Dr. Richard Miller, not recommending yoga is medical malpractice for some patients |322|

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Dr. Richard Miller, not recommending yoga is medical malpractice for some patients |322|
by Alex Tsakiris | Jul 13 | Consciousness Science

This clinical psychologist, and researcher has used yoga to dramatically improve the lives of those suffering from PTSD.

photo by: Spirit-Fire
When I ran across the work of today’s guest, Dr. Richard Miller, much was familiar. I’ve practiced yoga for a long time, and although I’m not a yoga scholar, or practitioner of Richard’s caliber, I understood where he was coming from. But Richard Miller is pulling yoga and psychotherapy together in a new and powerful way I never seen before. As I say in the interview, I was drawn to him because I listened to 5 Questions As Being and was amazed at the effect it had on me.

Another exciting thing about Richard’s work is it seems to work be piling up a lot of points from the medical/scientific community as well. Of course, if mind=brain, there’s no way a simple meditation technique should pile up points scientifically , but that’s another show for another time. Let’s get on to my conversation with Dr. Richard Miller.

Alex Tsakiris: When I was watching one of your presentations you said to your audience that not sharing this protocol with them would be like medical malpractice. That is, as a clinical psychologist you are so confident in the effectiveness of this protocol that you feel obligated to share it. That’s awesome in terms of getting it out, but it also hints at just out of alignment we are in medicine and in clinical psychology.

Dr. Richard Miller: This is a direct quote from a veteran who took part in one of our studies in Miami. He said, “Every intervention I’ve had to date to help me heal through my post-traumatic stress has always started with what’s wrong with me, trying to show me what’s wrong, and how to fix and change what’s wrong with me. You’re the first protocol. You’re the first intervention that has started with what’s right about me. And now that I know what’s right about me, I’m wiling to face my worst nightmares.”
 
Of course, if mind=brain, there’s no way a simple meditation technique should pile up points scientifically , but that’s another show for another time.

Not sure where this idea is coming from. The idea that mental state influences health has been around in the most orthodox medicine for a long time. There is quite a bit of research on meditation in various conditions - search for "meditation" in Pubmed returns over 4000 articles: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/?term=meditation
 
i think meditation is a very good thing for the shift in our west world teaching people to get in touch with there inner self
 
Another excellent interview Alex
Thank you

I think a mind = brain account of meditation and its physiological effects is possible
Meditation could be viewed as a particular kind of physical process or function of the brain that has the benefits reported
And they can explain reports of altered perceptual and meaning states, such as the one Richard experienced,
by means of the standard materialist tropes of imagination or hallucination or psychotic break

Perhaps meditation works by pulling awareness (or the self) out of its customary identification with thoughts
We all know that the best way to calm an upset child is to distract its attention away from what is upsetting it
Most psychological problems arise from habitual dysfunctional thinking and belief patterns which arise from the unconscious according to patterns of association
We dont choose to think them. I call that non-intentional thinking.
That we are capable of intentional thinking; and of intentionally not thinking, seems to me to be harder to explain in purely materialist terms
But no doubt they believe they can; even those who believe they have no intentional capacity at all - or no free will
It is amazing to reflect that there are many otherwise sane and intelligent people who vehemently assert they have no free will
I dont think there is a satisfactory materialist account of how that kind of assertion could arise either; or what it could possibly mean
 
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