--- In [email protected], Vaj <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > > On Mar 9, 2007, at 11:11 AM, sparaig wrote: > > >> The latest and greatest research is the Shamatha Project which is > >> underway with the first retreat as we speak. It should be an exciting > >> year for meditation research. > >> > > > > Actually, unless the Shamatha Project reveals something entirely > > different than expected, > > the latest and greatest research is Fred's ongoing work on the > > activation of the thalamus. > > > Actually I believe that is old research--originally done by Austin in > the 90's. He called it "thalamic gating" which occurred in the > reticular formation and the allocentric neural networks (IIRC). Later > research has shown it's more a network of brain structures that are > involved. >
Quite so. Doesn't matter. I was talking about the relationship between this and meditation. All the MRI/fMRI prublished/referred to so far on Buddhist meditation says that it INCREASES the activity of the thalamus. This puts it squarely into the waking-state realm.
