Improve Major Depressive Disorder with Psilocybin and Mindfulness Meditation By John M. de Castro, Ph.D. “mindfulness training enhances the positive effects of a single dose of psilocybin, and can increase empathy and permanently reduce ego-centricity. This opens up new therapeutic avenues, for example for the treatment of depression.” – Franz Vollenweider Psychedelic substances […]
Structural and Functional Changes in the Brain Produced by Meditation Training By John M. de Castro, Ph.D. “Measurable changes in brain regions associated with memory, sense of self, empathy, and stress start to appear in subjects who practice mindfulness meditation for only eight weeks.” – Deepak Chopra There has accumulated a large […]
Become More Sensitive to Others with Meditation By John M. de Castro, Ph.D. “as we pay attention to our breath, our body, our lives, in this simple and gentle way, a natural consequence is the opening of the heart.” – Matthew Brensilver Humans are social animals. This is a great asset for […]
Improve Brain Connectivity with Meditation By John M. de Castro, Ph.D. “The meditation-and-the-brain research has been rolling in steadily for a number of years now, with new studies coming out just about every week to illustrate some new benefit of meditation. Or, rather, some ancient benefit that is just now being confirmed with fMRI […]
Meditation Alters Brain Responses to Negative Stimuli By John M. de Castro, Ph.D. “meditation facilitates strengthening the Assessment Center, weakening the unhelpful aspects of the Me Center (that can cause you to take things personally), strengthening the helpful parts of the Me Center (involved with empathy and understanding others) and changing the connections […]
Improve Social and Nature Connectedness with Meditation By John M. de Castro, Ph.D. “Loving-kindness meditation is a contemplative practice focused on self-generated emotions of compassion, love, and goodwill toward oneself and others. . . individuals who regularly practiced loving-kindness meditation for approximately 2 months experienced significant increases in self-reported positive emotions, such as joy, awe, […]
By John M. de Castro, Ph.D. “Loving-kindness meditation does far more than produce momentary good feelings. . . . this type of meditation increased people’s experiences of positive emotions. . . . it actually puts people on “trajectories of growth,” leaving them better able to ward off depression and “become ever more satisfied […]
By John M. de Castro, Ph.D. “What’s encouraging about meditation is that even if we shut down, we can no longer shut down in ignorance. We see very clearly that we’re closing off. That in itself begins to illuminate the darkness of ignorance.” – Pema Chodron Wisdom is considered to be an extremely […]
“We consistently teach a practice to provide prisoners with a skill to become more sensitive to how they feel in their bodies. When you develop a close relationship with your own sensitivity, you are less apt to violate another. This is empathy. And empathy, when encouraged, leads to compassion. Gradually, the cycle of violence is […]
“For me, the most interesting people are ones who often work against their best interests. Bad choices. They go in directions where you go, ‘No no no nooo!’ You push away someone who is trying to love you, you hurt someone who’s trying to get your trust, or you love someone you shouldn’t.” – Paul […]