The Neuroscience Of Mindfulness – Rick Hanson
The Neuroscience Of Mindfulness With Dr Rick Hanson
Rick Hanson is a neuropsychologist and New York Times best-selling author. His books include ‘Hardwiring Happiness’, ‘Buddha’s Brain’, ‘Just One Thing’, and ‘Mother Nurture’. Founder of the Wellspring Institute for Neuroscience and Contemplative Wisdom, he has taught in meditation centres worldwide and has created a powerful one year online course called the Foundations of Well-Being.
Today we talk about all things neuroscience and mindfulness. In this video Melli and Rick explore…
- How mindfulness affects the body and brain, and therefore our lives.
- What you can expect to unfold in brain and behaviour with long term practice of mindfulness.
- The ideal amount of time per day to practice.
- The brain based reason that mindfulness can change our sense of self.
- The science backed benefits of mindfulness
- Powerful tips on how to get the best out of your meditation practice
Show Notes
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You can find a wealth of free resources as well as details about Ricks books and events on his website here. Also, you might want to check out the foundations of wellbeing program (highly recommended!) which you can see at http://fwb.rickhanson.net/
Audio
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Transcript
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Brilliant!
Thank you for all of this! I too, appreciate Mr. Hanson’s emphasis on adding the moral dimension and the talk about Buddha Noble Truths. I am grateful to hear the evidence of the brain with mindfulness.. Thank you for this. I hope that there are a million or more people watching this.
Really appreciated Rick Hanson’s emphasis on the moral dimension and the two Noble Truths of Buddhism as insights.Great to hear the scientific evidence as this is makes it clearer for the ‘western’ mind.
Thank you! This is such an enriching experience. I am learning something new each day. It’s wonderful.
Awesome experience! The resources offered will provide life long learning!
I have really enjoyed this summit so far, thank you for your vision to imagine it and your determination and ongoing commitment to organise and deliver it. Rick Hanson is an amazing person who I have not heard before and am now inspired to find out more about his writings, as well as a fascination with the science of mindfulness and positive neuro-plasticity. Thank you Melli and team, Love and Light, Sian
Hi Sian,
We’re so happy to hear that you’re enjoying the summit!!
Thank you for joining us on this adventure!
Warmly,
Tara
Thank U so much!!!!
this conversation inspire my day!!!
I am so gratefull!!!! 🙂
Thank you. What an insightful and very rich discussion. I am loving the summit so much.
This is wonderful stuff – so grateful that Rick talked about, as well as being clear about what we mean by mindfulness, that it is one of a number of dimensions that when cultivated together lead to peace and well being, that it is not sufficient on its own, but that it has a moral/ethical dimension as well, and how important it is to remember and cultivate that. Grateful for the referencing of the Buddha. Much gratitude. Thankyou.
Brilliant. If daily guided practice, should it be the same one for a while to make it “stick”? .. or adjust to requirements?
Hi Michaela, I’m replying to this because no-one else has so far. Your question reminds me of advice given by John Garrie Roshi, who was my meditation teacher. Which is to be wary, when you are an inexperienced practitioner, of jumping from one form of practice to another, one kind of meditation to another. On the one hand this may just be the manifestation of monkey-brain, unable to sustain single-pointed focus, and on the other hand it may also be a way of avoiding practice that we find particularly challenging, looking the comfortable, for the easy or quick-fix. In early stages, if you are unsure what you are doing or feel a bit lost in the process, it is invaluable to have a meditation teacher that you feel drawn to, who you can trust. The right person will be able to point you towards the practice that is appropriate for you, that you should focus on.
THIS GETS BETTER AND BETTER AS WE MOVE ON!!! THANK YOU MELLI, I ENJOYED TODAY´S TALK VERY MUCH.
I really got a lot out of this talk. However, I came a bit unstuck understanding the discussion in the middle about bear (or bare??? because I know you don’t mean the four legged variety found in Canada) witnessing and choiceless awareness (partly because I’ve never come across these terms) and how mindfulness can be more than this. I’m not sure how it would be less than or more than?
I was going through the comments before asking my question but you did. I was going to ask the same question. Glad you did. Let’s wait for responses. Thanks.
This is only a very partial answer. Bare Witnessing and Choiceness Awareness are specific mindfulness/meditation techniques where the practitioner is not trying to ‘steer’ things in any way. From what Melli and Rick were saying, I suspect there may be some debate (that I’ve not come across before) about whether *all* you need is to be mindful, without adding things like metta (lovingkindness) practice or deliberately focussing on mindfulness of body / breath / whatever.
So kinda technical for those of us still new to the scene!
“A path of heart, with heart, to heart” from both a neuroscientist and beautiful human being’s point of view. What a vivid , inspiring and touching lecture. A warm Thank you for organizing this summit of such a high quality. Congrats !
VERY INSIGHTFUL AND FASCINATING! been practising for over decade and half now without delving into the science of it! but watching these videos validate the process and experiences one goes through during practises
great initiative.!
thank you
i cant see the link of any audio or video !! 🙁
Another fascinating talk! I love each speakers take on the subject in all its facets and dimensions. There is always something new to learn..and share. Thank you for putting this Summit together.
It’s all amazing! I’m intrigued about the fact that I don’t think I’ve heard the word love used yet. This talk at least talked about heart, and there’s been lots about kindness…for me mindfulness is all about love. I’m wondering why it’s not been touched on… yet 🙂
He used the word love after all! Though only in a contextual sense. Interesting… For me, as I’ve become more mindful and taken things less personally and to heart, I’ve become less fearful which means I have been able to open to love more. Anybody else have this experience? By the way, I LOVE the crazy critters representing us, awesome!!
I suspect many of the speakers avoid the word ‘love’ because it is used for such a variety of experiences and behaviours – many of them unwholesome and selfish, involving things like clinging, possessiveness, neediness, jealousy, etc.
Words like ‘kindness” and ‘generosity’, on the other hand, are more straightforward and difficult to misconstrue.
Good point. Thanks
Fantastic talk, thank you both!
Mind changing. Amazing. Thank you sooooo much!!!
Very inspiring thank you I am going to listen to it again 🙂
I am finding that watching these talks is just getting better every day as we get all of the different points of view. Some real new insights here for me to consider. Thank you for all of the hard work in putting this together for our benefit,
Thanks for your kind words. They went deep mate : )
Enjoying my path with rich insight into mindfulness, Thank you Melli for the summit and making it accessible to me (a novice), as you put me in touch with endless information and resources into the practice of Mindfulness. Looking forward to tomorrows talk.
Super intelligent, useful and with a sense of humour:) Thanks a lot.
I find myself extra excited to get up each morning because of this summit! It is super nourishing and has provided many more resources to help guide me along my way. Thank you once again!
I’m really enjoying the interviews but really just wanted to see what creature I would be. 🙂
LOL. 🙂
Thank you Rick – I so loved this talk. So much fabulous information in such a short time. Wow!
Learning so much – my mind is now working overtime trying to digest all of this! Meditation time…
I can’t stop smiling. A great injection of scientific inspiration…..off to read some journal papers I go! Thank you.
It is a great, amazing and very very useful interview. Thank you so much indeed! I really appreciate your big effort 🙂
I am smiling.
Me too!
Best so far !
Would it be possible to watch the videos with subtitles?
For non-native English speakers I think it would be easier to understand.
Thank you.
BR
Lupe
Thank you.For the people who want to know more can recommend from Rick : the foundations of
Well being .
Liked the forum and took some ideas into daily live
which became already healthier habits.
What a wonderful summit so far. All those amazing inspirational people sharing their journey and knowlegde about Mindfulness. And from very different perspectives as well. I loved both Susan Albers and Rick Hanson. They were truly great and speak from the heart. Thanks once again to Melli and your team!!
I really, really enjoyed today’s talk. I’m trying to do a small notes for every talk, just the stuff that I find most important .. And today I just couldn’t stop writing 🙂 Thanx!
Btw, Melli, do you have birds/parrots in the room? I hear chirping all the time 😉
Loved this interview full of important scientifically proven insights by a truthful scientist: Rick Hanson.
QUITE INTERESTING,NICE INTERVIEW !!!!!!!!
NAMASTE 🙂
Great information and persuasive discussion for the integration of mindfulness practice into daily living. Thank you Mell for bringing all of these interesting unifying discussions to the light of awareness. Rick brings the practice to a whole range of participants. Wonderful discussion and insightful information. Deeply moving and motivating.
I am very thankful for this experience.
Thank you all for all the wonderful interviews. Mindfulness changed my life two years ago and keep improving it. I am a better person, with more patience and compassion, awareness and a lighter perspective of life.
Greetings fro Brazil.
Wow.. all this amazing information from such extraordinary presenters has my mind in a spin! I especially have enjoyed Tami’s talk and Rick’s today.
Thank you, thank you Melli and team for all your hard work in putting this together. Sensational work.
Fascinating and inspiring! Important to underscore the fact that mindfulness should not be seen as an end in itself, but rather a means to an end and that to have real impact on the world it needs to integrate a moral/ethical dimension.
Deepest bows of gratitude to all the teachers and Melli and Matt as we complete seven days of mindfulness and understanding together! I was reading the comments and I could echo many of them. It’s so inspiring and educational to know the science and tradition behind what, as was mentioned at the beginning of today’s session, this deep, inherent knowing or awareness of the sense of the “unnecessary constriction of happiness” and what is happening in the brain when we “stretch our synapses” so to speak, to go beyond the “I/me” construct. I also appreciate Rick’s discussion of the root meaning of the word mindfulness as a “recollectedness.” So much resounding over the last week. Very inspiring!
Wow! And double wow… I feel like someone has just explained the universe to me! How intense and phenomenal – and dare I say it – enlightening. What a profound interview. A thousand thank you’s.
Here’s a joke I just made up, inspired by Rick’s interview:
“A Neuroscientist, a Poet and a Buddhist walk into a bar – oh wait, that’s just Rick Hanson..” ; D
Rick was so clear on his explanations. I really enjoyed the interview, i didnt want it to end.
I was a bit skeptic with this progam coming from facebook, but now im so glad and thankful for an amazing resource. Pure inspiration!
These 7 days were filled with inspiration and new informations. I feel calm, more aware and I´m inspired by everything I learnd from this summit. Melli, thank you so much and can´t wait for tomorrow´s event. With warmth, Maja 🙂
OMG. Knocked out by today’s talk. Such wonderful insight into the Ancient fires of craving, and why mindful practice is not enough without moral commitment.
I really enjoyed listening to this interview- the energy and passion was obvious and I’m excited to start my day! I’m going to get his book, Buddha Brain- I saw it a few months ago in the bookstore, and now that I have some background on what it’s about, I can’t wait to go pick it up. Thank you!!
It’s 9 am on the east coast of the United States. I see my post is on Australian time. 🙂
Hi Melli and team, thank you for a very relaxed and information talk with Rick today. I have learnt so much about the mind and how mindfulness can actually increase our brains, if only by a small amount.
I think your birds are attempting to get in on your conversations, which is stimulating, as I can from a farming background.
Thank you
Fantastic session. Just listening to Rick was like a meditation in itself.
This is my first exposure to Dr. Rick Hanson and I am reminded at how grateful I am for my MBSR teacher for telling me about this Summit! Dr. Hanson is a WONDERFUL communicator I really understood what he expressed. There were GREAT action tips that I could grasp. So often the people I have heard, speak in such a way I have no idea what they are saying much less come away from the talk with some simple A, B, C’s. Thank YOU both for doing this to help me and so many others grow in my practice.
Rick is brilliant! I will def check out his website!