Improve Psychological Health with Mindfulness Smartphone Aps By John M. de Castro, Ph.D. “With apps reaching more people than face-to-face teaching can, he says, “nothing will influence how mindfulness is perceived and practised in our culture more in the next 20 years”. – Amy Fleming Mindfulness training has been shown through extensive […]
The Noble Eightfold Path – Right Mindfulness By John M. de Castro, Ph.D. “Buddhism began by encouraging its practitioners to engage in smrti (sati) or mindfulness, that is, developing a full consciousness of all about you and within you — whether seated in a special posture, or simply going about one’s life. This […]
The Noble Eightfold Path: Right Effort By John M. de Castro, Ph.D. “The Fourfold Right Diligence is nourished by joy and interest. If your practice does not bring you joy, you are not practicing correctly.” – Thich Nhat Hahn In order to progress on the Buddha’s Noble Eightfold Path, effort must be […]
Do Spiritual Experiences Reveal Ultimate Truth or Merely Brain Activity? By John M. de Castro, Ph.D. Spiritual experiences, be they called awakenings, mystical experiences, or enlightenments, involve a shift in how the individual perceives reality. This could be viewed as a spiritual revelation. But it could also be viewed as a change in […]
Improve Obesity with Yoga By John M. de Castro, Ph.D. “Yoga is a powerful activity that connects mind, body and a sense of self to achieve endless health benefits, including maintaining weight-loss. The philosophy of yoga fosters a healing practice that brings peace and acceptance to the self no matter where you are […]
Improve the Physical and Psychological State of Breast Cancer Survivors with Mindfulness By John M. de Castro, Ph.D. “A brief mindfulness-based intervention has a positive short-term effect on psychological and behavioral measures as well as proinflammatory signal markers in younger breast cancer survivors,” – Joyce O’Shaughnessy About 12.5% of women in the U.S. develop invasive […]
It’s the Awareness, Stupid By John M. de Castro, Ph.D. “The greatest human gift is to be aware, to be in touch with oneself, one’s body, mind, feelings, thoughts, sensations.”– Anthony de Mello The vast majority of the human race is, and has always been, on a spiritual search, to find greater […]
By John M. de Castro, Ph.D. “Monks, these two extremes ought not to be practiced by one who has gone forth from the household life. (What are the two?) There is addiction to indulgence of sense-pleasures, which is low, coarse, the way of ordinary people, unworthy, and unprofitable; and there is addiction to self-mortification, […]
By John M. de Castro, Ph.D. “When subjected to a scientific experiment, these characteristics proved to be identical for spontaneous and psychedelic mystical experiences. 1. Unity is a sense of cosmic oneness achieved through positive ego transcendence. Although the usual sense of identity, or ego, fades away, consciousness and memory are not lost; . . […]
By John M. de Castro, Ph.D. “Dostoevsky described his seizures in a letter to a friend: “I feel entirely in harmony with myself and the whole world, and this feeling is so strong and so delightful that for a few seconds of such bliss one would gladly give up 10 years of one’s life, […]