Sources for Ravi and others

Sources related to a wider understanding of meditation, daily life and supporting science, requested by a member of the Mindfulness in Education Google Group.

I have sometimes cited Jon Kabat-Zinn, Daniel Siegel and Jack Kornfield as my best mindfulness/meditation teachers but that is far too simple. I first got interested through Tim Gallwey’s “Inner Game of Tennis” and Herbert Benson’s “The Relaxation Response”. I have gotten insight into my practice and into how to explain to others from Sylvia Boorstein, Karen Maezen Miller, Charlotte Joko Beck and many others.

I suggest that anyone take a wide ranging approach. Brain science is quite new and has some answers but not all. Jon Kabat-Zinn is a physician and scientist but he saw that cancer patients for whom Western medicine has reached the end of its powers could still benefit from meditation and they have. Barry Boyce’s book summarizing The Mindfulness Revolution is a good one for seeing some of the breadth of current movements and directions. Susan Greenland Kaiser and Goldie Hawn have some wonderful work and materials on helping children get started on a practice of calming and knowing themselves.

Ravi asked about SCIENCE, especially Brain Science and meditation. I should have mentioned Prof. Richard Davidson of the U. of Wisconsin - Madison, probably the best known scientist in the subject for his work studying the brains of meditating monks WHILE they are meditating. There are other scientists working in the area, too, of course. We got insight and enthusiasm from Norman Doidge, MD's The Brain That Changes Itself. The science writer Sharon Begley has some very good references and explanations into Davidson and others.