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Oh well.. you have a blog to backup what your are saying... pro-meditation "quacks" have been told! Internet: 1 Meditation: 0 I think you have to pause and re

by Volpe 13y ago

Oh well.. you have a blog to backup what your are saying... pro-meditation "quacks" have been told! Internet: 1 Meditation: 0 I think you have to pause and reflect for a minute when you say things like: "I can't believe so many intelligent people are fooled by it". Maybe they aren't the ones being foolish... ?

cLeEOGPw 13y ago
Even without any knowledge about meditation it should be clear that attention control = brain activity, brain activity = brain rewiring (relearning). Rewired brain = different behavior and different thoughts. One meditation may yield insignificant rewiring, but make it routinely, and the effect adds up. Science will catch up later, because we all know it is difficult to quantify and measure anything related to brain.
Simon321 13y ago
I think, just like a religion, it's not really the skeptics job to 'disprove' the theory. I think the job of the ones promoting it is to prove it. A link to skeptics dictionary: http://www.skepdic.com/tm.html http://www.skepdic.com/tm.html TM recruiting literature is full of charts and graphs demonstrating the wonders of TM. Things like metabolic rate, oxygen consumption rate, bodily production of carbon dioxide, hormone production, brain waves, etc. are measured and charted and graphically presented to suggest that TM really takes a person to a new state of consciousness. Some of the studies done by TM scientists simply show that some of the same physiological results you can achieve by relaxing completely are achievable by TM. Nevertheless, according to TM advocates, tests have shown that TM produces "neurophysiological signatures that are distinctly different from relaxation and rest "[Judy Stein, personal correspondence]. Critics disagree.* The particular value of these physiological changes one can achieve by meditation have not been shown to be unique to transcendental meditation. EDIT: Another interesting read: http://blogs.scientificamerican.com/cross-check/2013/03/08/research-has-not-shown-that-meditation-beats-a-placebo/ http://blogs.scientificamerican.com/cross-check/2013/03/08/r... "The Transcendental Meditation movement publishes scores of "peer-reviewed" articles in minor journals attempting to prove the medical benefits of their seated chanting. Reputable studies show that there are, however , no benefits beyond standard relaxation techniques." Source:http://rationalwiki.org/wiki/Transcendental_Meditation http://rationalwiki.org/wiki/Transcendental_Meditation
- Volpe 13y ago
  Umm... what about non "Transcendental Meditation"? Or are you just finding one perceived misuse and applying it to everything? (Does skepdic.com have an entry on that particular fallacy?)
  - Simon321 13y ago
    TM is one of the most widely practiced, and among the most widely researched meditation techniques.[7][8][9] Source: Wikipedia So it just makes sense to talk about that one. The others ones aren't really researched that well. Which variation would you prefer?
    - mbrock 13y ago
      If you're going to call meditation a "scam," it's your responsibility to survey the field and know what you're talking about.

by Volpe 13y ago

cLeEOGPw 13y ago

Even without any knowledge about meditation it should be clear that attention control = brain activity, brain activity = brain rewiring (relearning). Rewired brain = different behavior and different thoughts. One meditation may yield insignificant rewiring, but make it routinely, and the effect adds up. Science will catch up later, because we all know it is difficult to quantify and measure anything related to brain.

Simon321 13y ago

I think, just like a religion, it's not really the skeptics job to 'disprove' the theory. I think the job of the ones promoting it is to prove it. A link to skeptics dictionary: http://www.skepdic.com/tm.html http://www.skepdic.com/tm.html TM recruiting literature is full of charts and graphs demonstrating the wonders of TM. Things like metabolic rate, oxygen consumption rate, bodily production of carbon dioxide, hormone production, brain waves, etc. are measured and charted and graphically presented to suggest that TM really takes a person to a new state of consciousness. Some of the studies done by TM scientists simply show that some of the same physiological results you can achieve by relaxing completely are achievable by TM. Nevertheless, according to TM advocates, tests have shown that TM produces "neurophysiological signatures that are distinctly different from relaxation and rest "[Judy Stein, personal correspondence]. Critics disagree.* The particular value of these physiological changes one can achieve by meditation have not been shown to be unique to transcendental meditation. EDIT: Another interesting read: http://blogs.scientificamerican.com/cross-check/2013/03/08/research-has-not-shown-that-meditation-beats-a-placebo/ http://blogs.scientificamerican.com/cross-check/2013/03/08/r... "The Transcendental Meditation movement publishes scores of "peer-reviewed" articles in minor journals attempting to prove the medical benefits of their seated chanting. Reputable studies show that there are, however , no benefits beyond standard relaxation techniques." Source:http://rationalwiki.org/wiki/Transcendental_Meditation http://rationalwiki.org/wiki/Transcendental_Meditation

Volpe 13y ago
Umm... what about non "Transcendental Meditation"? Or are you just finding one perceived misuse and applying it to everything? (Does skepdic.com have an entry on that particular fallacy?)
- Simon321 13y ago
  TM is one of the most widely practiced, and among the most widely researched meditation techniques.[7][8][9] Source: Wikipedia So it just makes sense to talk about that one. The others ones aren't really researched that well. Which variation would you prefer?
  - mbrock 13y ago
    If you're going to call meditation a "scam," it's your responsibility to survey the field and know what you're talking about.