Monday, May 23, 2011

Radical Change or New Age?

If you think it they will come:

The Electricity of Touch: Detection and Measurement of Cardiac Energy Exchange Between PeopleStudy examined in Peer Reviewed Journal
R. McCraty, M. Atkinson, D. Tomasino, W.A. Tiller In: K. H. Pribram, ed. Brain and Values: Is a Biological Science of Values Possible. Proceedings of the Fifth Appalachian Conference on Behavioral Neurodynamics. Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, Publishers, 1998: 359-379.

Download the complete paperDownload the complete paper.

Friday, May 13, 2011

Mindfulness and Subjectivity

Mindfulness and awareness develop and change and are deeply connected to learning and development. The .pdf appears to be the Practice and Theory from a book named Mindfulness and Subjectivity. Scanned once the content caught my attention both because it was on my mind and in the text and the stated feminist connection helps with a continuing conversation with my daughter who completed a college course introduction to meditation.

Mindfulness and Subjectivity.pdf



This never made it as a post but seems to fit perfectly:

Self-Determination and the Neurology of Mindfulness

Abstract

Self-actualization is one of the keystones of humanistic psychology which, as a reaction to the reductionist values of behaviorism and psychoanalysis, also silently ignored brain research, subsuming it under the same rubric. Now comes mindfulness, a fairly new movement, with its openness to brain research and such cutting-edge notions as the adaptive unconscious—“thin slicing” unconscious perceptions for immediate decision making. The integration of mindfulness with emerging brain research leads to the possibility of modifying brain structure through conscious awareness, thereby restoring self-determination to its proper role. Another incipient movement in humanistic psychotherapy, deep empathy, is explained in terms of mindful human connection and limbic brain function. Just as emotion, thought, and brain structure mutually affect one another, so do therapist and client. Mindfulness, emotional connection, and deep empathy all contribute to mental well-being and a physiologically nurtured brain and help us transcend the numbing “consensus trance” that blinds us to the deeper aspects of life. Mindfulness and the new awareness of mind-brain interaction bring us back to the self-actualization values of the beginnings of humanistic psychology.

Thursday, May 12, 2011

Self-Determination and the Neurology of Mindfulness

Self-Determination and the Neurology of Mindfulness

Abstract

Self-actualization is one of the keystones of humanistic psychology which, as a reaction to the reductionist values of behaviorism and psychoanalysis, also silently ignored brain research, subsuming it under the same rubric. Now comes mindfulness, a fairly new movement, with its openness to brain research and such cutting-edge notions as the adaptive unconscious—"thin slicing" unconscious perceptions for immediate decision making. The integration of mindfulness with emerging brain research leads to the possibility of modifying brain structure through conscious awareness, thereby restoring self-determination to its proper role. Another incipient movement in humanistic psychotherapy, deep empathy, is explained in terms of mindful human connection and limbic brain function. Just as emotion, thought, and brain structure mutually affect one another, so do therapist and client. Mindfulness, emotional connection, and deep empathy all contribute to mental well-being and a physiologically nurtured brain and help us transcend the numbing "consensus trance" that blinds us to the deeper aspects of life. Mindfulness and the new awareness of mind-brain interaction bring us back to the self-actualization values of the beginnings of humanistic psychology.

Wednesday, May 11, 2011

What's the Frequency, Kenneth?

Quantified Self discussions aside, we seem to have the absolute best possible equipment, sensors, processors, support systems "on-board". A coronary ablation successfully cleared up static on my body network enabling astonishing awareness of feelings, sensations, emotions, and moods. With intention, mindful habits assist productive reflection.

Discrete real-time sonification of heart rate variability is still intriguing especially as it might inform the interaction between individuals. This symphonic interplay of mother and fetal heartbeats crystalized that, but creating a meaningful shared information "display" - not there yet.

Steve, possessing significant audio knowledge and sharing content for life's little lessons contributed:

Sound, sight, heartbeat, GSR, touch, motion all related? Very low frequency? (trance music genre now a fad) I do get quite a kick from loud music, loud drums and bass, and violent dancing.
Auditory processing capability of brain, I believe, is more significant than documented to date.

In the link below, click on "animated display" of amount of brain mapped to vision, sound, and
integration of both together. Visual listening for humans, Audio vision for dolphins.
http://news-releases.uiowa.edu/2003/february/021903brain-sound.html

My fraternity brother was studying this at MIT early 1960's.

He demonstrated that we could hear up to 100 Khz by biting a stick and inserting it into a glass of water with a hydrophone emitting high frequency sound. It is now well known that nonlinearity of air propagation renders ultrasound frequencies beating together with sidebands separated by frequency differences of audible frequencies is easily audible.

That latter phenomenon is unrelated to the former. The former implies that our own hearing may have first developed early on when our ancestors lived in water. (and part of it is now "vestigial")

Tuesday, May 10, 2011

Heart Rate Variability Signal Sources

Confidence in pursuit of an affordable way to play with Heart Rate Variability zoomed when this study appeared. HeartMath's eMWave uses infrared technology in an ear clip and/or finger 'glove'. Do the math!

Monday, May 9, 2011

Heart Rate Variability as a Consumer

More on HRV explorations will certainly follow. It was good work finding parts, making connections, searching the massive amount of information and knowledge in what seemed an obscure yet available indicator of internal state. While there seem to be thousands of people working, playing, and studying HRV, several companies are providing services and equipment. I chose HeartMath's emWave and  am very happy with my time vs. money decision, progress, learning, understanding and appreciation were efficiently served.

The screen shot shows one session's results. Real time feedback comes in a number of display choices,