Welcome

Welcome to my blog. As of late my interests have expanded from my original interests, though certainly still related to it. My life has benefited in many ways from my meditation and yoga practice: increased peace, decreased stress, decreased ruminations, increased overall well-being, and more than a handful of moments of pure joy following practice. Yet my enthusiasm for mindfulness' benefits is tempered by a critical mind that desires to see things clearly, rather than just accepting what is said without question. This blog is an attempt to bring these two things together: uniting my positives experiences with meditation with a critical look at the philosophical and psychological grounds of Buddhism, particularly in its Mahayana and Vajrayana schools of thought, and yoga.

My own approach to mindfulness is explicitly non-religious and my descriptions of the various meditation practices and even Buddhist 'doctrines' will be given with variations for different religious perspectives (when relevant). Most importantly, though, I will be providing links to and summaries of important research on the physiological, neurological, and psychological effects of meditation and yoga. At present the scientific research on both of these practices is still in its infancy and its conclusions must be held tentatively, though they are illuminating and suggestive.

So enjoy!