High Life

27 Davidson says. “These are very fast frequencybrainoscillations thatoccur throughout wide-spread regions of the brain and are highly synchronized. “This was the first time scientists had ever seen this happen. We all have gamma-oscillations but they typically occur for a very short period of time, less than one second, but in Rinpoche and other long- term practitioners, these gamma- oscillations occur for minutes at a time and continue to do so during the entire meditation practice. What is even more remarkable is that these gamma-oscillations are present in the baseline, when they are not formally meditating. That is the key signature of an altered trait in the brain.” Davidson goes on to point out that contemplative practices that cultivate awareness are also practices that help us to be more present, and it turns out that when people are not paying attention to what they are doing, they are significantly less happy. He often likes to quote William James, a renowned American philosopher and psychologist, who wrote in his book The Principles of Psychology, “The faculty of voluntarily bringing back a wandering attention, over and over again, is the very root of judgment, character and will ... An