A Return to Science

-
As many of you know, I’ll be embarking on a new endeavor this coming Fall. After a 20+ year hiatus from the halls of The Academy, I’ll soon be matriculating at the University of Wisconsin – Madison.

I’ve long been interested in the intersection of the mind and body, and I’ve continually run into dead-ends in understanding the mechanisms underlying this dynamic interplay. While yoga proponents make many claims about how body practices influence the mind, there’s astonishingly little evidence to support many (most?) of these claims.

In my forthcoming studies, I hope to develop a better understanding of how the body influences the mind, and how mental practices, in turn, influence the body.  It’s an exciting time in the fields of Contemplative Neuroscience and Kinesiology, and I’m thrilled to have an opportunity to deepen my understanding of both fields.

As part of my shift toward a deeper scientific understanding of physical and contemplative practices, I anticipate the focus of this blog will also evolve. Thus far, this blog has largely revolved around my subjective experiences and opinions. In the coming months, I plan to pivot the focus of this blog to more closely reflect what I’m learning in school.  

While I will certainly continue to interject opinion and fanciful conjecture into my writings, I plan to use my upcoming coursework as springboards for a wide-ranging discussion of movement, meditation and their creative integration.

If you’re new to this blog – welcome! And if you’ve been reading for a while – thank you for your support!

Comments

Marjorie's Daughter said…
Don't lose your magic, Scott!!! Science and the subjective can hold hands!
June 24, 2016 at 9:13 PM
Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

You have lots of... things

-
Image
The hearse pulled into my family’s driveway at the appointed hour. My parents mentioned that an artist was stopping by, though I had no idea the artist’s entrance would imprint so indelibly in my mind. From his ginormous, black hearse, to the wild hair and beard, this man-in-black was the antithesis of the early-1970s, suburban world that I inhabited. My adoptive parents were thoroughly suburban. We had lots of stuff, and hungered for the stuff that we didn’t have. I thought nothing of this – it’s how all my friends and I lived. With one sentence, however, the artist showed me another view of all this stuff, initiating a conflicted relationship with stuff that I’ve been working with for 50+ years. Repurposed hearses are really big station wagons that can haul lots of things. As he entered our house, he hesitantly said “You have lots of… things .” The pause on “things” was pregnant with meaning, and even though I was scarcely of school-age, I grokked the layered meanings implied by the
Read more

Sweets and Your Mitochondria

-
Image
The vitality of your cellular mitochondria are a significant predictor of your health. To support your overall health, it's best to avoid low-fiber foods that are sweet. Fruit is sweet, though is generally high in fiber. A donut, on the other hand, is low in fiber and sweet. The metabolic pathways of each are significantly different, and interact with enzymes in your liver in very different ways. This plant-based donut did not check the whole-foods box Metabolic health is your mitochondria working at peak efficiency, and your liver is a mitochondria factory. When you eat low-fiber foods that are sweet, the AMP-activated protein kinase (AMPK) in your liver isn't able to bond with the receptors that initiate the production of healthy mitochondria. While your tissues may be crying out for refreshed mitochondria, the factory doors are locked when you consume low-fiber, sweet food. Not all sweet food is created equal - there are many types of sugars, such as sucrose, fructose, lac
Read more

Worklife Bardo

-
Image
  I’m currently parked in a Bardo. What, you may ask, is a Bardo? According to meditation teacher Andrew Holecek, the Tibetan word “Bardo” is translated as “gap, interval, intermediate state, transition process or in between…” The next chapter of life has yet to be written, and the final page of the previous chapter has been turned. Last month I graduated – a milestone I eagerly anticipated since my first day of grad school, nearly seven years ago. While I (mostly) appreciated the process of earning the Ph.D., I never lost sight of the goal. I was not in grad school for the sake of being in grad school – I consistently had a sense of purpose… almost a mission. Interestingly, that mission took multiple twists and turns throughout the duration of the process. Now that the final page on the grad-school chapter has been turned, the first pages of the next chapter aren’t what I expected. The various twists and turns appeared to lead into a long hallway. Like MIT’s Infinite Corridor , this h
Read more