Name of Lecture: …Meditation and Selective Attention: Possibilities for Pain Management

Name of Speaker: …S. Telles   

Program Time: …2-3 pm

Location: ...Seema Dental College

Name of Chairman:…Rael Cahn

Name of Reporter: …Greg Smith

Reference Material/Presentation/Other Information Collected: … 

Main Points of the Lecture: ....Ms Telles gave an overview of relevant research on the effects of meditation.  She began historically with the original research of the great Rishis as brought to us through the Upanishads. Her overview continued into modern times with research done on accomplished Yogis in the 1920’s, on “ordinary” people conducted by the Maharishi Mahesh Yogi in the 1960’s to studies current today. Research indicates all yoga activities appear to create positive changes in the thalamus. The relevance of these changes they create the possibility of the blocking of stimuli that arouses the cortex, thus shutting off unpleasant stimuli from the periphery. We create positive mental states by reducing arousal and possibly generating positive chemical reactions in the brain. Meditation can be used to change the way we perceive sensory stimulators.

Questions and Answers

Q: What is your overall opinion of hypothalamus activity with meditation?

A: Irrespective of other effects, there is an increase in serotonin and dopamine and a decrease in epinephrine.

Q: When you do comparison of practice how do you take into account the physical constitution of individuals?

A: We inquire of a subject what his level of yoga practice is. We talk to his Guru. We test for his gunas.

Q: Are you actually reducing pain or taking attention off the pain?

A: In different situations we are doing different things. Attitudinal changes presumably take place because of chemical changes in the body.