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Higher states of consciousness and the brain: Dr Fred Travis speaks in Magdeburg, Germany
by Global Good News staff writer

Global Good News    Translate This Article
22 November 2011

Recently, Dr Fred Travis, world-renowned scientist specializing in brain research, embarked on a nine-city lecture tour of Germany. His first stop was at the Institute for Medical Psychology, University of Magdeburg.

There Dr Travis was hosted by an eminent professor who is interested in neuroplasticity, how experience changes the brain, relative to the visual system.

Dr Travis explained that the professor's work has led him to believe that 'if you can coherently activate the retina itself and encourage those cells to fire, you can improve vision.'

Because of his work with coherence related to the visual system, the professor was very interested in the phenomenon of coherence in the brain and how regular practice of the Transcendental Meditation Technique can increase that phenomenon.

Dr Travis spoke more about Transcendental Meditation and coherent brain functioning in his lecture at the Institute of Medical Pyschology. He also spoke of neuroplasticity, of how all experiences change the brain.

His talk was entitled 'States of consciousness beyond waking, dreaming, and sleeping: Insights from meditation practice'.

Before he talked about neuroplasticity, Dr Travis started with a two-by-two table headed with four categories: self, no self, content, and no content. Dr Travis showed how each cell represents a different state of consciousness.

For example, someone who is aware of self and is experiencing content is in waking state. This table easily shows how there is a fourth state of consciousness that can be experienced when one has a sense of self but has no notion of content. This is the state of pure or transcendental consciousness, which is experienced during the practice of Transcendental Meditation.

Dr Travis remarked, 'I find this model is useful to bring out the intellectual possibility of something else besides waking, dreaming, and sleeping.'

The audience was composed of about 40 people, mainly students. They 'listened very deeply and asked very intriguing questions,' Dr Travis said.

Related articles:
Universities across Germany welcome brain research expert Dr Fred Travis
Germany: Dr Fred Travis speaks at Münster University about creativity and the brain
Germany: University students learn about 'brain, research, and yoga'
Transcendental Meditation healing negative effects associated with PTSD
Germany: Brain expert speaks about ADHD, meditation in teaching hospital
Cologne students' deep, probing questions bring out knowledge of brain, meditation

Global Good News will continue to report on Dr Travis's tour of Germany.

© Copyright 2011 Global Good News®

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