How God Changes Your Brain - Andrew Newberg, M. D_ [125]
We are also continuing to gather data concerning adult drawings and conceptions of God, as we described in Chapter 5. The questionnaire and exercise is fun and simple to do, and takes about 10 to 15 minutes to conduct with any size group. It encourages people to think more deeply about their religious and personal beliefs, and the information we gather helps us to track the diversity of spiritual beliefs among various groups, cultures, and societies. If you would like to facilitate a “Draw a Picture of God” survey with your religious, secular, or community group or school, please e-mail Mark Waldman at markwaldman@sbcglobal.net for instructions and survey forms.
APPENDIX C
MEDITATION AND MINDFULNESS
Books, CDs, and Resources
Today, “mindfulness” refers to the art and practice of bringing increased awareness to the daily activities in our lives. Originally, mindfulness-based meditations were derived from Eastern spiritual practices, but for the past thirty years they have become secularly integrated into Western medicine and psychotherapy.
Creating a personalized meditation and relaxation program is easy to do, and there are many fine books, CDs, and organizations that can guide you through the beginning steps. The following resources have been helpful to many of our readers, students, and patients.
BOOKS
Introductory meditation books include a variety of exercises ranging in length from five to fifty minutes, and the authors often describe many of the problems that a beginning practitioner encounters. We recommend that you look at three or four different books (or use Amazon.com's “search inside” browser) before purchasing, so you can sample the author's style and orientation. For example, Jon Kabat-Zinn's books and CDs tend to be more secular, focusing primarily on personal awareness and health, whereas books and CDs by Jack Korn-field and Sharon Salzberg reflect elements from Buddhist and Eastern traditions. If you wish to find a meditative practice that reflects your personal spiritual beliefs, many religious institutions can provide you with appropriate recommendations and books. However, it is also very easy to adapt the meditation techniques from one tradition to another without losing any of the beneficial health effects.
For beginners, we recommend Kabat-Zinn's Full Catastrophe Living or Kornfield's A Path with Heart. Dr. Herbert Benson's original book, The Relaxation Response, is also a good resource, and if you are struggling with depression or chronic unhappiness, try The Mindful Way Through Depression, by Williams, Teasdale, Segal, and Kabat-Zinn. It includes a CD that guides you through the stress-reduction training program developed at the University of Massachusetts Medical School. The exercises in these books are the ones that have been most thoroughly researched in the scientific community.
For professionals interested in how meditation has been integrated into psychotherapy, see Mindfulness and Acceptance, edited by Hayes, Follette, and Linehan, Mindfulness-Based Cognitive Therapy for Depression, by Segal, Williams, and Teasdale, and Mindfulness-Based Treatment Approaches, edited by Baer.
CDS
Since it is often difficult to “read” your way through a meditation, we recommend that you purchase a few CDs to guide you through the basic forms of practice. Check out Kabat-Zinn's Guided Mindfulness Meditation (three CDs), Kornfield's Meditation for Beginners (two CDs), or Kornfield's two-CD collection, Guided Meditation. Nguyen Anh-Huong's and Thich Nhat Hanh's book, Walking Meditation, includes a CD with five guided meditations and an instructional DVD.