The term I use is "living consciously" but it is not as practical.

I enjoyed this article and wish there more of that caliber that I could enjoy reading on this web site.

I agree that one of the keys is to remember to be "mindful" which creates a conflict because that means I have to be willing to really look at what is going on with my life particularly in the areas that don't work.

The dilemma is that to be mindful is good for me in the long term but can be very uncomfortable for me in the short term.

In my experience human endeavors that are not mindful create as many problems as they intend to solve. So despite our good intentions; the actions of liberals and conservatives, environmental activists or Corporate executives often just cancel the worst excesses of the other rather than truly heal the planet.

David, thanks for raising this issue. When conducting doctoral research on meditation in the 1980's, I used the term "attention and awareness training" to open up a space free of bias coming from non-secular traditions. At the time, I found the term "mindfulness" clearly did not have the secular cache that it now has in directing the discussion of neuroscience and meditation.

That said, one of the curious ethnographic patterns to develop in the subject of the "meditating or mindful brain" is the blatant fact of the cultural tradition in which the practice is embedded. I suggest we use a super computer (if that were necessary) to crunch the numbers pointing to the differences in brain correlates pertaining to the mindfulness or Vipassana meditation practice, mental practice in sports and practices associated with the traditions of Zen, T.M. Pranayama, Qi Gong and prayer from various religious sects throughout the world.

Maybe Farb's dualistic study will then take on greater nuance to unite various meditative traditions in a common quest. Until then, to reduce cultural traditions to a universal pattern of brain states, chances dismissing luminous particularities of individual traditions.

Synaptically yours!

M. A. Greenstein aka Dr. G.
Founding Director, The George Greenstein Institute
http://bodiesinspace.com

I found your account of the two networks - thinking & doing - very illuminating.

I recently watched a documentary about Dean Potter, an extreme slackliner whose training involves hours of meditation.

Walking across a 2 inch wide slackline suspended thousands of feet above Yosemite, without a balance pole or saftey rope, he said at times he was so tuned in to the experience he could 'see the wind'.

Intrusive thoughts about his recent split-up with his wife had caused him to abandon a previous attempt - as though the narrative was disrupting his ability to enter and stay in the experiencing state he needed to be in to successfully walk the line.

I see Minfulness Meditation as a pratice which can help us open our minds and "see" phenomena as it realy is (ultimate reality), and not merely in a relative sense according to our particular conditioning. That is, without judgement, discrimination, desire, aversion, ego, etc. Also, a deep understanding of "Impermanence" and "Emptiness" must be cultivated together with the mindfulness. And this is often missing in a "clinical" practice of mindfulness.

The Buddha did not teach any dogma or insist that anyone "believe". He merely invited people to investigate for them selves. It is wonderful that science is finally investigating what the Buddha taught about the mind!

Thank you for the article. As I read it I wondered if listening to (instrumental) music might be as useful as meditating for switching from narrative to the insula.

Interesting article. More and more information is coming out about the effects of meditation and mindfulness, and you have made a valuable contribution to the literature.

I am not sure your analogy about classical musicians and jazz holds, however. I have attended more than one discussion with members of the New York Philharmonic. When asked what kind of music they play and listen to for fun, overwhelmingly they answered "jazz." You might want to check this out further.

I've enjoyed reading this article. But got me thinking...

Are children more mindful than adults?

That seems to be the case with my 10 y.o. daughter and I.

Thank you for an intriguing article, and thank you for the supporting links to other resources. I'll be busy directing my attention to those later today! :-)

The sentence in your post that most struck me was "The key to practicing mindfulness is just to practice focusing your attention onto a direct sense, and to do so often. It helps to use a rich stream of data."

I had tried meditating and other mindfulness practices numerous times and got nowhere. Then, I stumbled into the Feldenkrais Method, which uses directed attention and minimal body movement to develop awareness. The Method focuses specifically on developing the kinesthetic sense, using the "rich stream of data" that is one's own felt experience in the moment.

The Feldenkrais Method is used in rehabilitation settings to restore lost functional abilities after a stroke or injury; as well as by high-functioning individuals in sports or the arts to refine and heighten skill. Many people describe their experience during a lesson as "meditative". I think they mean the kind of mindfulness that you describe. For some this aspect of the work becomes their focus. Additionally, after a lesson, people feel refreshed, vital, de-stressed, and enjoy better posture, less pain, and increased flexibility in body and thought.

There are many tools available to help people develop mindfulness. After a long search, I recommend classes in the Feldenkrais Method as a most enjoyable and accessible path to explore.

I came across this article after reading a review in Time magazine on Your Brain at Work by David Rock. Time summed up the book by saying don't multitask or your work will suffer.This article on mindfulness gives a more balanced view, which is that if you practice mindfulness you will get better at switching the thinking modes in your brain with the logical consequence you will also become better at multitasking.

What a wonderful summary of the concept of mindfulness. Thank you.

An additional resource is Daniel Siegel's "The Mindful Brain"...Siegel looks at the benefits of the practice in not only therapeutic relationships but also successful parenting. The implications toward work and career are obvious as well.

I've coined the term www.ErgoPresence.com as a response to the blending of our lives via technology: work slips into home life and vice versa. This places unique demands on our health and nervous systems. Without mindfulness we slip into an 'always on' mode, trashing our health and affecting all of our relationships.

Articles such as this one are key to introducing people to this important skill of mindfulness ..Thank you.

Your idea related to this topic is obviously perfectly done and lots of students would use it for their thesis help. And some scholars very often take the aid of thesis service.