OMinneapolis: The power of meditation

Last week a friend and I attended a wonderful lecture at the University of Minnesota by Matthieu Ricard, a French born Buddhist monk, scientist, author, and the Dali Lama’s French translator. Ricard’s talk focused on his latest research and book about achieving genuine happiness. It is Ricard’s contention that happiness is not related to external circumstances; rather it is a product of our minds and perceptions. Therefore, to cultivate and improve our state of happiness we can utilize deliberate mind training techniques such as mindfulness meditation. And he has the brain scans and scientific research to prove it works!

According to Ricard, scientific studies have shown that human beings each have a baseline of happiness that they come back to throughout their lives, despite the external circumstances. One example is the fact that for people above the poverty line, studies have shown that more money actually does NOT buy more happiness. In another study, this time of paraplegics, levels of happiness one year after their accidents were actually the same as pre-injury levels even through right after their accidents many had suicidal thoughts. The pursuit of genuine happiness is therefore achieved not by changing external circumstances (bigger house, nicer car, better job, better spouse), but by training the mind to perceive those circumstances differently and ultimately raising the happiness baseline that we all come back to. Ricard shared a number of scientific studies that show that utilization of mindfulness meditation techniques (as practiced by Buddhist monks in Tibet) can actually shift our happiness baseline. This focused type of meditation can alleviate symptoms of depression and anxiety, promote body healing, and ultimately raise our overall happiness levels. The trick is that you must “practice” these mind training techniques in a sustained fashion --- like learning to play the piano.

After hearing this powerful message and the seeing all the fancy graphs and MRI scans Ricard brought to prove it, I am recommending that we all read his book Happiness: A Guide to Developing Life's Most Important Skill, and we start a serious meditation practice. There are a wealth of resources in Twin Cities to get you started. I listed a few below but I am not endorsing any, just giving us all a place to start. Let me know where you learned to meditate. I would love to include it here.

Common Ground Meditation Center (3400 East 26th Street, Minneapolis): an independent center founded on the teachings of the Buddha and dedicated to the practice of mindfulness. This center follows in the spirit of the Insight Meditation Society (IMS) in Massachusetts and Spirit Rock Meditation Center in Northern California. The center is hosting an introduction to mindfulness meditation on May 4 as well as many other ongoing programs.

Shambhala Center of Minneapolis (2931 Grand Street NE, Minneapolis): part of an international community of 165 meditation centers founded by Chogyam Trungpa Rinpoche, a Tibetan Buddhist meditation master. Shambhala Buddhism incorporates the teachings of the Kagyu and Nyingma traditions of Tibetan Buddhism, with the Shambhala vision of living an uplifted life, fully engaged with the world. The center welcomes newcomers every Monday night in addition to their regular services and programming.

Yoga Center of Minnesota (Saint Louis Park and DT Minneapolis): Tara Cindy Sherman and Tanya Boigenzahn each offer meditation classes through the Yoga Center. These classes will touch on the benefits of meditation, a variety of techniques to help calm the mind, instruction on how to breathe properly and help relax the nervous system, and discussion of how to integrate a meditation practice into your life.

And here are some other resources I found online: