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People’s egos get bigger after meditation and yoga, says a new study

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Re: People’s egos get bigger after meditation and yoga, says a new study

#31

Post by Zyst »

olfactory wrote: post #5

There is a big difference between ego and narcissism. Many people have low self-esteem, which means that they are constantly doubting themselves, feeling less worthy than others, feeling destined for failure, feeling too timid to take reasonable risks, etc. Meditation helps to restore correct ego functioning in humans, creating a balanced perspective where the self can thrive and does not inflict self-harm by allowin…

>The issue of self esteem is confounded by millennia of religious dogma that tells people that "selflessness" is virtuous, when in fact quite the opposite is true. Virtue comes from the channeling of one's desire and one's life force toward noble ends, not by suppressing one's confidence and simply letting others (such as religious or political leaders) tell us that we are worthless and that they know what is best for us.

This mode of thinking is echoed in some Stoicism books I've read. Both "Meditations", and "A guide to the good life" include similar entries.

I really enjoy seeing the parallels between western(?) Meditation/mindfulness practice, and Stoicism. I do believe the meditation we predominantly practice in the west is at least slightly different from the more traditional eastern Buddhist meditation practice. But I do believe that is to be expected, the cultures are fairly different so the adaptation process was bound to create some offshoots.

There was a submission a while ago[0] that I believe does a great job of summarizing some of the cultural changes that meditation practice went through in the west, and how it contrasts to the more traditional eastern practice.

[0]: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=16891276

Re: People’s egos get bigger after meditation and yoga, says a new study

#32

Post by andrewl »

bytematic wrote: post #6

This is actually an interesting subject. There is a Dao "master" who chiefs a temple in California and he wrote his dissertation on how meditation is actually bad for you. I believe he is featured on the "What's this dao all about" podcast but he doesn't go too far into the subject there.

Bytematic, I'd be quite interested if you could track down the details on him and his research.

Re: People’s egos get bigger after meditation and yoga, says a new study

#33

Post by calt »

mettamage wrote: post #17

> When students were evaluated in the hour after their yoga class, they showed significantly higher self-enhancement, according to all three measures, than when they hadn’t done yoga in the previous 24 hours. I wonder, is this what ego means in Buddhism? Also, is this what ego historically meant in Buddhism? For a long time, people in Buddhist communities would call you crazy if you meditate. Having followed one theo…

> I wonder, is this what ego means in Buddhism?

That's the correct question to ask, and the short answer is "no."

Non-self means that there is no sperate, unchanging self. You are a constantly changing phenomenon that has arisen due to causality.

You can see how the two might be correlated, but it's loose at best.

Re: People’s egos get bigger after meditation and yoga, says a new study

#34

Post by tinbad »

Why is this surprising? Any spiritual practice is a way to better ones "self". My yogi friend put it well: the difference is with yoga and meditation the goal is to get rid of things, while in "the west" we generally associate happiness with having more things.

Re: People’s egos get bigger after meditation and yoga, says a new study

#35

Post by sp332 »

maxxxxx wrote: post #7

People need to understand that the stuff like meditation that's popular right now and gets taught is just a very small subset of Buddhist practice. Real Buddhist teachings go much further. Same for yoga. Yoga is meant to be a way of life but what most Westerners see is just a form of aerobics with a few spiritual words sprinkled in.

Big workout movements in the US (and elsewhere I guess) took the physical parts of yoga and left the spiritual parts behind starting in the 80's. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yoga_as_exercise Plenty of people do remember that yoga has a spiritual component though, which caused a lot of confusion when it was added to some schools' PE classes. http://www.latimes.com/local/lanow/la-me-ln-appeals-court-yo...

Re: People’s egos get bigger after meditation and yoga, says a new study

#37

Post by JackFr »

maxxxxx wrote: post #7

People need to understand that the stuff like meditation that's popular right now and gets taught is just a very small subset of Buddhist practice. Real Buddhist teachings go much further. Same for yoga. Yoga is meant to be a way of life but what most Westerners see is just a form of aerobics with a few spiritual words sprinkled in.

Modern yoga has little if anything to do with any ancient spiritual practice:

https://www.newyorker.com/business/currency/iyengar-inventio...

Re: People’s egos get bigger after meditation and yoga, says a new study

#38

Post by sonnyblarney »

tinbad wrote: post #34

Why is this surprising? Any spiritual practice is a way to better ones "self". My yogi friend put it well: the difference is with yoga and meditation the goal is to get rid of things, while in "the west" we generally associate happiness with having more things.

It's surprising because 'selflessness' and thinking highly of oneself are a somewhat inconsistent.

I wish I had the source for this but I read somewhere the first obstacle to the path of enlightenment is the self righteousness of the aspirant ... i.e. as soon as someone starts learning higher truths, their sense of ego expands, which is kind of the opposite of the point.

Re: People’s egos get bigger after meditation and yoga, says a new study

#39

Post by sessy »

I think many here are mistaken that yoga/meditation are of Buddhist origins. They are in fact of Hindu origin.

Yoga mainly focuses on 1. Exercises that stimulate the base of the spine, and 2. Breathing technics. If you imagine the brain as a flower and the spine as a stalk/root; a flower needs stimulation at the root for it to blossom. The focus on breathing is to get more oxygen to the brain. Combinedly these two help improve the potential of your brain.

Yoga does not necessarily make you a good person. It just enhances the knowledge/potential of your brain. You can use that advanced knowledge to become a good person or a bad person.

Re: People’s egos get bigger after meditation and yoga, says a new study

#40

Post by hexane360 »

sessy wrote: post #39

I think many here are mistaken that yoga/meditation are of Buddhist origins. They are in fact of Hindu origin. Yoga mainly focuses on 1. Exercises that stimulate the base of the spine, and 2. Breathing technics. If you imagine the brain as a flower and the spine as a stalk/root; a flower needs stimulation at the root for it to blossom. The focus on breathing is to get more oxygen to the brain. Combinedly these two he…

"Yoga does not necessarily make you a good person."

Of course.

"It just enhances the knowledge/potential of your brain."

I'm gonna need a study here.

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