The work of Abraham Maslow and what he called, "Peak Experiences". Here is some information:

Quote:
The psychologist Abraham Maslow, who was a pioneer in studying the positive aspects of human psychology, defined them. He wrote, "These moments were of pure, positive happiness, when all doubts, all fears, all inhibitions, all tensions, all weaknesses were left behind. Now self-consciousness was lost. All separateness and distance from the world disappeared..." These experiences are rare, but can come at any unpredictable time and completely transform life. People have adopted whole new belief systems from one single taste beyond the veil of the senses. These experiences have a curative power.

This kind of perfect harmony in brain wave patterns is also found in small infants when they are nursing, in pets when they are being petted and in adults when they are experiencing expansion of consciousness. What is being measured is a mind that is still, a mind that is in the present moment, not caught by regret for the past or worry for the future.

A mind that is working like this is creating a healthy body. Your body is already spewing out millions of chemical reactions every second. When your mind is tense, anxious, nervous, your body responds by producing tense, anxious, nervous molecules like adrenaline and noradrenaline. When your mind is calm and peaceful, your body produces calm and peaceful molecules like Valium. Your body is already producing chemicals similar to any that your friendly neighborhood pharmacist will give you, but without the side effects. When your body produces Valium, it makes you feel tranquil but without also making you feel like a zombie. When your body produces anti-cancer drugs or anti-bacteria drugs, these drugs have no side effects.

The body does this absolutely naturally, in the right amount at the right time, ideally suited for the correct target organ, and all the instructions are included in the packaging. Your body does this completely spontaneously for you when it is not stressed.

How do we unstress the body? How do we keep new stresses from accumulating? How do we learn to maintain inner peace and tranquility in the face of the hectic pace of the modern world? How do we learn to stop undermining ourselves with destructive internal programs? How do we learn to expand our minds to our full potential?

This is the introduction to Meditation techniques such as Transcendental Meditiation and Ascension. Yoga is meditation or the joining of the body and mind in a neutral space such as the absolute. Yoga asanas are physical postures but without the ability to take the mind inward naturally if there is any effort at all in maintaining the physical position.

There has been research of the brain wave activity to determine the affects of meditation . Hooking electroencephalographic leads onto the brain, onto the temporal, parietal and occipital lobes of the left and right hemispheres, when one is awake in normal activity the brainwaves are chaotic and random.
In contrast to this, during certain types of meditation such as TM or Ascension, the entire surface of the cortex becomes completely coherent.

The body and mind settles into a deep state of rest, the body heals itself by throwing off toxins and accumulated physical stress as it does in sleep but does not take 6 hours to reach a state to begin the process. As one continues to make a practice of meditation the state of coherence becomes the natural state of mind rather than that of the random brain wave patterns before meditation.

IMO, Maslow, because of his interest in the nature of the human spirit at its best, was more of a pneumatologist than a psychologist.

Last edited by Revlgking; 10/28/07 08:15 PM.

G~O~D--Now & ForeverIS:Nature, Nurture & PNEUMA-ture, Thanks to Warren Farr&ME AT www.unitheist.org