US interest in meditation jumps

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paul
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Joined: Tue May 31, 2011 11:27 pm
Location: Cambodia

US interest in meditation jumps

Post by paul »

US turning to meditation in troubled times:
https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/databriefs/db325-h.pdf

Meditation: The act of engaging in mental exercise to reach a heightened level of spiritual
awareness or mindfulness. This report uses a composite measure based on responses to three
questions regarding the use of: 1) mantra meditation, including transcendental meditation,
relaxation response, and clinically standardized meditation; 2) mindfulness meditation, including
vipassana, Zen Buddhist meditation, mindfulness-based stress reduction, and mindfulness-based
cognitive therapy; and 3) spiritual meditation, including centering prayer and contemplative
meditation.
paul
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Joined: Tue May 31, 2011 11:27 pm
Location: Cambodia

Re: US interest in meditation jumps

Post by paul »

Mindfulness in US public schools challenged:

https://aclj.org/religious-liberty/aclj ... ic-schools
budo
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Re: US interest in meditation jumps

Post by budo »

There aren't that many options for mental well being in the west.

You have the pharmaceutical industry, which actually leads to higher suicide rates, you have modern psychology which 80% of studies are non-reproducible so it's borderline pseudoscience, and then you have religion/spirituality.

I would say the best way to maintain well being

- Proper nutrition
- Healthy hobbies (hiking, being in nature, nature sports, swimming)

I would say look at Iceland, they're one of the lowest yearly consumers of sugar, alongside japan and israel. They eat wild animals, and the whole animal like elk heads, puffins, whale and shark, and they love nature related sports. They score very high on wellbeing despite living in a wet and dark country with overall poor weather.

Old japan and rural japan also has this same well being, but they took their strong discipline and combined it with corporate culture, leading to being disconnected from nature and thus depressed. You don't see this problem in rural japan though, only in the cities.

We're meant to live in nature, and do natural things, all this artificial luxury only makes things worse. Which is what I like about thai forest monestaries, the ones I've been to valued nature.
JohnK
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Location: Tetons, Wyoming, USA

Re: US interest in meditation jumps

Post by JohnK »

Interesting that in 2017, meditation (as defined) is just 0.1% lower than yoga.
Also interesting to see that differences in meditation by age are not as large as I would have guessed -- around here, it has been older 1960's counter culture types -- but yes, I think that is changing here a bit lately -- mostly spill over from yoga I think.
Those who grasp at perceptions & views wander the internet creating friction. [based on Sn4:9,v.847]
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Manopubbangama
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Re: US interest in meditation jumps

Post by Manopubbangama »

I'm glad the interest is there.

I wish we Americans had at least 100,000 Burmese monks to help us learn Dhamma and the infrastructure to support such endeavour, but this will not exist anytime in the near future.

The "Dana factor" is there as Americans and Burmese are the two most giving, charitable people in the world:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_Giving_Index
mrgrtt123
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Location: British Columbia

Re: US interest in meditation jumps

Post by mrgrtt123 »

Doing yoga helps me ease all the trouble that is in my head.
I can say that this is a good news.
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xofz
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Re: US interest in meditation jumps

Post by xofz »

Meditation is so attractive while under the influence of drugs.

I wish I could be more like Buddha and meditate more while sober.
becoming aware!
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