Park Ridge
Cardiology
Park Ridge
Cardiology
| Meditation, Eastern Or Christian Prayer |
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-Is there a difference? from "Rust Out" by Dr. Royce Bailey, page 100EEGs And "Modern" Science In 1929, Hans Berger, a German psychiatrist, began to publish some strange little images consisting of nothing but wavy lines. He claimed that they showed the electrical activity of the human brain and you would have thought that these wavy lines would have caused great excitement among the physicians of his time. But, in fact, no one took him seriously. Electrical brain waves (impulse potentials) were not considered standard medical thought until Charles Mayo (Yes, of Mayo Clinic) said in 1934, AMinute electrical charges are vital to the functioning of the brain.@ Thirty years later, doctors began to evaluate patients by applying jel and lots of wires to their heads, just like Hans Berger did back in the 1920s. This is known as an Electro-Encephalo-Gram (EEG). Today there are so many EEGs done that the paper used, if placed end to end, would wrap around the world ten times or more each year; I order a good many of these myself. Electricity In The Brain
EEGs measure thousands or even millions of neurons (nerve fibers) that fire synchronously so they can be recorded through the skull. One single nerve cell impulse can not be measured through the skull,-yet! EEGs measure alpha, beta, theta and delta waves in the brain and any abnormal wave patterns that could represent seizure (epilepsy) or brain damage. The character of the waves correlate with the degree of activity of the cerebral cortex (the upper most brain-higher nature). The waves change considerably between the states of wakefulness, anger, happiness, sleep and coma.
The Waves (not the beach kind)
Alpha waves (8-13 cycles/sec). Alpha waves are seen when you are awake but quiet or resting. They disappear with focused mental activity or deep sleep.
Beta waves (14-80 cycles/sec). Asynchronous low voltage beta waves replace alpha waves when there is focused mental activity. High voltage synchronous beta waves are seen during tension or intense mental activity.
Theta waves (4-7 cycles/sec). Theta waves are mainly seen in children, but seen in some adults during emotional stress (disappointment or frustration). They are also seen in many mental disorders.
Delta waves (below 3.5 cycles/sec). Delta waves are seen when cortex function is independent of activities in the lower regions of the brain. They are seen in very deep sleep, infancy and serious brain disease.
Alpha vs. Beta Waves
Eastern transcendental meditation/relaxation, yoga, rosary prayers, vegetative TV and hypnosis bypasses the frontal lobe (judgment center) and places the subject in a passive attitude and trance-like state. This can be taught by having a quiet environment and by focusing on a shape, body part, single word or phrase (mantra of Hindu worship). Research has shown that this type of meditation is alpha waves dominate (not beta wave). When the brain has an alpha rhythm, it cannot critically analyze incoming information. Your thoughts are repressed and your reasoning is absent. The meditator is open to mind control. It is this passive attitude that produces alpha brain waves that demonstrate one of the problems with this meditation style. During this hypnotic-like state the person synthesizes information and suggestions without interpretation and without the higher nature=s frontal lobe filter (brain washing). Critics point out that this is how Eastern religious cults take advantage of the devotee who enters a trance-like state in a group setting.
Christian vs. Eastern Meditation, There is a Difference!
HIGHER NATURE:
Conscience, Will and Reason
LOWER NATURE:
Passion and appetite
Christian reflective meditation stands in marked contrast to passive meditation! Biblical meditation and prayer emphasize the active reflection that focuses the frontal lobes (higher nature); rather than a passive state that represses thoughts and avoids the frontal lobe filter. Christian meditation emphasizes communion with God, sharing His thoughts, perceiving His presence, and learning His will. Both types of meditation provide release from stress, but at what a cost. Christian meditation provides an opportunity for us to get meaningful answers and solutions to our problems; whereas, Eastern-type meditation is a form of escapism. Inappropriate Adrenaline Release
Studies have shown that secular relaxation training effects the autonomic nervous system. The autonomic nervous system is controlled subconsciously by the brain stem (lower nature) and governs all the systems of the body that you take for granted; like breathing, blinking, swallowing, bowel and bladder function, etc. A ground breaking study in1961, reveals that yoga produced higher sustained levels of sympathetic activity with increased adrenaline (stress hormone epinephrine-fright or flight mechanism) than an American control group. Measurements of most Yoga practitioners causes the same physical response as a sudden very stressful situation (sudden adrenaline release). Active prayer synchronizes sympathetic and parasympathetic outflows from the brain to the body and improves baroreceptor sensitivity and heart rate variability. Alpha wave meditation only stimulates the sympathetic side of your outflow, heightening unhealthy and unbalanced body stress and which depresses your autonomic nervous system.
Increased Heart Disease With Increased Stress
After learning transcendental meditation those that practiced it regularly had a higher heart stressor response, than whose who hadn=t learned it. Also, higher cortisol levels (immune weakening stress hormone) were only seen in those with formal relaxation training. There is a well documented relationship between increased stress hormone release and stroke and heart disease. If you have heart disease or have never had heart disease, stress is a killer. Failure to effectively deal with any stress, let alone meditation which at first appears to be innocent, can worsen your outcome before and after your heart attack.
These Findings Were Reported Over 130 Years Ago!
How preposterous for Ellen White (with a 3rd grade education) to publish in 1869 the fact that there is electrical activity in the human brain before it was scientifically accepted in the 1930s. Even more surprising is her claim that harmful electrical patterns (habits) can be avoided (this was not scientifically accepted until the1960s). How did she know this 100 years before modern medicine figured it out?
’The brain nerves which communicate with the entire system are the only medium through which Heaven can communicate to man and affect his inmost life (beta waves in the frontal lobe). What ever disturbs the circulation of the electrical currents in the nervous system lessens the strength of the vital powers, and the result is a deadening of the sensibilities of the mind (this is a an example of habitual development of vegetative alpha wave activity)." White,E.G., AMoral Pollution,@ Testimonies for the Church, Pacific Press Pub. Ass.,1869;Vol. 2:347. Underlining mine.
So is my life hopeless because of the choices I=ve made and habits I have?
"Every man is free to choose what power he will have rule over him. None have fallen so low, none so vile, but that they can find deliverance in Christ.@ AThe spirits of darkness will battle for the soul once under their dominion, but angels of God will contend for that soul with prevailing power." White,E.G., The Desire of Ages, Pacific Press Pub. Ass.;1898:258, 259
References:
Weber, E., AElectromagnetic Waves in the Brain,@ This Week, December 30, 1962.
A History of Electrical Brain Current Discovery, The Scientific American, June 1954: 54.
The Ellen G. White Estate, AMedical Science and the Spirit Of Prophecy,@ Review and Herald; 1971:37-38
Guyton,A.C., ATextbook of Medical Physiology,@ W.B. Saunders, 9th Ed., 1996:763-765.
Wenger,M.A., AStudies Of Autonomic Function In Practitioners Of Yoga In India,@ Behavioral Science, 1961;6:312-323.
Puente,A.E., AThe Effects Of Behavior Therapy, Self-Relaxation, And Transcendental Meditation On Cardiovascular Stress Response,@J Clin Psychology, January 1980;36(1):291-295.
Blumenthal,J.A., AStress Management And Exercise Training In Cardiac Patients With Myocardial Ischemia. Effects On Prognosis And Evaluation Of Mechanisms,@ Arch. Intern. Med, October 27, 1997;157(19):2213-2223.
Gullette,E.C., AEffects Of Mental Stress On Myocardial Ischemia During Daily Life,@ JAMA, May 21, 1997; 277(19):1521-1526.
Bernardi,L., AEffect of Rosary Prayer and Yoga Mantras On Autonomic Cardiovascular Rhythms: Comparative Study, BMJ, December 22-29, 2001; 323:1446-144.
Nedley,N., ADepression The Way Out,@ Nedley Pub, Ardmore, OK, 2001:130-131,164-166.
Carroll,D., AAdmissions For Myocardial Infarction And World Cup Soccer: Database Survey,@ February 2003;325:1439-1442.
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