[nightdiamond]

Hi wolfgang, Although I haven't used one yet, I've always been curious about the light and sound machines too..... For one, you can connect a cd player to them and play your favorite music while the lights in the goggles pulsate to the beats... the other reason it is said you can enter a deep state of meditation or trance with these..... it's compact and you can take them almost anywhere and just block everything out.....

Originally Posted by wolfgang
apparently PTSD is a case where the amygdala is mostly stuck in the non-frontal lobe mode (flight or fight) because of the individual being in an environment that continually made the brain have to be in that state to survive.

That is similar to what Neil is saying and assuming this concept is true, the part about the amygdala and PTSD makes sense.... here's how he represents it;




And this way;




There is a little skepticsm, and a point is made;

When University of Toronto psychologist Adam Anderson heard about the exercises, he laughed. The assistant professor is also the Canada Research Chair in cognitive neuroscience, and his research focuses on what the amygdalae contribute to human emotion. Anderson believes they are one of the elements of our feelings, but human emotions result from a delicate balance of the functions of different brain parts.

"I'm not saying it can't work, but it's a really silly idea that you actually have to picture your amygdala," he says. "You could teach people to visualize their left elbows and it might be just as effective.

"It's a form of relaxation and, if it works, more power to the people who do it. But as a scientist, I see it as maybe a form of meditation or a distraction from what's bothering you."

Slade thinks there is more to it than that. He believes visualizing the amygdalae can create physiological changes in the brain.

I understand Mr. Anderson's view, but to be fair to Neil, on the other hand, when we imagine tasting a lemon, what response do we get and where?

We usually salavate, and in the mouth area.... We imagine something in the mouth area and get a physical response in that same area.....



Neil is claiming that by reversing this flow you can experience calm, peace and tranquility.... here is some support and advice from Janice Dorn, a psychiatrist and brain anatomist;

Janice Dorn, a psychiatrist and brain anatomist who has studied the brain for 41 years, believes Slade's exercises stimulate the connections between the primitive, or limbic part of the brain and the more evolved prefrontal cortex in order to develop habits of happier thought and feeling.

Many people could learn to be happy by regularly repeating thought and visualization practices, Dorn says in a telephone interview from her office in Phoenix, Ariz.

It's a matter of reprogramming your brain to have a tendency towards happiness instead of emotional pain, and most people can learn to do it.


........... "Look for a way to turn any part of it into a positive experience: that's how the prefrontal cortex operates," Dorn says. "The amygdala is always talking to the prefrontal cortex. So tell it about joy instead of telling it that you are a frightened, unhappy person who deserves to suffer."

She suggests another exercise: Try to visualize your amygdalae lit up and shining beautifully. At that moment, take yourself to a time when you were as happy as you have ever been. Send the joy you feel to your prefrontal cortex so you can remember it.

"The more you practise these things, the more you can voluntarily increase the activity of the front cortical processing system. The more you do it, the better you get at it, and the better you feel."

What I find even more interesting is the claim you can experience an explosion of ectasty or bliss or 'nirvana' by clicking until you "pop" your frontal lobes... "Popping" the frontal lobes is slightly different than clicking the amygdala- it happens after repeatedly clicking the amygdala forward....

Scientific Nirvana

"Popping" your frontal lobes or Frontal Lobes Transcendence is defined as an extension of other experiences known historically as: nirvana; satori; samadhi; kensho; enlightenment; born again; and other "one-with-the-universe" rapturous experiences of which have been recognized for thousands of years.

Only now has recent scientific investigation made it possible to pinpoint the actual specific areas inside the human brain involved in this kind of experience, and the kind of thought processes which turn it on.