Seminar 3: Contemplative Science, Lutz M, "Mind of the Meditator"

Question 1

Name a couple of pros with meditation!

Answer 1

1. More stable and clearer mind
2. Emotional balance
3. Even love
4. Compassion

Question 2

What process can we look at to be similar when we meditate?

Answer 2

The process when we learn how to play a musical instrument

Question 3

3 common forms of meditation - FOCUSED ATTENTION.

Answer 3

1. Focused attention. - tame and center the mind in the present moment. Capacity to remain vigilant to distractions. Concentrates on the breathing and restore the focus as the mind wanders.

Question 4

3 common forms of meditation - MINDFULNESS. (Open awareness)

Answer 4

Tries to cultivate a less emotionally reactive awareness to emotions, thoughts and sensations occuring in the present moment to prevent them from spiraling out of control and creating mental distress. This includes observing sights, sounds and other sensations such as bodily sensations and thoughts, without being carried away from them. Meditator remains attentive, without focusing on anything specific.

Question 5

Compassion and Loving kindness

Answer 5

Cultivating a feeling of benevolence directed toward other people. Brain regions that fire up when putting oneself in the place of another show and increase in activity. Folsters an altruistic perspective toward others.

Question 6

Mind wandering

Answer 6

Experience of thoughts not remaining on a single topic for a long period of time.

Question 7

Distraction awareness

Answer 7

When you realized you are thinking about other things. The salience network underlies the meditator’s awareness of the distraction.

Question 8

Reorientation of awareness

Answer 8

When you go from routinebased thoughts back to the focused state. Two brain areas are among those that help to disengage attention from a distraction to refocus on the rhythm of the inhalations and exhalations.

Question 9

Sustaining Focus

Answer 9

Har den fokuserade attentionen, när du behåller den. The dorsolateral prefrontal cortex stays active when the meditator directs attention on the BREATH for long periods.

Question 10

What does meditation enable us to do?

Answer 10

1. Explores nature of mind and provides a way to study consciousness and subjective mental states from the first-person perspective of the meditator.
2. Meditation brings about changes, not also cognitive and emotional processes but also in the volume of certain brain areas. A study from Harvard said that mindfulness decreased the volume of amygdala, a region engaged in fear-processing.
3. Some evidence show that meditation may diminish inflammation and other biological stresses that occur at the molecular level.

Question 11

Acute stress

Answer 11

Stress that kick-starts our stress responses. The nervous system in the brain is activated, increase arousal and attention. –> cardiovascular, metabolic and immune system.

Question 12

Chronic stress

Answer 12

Toxic effects of stress hormones on brain regions and leads to prolonged increased blood pressure and heart rate

Question 13

Burnout

Answer 13

Mismatch in workload, lack of appropriate awards etc.

Question 14

Early signs of stress

Answer 14

Reduced working memory, impossible to perform on a high level on several tasks simultaniously, multitasking does not work.

Question 15

What is meditation?

Answer 15

Authour refers as cultivation of basic human qualities such as a stable and clear mind, emotional balance, sense of caring mindfulness and even love and compassion. Qualities that remain latent as long as one does not make an effort to develop them.

Question 16

1. Focused attention
2. Mind wandering
3. Distraction awareness
4. Reorientation of awareness
5. Sustaining Focus

Answer 16

Process of focused attention and meditation.