Can Meditation Change You?
Mindfulness and meditation are practiced by millions of people around the world, and their benefits are being hailed by everyone from doctors and mental health professionals, to parents and teachers. Mindfulness programs are being rolled out in schools and prisons, in workplaces and homes. Its popularity has exploded, and everybody knows all the ways it can transform our lives and make us happier, calmer, and better people. Yet nobody ever seems to talk about the negative impact it can have too, and to what extent it can really change us as people.
Dr. Farias and Dr. Wikholm reveal what scientific research – including their own ground-breaking study on yoga and meditation in prisoners – tells us about the benefits and limitations of these techniques for improving lives. As well as illuminating the potential, they also highlight the darker side of these practices. With such powerful and transformative abilities, meditation and mindfulness can be triggering, unsettling, and anxiety-provoking for certain people. Their effects vary widely, and peace and compassion may not always be the end result. This is especially true for young people, who have very complex emotional needs – aspects explored in a new section focusing on meditation and children.
This isn’t simply another book about the route to enlightenment and happiness, nor is it a ‘how to’. With a clear and compassionate approach, The Buddha Pill offers a compelling examination of research on Transcendental Meditation, recent studies on the effects of mindfulness and meditation, and fascinating contributions from spiritual teachers and therapists. Farias and Wikholm weave together a unique story about the science and the delusions of personal change, challenging assumptions and helping people realize which self-development practices are – or are not – right for them.
About the authors:
Dr Miguel Farias has pioneered brain research on the pain alleviating effects of spirituality and the psychological benefits of yoga and meditation. He was educated in Macao, Lisbon and Oxford. Following his doctorate, he was a researcher at the Oxford Centre for the Science of Mind and a lecturer at the Department of Experimental Psychology, University of Oxford. He is the founding director of the Brain, Belief, and Behaviour Lab at Coventry University and the lead editor of the forthcoming Oxford Handbook of Meditation.
Dr Catherine Wikholm is a Clinical Psychologist and a Chartered Psychologist. She read Philosophy and Theology at Oxford University before training as a psychologist and completing a Masters in Forensic Psychology and a doctorate in Clinical Psychology. Post-qualification, Catherine has worked within the specialism of children and families, both in the NHS, as part of a London child and adolescent mental health service (CAMHS), and in private practice. Her current NHS role is as a Highly Specialist Clinical Psychologist in a London perinatal mental health service.
Miguel and Catherine worked together on a ground-breaking research study investigating the psychological effects of yoga and meditation in prisoners.
Mindfulness is modish, but can it deliver? If you are after a reliable guide to the possible benefits and harms of mindfulness and meditation, this is the book for you. Clear, readable and measured, it sifts a wealth of evidence in order to assess the real effects, and get beyond the hype.
– Linda Woodhead MBE, Professor of Sociology of Religion, Lancaster University
About the book:
The Buddha Pill: Can Meditation Change You?
File Size: 647 KB
Print Length: 270 pages
Publisher: Watkins Publishing (February 19, 2019)
Publication Date: February 19, 2019
Sold by: Amazon Digital Services LLC
Language: English
ASIN: B07L7TR1M4
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