WHAT IS ZEN? - Chap 4 - Awakening

[Jundo]

Hmmm. Not a brain expert, but I am sure that she is not describing a lobotomy!

Gassho, Jundo

SatTodayLAH

[Jishin]

WHAT IS ZEN? - Chap 4 - Awakening

I am also curious about whether there is additional information to be gained from people who have had certain types of brain surgery. Didn’t people sometimes used to have the corpus callosum transected to prevent seizures from spreading to the other half of the brain? Does that have an effect on their ability to go from one side to the other?
Gassho
Jakuden
SatToday LAH


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Some of the first neuroanatomy findings were related to war injuries or other accidents. Now days it's much easier to figure out what does what with advanced neuroimaging. The problem with the brain is we know a lot about what and where it happens but don't know how to fix it.

Gasho, Jishin, _/st\_

[Seishin]

Some strange observations while sitting the over the last week or so, since the subject of right/left hemisphere was raised.

When coming back to the breath, if I've been tangled up in thoughts, I seem to be aware of breathing through both nostrils and if feeling a little stressed about the thoughts, more so the right. When I find myself in a calm place and return to the breath, my awareness is predominately air flow in and out of the left nostril. Not sure if this supports a view of a more dominant right side of the brain when sitting relaxed or not but I've now noticed a similar left nostril presence when totally relaxed when dog walking.

Not making anything of it, its just suchness but if my right side is being more wakeful, I'll take that.

Food for thought.

[Jundo]

Some strange observations while sitting the over the last week or so, since the subject of right/left hemisphere was raised.

When coming back to the breath, if I've been tangled up in thoughts, I seem to be aware of breathing through both nostrils and if feeling a little stressed about the thoughts, more so the right. When I find myself in a calm place and return to the breath, my awareness is predominately air flow in and out of the left nostril. Not sure if this supports a view of a more dominant right side of the brain when sitting relaxed or not but I've now noticed a similar left nostril presence when totally relaxed when dog walking.

Not making anything of it, its just suchness but if my right side is being more wakeful, I'll take that.

Food for thought.

Beyond and right as left and right, out and in, dogs and cats, breath and breathless ...

As obvious as the nose on one's True Face.

Sitting itself is the sacred act, and there is truly nothing more to attain beyond this.

Gassho, J

STLah

[Sprice]

I know the talk has moved on to chapter 5, but Jill Bolte Taylor's experience reminded me of an art book of all things. Betty Edward's book, "Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain," has been a staple of art teacher's for decades. Some of the science in it has been discredited, but the process has proven effective. Her position is that the problem in learning to draw isn't that you can't physically do it, it's that you're not allowing yourself to see what's really in front of you. Your impatient cut-to-the-chase logical left brain is taking over a task better suited to your relaxed spatial-awareness-oriented right brain. When you want to draw a portrait for example, your left brain rushes in and says "I got this" and proceeds to map out the symbols it has for features. Noses are triangles. Eyes are round. The face is the most important thing so it takes up the most space because foreheads are boring. If you can turn off the left brain, then you can see the actual shapes and their relationships (measure on any picture and you'll find the eyes are nearly always dead-center top to bottom). Basically, she’s saying in order to see reality you have to stop thinking about it and applying what you know. She says you have to give your brain a task that the left brain can't or won't do. For example you can task yourself with doing something really boring like super slow drawing and the left brain gets bored and tunes out (staring at a wall for 30 minutes?). Or you can give it a task that it thinks is impossible to complete like drawing every crease, line, and wrinkle in your palm (or practice with a koan?). Anyway, since I started studying and practicing Buddhism, I’ve been struck at how similar some of the experiences feel.

[Jakuden]

I know the talk has moved on to chapter 5, but Jill Bolte Taylor's experience reminded me of an art book of all things. Betty Edward's book, "Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain," has been a staple of art teacher's for decades. Some of the science in it has been discredited, but the process has proven effective. Her position is that the problem in learning to draw isn't that you can't physically do it, it's that you're not allowing yourself to see what's really in front of you. Your impatient cut-to-the-chase logical left brain is taking over a task better suited to your relaxed spatial-awareness-oriented right brain. When you want to draw a portrait for example, your left brain rushes in and says "I got this" and proceeds to map out the symbols it has for features. Noses are triangles. Eyes are round. The face is the most important thing so it takes up the most space because foreheads are boring. If you can turn off the left brain, then you can see the actual shapes and their relationships (measure on any picture and you'll find the eyes are nearly always dead-center top to bottom). Basically, she’s saying in order to see reality you have to stop thinking about it and applying what you know. She says you have to give your brain a task that the left brain can't or won't do. For example you can task yourself with doing something really boring like super slow drawing and the left brain gets bored and tunes out (staring at a wall for 30 minutes?). Or you can give it a task that it thinks is impossible to complete like drawing every crease, line, and wrinkle in your palm (or practice with a koan?). Anyway, since I started studying and practicing Buddhism, I’ve been struck at how similar some of the experiences feel.

This is interesting, thanks!

Gassho,
Jakuden
SatToday/LAH

[DADOOM]

Hi Seishin,

It is not always about a "breakthrough" or an "experience." A subtle softening of the hard borders and friction between the self and this life and world is fine. It is more than just a passing calm, and you will know for the at homeness in life ... even when life is far from calm.

Gassho, J

STLah

Yes - for me it is not a breakthrough experienced on the cushion but the everyday impact on my daily life that i feel has come from my practice. I have been sitting daily for two years and feel like a different person...it's that "softening" that Jundo refers to that lets me know I am on the right path. A very gentle breaking thru...

Thanks to everyone for the thoughtful and thought provoking comments!

Gassho,

DadooM

Sat/LaH

[Eishuu]

Some strange observations while sitting the over the last week or so, since the subject of right/left hemisphere was raised.

When coming back to the breath, if I've been tangled up in thoughts, I seem to be aware of breathing through both nostrils and if feeling a little stressed about the thoughts, more so the right. When I find myself in a calm place and return to the breath, my awareness is predominately air flow in and out of the left nostril. Not sure if this supports a view of a more dominant right side of the brain when sitting relaxed or not but I've now noticed a similar left nostril presence when totally relaxed when dog walking.

Not making anything of it, its just suchness but if my right side is being more wakeful, I'll take that.

Food for thought.

I seem to remember that Tibetan practice can involve doing things with the left and right side of the body (including nostrils). I think that's because of the energy channels that they work with.

Gassho
Eishuu
ST/LAH

[Jundo]

I seem to remember that Tibetan practice can involve doing things with the left and right side of the body (including nostrils). I think that's because of the energy channels that they work with.

Gassho
Eishuu
ST/LAH

I will just say that I do not believe in "energy channels." Just my personal opinion. I also tend to doubt that one can "feel" more "left brain/right brain" by the breath through the nostrils, and think that one had best just sit and breathe. One can convince oneself of such things.

Gassho, Jundo

STLah

[Eishuu]

I will just say that I do not believe in "energy channels." Just my personal opinion. I also tend to doubt that one can "feel" more "left brain/right brain" by the breath through the nostrils, and think that one had best just sit and breathe. One can convince oneself of such things.

Gassho, Jundo

STLah

I just thought I'd check the latest split brain research because I remembered hearing that the left hemisphere controlled the right side of the body and vice versa (and I thought maybe that applied to nostrils too!). There was an experiment that Richard Wright quoted where the left brain didn't know what the right hand and eye were doing. But it appears that the latest research has found that that doesn't hold up and even with largely split brains consciousness 'unity in consciousness...is largely preserved'. https://digest.bps.org.uk/2017/05/03...rain-patients/

I do believe that certain types of breathing can activate the parasympathetic nervous system though and calm people down. But I don't know about energy channels.

Gassho
Eishuu
ST/LAH

[Seishin]

I too know nothing of energy channels, although I did experience the development akin to Chi in my martial arts days. Since my original post, when returning to the breathe its been back to its normal pattern and in fact this week predominately my right nostril.
I must say that when focusing on the breathe to untangle from thoughts, I've not been concentrating on one nostril or another, just the feeling of inspiration and exhalation. Although the aspects of the two brain hemispheres is interesting, I put my experiences down to the more common natural phenomenon ...................................... blocked nasal passages

I sit I breathe, simples.

[Jundo]

Just Don't Nose!

[Seishin]

Just Don't Nose!

A good Zenny response to that would be "I don't (k)nose"