Emma Seppala, received her Ph.D. from Stanford University and is an Assistant Scientist at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Her research expertise is well-being, social connectedness, and meditation-based interventions. She is currently assessing the impact of a yoga-based treatments on veterans returning from Iraq and Afghanistan with post-traumatic stress disorder.

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6 Comments

1. 1. username69 03:50 PM 4/6/12

   this is a good article with important content. but, even though it references yoga and meditation, it nonetheless continues to espouse the perhaps unconscious denial of how far ahead much of eastern thought is on this matter relative to western thought (not to superimpose a fictitious dichotomy between methods of thought). the sentence, "this newly discovered pathway of attention may hold the key to greater well-being" is a perfect example, because, in fact, this is meditation 101 and has been understood and implemented by buddhists, hindus, et al for millennia.
   
   not only is the disparity between these understandings being ignored, but also being ignored is the fact that much of contemporary thought, especially regarding psychology, has been highly informed and enhanced by buddhism, and vice versa, and that this is an amazing thing. these two systems of thought can no longer be considered as separate entities to the degree which they previously were, and it would be entirely beneficial for people to acknowledge and utilize this dynamic in order to garner a much richer understanding of ourselves and the rest of reality..

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2. 2. mahaguru 07:00 PM 4/6/12

   I agree with username69
   
   See any numbers of links to inner awarness
   http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=obYJRmgrqOU
   
   http://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=20+minute+body+scan+meditation+&oq=Body+scan+medi&aq=4m&aqi=g2g-m3&aql=&gs_nf=1&gs_l=youtube.1.4.0l2j0i5l3.3990.8414.0.16684.14.14.0.0.0.0.532.2163.8j0j4j0j1j1.14.0.

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3. 3. LabPsico 02:20 PM 4/7/12

   Sorry to say this but this work is almost like reinventing the wheel. Those who work in clinical psychology know that there is a difference between internal/external type of attention. In fact one can say that in order to have depression or states of anxiety one needs to do internal attention which is also known as rumination. The only interesting thing about this work is that it identifies the parts of the brain which are activated by internal and the external attentions. This actually provides further support to those who do neurofeedback in clinical interventions and tries to increase the frontal brain activity. This makes the person to become more external oriented and so spend less time ruminating, less depression and something which no drug can do. Thanks Farb for the work. Nice one.

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4. 4. dopelotus 05:15 AM 5/11/12

   Dalai Lama 1000; Western Psychology 5.
   _/\_<3

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5. 5. Mindful Physician 12:01 PM 7/7/12

   Mindfulness meditation has been shown to decrease stress and burnout while improving career satisfaction and overall happiness in physicians and other health care workers. Please join us for a 3 day retreat in the mountains of sunny norther New Mexico, as we explore mindfulness meditation with the stresses of the health care provider in mind. 8.5 CME credit hours, spouses welcome. Scholarships available.
   http://www.vallecitos.org/events/mindfulness-101-for-physicians-and-health-care-providers

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6. 6. theWrathe 09:58 AM 10/24/12

   I think you're missing the point. She didn't say inward attention is newly discovered. She said a *different* brain structure has been identified that controls inward attention. THAT's what's new. No where does eastern thought suggest it's a different brain structure. I'd submit that you're showing your own bias in *assuming* she's ignoring eastern though. It's not even relevant to her point. She goes on to speculate that this pathway might underlie why "taking a deep breath" or mediation calms the mind. WHY that worked, from the perspective of physical brain structure, was not understood before.

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