How Did John Cabot Zen Become a Zen Master?

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In the 1970s, mindfulness reached academia proper and when biologist John Cabot Zen was introduced to the practice it was the catalyst required to truly bring it into the mainstream. Cornfield and Goldstein took away from all of this stuff and what they had learned in Thailand and India and Burma,. They focused on this one aspect, mindfulness, meditation on the present moment to gain insight into your non-conscious processes.

You have the power to wield neuroplasticity to your advantage.

Just as you can change your body at the atomic level by lifting weights, you can willfully alter your brain by...thinking in a certain way. In this episode we explore using your brain to change your brain at the level of neurons and synapses beyond what is possible through other methods like learning a new language or earning a degree in chemistry. With mindfulness meditation, the evidence seems to suggest that one can achieve a level of change that would be impossible otherwise. The more you attempt to focus, the better you get at focusing on command, and so a real change begins taking place - you slowly become able to think differently, to hold thoughts differently and to dismiss thoughts that before led to attention difficulties or what feels like unwanted thoughts or clutter - and that’s not magical or the result of shaking hands with a deity, it’s biological. Listen as author and meditation teacher Michael Taft explains the benefits of secular, scientific practice of modern mindfulness meditation

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