you have to say is not more beautiful than silence, keeper mouth shut.
If what you're about to say is more beautiful than silence..
Hell
Hello
“I don’t want the present, I want reality’, minute 31:57. Bullshit. Reality can only be experienced in the present moment, so if you don’t want the present moment, then it’s very unluckily that you can have a direct experience with reality.
No. You don't get it. He didn't mean 'The Present' in the sense that you are talking about. Of course we are all in the Present. That's not the point. The point is that we don't see Reality the way we should, despite being in the Present. Why so ? Coz we don't Observe our Minds the way we are supposed to. We are Lost in Thought. Instead, we are supposed to Observe the Mind, to Experientially understand the Impermanent Nature of Thoughts ...
I understood that to mean "I want reality, and I'll define what that is" (the confabulating, narrating mind's version/amelioration of reality.). Presence is the absence of narration. Simply "wanting" something other than presence is a rejection of the present. That's the start of the confabulated existence.
@@markfuller : Reality is not something one wants unless one sees reality as an object. In that case reality is not a reality but a delusional mind playing tricks on one. Reality is not something that one wants but something that is constantly there.
@@markfuller ; “Presence is the absence of narration”. Excellent say. I couldn’t have found a better way to express it as you’ve just done it. Thank you!.
@@lorenacharlotte8383 I was thinking about that (reality & presence) more. We actually can't perceive reality, only the surface of it. We perceive reality through an interface. (Donald Hoffman talks a lot about this.). If I really wanted reality, then I would arrange all the bits in these characters in this message, and hand them to you. There's a lot details hidden behind the scenes between the message you wrote to me, and I'm righting to you. We're communicating on the surface of an interface. We don't care. It's easier.
Reality is like that too. We "see" certain radio waves as colors.We hear others. Others are invisible, and interfaces give us access to them. 200 years ago, nobody knew this. Were they living in reality? Today we have AI making suggestions to us (about what to buy). That's an interface to our own preferences (a mirror based upon the AI observing our past expressions of likes/dislikes). "Assisted reality."
I think any attempt at "I want reality" is an invitation to "I want it this way." The only thing that's real is the present moment. Everything else is a story we tell ourselves about how it could have been, should have been will be, won't be, will be, was, wasn't. (so it goes. That's the start of "ok, now where was I?").
“Live only, you say, in the present. But I don’t want the present. I want Reality.” - Fernando Pessoa. Nice one. He separates the human Consciousness from dogs, as if dogs are not living in the present reality. Man’s Reality, it seems, is higher than that of dogs. ‘Vanity of vanities. All is vanity.” Even if the dinosaurs were mindful, it lives and dies in the same Reality. So Mindfulness vs No-thought is not the same because the I (Ego) is practicing, observing Mindfullness, whereas No-thought is clearing the mind, including the doer (Ego) hence the quote of Krishnamurti that Meditation is the “total annihilation of the Self.”
4:20
Joseph is an absolute treasure. I’ve learned so much from his teachings and really appreciate his approach.
love this guy.
this was totaly amazing thank you SO much for posting it!!
What we think about and pray about we bring about. 🙏🏼😊🥰💕💗🚀🆙🌱
Great teaching above all about the focus of forms of extending pe e to troubling people Thank you so much
This guy is probably one of the wisest people on earth
Guided Meditation: 4:20
Thank you.
this is very deep.
Wonderful lecture, Joseph and all people, who asked questions! Thanks a lot❤
Anyone know what talks Jud was referring to in the intro?
I need someone to talk to cause I’m struggling with equanimity
Look here, those helped me quite a lot:
ua-cam.com/video/ncpIt7znVm4/v-deo.html
ua-cam.com/video/BntIfrELNio/v-deo.html
ua-cam.com/video/oMve_AryN2I/v-deo.html
@@diggie9598 thank you
Interesting
Thank you 😊
29:30
🙏🙏🙏🙏🙏💞
Hugely nuanced and calming AHEM! COUGH!
Not se asia, he spent most of his time in south asia. For god’s sake youre in an university. Do your research.
Joe Gold 💗💛💛😁💗💗💗💛💛👌👍👌👍👌👌