Meditation & Psychotherapy

By Ofer Zur, Ph.D.

The past 20 years or so have seen mounting scientific evidence as to the impact of meditation on our brains, our mood, and our overall health. Modern scientific techniques using such tools as the MRI and EEG have helped to document the immediate, as well as long-term, effects of meditation on the brain. As a consequence of regular meditation, the size of specific brain regions have been shown to increase — regions associated with such things as compassion, understanding others, mindful awareness, ability to concentrate, and so on. Meditation is now a mainstream health care method for dealing with stress, pain reduction, fibromyalgia, cancer, and coronary artery disease.

And yet, in the fast-paced 21st Century life, where is there room for spirit and meditation? With millions of people suffering from depression, anxiety, addiction, eating disorders, and lives devoid of healthy love and connection, it’s clear that the inner world can use more attention and better nurturing. Amidst all this separation and degeneration, there is a great deal of learning and deepening of consciousness happening in the culture as well.

With so much spiritual abundance blossoming, we are overjoyed to present this newest course with Dr. David Van Nuys.

Our latest course:

Meditation & Psychotherapy 8CE

Comprised of eleven engaging, warm, and informative audio interviews with
top experts, researchers, and psychotherapists.
(Nine come with transcripts.)

Did you know:

Meditation and Psychotherapy

  • Research on Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) has demonstrated its effectiveness in reducing chronic pain.
  • MBSR has proven effective with medical patients with a secondary diagnosis of anxiety and/or panic.
  • In studies by MBSR developer Jon Kabat-Zinn, medical-psychological benefits from an 8-week program have been shown to last up to four years.
  • Mindfulness practices are increasingly being wedded to various forms of Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT).
  • A major component of Action Commitment Therapy (ACT), which has been found effective with borderline patients, is based on meditation practices.
  • Eight-week training in mindfulness has shown enhanced “psychological hardiness.”
  • Mindfulness has been shown to increase patients’ sense of self-efficacy.
  • Dr. Richard Davidson at the University of Wisconsin studied Tibetan monks and found that their meditation increased high-frequency gamma waves and brain synchrony, pinpointing the left prefrontal cortex, an area just behind the left forehead, as the place where brain activity associated with meditation is especially intense.

Two Additional Courses on the Topic

Mindfulness & Meditation in Psychotherapeutic Practice

Bodymind: Goodbye to Dualism

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