On Mar 9, 2007, at 11:43 AM, sparaig wrote:
--- 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.
And as you know, the thalamus shuts down sensory input during
sleep...and the EEG of TM is almost identical to sleep...
