{"id":897,"date":"2009-11-01T10:00:00","date_gmt":"2009-11-01T10:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/onecity\/2009\/11\/mindfulness-and-the-brain.html"},"modified":"2009-11-01T10:00:00","modified_gmt":"2009-11-01T10:00:00","slug":"mindfulness-and-the-brain","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/onecity\/2009\/11\/mindfulness-and-the-brain.html","title":{"rendered":"Mindfulness and the Brain"},"content":{"rendered":"

by Evelyn Cash<\/i><\/p>\n

For those of us who can’t get enough articles detailing the science
\nbehind mindfulness and how it affects the brain, here is a recent
\narticle from Psychology Today: The Neuroscience of Mindfulness<\/a>. 
\nI know I personally love to read third-party, non-Buddhist, scientific
\nrationales for why mindfulness and meditation work.  I like being able
\nto point to non-religious sources for why meditation works when people
\nask me why I chose Buddhism or why I meditate.  <\/p>\n

The article, by David Rock<\/a>,
\ntouches on some of the debates we’ve had on this blog about
\nsecularizing Buddhist teachings to make them accessible to everyone
\n(see Jerry’s Buddhism is not a Religion parts 1<\/a>, 2<\/a> and 3<\/a>).  From the introduction of the piece:<\/p>\n

“I have a problem with something as important as deeper thinking being linked to any religion<\/a>.
\nNot because I have anything against Buddhism or against any religion at
\nall. (Of all the organized religions, Buddhism appears to be one that
\ngenerates a minimum of human conflict.) The reason I have a problem is
\nit’s hard enough getting across the idea that being mindful is useful,
\nwithout activating a threat response from the billions of non-buddhists
\nwho could benefit from it.”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

I
\ndo agree that the world would be a little bit better if everyone
\npracticed some form of mindfulness everyday, regardless of their
\nreligious leanings.  As the author of the article points out, it
\ndoesn’t need to be religious and it doesn’t even need to be a formal
\nsitting practice.  Practicing mindfulness can be as simple as taking
\nthree mindful breaths before you eat your meal.  According to the
\nscience, every little bit helps.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

by Evelyn Cash For those of us who can’t get enough articles detailing the science behind mindfulness and how it affects the brain, here is a recent article from Psychology Today: The Neuroscience of Mindfulness.  I know I personally love to read third-party, non-Buddhist, scientific rationales for why mindfulness and meditation work.  I like being…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":205,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-897","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-meditation"],"yoast_head":"\nMindfulness and the Brain - One City<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/onecity\/2009\/11\/mindfulness-and-the-brain.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Mindfulness and the Brain - One City\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"by Evelyn Cash For those of us who can’t get enough articles detailing the science behind mindfulness and how it affects the brain, here is a recent article from Psychology Today: The Neuroscience of Mindfulness.  I know I personally love to read third-party, non-Buddhist, scientific rationales for why mindfulness and meditation work.  I like being…\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/onecity\/2009\/11\/mindfulness-and-the-brain.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"One City\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2009-11-01T10:00:00+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Evelyn Cash\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Mindfulness and the Brain - One City","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/onecity\/2009\/11\/mindfulness-and-the-brain.html","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Mindfulness and the Brain - 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