Brain and
Consciousness
Cosmic Consciousness is
Closer than You Think
4/8/2015
1
Timeline: 7:45 – 9:00
Sun
Sept
Sept
Monday
Tuesday
11: Paradigms
Wed
Thursday
Friday
Sat
13: Brain
Development
Mongolia Conference
Sept
Yom Kippur
27:
Sleeping
Oct
2: Science and
Pseudoscience
4: Other
Meditations
Oct
9: Cosmic
Consciousness
28: TM
and TC
Drfredtravis.com-> Presentations and Videos-> Power
Points->Brain and Consciousness for lecture power points
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
Divide your paper into two
columns. In the left column,
describe your deepest
experiences during TM
practice.
Transcendental Consciousness
Apneustic Breathing and Autonomic
Measures
5
4
1
2
3
Now in the right column, write
what you have noticed
changing in your life since
your started TM practice.
• Are there any
adjectives in both
columns?
• How is this happening?
Gita 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.”
Four Months TM Practice
TM
Eyes Open
Travis, 1991
Eight Years TM Practice
TM
Eyes Open
Travis, 1991
One-Year Longitudinal study
Before
Learning TM
TM practice
Travis and Arenander (2006)
“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, Promise to the Family of Man
•
EEG research shows
distinct EEG patterns
during TM practice, which
are seen more and more
during sleeping, dreaming
and waking with regular
TM practice.
Interview: 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.
During Witnessing Sleep: Higher
alpha1 activity with delta
Mason, et al, Sleep, 1997.
What does enlightenment
look like in activity?
• Non-TM: 17 non-meditating subjects.
• Short-term TM: 17 TM subjects
reporting occasional experiences of the
transcendent in activity (average 7 years TM
practice).
• Long-term TM: 17 TM subjects
reporting continuous integration of the
transcendent with waking and sleeping
(average 24 years TM practice).
Brain Functioning during
Simple and
Choice
Reaction
Time
Tasks
1st Task (Attention)
*
In the first task, you'll see an
in
the middle of the screen. Then
you'll hear a tone.
As soon as you hear the tone, press
the space bar as fast as you can.
2nd Task (Remain Balanced)
In this task, you'll see a number in
the middle of the screen; then a
blank screen for 1.5 seconds;
and then a second number.
If the first number is greater, press
the left button. If the second
number is greater, press the
right button.
Alpha Amplitude
Coherence
Differences in Contingent
Negative Variation (CNV)
Summed Z-scores of EEG
Parameters
Brain Integration Scale
Frontal Coherence, Alpha Relative Power, and Brain
Preparatory Response
6
5
4
3
2
1
0
-1
-2
Non-TM
Short-term TM
Higher States
American University College Students
(random assignment to groups)
Integration
Scale (3
months
TM) TM)
BrainBrain
Integration
during
tasks
(3-mon
3.5
Brain Integration
3
p < .001
2.5
2
1.5
1
0.5
0
Pretest
Post Test
TM
Delayed Start
Travis et al, 2009
World Class Athletes
• N=33: Placing amongst top ten in
Olympic Games, World
Championships, or similar for at least
three seasons (Most had gold medals).
• N=33: Athletes performing on average
level in Norway.
Harung et al, in press
Top Level Managers
• N=20: Excellence in management
performance over many years and
financial success
• N=20: Middle level managers.
Travis et al, in press
Classical Musicians
• N=25: Professional
Musicians
• N=25: Amateur Musicians
Travis et al, in press
Main Point
Experiences of higher states is
innate in the brain physiology—we
only need to systematically develop
those circuits through alternating
the experience of pure
consciousness and normal waking
activity.
Group Exercise
• Why might Cosmic
Consciousness be associated
with distinct styles of brain
functioning.
Content Analysis of Pure
Consciousness Experiences
• 47 students wrote descriptions
of their deepest experiences
during Transcendental
Meditation practice.
• Absence of time, space and
body sense.
Travis and Pearson 2000
(Nidich et al, 2009)
Brain Integration Scale
Summed Z-scores s
Frontal Coherence, Alpha Relative
Power, and Brain Preparatory Response
5
4.5
4
3.5
3
2.5
2
1.5
1
0.5
0
Control
Athletes
World Class
Athletes
Control
Managers
Top-Level
Managers
Amateur
Musician
Prof
Musician
Police
(Strong
Spiritual
Basis)
Long term
TM