The Evolving Brain: Birth to Enlightenment. Lesson 5 Cosmic Consciousness Is Closer than You Think

Transcription

1 The Evolving Brain: Birth to Enlightenment Lesson 5 Cosmic Consciousness Is Closer than You Think Fred Travis, PhD Director Center for Brain, Consciousness, and Cognition Chair Department of Maharishi Vedic Science

2 Lesson 1 Brain and consciousness Lesson 2 DNA is driving brain development Lesson 3 Your brain is a river, not a rock Lesson 4 Yoga and Transcendental Meditation Lesson 5 Higher states: Latest research Lesson 6

3 Wholeness It is only a matter of being it. We need not try to remember it. It is held on by itself, because the very mind is infused with it. This is cosmic consciousness. When the mind completely saturated with the state of pure Being comes back to live in the world of sensory perception, all things are experienced as before, but not as before. Now the full inner state of Being is lived. Maharishi, 30 Years Around the Globe

4 Higher States of Consciousness Criteria for a higher state of consciousness: 1. subjectively distinct from waking, sleeping, and dreaming 2. broader sense of self 3. physiologically distinct

5 1. Subjectively Distinct Self - Awareness No Yes No Yes Dreaming Sleeping Waking Transcendental Consciousness Travis, 2014

6 Divide your paper into two columns. In the left column, list adjectives that describe your deepest experiences during TM practice.

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8 2. Broader sense of self 47 students wrote descriptions of their deepest experiences during Transcendental Meditation practice Travis and Pearson (2000) International Journal of Neuroscience. 100:

9 Content analysis Absence of time Absence of space Absence of body sense Travis and Pearson (2000) International Journal of Neuroscience. 100:

10 Transcendental Consciousness: Apneustic Breathing and Autonomic Measures

11 Two Steps of Transcending Bhagavad-Gītā VI: 19 A lamp which does not flicker in a windless piace, to such is compared the yogi of subdued thought practicing Union with the SeIf. Bhagavad-Gītā VI: 20 That (state) in which thought, settled through the practice of Yoga, retires, in which, seeing the Self by the Self alone, he finds contentment in the Self.

12 EEG Coherence: Typical TM Delta Theta Alpha1 Alpha2 Beta Gamma

13 EEG Coherence: Very Deep TM Delta Theta Alpha1 Alpha2 Beta Gamma

14 Subtract coherence during deep TM (blue lines) from coherence during typical TM (red lines) Delta Theta Alpha1 Alpha2 Beta Gamma

15 Discuss Does Transcendental Consciousness fit the criteria for a higher state of consciousness? 1. Subjectively distinct 2. Broader sense of self 3. Physiologically distinct

16 In the right-hand column of your paper: Write a list of adjectives that describe what you have noticed changing in your life since your started TM practice.

17 How is this happening?

18 Bhagavad-Gītā IV: 38, commentary Now, for Transcendental Consciousness to become permanent and to co-exist with the waking state of consciousness, it is necessary that the two states of the nervous system corresponding to those two states of consciousness should co-exist. This is brought about by the mind gaining Transcendental Consciousness and the waking state of consciousness, passing from one to the other. This gradual and systematic culture of the physical nervous system creates a physiological situation in which the two states of consciousness exist together simultaneously.

19 Coherence during Transcending 6 months TM practice 24 years TM practice

20 Computer Task : Which is long term? 6 months TM practice 24 years TM practice

21 The mind takes that direction not through practice. The practice is not needed to reach the goal. The practice is needed to drag the goal out of the transcendental area to the area of activity. Maharishi Mahesh Yogi Promise to the Family of Man

22 Brain patterns during sleeping in people reporting witnessing sleeping

23 1. Subjectively distinct: Sleep Cont-TE: Inner Awareness during Sleep N1: When I go to bed at night, first layers of the body settle down. I notice when the body is asleep. Lots of dreams come and go or just fatigue leaves the body, and then 5-6 hours later the body wakes up again in gradual layers and being aware of the other side hearing sounds and feeling the covers. First there s no impulse to attend to it, then I wake up.

24 2. Broader sense of self: Sleep Cont-TE: Inner Awareness during sleep N2: there s a continuum there. It s not like I go away and come back. It s a subtle thing. It s not like I m awake waiting for the body to wake up or whatever It s me there. I don t feel like I m lost in the experience. That s what I mean by a continuum you know, it s like the fizzing on top of a soda when you ve poured it. It s there and becomes active so there s something to identify with. When I m sleeping, it s like the fizzing goes down.

25 3. Physiologically Distinct: Higher alpha activity with delta during sleep Mason et al, (1997) Sleep, 20:

26 Alpha1 Power during Stage 3 and 4 in the first three sleep cycles Mason et al, (1997) Sleep, 20:

27 Brain patterns during waking in people reporting witnessing sleeping and waking.

28 1. Subjectively distinct: Waking It's the I am-ness. It s my Being. There s just a channel underneath that's just underlying everything. It s my essence there and it just doesn t stop where I stop by I, I mean this 5 2 person that moves around here and there.

29 What does enlightenment look like in activity? Travis et al, 2002

30 No coherence difference DURING TM! Non TM Shortterm TM Higher states

31 3. Physiologically Distinct: Higher frontal EEG coherence during tasks F3 F4 Non TM Shortterm TM Higher states

32 Increased alpha amplitude and decreased gamma amplitude Non TM Short-term TM Higher states

33 Differences in Contingent Negative Variation (CNV)

34 Coherence + Power + CNV patterns = Brain Integration Scale Non TM Short-term TM Long-term TM Travis et al, Biological Psychology, 2002.

35 Summed Z-scores of EEG Parameters Brain Integration Scale Frontal Coherence, Alpha Relative Power, and Brain Preparatory Response Non-TM Short-term TM Higher States

36 Correlation of Brain Integration Scale with: Mean Std R (28) Moral Reasoning ** Emotional Stability ** Openness to experience * State Anxiety * Trait Anxiety * * p <.05, ** p <.01 Travis et al 2004, Consciousness and Cognition, 13/2,

37 Summed Z-scores s Brain Integration Scale Frontal Coherence, Alpha Relative Power, and Brain Preparatory Response Control Athletes World Class Athletes Control Top-Level Managers Managers Prof Musician Amateur Musician Short term TM Long term TM Harung et al, 2011, Harung and Travis, 2012, Travis et al, 2011

38 Discuss: Does Cosmic Consciousness fit the criteria for a higher state of consciousness? Subjectively distinct Broader sense of self Physiologically distinct

39 Growth beyond Cosmic Consciousness

40 1. Subjectively Distinct: Reading Vedic literature My awareness, mind, and body were in faraway realms. Reading was expressing the music I was hearing; that I was. The flow of Being becoming enchanted me as I rode the waves. I felt I could go on forever to be that expression of perfection.

41 Electrodermal Activity (EDA) Response TM Listening to Vedic Recitation Reading Vedic Literature

42 Coherence map: Reading with no EDA Delta Theta Alpha1 Alpha2 Beta Gamma

43 Coherence map: Reading when EDA seen Delta Theta Alpha1 Alpha2 Beta Gamma

44 Coherence-Difference map: During EDA (blue), non EDA (red) Delta Theta Alpha1 Alpha2 Beta Gamma

45 1. Subjectively Distinct: Unity Experience I am immovable, unbounded Being. I am That. As my attention goes into a small boundary, the inside of the boundary expands to infinity. Yet, it maintains its status as a small boundary.

46 3. Physiologically distinct: Unity Experience Delta Theta Alpha1 Alpha2 Beta Gamma

47 Deep TM Experience Delta Theta Alpha1 Alpha2 Beta Gamma

48 Coherence during deep TM (red) compared to Brahman (blue) Delta Theta Alpha1 Alpha2 Beta Gamma

49 Main Point Experiences of higher states are innate in the brain physiology we are wired for enlightenment. There are seven states of consciousness and our birthright is to live in the highest state. We only need to systematically develop these circuits through alternating the experience of pure consciousness and normal waking activity.

50 Exercise Why might the experience of pure consciousness during Transcendental Consciousness and Cosmic consciousness be characterized by alpha1 coherence, and higher states beyond the 5 th state be characterized by coherence in lower and higher frequencies?

51 Papers Mason, et al (1997). Sleep, 20: Travis & Wallace (1997) Psychophysiology, 34:39-46 Travis & Pearson (2000). Int l Journal of Neuroscience, 100, Travis (2001). International Journal of Psychophysiology, 42, 1-9. Travis et al. (2002). Biological Psychology, 61, Travis et al (2004) Consciousness and Cognition, 13/2, Travis, F. (2014). New York Academy of Sciences, 1: 1-8.

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