These are being posted at the Upaya Zen Center Web site. I will add the 9 links as they go up.
- #1: ... Natalie Goldberg opens her part of the evening with simple instructions for the writing exercises, and Dan Siegel opens with questions about brain vs. mind. He asks us to consider the relationship between information flow and energy; he also asks us to consider the relationship between the subjective and the objective.
- #2: ... Dan’s definitions of important terms elicit discussion of how we perceive “information” in the world. He goes on to discuss brain anatomy and how information travels to the brain.
- #3 Dan looks at the correlations between neural functioning and subjective experience. He asks intriguing questions, such as, “does the brain creates the mind or vice versa?” And “how does awareness correlate with neural firing? He continues weaving brain anatomy with responses, including awareness and attachment, as defined in healthy psychological terms.
- #4 Roshi and Dan take a question from a participant about the attunement relationship between humans and the natural world, specifically with wind or climate. There is lively
debate and then clarification of the issue. Dan leads brief meditations on mindfulness of the breath and on lovingkindness, both of which the participants discuss afterwards.
#5 Cellist Nelson Denman begins the session by playing for the pleasure of our right brains. Roshi Joan emphasizes the importance of practicing for others and seeing the web of relationships in all forms of life. She urges us to drop the prison of information we create in our minds. Dan illustrates how concepts can imprison us but shows how we can use the conceptual mind to help others. Later he begins showing how the nine middle pre-frontal functions integrate.
#6 Dan begins the evening session by taking questions about second language acquisition, the causes of schizophrenia, healing trauma, neural networks in the viscera and the mechanism of fear. Then, he leads the group in meditations on mindfulness of the breath and on mindfulness of mental activity.
#7 ... Both Buddhism and science value continual discovery. Dan calls on volunteers to sing as an entertaining illustration of brain integration. He then describes integration as the system moving in a harmonious pattern with the absence of rigidity or chaos. Integration therefore reduces or eliminates suffering.
#8 ... Dan reminds us that for generations and across cultures, people have practiced mindfulness of the breath. He leads a mindfulness practice of awareness of the breath, followed by a sensory exercise of listening to a bell. This exercise leads us into the deep practice of experiencing other senses from the perspective of the “hub,” or the ground of being. ...
#9 Natalie Goldberg illustrates mindfulness through literature with a short reading by poet Jimmy Santiago Baca. Dan continues discussing the various domains of integration necessary in a healthy, secure person. ... Having a coherent, integrated story is indicative of integrated brain circuitry. If we can make sense of our life story, we become more equipped to alleviate suffering.
Another Siegel post: Dr. Daniel Siegel on his concept of "mindsight".
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