{"id":2267,"date":"2013-03-28T22:22:05","date_gmt":"2013-03-28T22:22:05","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/americanbuddhist\/?p=2267"},"modified":"2013-03-28T22:23:32","modified_gmt":"2013-03-28T22:23:32","slug":"meditation-and-this-human-body-two-recent-ted-talks","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/americanbuddhist\/2013\/03\/meditation-and-this-human-body-two-recent-ted-talks.html","title":{"rendered":"Meditation and this Human Body: Two Recent TED Talks"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

These are two talks that are really about \u2018everyone\u2019 \u2013 everyone social that is. Everyone that has to deal with people, and stress, and stuff, and managing all of that people-stress-stuff on a daily basis. The first, with some remarks below the video, is:<\/p>\n

Amy Cuddy: Your body language shapes who you are<\/h3>\n
<\/iframe><\/p>\nNot only do you get the great (funny, memorable) examples \u2013 such as President Obama shaking a British police officer\u2019s hand and then (then Prime Minister) Gordon Brown going up to the officer, the officer raising his hand for a shake, and Brown just blithely walking by\u00a0<\/strong>\u2013 but you also get the solid social science experiments showing that e.g. people\u2019s ratings of a physician\u2019s niceness after a 30-second video (with no audio) clip of various physicians could be used to predict whether said physician would get sued.<\/p>\nBut more important to how nonverbal communication affects others is how our nonverbals (as they call them in social science) affect how we feel about ourselves. That is, can our bodies \u2013 our posture, our motions, our facial expressions \u2013 change our minds?<\/p>\nTo the <a href='https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/library\/buddhism' target='_blank'>Buddhist<\/a> meditator, the answer is obviously \u2018yes\u2019! Perhaps the whole reason for the postures that meditators put themselves in is the effect it has on our minds.<\/p>\nBut of course it goes far, far beyond that (you\u2019ll have to watch the talk for the real meat). In the end she states \u2013 and I believe this because I have experienced it countless times in my own life \u2013 that \u2018tiny tweeks \u2013> BIG CHANGES\u2019<\/strong>. As with meditation \u2013 try it (then share it!).<\/p>\nNext is a talk that is suprisingly good to me because it comes from a TEDx (which generally have very good talks, but rarely quite so good, imho). (Don\u2019t worry that the video is over 40 minutes long, it\u2019s two talks \u2013 you can focus on just the first one)<\/p>\n<h3 id=\"watch-headline-title\">Alan Watkins \u2013 \u201cBeing Brilliant Every Single Day\u201d \u2013 TEDx Portsmouth<\/h3>\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Alan Watkins - "Being Brilliant Every Single Day" - TEDx Portsmouth\" width=\"500\" height=\"281\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/fRItG9G1rb4?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\nThe chart itself is worth copying out. If you want to improve behavior, change how you think. To change that, get to feelings. And below those even, are emotions, which he describes as \u2018energy in motion\u2019 that we are not yet aware of (once we\u2019re aware, it\u2019s feeling). But beyond emotions, \u2018down in the basement\u2019, is physiology<\/strong>.<\/p>\nHe goes on to explain all of that.<\/p>\nAnd then, to bring it home, he brings a volunteer on stage, clips him to a heart-rate monitor, and shows how deeply interconnected these all are. When the volunteer\u2019s heart-rate variation (HRV) is regular, he can think clearly and do complex tasks without much worry. But once Alan disturbs the HRV by adding enough stress, the volunteer\u2019s ability to process cognitively simply shuts down. As above, I\u2019ve experienced this plenty of times \u2013 those stressful moments when you just \u2018blank\u2019\u2026 I\u2019ve also enjoyed the experience and training flowing out of calm that follows a sturdy body and deep, intentional breathing. Understand \u2013 this is how the brain is built. It\u2019s not our fault, but it is something we can learn to master<\/strong>.<\/p>\nTo see more about just how to do this \u2013 watch the talk.<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"These are two talks that are really about \u2018everyone\u2019 \u2013 everyone social that is. Everyone that has to deal with people, and stress, and stuff, and managing all of that people-stress-stuff on a daily basis. The first, with some remarks below the video, is: Amy Cuddy: Your body language shapes who you are Not only […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":118,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,16],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2267","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-happiness","category-video"],"yoast_head":"\n<title>Meditation and this Human Body: Two Recent TED Talks<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"These are two talks that are really about 'everyone' - everyone social that is. 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