a center for
personal and planetary
awakening

Mystic River Yoga
214 Crosby St.

Arlington, MA 02474

781 643-0117
info@MysticRiverYoga.com

Introduction

12 Principles of Awakening

Spiritual Foundation

Scientific Foundation

Embodying the Practice

Collective Awakening

                Neurobiology for Yogis

                 The Language of Neurobiology

Representation: a pattern of neuronal activation or cluster of neuronal activations, arising in a variety of possible modalities and levels of complexity, that 'represent' specific information about an experience. For example, we have visual representations for shapes and colors or familiar faces, aural representations for familiar voices or sounds, others for abstract symbols such as words.

Memory: " The way past events affect future function" DS, DM pg 24

also: the way the mind encodes elements of experience into various forms of representation

implicit memory: present at birth, devoid of subjective experience,

explicit memory: facts, events and autobiographical consciousness   " I am remembering" (also see narrative)

Attachment:an inborn system in the brain that evolves in ways that influence, and organize motivational, emotional and memory processes with respect to significant caregiving figures.1969 Bowlby from DM69

attachment system

attachment relationships

attachment behavior

Emotion: e-motare to move

emotions represent dynamic processes created within the socially influenced, value appraising processes of the brain. DM123

"Emotional processing prepares the brain and the rest of the body for action" DM124

"All emotions are, in essence, impulses to act, the instant plans for handling life that evolution has instilled in us." EI 6

"a feeling and its distinctive thoughts, psychological and biological states, and range of propensities to act." DG EI 289

Primary Emotions: "the textures of the shifts in brain state that are the results of both initial orientation and elaborative appraisal-arousal processes.

Categorical or Discrete Emotions: Anger, Sadness, Distress, Fear, Enjoyment, Surprise, Disgust, Shame

Mood: a relatively long-lasting affective or emotional state, usually less intense, less specific than a categorical emotion.

State of Mind:" ..a pattern of activation of recruited systems within the brain responsible for (1) perceptual bias, (2) emotional tone and regulation, (3) memory processes, (4) mental models, and (5) behavioral response patterns."  "dynamic processes" DM 211

"A state of mind clusters the activity of specific systems of processing." DM 210

"... a state of mind does two fundamental things: it coordinates activity in the moment and it creates a pattern of brain activation that can become more likely in the future." DM 210

" A temporary condition involving mentation, emotion, or behavior." ZBR 472

Trait: an enduring state of activation reinforced through repitition

Temperment: genetically based tendencies in personality such as introversion or extroversion.

emotional intelligence:

Appraisal: a complex web of evaluative mechanisms in which both internal and external factors play active roles. DM 124

Arousal  

orienting response “ The behavior of an animal when it experiences and responds to novelty in its environment” (PL ‘tiger’ pg 93) “ instinctive, coordinated patterns of muscle movement and perceptual awareness”, reacting plus enquiring, what is going on here?, “orienting responses are the primary means through which an animal tunes into its environment. PL, tiger, pg 94

psychotherapy: systematic emotional relearning” DG EI 225