While the far-reaching benefits of mindfulness meditation and related practices for improving mental and physical well-being are becoming more widely acknowledged among Buddhists and non-Buddhists alike, what is perhaps not as well understood is that mindfulness alone can be ineffective and can even cause discomfort for the practitioner in cases of deep psychological or emotional trauma.

While you may not remember life as a toddler, you most likely believe that your selfhood then - your essential being - was intrinsically the same as it is today.

Psychologists and neuroscientists from Oxford University and University College London (UCL) are planning an unprecedented trial of the influence of mindfulness meditation on mental health, The Guardian newspaper has reported.

January 13 - Oh, no. Incense. There’s a juice bar in the lobby and bhangra music playing, too. It feels like I’ve stepped into some kind of space warp. Outside, London. Inside … well, it’s hard to describe. Because, as I step further into the Light Centre, a “natural health” studio offering everything from acupuncture to yoga, it becomes clear that its clientele is as far from the yogurt-knitting crowd as it’s possible to get.

January 02 - It seems as though every day we grow closer to creating fully conscious and emergent artificial intelligences. As I’ve written about before, this poses a problem for many religions, especially those that ascribe a special place for humanity and for human consciousness in the cosmos. Buddhism stands out as an exception. Buddhism may be the one system of religious thought that not only accepts but will actively embrace any AIs that we produce as a species.

Being a medical student is a very stressful experience which can result in burnout without proper interventions. Natural interventions such as meditation are preferable to drugs in order to avoid potential side effects from tranquilizers. Mayo Clinic writes that meditation is used for relaxation and stress reduction. Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center reported in a news release on Oct. 30, 2013, that medical students are being taught meditation techniques to prevent burnout and improve care.

General-led study shows changes over time in areas associated with awareness, empathy, stress among others.

Are you always rushing from one place to the next? Do you often eat without really tasting the food? If you do, then listen up: part of your brain may be in overdrive, acting as though you're being chased by a predator. Not only is it not doing you any good, it's also making you function inefficiently.

Buddhism has the characteristics of what would be expected in a cosmic religion for the future: It transcends a personal God, avoids dogmas and theology; it covers both the natural and spiritual; and it is based on a religious sense aspiring from the experience of all things, natural and spiritual, as a meaningful unity.

According to Buddhism free dom of thought and exercising ones free will are boundless. One need not be a slave to a philosophy, book, tradition, any leader or teacher and super power. All human beings are potential Buddhas and can develop their minds even to the extent of attaining Buddhahood. In the Dhammapada the first stanza itself declares that the mind is the fore-runner in every action. All evidence suggests that our sense of free will is deeply ingrained. In a study involving around 40,000 people from 34 countries more than 70 per cent of the respondents answered in positive terms to the question “Do we make our own fate?”. (Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 1998).