CONFERENCE BROCHURE - Mind & Life Institute

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Mind and Life Summer Research InstituteJune 16 – June 22, 2012Monday, June 18 Embodied Experience: Cognitive, Clinical and Biobehavioral Perspective6:00 AM–7:00 AM Yoga, Lower Auditorium – Basement Level Richard Freeman and Mary Taylor7:00 AM–8:00 AM Meditation Matthieu Ricard, Ph.D.8:00 AM–9:00 AM BREAKFAST Silence maintained for the first 15 mins. until the bell tone.9:00 AM–9:30 AM BreakMorning Sessions9:30 AM–10:00 AM Systems Biology and the Stress Response: From Pythagoras and the Epicureans toModern Medicine.George P. Chrousos, M.D.“Stress” is defined as the disturbance in the “dynamic balance” or “homeostasis” of a complexsystem, such as the human organism or society, “stressors” as the forces that produce this disturbance,and “adaptive response” as the forces from within the complex system that strive toreturn homeostasis to normal. In the case of the human organism, the adaptive response is subservedby a specialized system in our brain and body, the “Stress System”, which is activatedto help us deal with stress when a stressor of any kind exceeds a certain threshold. In itself,stress that is dealt with efficiently by the adaptive response of a system is neutral or even potentiallybeneficial to that system, be that an organism or a society. In contrast, the chronic dynamicstate in which the adaptive response fails to fully reestablish homeostasis during stress,called “cacostasis”, may have detrimental effects on the system.10:05 AM–10:35 AM The Cognition of StressLawrence W. Barsalou, Ph.D.Although the physiological properties of the stress response are well known, less is understoodabout the cognitive processing that produces it. From the perspective of grounded cognition,stress often results from mentally simulating a non-present situation in the brain’s systems forperception, action, and internal states. Typically what makes these simulations stressful is thattheir conceptual content includes an expectation violation, a threat to self, and low self-efficacy.When these simulations are experienced as subjectively real, they can produce negative emotion,stress responses, rumination, and coping behavior. Repeated simulation of the same stressfulsituation causes the associated cognitive, neural, bodily, and behavioral activity to becomeentrenched in memory as a distributed pattern. On later occasions, perceiving or imagining partof the situation activates other parts as pattern completion inferences, producing stress. Wellestablishedapproaches for reducing stress follow from this perspective, including conceptual restructuring,cognitive and bodily antidotes, and mindfulness.10:35 AM–10:50 AM Break10:50 AM–11:20 AM Questions from the AudienceModerator: Al Kaszniak, Ph.D.11:20 AM–11:35 AM MeditationRoshi Joan Halifax, Ph.D.11:35 AM–12:00 PM Free Time12:00 PM–1:00 PM LUNCH1:00 PM–1:30 PM Breakcontinued on page 98
Mind and Life Summer Research InstituteJune 16 – June 22, 2012Afternoon Sessions1:30 PM–2:00 PM Cancer as an Exemplar of Embodied Experience Susan Bauer-Wu, Ph.D., FAANThe diagnosis of cancer is often fraught with intense emotions, mental stories, and physicalsymptoms associated with the disease or treatment. This presentation will explore how cancercan be viewed as an exemplar of embodied experience and how research on contemplative practicescan illuminate this understanding. Specific examples from clinical and neuroimaging studieswill be described, including research with bone marrow/stem cell transplant patients and anexperiment comparing emotional responses in cancer survivors, experienced meditators, andhealthy, non-meditating volunteers. Insights and recommendations for further work in this areawill be discussed.2:05 PM–2:35 PM Mindful Eating and Appetite Monitoring: How Can We Bring Lessons Learned intothe Present Moment?Linda W. Craighead, Ph.D.Mindful eating is a well-established tradition within contemplative practice, however its clinicalapplication to normalize problematic eating behaviors is a relatively new development. Mindfuleating interventions differ substantially in their rationale and strategies from the establishedtreatments of choice for binge eating, obesity and eating disorders. Self-monitoring of food intakeis the core strategy in those treatments, which is used to increase awareness of one’s eatingpatterns. I will present a model of intervention called Appetite Awareness Training (AAT)that was developed to shift the focus from external determinants of eating to one’s inner experiencesof eating through self-monitoring of appetite responses rather than food intake. AAT incorporatesaspects of mindful eating to bring attention to present moment internal sensationsassociated with eating while bringing recall of internal sensations associated with past eatingepisodes into the present moment with the goal of promoting more conscious eating decisions.2:35 PM–3:05 PM Questions from Audience Moderator: Sona Dimidjian, Ph.D.3:05 PM–3:45 PM Free Time3:45 PM–4:45 PM Optional Break-Out Groups / Free Time4:45 PM–5:00 PM Break5:00 PM–6:00 PM Tai Chi, Lower Auditorium – Basement Level Peter Wayne, Ph.D.6:00 PM–7:00 PM DINNER7:00 PM–7:15 PM The Francisco J. Varela Research Grant ProgramAlfred W. Kaszniak, Ph.D. and Wendy Hasenkamp, Ph.D.7:15 PM–8:30 PM Presentations from Varela Awardees:Aviva Berkovich-Ohana, Ph.D. Meditation and Non-Linear Neurodynamics: From State to Trait.Judson Brewer, M.D., Ph.D. Real-Time fMRI Links First and Third Person Experience: SubjectiveCorrespondence Between Meditation and PCC Activity.Rael Cahn, M.D., Ph.D. Focused Attention vs. Open Monitoring Meditation and Self-ReferentialBrain Processing.Nicholas Van Dam, Ph.D. Exploring the Impact of Meditation on Stress and Psychopathology: AttentionalAllocation as a Potential Mechanism of Active Change Following Meditation Training.8:30 PM–9:00 PM Meditation Victor Hori, Ph.D.9:00 PM–10:00 PM Free Time10:00 PM–8:00 AM Silence through Morning Meditation9
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