[Buddha-l] Volume 54 Issue 52

[S. A. Feite]

Hi Joanna:

On Aug 20, 2009, at 1:11 PM, jkirk wrote:

>
> Thanks for this contribution--most interesting. I wonder however,
> if it helps to list types of meditation (as in 8 major forms),
> that is, if the distinctions are all that clear.

The list that Benson gave were basically "brands" of meditation, if  
you will, that elicit (thanks) the "relaxation response", a set of  
physiological attributes that represent the opposite of the human  
"stress response". The list was not intended to differentiate  
different styles of meditation.

> The forms Davidson's lab came up with seem more relevant--in that
> they match  distinctions made by the tradition. Do you have any
> links to open source articles on this from his lab?

Yes:

http://brainimaging.waisman.wisc.edu/

http://psyphz.psych.wisc.edu/

The particular article that maps FA and OM styles of meditation are  
in this paper:

Attention regulation and monitoring in meditation
Antoine Lutz, Heleen A. Slagter, John D. Dunne and Richard J. Davidson

http://brainimaging.waisman.wisc.edu/~lutz/ 
Lutz_attention_regulation_monitoring_meditation_tics_2008.pdf


Steve