Music and Contemplation in Teaching

 The Role of Contemplative Practice in Teaching - Music and Contemplation - a blog post by Earon Davis



http://www.garrisoninstitute.org/contemplation-and-education/ctl-blog/1829-coming-to-care-music-and-contemplation-earon-davis

1999 Study Showing Placebo Pacemaker Improved Life for Heart Patients and Actually Improved Heart Function.

This is a classic study on placebo effect.  Pacemakers were implanted in 80 people, but only 40 of them were turned on.  Perceptions of improvements by both groups were similar.  While the actual improvements in heart function were much greater in the people with functioning pacemakers, those with pacemakers turned off also experienced significant improvement in heart function.

It appears that perceiving and emotionally feeling that your heart is working better can actually lead to actual improvements in functioning.

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/10190407

Bill Moyers Interviews Pema Chodron about Buddhism and Efforts to Eliminate Suffering

Bill Moyers Interviews Pema Chodron.
This is part I of a six part PBS series available on youtube about Buddhism and its path to learn about suffering in ways that help us limit suffering in the world, although not to eliminate all pain.  Suffering, we have significant control over, but pain, tragedy and death are not under our control.  However, if we eliminate causes of suffering, we can also reduce the tendency towards the pain caused by violence and injustice.

Jon Kabat-Zinn describing the benefits of meditation and mindfulness . . . in under three minutes.

At under 3 minutes, this is a gem.  Jon Kabat-Zinn describing the benefits of meditation and mindfulness.

What Does it Mean to be Vulnerable?

Inspiring TedX talk by a scientist who realized that vulnerability was not something to be fixed, but to be experienced in order to access the gifts of being human.  This is a remarkable presentation, given the humanism and compassion that emerged from wise, qualitative scientific inquiry, about what it means to be human.

Stress: Portrait of a Killer - with Robert Sapolsky

This documentary on "Stress: Portrait of a Killer," is from National Geographic and available on its website and through Netflix. 

This is a thoroughly remarkable video featuring famed Stanford researcher and MacArthur Fellow, Robert Sapolsky.  He sets out the case for stress being a killer and shows how healthy behaviors and cultures can moderate its effects.

Animation on Zen Leadership and the Importance of Meditation

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0LKRvBZkFVg