Covey Cowan works as a project manager and supervisor in the San Francisco Bay Area, overseeing on-site operations and managing progress schedules and project budgets for the construction of upscale, custom residential properties. He also manages pre-construction design planning, working with the client and designers throughout project development. Mr. Cowan has always been interested the dynamics of human interaction and what we can do to develop our skills in this area. Mindfulness practice clearly can be of great benefit. Scientific studies in recent years support what practitioners have known for millennium. But when it comes to developing our ability to empathize and communicate with other people it may not offer that much help.
The Max Planck Institute for Human Cognitive and Brain Sciences recently published a study comparing different mental training practices and the affect they have on brain networks, stress hormones, and social competencies and came up with some illuminating results. 'Meditation is beneficial for our well-being. This ancient wisdom has been supported by scientific studies focusing on the practice of mindfulness. However, the words "mindfulness" and "meditation" denote a variety of mental training techniques that aim at the cultivation of various different competencies. In other words, despite growing interest in meditation research, it remains unclear which type of mental practice is particularly useful for improving either attention and mindfulness or social competencies, such as compassion and perspective-taking. Other open questions are, for example, whether such practices can induce structural brain plasticity and alter brain networks underlying the processing of such competencies, and which training methods are most effective in reducing social stress. To answer these questions, researchers from the Department of Social Neuroscience at the Max Planck Institute of Human Cognitive and Brain Sciences in Leipzig, Germany conducted the large-scale ReSource Project aiming at teasing apart the unique effects of different methods of mental training on the brain, body, and on social behaviour.' To read more click, 'Mental training techniques focusing more on the "we" and social connectedness among people may be a better choice.' Comments are closed.
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AuthorAn avid traveler, Covey Cowan counts trips to Nepal and India as some of his most memorable. He has helped build a youth hostel for the Hidden Villa Foundation, raised funds for a school library in a Huichol village in central Mexico, and volunteered his time at The Center for Attitudinal Healing. Archives
August 2016
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