Tag: Jon Kabat-Zinn

Time Magazine Interviews Jon Kabat-Zinn

Posted on by Tammy

He started meditating in 1966 at age 22, and founded the Stress Reduction Clinic at the University of Massachusetts Medical Center 35 years ago. Jon Kabat-Zinn, author of the new book “Mindfulness for Beginners,” is also an MIT-trained molecular biologist. He recently talked to Time Magazine about meditation, its benefits and more.

“Mindfulness is often spoken of as the heart of Buddhist meditation,” Kabat-Zinn said in the article. “It’s not about Buddhism, but about paying attention. That’s what all meditation is, no matter what tradition or particular technique is used.”

He spoke about Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) and bringing the technique to medical patients in the form of an eight-week course.

“Recent studies from Massachusetts General Hospital have shown that eight weeks of MBSR can actually produce thickening in particular regions of the brain important for learning, memory, executive decision-making and perspective-taking: all important functions to have at optimal levels when you are under stress or experiencing pain,” Kabat-Zinn said in the article. “Also, certain regions get thinner like the amygdala, which involves threat and fear circuitry. If the amygdala is getting thinner after you’ve been practicing mindfulness for only eight weeks, I find that pretty amazing.”

For the full interview, visit Time Magazine.

 

Jon Kabat-Zinn and More to Speak at Being Human 2012 Event

Posted on by Tammy

Scheduled for March 24, 2012, a new public event announced by The Baumann Foundation (TBF) called “Being Human 2012: Science, Philosophy and Your Life,”  will take place at the Palace of Fine Arts in San Francisco, featuring pioneers in the exploration of human nature including best-selling author and neuroscientist, David Eagleman, and Jon Kabat-Zinn, internationally known for his work as a scientist, writer and mindfulness meditation teacher engaged in bringing mindfulness practices, especially mindfulness-based stress reduction, into the mainstream of medicine and society.

The purpose of the event is to engage the public in a conversation about how recent revolutionary insights from science and philosophy challenge basic assumptions about human nature, and how these insights can fundamentally shift one’s experience of daily life, according to the foundation.

“We live at the dawn of a scientific revolution. Recent findings from science and philosophy promise to overthrow long-held biases and stories about what it means to be human,” TBF founder Peter Baumann said in a released statement. “Many of these fresh insights can have a profound impact on our experience of daily life. We are delighted to bring these new understandings into the public arena, so that they are accessible to anyone who is curious about their own experience. Ultimately, our goal is to serve as a bridge between the theoretical and the practical, and to foster increased well-being.”

Other speakers at the event include:

Richard J. Davidson, Ph.D., Founder and Chair, Center for Investigating Healthy Minds, Waisman Center, University of Wisconsin-Madison

Paul Ekman, Ph.D., Manager, Paul Ekman Group, LLCAnne Harrington, Ph.D., Professor of the History of Science, Harvard University

Beau Lotto, Ph.D., Neuroscientist and artist, LottolabHazel Markus, Ph.D., Davis-Brack Professor in the Behavioral Sciences, Stanford University

Thomas Metzinger, Ph.D., Professor of Theoretical Philosophy, Johannes Gutenberg-Universitat Mainz

V.S. Ramachandran, M.D., Ph.D., Director, Center for Brain and Cognition, UC San Diego

Gelek Rimpoche, Founder, Jewel Heart, Tibetan Buddhist CenterLaurie Santos, Ph.D., Associate Professor of Psychology, Yale University

“We are thrilled that so many esteemed pioneers will be joining us for Being Human 2012,” said TBF Advisory Board member Richard Davidson, who will moderate Being Human 2012. Davidson, a leader in the field of mind-body medicine and one of Time Magazine’s 100 most influential people (2006), is best-known for his research on brain plasticity, his collaboration with the Dalai Lama and studying the brain activity of meditating Tibetan Buddhist monks. “This promises to be a unique event, where we will explore together the frontiers of understanding human nature, asking questions such as: How does the nonconscious mind influence the decisions we make? What is the relationship between self and culture? Are you who you think you are, or is that just an illusion? What does science tell us about our relationship with fellow humans? What are the evolutionary origins of the human mind?”

For more information and to register, visit www.beinghuman2012.org.