Abusing your meditation

[link|http://www.sfweekly.com/issues/2002-08-28/bayview.html/1/index.html|Serotonin poisoning]

Excerpt:

Dr. Michael Persinger, a psychologist at Laurentian University in Canada, found in 1993 that meditation induces epilepsylike brain seizures in some people. His study of 1,081 students showed that the 221 meditators among them had a higher rate of hallucinating floating spots of light, hearing voices, and even feeling the floor shake. Other studies reported that meditators complained of feeling emotionally dead and seeing the environment as unreal, two-dimensional, amorphous. Those results aren't surprising if meditation reduces blood flow to the parietal lobe. In longtime meditators, unreality can strike spontaneously. Singer describes it as "involuntary meditation." One of her patients took anti-seizure medication for 25 years after quitting meditative practice to regain control of his mind.

Other side effects fall under the paradoxical umbrella of "relaxation-induced anxiety," or RIA. Instead of relaxing during meditation, RIA sufferers feel distressed. Psychologists at Virginia Commonwealth University monitored 30 chronically anxious people during guided meditation. Seventeen percent indicated that their anxiety got worse. A previous study led by Dr. Frederick Heide at Pennsylvania State University reported that the same happened to 54 percent of the subjects. Symptoms of RIA include panic attacks, sweating, a pounding heart, spasms, odd tingling sensations, and bursts of uncontrollable laughter or tears. RIA can also aggravate conditions, such as schizophrenia, depression, asthma, and bleeding ulcers, that were previously stable.

What physiological changes explain RIA? During meditation, the brain releases serotonin. People with mild depression might enjoy the increased levels of serotonin because the neurotransmitter can ease their mood. Drugs like Prozac mimic this effect. However, too much serotonin can cause all of the symptoms of RIA, according to Dr. Solomon Snyder, head of Neuroscience at Johns Hopkins University. In some cases of schizophrenia, an excess of serotonin coupled with meditation can drop-kick someone into psychosis.

If that T-3 connection to Gawd was all-along spoofed by the little detail that your body is a chemical engineering facility, your brain is ditto - and no one knows What your mind's possibilities might be:

There goes - - - >

the Revelations n' Tribulations n' Rapturin-Out the whole-body (but next, nicely blonde-and-cute) Resurrection .. into an endless shopping mall with infinite credit.

Oh well.. the Burning Bushes were a gas, though. (But seemed a lot like the med. condition which caused Van Gogh's Starry Night to have been his literal view.)

PS: Or.. the above could be the rationale for 24/7 rap/talkradio on the headphones - prevent any periods of silence. At all cost! Oh.. they're already doing that? never mind

Post #50,861 by marlowe 9/6/02 2:45:59 PM Reply	Abusing your meditation [link\|http://www.sfweekly.com/issues/2002-08-28/bayview.html/1/index.html\|Serotonin poisoning] Excerpt: Dr. Michael Persinger, a psychologist at Laurentian University in Canada, found in 1993 that meditation induces epilepsylike brain seizures in some people. His study of 1,081 students showed that the 221 meditators among them had a higher rate of hallucinating floating spots of light, hearing voices, and even feeling the floor shake. Other studies reported that meditators complained of feeling emotionally dead and seeing the environment as unreal, two-dimensional, amorphous. Those results aren't surprising if meditation reduces blood flow to the parietal lobe. In longtime meditators, unreality can strike spontaneously. Singer describes it as "involuntary meditation." One of her patients took anti-seizure medication for 25 years after quitting meditative practice to regain control of his mind. Other side effects fall under the paradoxical umbrella of "relaxation-induced anxiety," or RIA. Instead of relaxing during meditation, RIA sufferers feel distressed. Psychologists at Virginia Commonwealth University monitored 30 chronically anxious people during guided meditation. Seventeen percent indicated that their anxiety got worse. A previous study led by Dr. Frederick Heide at Pennsylvania State University reported that the same happened to 54 percent of the subjects. Symptoms of RIA include panic attacks, sweating, a pounding heart, spasms, odd tingling sensations, and bursts of uncontrollable laughter or tears. RIA can also aggravate conditions, such as schizophrenia, depression, asthma, and bleeding ulcers, that were previously stable. What physiological changes explain RIA? During meditation, the brain releases serotonin. People with mild depression might enjoy the increased levels of serotonin because the neurotransmitter can ease their mood. Drugs like Prozac mimic this effect. However, too much serotonin can cause all of the symptoms of RIA, according to Dr. Solomon Snyder, head of Neuroscience at Johns Hopkins University. In some cases of schizophrenia, an excess of serotonin coupled with meditation can drop-kick someone into psychosis. [link\|http://www.angelfire.com/ca3/marlowe/index.html\|http://www.angelfir...e/index.html] Everything's a mystery until you figure out how it works. We are here to go! The nihilists and the liars have buried truth alive in a shallow grave.
Post #50,892 by Ashton 9/6/02 6:50:16 PM Reply	Well.. so much for Revealed Objective Morality, I guess. If that T-3 connection to Gawd was all-along spoofed by the little detail that your body is a chemical engineering facility, your brain is ditto - and no one knows What your mind's possibilities might be: There goes - - - > the Revelations n' Tribulations n' Rapturin-Out the whole-body (but next, nicely blonde-and-cute) Resurrection .. into an endless shopping mall with infinite credit. Oh well.. the Burning Bushes were a gas, though. (But seemed a lot like the med. condition which caused Van Gogh's Starry Night to have been his literal view.) PS: Or.. the above could be the rationale for 24/7 rap/talkradio on the headphones - prevent any periods of silence. At all cost! Oh.. they're already doing that? never mind I saw Bigfoot once..
Post #51,281 by marlowe 9/10/02 6:21:19 PM Reply	You work by word associations, don't you? Like Eliza. I wonder who programmed your associations? [link\|http://www.angelfire.com/ca3/marlowe/index.html\|http://www.angelfir...e/index.html] Everything's a mystery until you figure out how it works. We are here to go! The nihilists and the liars have buried truth alive in a shallow grave.
Post #51,284 by boxley 9/10/02 6:36:37 PM Reply	he's from the berkley area :-) FermifeynmanLear both norman and docbugler trainingmusic and a bland diet. thanx, bill will work for cash and other incentives [link\|http://home.tampabay.rr.com/boxley/Resume.html\|skill set] [link\|http://home.tampabay.rr.com/boxley/index.html\|boxley's home page] qui mori didicit servire dedidicit
Post #51,353 by Ashton 9/11/02 5:37:36 AM Reply	Was that Busby __or George__ Berkley? Otherwise undecipherable, so I'll punt. Nice ya gots a soulmate, though. :-) Ashton It's useless, as Dr. Johnson said, to criticize an unresisting imbecility.
Post #51,367 by boxley 9/11/02 9:40:00 AM Reply	was trying to explain to marlowe how you might be programmed got a tad too clever again. thanx, bill will work for cash and other incentives [link\|http://home.tampabay.rr.com/boxley/Resume.html\|skill set] [link\|http://home.tampabay.rr.com/boxley/index.html\|boxley's home page] qui mori didicit servire dedidicit
Post #51,431 by Ashton 9/11/02 3:08:22 PM Reply	Programmed? - transcendental octal with base-42 extensions.

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