WEBVTT

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- I want to welcome all of you.

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I am a professor emerita from

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the Smith College School for Social Work,

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and I severed as Dean
Jacob's associate dean

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for many years,

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which is one of the reasons
that I am here tonight.

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So this evening is significant
for several reasons.

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One, of course, is that we have
our distinguished lecturer,

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Dr. Davidson.

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But the other is that this
is the first major event

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to really honor Dean Jacobs.

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She has been dean, or will be dean

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of the school in her
retirement in May of 2014,

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for 13 years.

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Two of those years were as acting dean,

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and the other 11, I guess the math works,

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was as dean.

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And Dean Jacobs will
introduce Dr. Davidson.

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What I want to do tonight

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is emphasize the connection
between this particular lecture

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and an abiding goal of Dean Jacob's,

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and an area of achievement
in her leadership

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over these past many years.

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That goal has been to draw on the wisdom,

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the skills, and the science,

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in the ancient and very modern area

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of contemplative practice.

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The goal was to enrich
both clinical practice

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and to help all of us as individuals

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and members of a community,

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add to our own reflective
and non-reactive qualities

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that are so central, both to
excellent clinical practice

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but also a necessary ingredient
to a planful, ethical,

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and compassionate organizational life.

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What she has put into motion

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will continue to influence the school

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into the foreseeable future.

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At later events, others will speak to

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her many, many other
areas of accomplishment,

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and even though it's not my task

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I just have to mention a few.

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She has increased our

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certificate programs for postgraduates.

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She has had a bone-deep commitment

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to the major work that the
school has done on anti-racism.

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She has broadened, for
both students and faculty,

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their life, to include international work.

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She has considerably
strengthened our relationship

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with the college, and though
this isn't often mentioned,

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she's really been a very good steward

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of the financial resources
of this institution.

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She initiated a tenure system,

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and she's had a commitment to
recruit from active military

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and from veterans.

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And also, to make sure
that both our curriculum

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and our community has
been welcoming to them.

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And there is, of course, much more.

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I would add, we just completed
our, under her leadership of

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the second successful
re-accreditation process.

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And though that's not particularly sexy,

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it's a tremendous amount of work

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and it's very, very important
to the standing of the school

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and Carolyn certainly
has been a major player

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in both of those processes.

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But what I briefly want to make clear

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is how much Dr. Jacobs has been committed

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to helping all members of
our community in recognizing

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that the spiritual dimension
of human experience,

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however defined, has to be
addressed in our profession

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if, as we profess, we are interested

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in the totality of who a person is.

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Fears of pushing a
particular religious agenda,

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never a goal or certainly an
activity on Dean Jacob's part,

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should never be a reason
to not be open, curious,

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and knowledgeable about both
the secular and religious roots

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that we, and our clients, use
to make meaning in our lives

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and to address what often
seems unexplainable.

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And so, in many different
ways, Dr. Jacobs has set about

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to put spirituality as
an area of attention

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at the Smith College
School for Social Work.

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Because almost all religious
and many secular traditions

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have contemplative practices

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as part of their activities,

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and because contemplative
practices nurture

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the quality of attention
necessary for clinical practice,

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much of her work over
the years has centered

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in this particular area.

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I believe it has significantly added

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to the quality of our education
and our institutional life,

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and for that, Carolyn, thank you.

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To this end, Dean Jacobs has
done so many, many things.

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She has developed and taught
a certificate program here,

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in Contemplative Practice and Social Work.

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She has brought speakers and
participants to the community

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with expertise in contemplative practice,

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and its relationship to
health and mental health.

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She has supported research
on the use of meditation

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and the quality of attention
and openness to experience

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in the classroom.

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She has focused much of her
considerable scholarship

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on social work and spirituality.

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She has brought to our community
practitioners who have led

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voluntary and heavily-subscribed
meditation groups.

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She has even set aside a
lovely, quiet room for faculty

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where they can go to collect themselves,

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to meditate, to do whatever
they want, but hopefully

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to emerge from that room
a more centered person.

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Her present service as a board member

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of both Naropa Institute,

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and the organization "Mind and Life",

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speak to both the national
and international recognition

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she has received for her work.

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But, equally important,
is that she has done

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and continues to do her own
work on centering herself,

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and on changing her brain
by changing her mind.

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So tonight, our Lydia Rapoport
lecture by Dr. Davidson

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is a culmination of a
so much longer journey

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in Dean Jacob's time here.

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His willingness to come
and address us tonight

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is, in no small measure,
a tribute to Dean Jacobs.

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I have been able to witness
up-close this journey,

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and am very honored to introduce tonight

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my friend, my colleague, my dean,

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Dr. Carolyn Jacobs.

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(applause)

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- Thank you.

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- Thank you, so much, and
a special thanks to Susan.

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We have been on this journey a long time.

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She managed to retire
before the second site visit

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and self-study, but we love her anyway.

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(audience laughs)

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The Lydia Rapoport distinguished lecture

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was endowed by Lydia's brother and friends

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to allow the school's
dean to invite a colleague

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with a particular expertise or use

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for clinical social work practice.

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I would invite you to check our website

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to get a fuller description of Lydia

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and this particular lectureship.

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This summer's lecturer
is Dr. Richard Davidson.

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Richard Davidson is
William James and Vilas

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Professor of Psychology and Psychiatry,

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director of the Waisman Brain Imaging Lab

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and the Lab for Affective Neuroscience,

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founder and chair of

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The Center of Investigating
Healthy Minds, Waisman Center

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at the University of
Wisconsin-Madison, in Psychology,

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and at the University of Wisconsin-Madison

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he has been on the faculty since 1984.

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Dr. Davidson received his PhD

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from Harvard University in 1976.

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He has published more than 290 articles,

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many chapters and reviews,
and edited 14 books.

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He is a co-author with Sharon Begley

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of "The Emotional Life of Your Brain",

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published by Penguin in 2012.

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Dr. Davidson received an NIMH
Research Scientist Award,

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a Merit Award from NIMH, and
the William James Fellow Award

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from the American Psychological Society.

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He is past president

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of the Society for Research
in Psychopathology,

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and of the Society for
Psycho-physiological Research.

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He was the year 2000 recipient

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of the most distinguished
award for science,

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given by the American
Psychological Association,

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The Distinguished Scientific
Contribution Award,

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and was named one of the

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"100 Most Influential People in the World"

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by "TIME" magazine in 2006.

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In 2011, he was given
the Paul D. MacLean Award

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for Outstanding Neuroscience Research

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in Psychosomatic Medicine.

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He serves on the Scientific
Advisory Board at the

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Max Planck Institute for Human
Cognitive and Brain Sciences

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from 2011 to today,

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and as chair of the psychology section

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of the American Association
for the Advancement of Science

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from 2011 to 2013.

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Now, I think there are

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a couple of other things you
should know about Richie.

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One, is that his daughter
is a social worker,

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graduate of Columbia,

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however, she is working in New York City

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with other Smith social workers.

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(audience laughs)

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So, we can say this:

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That he has that kind of affinity

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and closeness to our profession,

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that really bodes well for
what he will contribute to us

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tonight in the lecture.

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I've come to value Richie
as a dear colleague

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on the board of Mind and Life Institute.

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It is in our time together, exploring

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the transformative wealth
of contemplative practice,

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on the creation of
compassionate individuals,

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compassionate communities, and
hopefully compassionate world

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in which we live.

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Here, I have come to know Richie,

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as an extraordinary
researcher and lecturer,

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filled with curiosity about the mind,

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humbled about what he
can say is predictable

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about all of that,

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faithful to, and grounded
in, meditative practices.

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I have come, at this stage of my life,

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to have a particular bias.

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One is that I'm really not interested in

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volunteering with people
who don't meditate.

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I find there is a richness
in the capacity to disagree,

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to be with one another, and
to look at the larger world,

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and the capacity to value one another,

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for the greater good.

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So I am just delighted to
welcome Richie to our community,

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and to hear his lecture on

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"Change Your Brain by
Transforming Your Mind."

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(applause)

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(microphone feedback)

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(applause continues)

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- Quite a way to begin.

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(audience laughs)

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Thank you so much, Carolyn,

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for your gracious
introduction and invitation

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to be here this evening.

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It has given me an opportunity up-close

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to get a feel for what it is
that you've done here at Smith.

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And it's just deeply touching and moving

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for me to see, first-hand, and to honor

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your extraordinary contributions

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and just to say to all of you,

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who have been fortunate
enough to be faculty

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and students here at Smith
under Carolyn's leadership,

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that, boy, you guys
are really so fortunate

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to have had a dean with the kind of vision

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that Carolyn has.

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And I feel very lucky to have you now

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in our collective life at "Mind and Life"

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and to participate with
you for many years to come

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on the board.

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So, thank you so much.

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Today, this evening,

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I want to give you a feel for

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the kind of work that we've been doing,

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and I thought that it
would be best to start

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by giving a little
autobiographical prelude

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to situate the work in some context.

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I began my career in
psychology and neuroscience

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with one fundamental question,

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and that question is still one
that motivates my work today.

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And I was curious to better understand

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why it is that some individuals,

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when they are exposed to adversity,

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when they confront
life's slings and arrows,

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are resilient,

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and are able to effectively
deal with the situation at hand,

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recover very quickly, and
move on with their life,

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whereas other people, in
response to the same adversity,

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seem to rapidly decompensate,

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and have a much more difficult time,

258
00:15:14.774 --> 00:15:17.436
and sometimes can spiral

259
00:15:17.436 --> 00:15:22.436
into serious disorder and pathology.

260
00:15:22.515 --> 00:15:25.400
And I was interested to learn more about

261
00:15:25.400 --> 00:15:29.626
what the root of those
differences among people are,

262
00:15:29.626 --> 00:15:31.556
and, even more importantly,

263
00:15:31.556 --> 00:15:35.357
I was interested in how we can facilitate

264
00:15:35.357 --> 00:15:37.712
individuals becoming more resilient.

265
00:15:37.712 --> 00:15:41.573
How can we cultivate
healthier habits of mind

266
00:15:41.573 --> 00:15:46.573
to improve a person's ability
to deal with adversity?

267
00:15:48.201 --> 00:15:50.517
As the bumper sticker says,

268
00:15:50.517 --> 00:15:52.447
"Stress happens."

269
00:15:52.447 --> 00:15:54.499
It doesn't quite say that, but

270
00:15:54.499 --> 00:15:56.388
(audience laughs)

271
00:15:56.388 --> 00:15:58.989
we cannot protect
ourselves from adversity.

272
00:15:58.989 --> 00:16:02.605
It's something that is part of life,

273
00:16:02.605 --> 00:16:06.222
but we do have the ability
to change our minds,

274
00:16:06.222 --> 00:16:08.152
and if we can figure out

275
00:16:08.152 --> 00:16:12.703
how we can promote a more
resilient emotional style,

276
00:16:12.703 --> 00:16:16.218
we can potentially help
lots and lots of people.

277
00:16:16.218 --> 00:16:19.123
And so those are really the
questions that I began with

278
00:16:19.123 --> 00:16:21.155
and the questions that I continue with,

279
00:16:21.155 --> 00:16:24.426
and I was very, very
fortunate when I first began

280
00:16:24.426 --> 00:16:26.722
in my career in psychology,

281
00:16:26.722 --> 00:16:30.846
to be around a number of
people whose demeanor,

282
00:16:30.846 --> 00:16:34.300
and whose presence, were
just really infectious.

283
00:16:34.300 --> 00:16:35.458
These were the kind of people

284
00:16:35.458 --> 00:16:37.469
I really wanted to hang out with,

285
00:16:37.469 --> 00:16:40.977
and they were, by and large,
not the faculty at Harvard.

286
00:16:40.977 --> 00:16:42.521
(audience laughs)

287
00:16:42.521 --> 00:16:45.751
They were people who I
was lucky enough to meet

288
00:16:45.751 --> 00:16:49.307
who were, for the most
part, outside the academy.

289
00:16:49.307 --> 00:16:52.354
And I had the opportunity

290
00:16:52.354 --> 00:16:56.438
to essentially have an
alternative education

291
00:16:56.438 --> 00:16:59.872
at the same time I was getting
my traditional education.

292
00:16:59.872 --> 00:17:03.833
One of the things that all
these folks had in common,

293
00:17:03.833 --> 00:17:08.628
just resoundingly endorsed
in Carolyn's introduction,

294
00:17:08.628 --> 00:17:13.179
they all had an interest in,
and a practice of, meditation.

295
00:17:13.179 --> 00:17:15.983
And they attributed some of their,

296
00:17:15.983 --> 00:17:20.371
what I considered to be,
delicious and infectious qualities

297
00:17:20.371 --> 00:17:23.337
to their practice.

298
00:17:23.337 --> 00:17:27.563
And so I was sufficiently
interested and motivated

299
00:17:27.563 --> 00:17:30.570
so that, after my second
year of graduate school,

300
00:17:30.570 --> 00:17:34.349
I went off to India and
Sri Lanka for three months,

301
00:17:34.349 --> 00:17:38.738
much to the consternation
of my professors,

302
00:17:38.738 --> 00:17:42.476
some of whom thought I was
going off the deep end,

303
00:17:42.476 --> 00:17:45.361
others of whom thought
I would never return.

304
00:17:45.361 --> 00:17:48.998
I was pretty confident
that I would return,

305
00:17:48.998 --> 00:17:52.736
and that my commitment to pursuing science

306
00:17:52.736 --> 00:17:57.736
was quite serious and very
much secure in its place,

307
00:17:59.441 --> 00:18:03.118
but I also believed that the education

308
00:18:03.118 --> 00:18:07.811
that I was being given in
the halls of William James,

309
00:18:07.811 --> 00:18:09.560
the William James Hall,

310
00:18:09.560 --> 00:18:12.435
were not the whole story.

311
00:18:12.435 --> 00:18:15.158
And I really needed to learn

312
00:18:15.158 --> 00:18:18.449
what these other traditions
and cultures had to say.

313
00:18:18.449 --> 00:18:23.449
So I went off to India for
the first time in 1974,

314
00:18:24.361 --> 00:18:29.361
and I had my first taste of
serious meditation practice,

315
00:18:30.660 --> 00:18:33.138
and it was enough to convince me

316
00:18:33.138 --> 00:18:36.023
that this stuff is really
important, and that

317
00:18:36.023 --> 00:18:40.107
if western psychology and
neuroscience knew more about it,

318
00:18:40.107 --> 00:18:43.642
this would be a terrific set of tools

319
00:18:43.642 --> 00:18:45.674
that would be greatly beneficial

320
00:18:45.674 --> 00:18:49.270
to a wide swath of humanity.

321
00:18:49.270 --> 00:18:52.744
So I came back with a
very fervent aspiration

322
00:18:52.744 --> 00:18:55.264
to pursue research on meditation,

323
00:18:55.264 --> 00:18:59.807
and in fact, did publish a few
studies in those early days

324
00:18:59.807 --> 00:19:01.676
but it was made very clear to me

325
00:19:01.676 --> 00:19:03.911
by the faculty that were teaching me,

326
00:19:03.911 --> 00:19:08.239
that if I wanted a successful
career in science, they said,

327
00:19:08.239 --> 00:19:12.241
this is not a very good
way for you to begin,

328
00:19:12.241 --> 00:19:15.329
and you should find
something else to study.

329
00:19:15.329 --> 00:19:17.727
So the message was given to me,

330
00:19:17.727 --> 00:19:20.165
very loudly and clearly,

331
00:19:20.165 --> 00:19:22.095
and I was a very dutiful student

332
00:19:22.095 --> 00:19:25.305
and I took their message to heed,

333
00:19:25.305 --> 00:19:29.246
and, in fact, I launched a
career on emotion in the brain

334
00:19:29.246 --> 00:19:31.745
which I still very much do today,

335
00:19:31.745 --> 00:19:35.179
and the work that we do
with contemplative practice

336
00:19:35.179 --> 00:19:37.129
is very much within that umbrella,

337
00:19:37.129 --> 00:19:41.233
because among the most
important targets, if you will,

338
00:19:41.233 --> 00:19:46.089
of contemplative practice, is
the transformation of emotion.

339
00:19:46.089 --> 00:19:50.620
So this made sense to me,

340
00:19:50.620 --> 00:19:54.378
and there were lots of important things

341
00:19:54.378 --> 00:19:56.575
that needed to be done,
that hadn't yet been done,

342
00:19:56.575 --> 00:19:58.747
and so off I went to do that.

343
00:19:58.747 --> 00:20:03.298
And my life changed in a
very dramatic way in 1992.

344
00:20:03.298 --> 00:20:07.788
And in the fall of 1992 I
met, for the first time,

345
00:20:07.788 --> 00:20:09.953
His Holiness the Dalai Lama.

346
00:20:09.953 --> 00:20:13.712
The Dalai Lama had heard about
me from some mutual friends,

347
00:20:13.712 --> 00:20:17.125
and invited me and a
couple of other people

348
00:20:17.125 --> 00:20:18.905
to Dharamsala, India,

349
00:20:18.905 --> 00:20:22.969
to talk with us about the possibility

350
00:20:22.969 --> 00:20:26.014
of doing serious neuroscientific research

351
00:20:26.014 --> 00:20:29.226
on the minds and brains of individuals

352
00:20:29.226 --> 00:20:32.414
who've spent years cultivating their mind.

353
00:20:32.414 --> 00:20:37.066
These were advanced meditation practioners

354
00:20:37.066 --> 00:20:39.638
in the Tibetan Buddhist tradition.

355
00:20:39.638 --> 00:20:41.934
And His Holiness also challenged me,

356
00:20:41.934 --> 00:20:43.885
on that day in 1992, he said,

357
00:20:43.885 --> 00:20:47.684
"Look, you guys are using the
tools of modern neuroscience

358
00:20:47.684 --> 00:20:52.684
"to study anxiety, and
depression, and sadness.

359
00:20:53.007 --> 00:20:55.161
"Why can't you use those same tools

360
00:20:55.161 --> 00:20:57.991
"to study kindness and compassion?"

361
00:20:59.061 --> 00:21:01.581
And there was no really good answer,

362
00:21:01.581 --> 00:21:03.653
other than that it's hard.

363
00:21:03.653 --> 00:21:05.360
(audience laughs)

364
00:21:05.360 --> 00:21:08.814
But when we first began
to study fear and anxiety,

365
00:21:08.814 --> 00:21:12.633
that was hard, too, and I think
most scientists would agree

366
00:21:12.633 --> 00:21:17.633
that we've made a lot of
progress in that line of work

367
00:21:17.753 --> 00:21:20.943
and there's no reason, in
principle, why we cannot

368
00:21:20.943 --> 00:21:24.640
use those same tools to study
kindness and compassion.

369
00:21:24.640 --> 00:21:27.659
So that was a very pivotal meeting for me,

370
00:21:27.659 --> 00:21:29.915
and I made a commitment to His Holiness,

371
00:21:29.915 --> 00:21:31.946
on that day in 1992,

372
00:21:31.946 --> 00:21:34.242
that I was going to come out of the closet

373
00:21:34.242 --> 00:21:36.233
with my interest in meditation.

374
00:21:36.233 --> 00:21:40.682
Because for a couple of
decades or for 15 years,

375
00:21:40.682 --> 00:21:43.649
I had been a closet meditator,

376
00:21:43.649 --> 00:21:48.565
and I was practicing
but I didn't tell people

377
00:21:48.565 --> 00:21:50.211
about what I was doing,

378
00:21:50.211 --> 00:21:53.685
and I certainly didn't talk
about this with my colleagues.

379
00:21:53.685 --> 00:21:58.338
And His Holiness just provided licence

380
00:21:58.338 --> 00:22:02.645
for all of that to change, and
change in a very dramatic way

381
00:22:02.645 --> 00:22:07.501
and he encouraged me to
undertake this kind of research.

382
00:22:07.501 --> 00:22:10.528
It took us a few years to ramp-up,

383
00:22:10.528 --> 00:22:15.528
but we then began a really major project

384
00:22:15.871 --> 00:22:18.370
which still continues to this day,

385
00:22:18.370 --> 00:22:22.068
where we have been bringing
long-term meditation practioners

386
00:22:22.068 --> 00:22:26.335
to Madison, Wisconsin to
be in residence in our lab

387
00:22:26.335 --> 00:22:29.626
for between a few days and a few weeks,

388
00:22:29.626 --> 00:22:32.653
to probe their minds and brains

389
00:22:32.653 --> 00:22:36.757
in the ways that neuroscientists
and psychologists

390
00:22:36.757 --> 00:22:38.728
have learned to probe.

391
00:22:38.728 --> 00:22:41.329
And I will share with you this evening

392
00:22:41.329 --> 00:22:44.843
some of the fruits of
those investigations.

393
00:22:44.843 --> 00:22:49.843
So that's where I will
begin with the talk tonight.

394
00:22:52.893 --> 00:22:57.556
This is a picture that was taken in 2001,

395
00:22:57.556 --> 00:23:00.035
and this is the first time His Holiness

396
00:23:00.035 --> 00:23:02.035
came to visit our laboratory.

397
00:23:02.936 --> 00:23:06.207
We're showing him here the control room

398
00:23:06.207 --> 00:23:10.799
in our MRI scanner suite, where we use MRI

399
00:23:10.799 --> 00:23:15.045
to non-invasively
interrogate the human brain.

400
00:23:15.045 --> 00:23:18.421
And actually there's a great story

401
00:23:20.529 --> 00:23:22.114
that I'll briefly mention.

402
00:23:22.114 --> 00:23:25.566
When His Holiness came to see this,

403
00:23:25.566 --> 00:23:27.862
he had been peppering me in India

404
00:23:27.862 --> 00:23:32.394
with very detailed questions
about how these techniques work

405
00:23:32.394 --> 00:23:34.384
and this was an opportunity to show him,

406
00:23:34.384 --> 00:23:38.249
and we wanted to show him
not just an MRI machine

407
00:23:38.249 --> 00:23:39.285
but we wanted to show him

408
00:23:39.285 --> 00:23:41.195
the cool things that we can do with it.

409
00:23:41.195 --> 00:23:43.694
So, what we did, is we had

410
00:23:43.694 --> 00:23:47.607
one of my students lying in
the scanner, and waiting,

411
00:23:48.428 --> 00:23:51.069
until we walked in, and
he ended-up having to wait

412
00:23:51.069 --> 00:23:52.097
several hours,

413
00:23:52.097 --> 00:23:53.844
(audience laughs)

414
00:23:53.844 --> 00:23:56.070
lying in the scanner,
but he was a meditator

415
00:23:56.070 --> 00:23:57.878
so it wasn't a problem for him.

416
00:23:57.878 --> 00:23:59.953
(audience laughs)

417
00:23:59.953 --> 00:24:03.831
This is one of the ways
that graduate students

418
00:24:03.831 --> 00:24:07.793
actually have really cool times in my lab,

419
00:24:07.793 --> 00:24:09.540
like hanging out in the scanner

420
00:24:09.540 --> 00:24:11.635
and watching their own brains.

421
00:24:11.635 --> 00:24:13.766
We can talk about that later.

422
00:24:13.766 --> 00:24:17.139
But what David was doing
in the scanner was waiting,

423
00:24:17.139 --> 00:24:19.963
and then what we agreed
upon, was that I was

424
00:24:19.963 --> 00:24:22.832
going to ask him to do
something incredibly simple,

425
00:24:22.832 --> 00:24:24.272
that always works,

426
00:24:24.272 --> 00:24:27.821
which is to ask him to move
the fingers on one hand,

427
00:24:27.821 --> 00:24:29.995
move the fingers on his right-hand,

428
00:24:29.995 --> 00:24:33.876
and we'd be able to see the
left hemisphere light up,

429
00:24:33.876 --> 00:24:35.603
the left motor regions.

430
00:24:35.603 --> 00:24:39.727
This is the area of the brain
that controls the right-hand.

431
00:24:39.727 --> 00:24:41.576
And then if we have him move his left-hand

432
00:24:41.576 --> 00:24:45.904
we can see the motor cortex
in the right hemisphere

433
00:24:45.904 --> 00:24:47.285
become activated.

434
00:24:47.285 --> 00:24:52.009
And this is something really
simple and it's very reliable

435
00:24:52.009 --> 00:24:54.101
and you can see it with the naked eye,

436
00:24:54.101 --> 00:24:55.788
so it's quite dramatic.

437
00:24:55.788 --> 00:24:59.546
So we did that, and I asked
David to move his fingers,

438
00:24:59.546 --> 00:25:04.052
and, sure enough, his brain
behaved as we thought it would.

439
00:25:05.602 --> 00:25:08.660
And then His Holiness said,
"Can I ask him a question?"

440
00:25:08.660 --> 00:25:11.199
"I'd like him to do something."

441
00:25:11.199 --> 00:25:14.145
And of course we said, "Sure."

442
00:25:14.145 --> 00:25:17.782
And His Holiness asked
him to please imagine

443
00:25:17.782 --> 00:25:20.728
that his fingers were
moving on his right-hand

444
00:25:20.728 --> 00:25:22.861
but to not actually move them.

445
00:25:22.861 --> 00:25:26.458
And we were actually
able to see his hands,

446
00:25:26.728 --> 00:25:31.728
they were extending outside
the board of the scanner

447
00:25:31.821 --> 00:25:35.986
and there's a window
through the control room

448
00:25:35.986 --> 00:25:39.178
so you can actually see the
person lying in the scanner,

449
00:25:39.178 --> 00:25:41.309
so we were able to see that he, in fact,

450
00:25:41.309 --> 00:25:43.199
was not moving his fingers,

451
00:25:43.199 --> 00:25:45.840
but he was imagining his fingers moving,

452
00:25:45.840 --> 00:25:50.310
and these kinds of experiments
had actually been done,

453
00:25:50.310 --> 00:25:52.768
to some extent, before,

454
00:25:52.768 --> 00:25:57.664
but it was amazing that His
Holiness requested that,

455
00:25:57.664 --> 00:25:59.940
to see what would happen,

456
00:25:59.940 --> 00:26:02.114
and, sure enough, we saw

457
00:26:02.114 --> 00:26:05.243
many of the same parts of
his brain become activated

458
00:26:05.243 --> 00:26:08.656
when he was just imagining
his fingers moving,

459
00:26:08.656 --> 00:26:11.643
compared to when he was
actually moving his fingers,

460
00:26:11.643 --> 00:26:16.643
which was actually a very
propitious moment for His Holiness

461
00:26:17.839 --> 00:26:22.248
because His Holiness
saw that this was a way

462
00:26:22.248 --> 00:26:24.463
that we can actually see

463
00:26:24.463 --> 00:26:27.775
the neural echoes of pure mental activity.

464
00:26:27.775 --> 00:26:30.558
There was no actual behavior occurring,

465
00:26:30.558 --> 00:26:32.935
this was all happening in the mind,

466
00:26:32.935 --> 00:26:35.942
and we were able to see
some crude reflection of it

467
00:26:35.942 --> 00:26:38.162
in our instruments.

468
00:26:40.372 --> 00:26:45.125
So, we began with the study of compassion,

469
00:26:45.125 --> 00:26:50.125
because this was something
that is clearly near and dear,

470
00:26:51.200 --> 00:26:55.371
a central part of His Holiness' agenda.

471
00:26:58.498 --> 00:27:02.866
And this is an area that
had been totally neglected

472
00:27:02.866 --> 00:27:06.930
in western psychological and
neuroscientific research.

473
00:27:06.930 --> 00:27:09.937
If you go back to textbooks of psychology

474
00:27:09.937 --> 00:27:11.573
in the early 1990s,

475
00:27:12.684 --> 00:27:15.142
I doubt you would find a single textbook

476
00:27:15.142 --> 00:27:18.596
with the word "compassion"
mentioned in the index.

477
00:27:18.596 --> 00:27:21.521
And that is nothing short of scandalous,

478
00:27:21.521 --> 00:27:26.521
given how central compassion
is to human behavior.

479
00:27:27.535 --> 00:27:30.278
So this is where we began,

480
00:27:30.278 --> 00:27:33.569
and we were able to study this

481
00:27:33.569 --> 00:27:35.418
in a fairly straight-forward way,

482
00:27:35.418 --> 00:27:40.335
because practitioners in
this tradition engage in

483
00:27:40.335 --> 00:27:45.292
certain kinds of contemplative
exercises, you can say,

484
00:27:45.292 --> 00:27:48.828
that are designed to
cultivate or strengthen

485
00:27:48.828 --> 00:27:50.703
this quality of compassion.

486
00:27:51.326 --> 00:27:52.688
(coughs) Excuse me.

487
00:27:52.688 --> 00:27:56.101
So, we began in a very simple way,

488
00:27:56.101 --> 00:27:58.275
where we had practitioners alternate

489
00:27:58.275 --> 00:28:01.729
between a neutral state
and a meditation state.

490
00:28:01.729 --> 00:28:04.086
And they did this either while we were

491
00:28:04.086 --> 00:28:07.113
recording their brain electrical signals,

492
00:28:07.113 --> 00:28:08.738
which I'll show you in a moment,

493
00:28:08.738 --> 00:28:10.972
or when they were lying in the scanner.

494
00:28:12.790 --> 00:28:15.287
And there are many virtues of working

495
00:28:15.287 --> 00:28:16.913
with these long-term practitioners,

496
00:28:16.913 --> 00:28:20.752
one of the virtues, though, is
that at least by their report

497
00:28:20.752 --> 00:28:23.650
they report that they were able to

498
00:28:23.650 --> 00:28:26.373
really immerse themselves
in these practices

499
00:28:26.373 --> 00:28:30.347
even in the strange
environment of our laboratory,

500
00:28:30.347 --> 00:28:33.476
even with wires hanging off their head

501
00:28:33.476 --> 00:28:36.036
or lying in the tube of an MRI scanner.

502
00:28:36.036 --> 00:28:39.246
And I should say that all of
these long-term practitioners

503
00:28:39.246 --> 00:28:43.209
had done a minimum of one
three-year retreat, they all had

504
00:28:43.209 --> 00:28:46.784
a minimum of 10,000 hours
of practice, lifetime.

505
00:28:46.784 --> 00:28:49.974
The average amount of lifetime
practice in this group

506
00:28:49.974 --> 00:28:52.546
was about 34,000 hours.

507
00:28:52.546 --> 00:28:55.532
So, you can do the arithmetic at home,

508
00:28:55.532 --> 00:29:00.205
but 34,000 hours is a big
number, and these are people

509
00:29:00.205 --> 00:29:04.106
who've spent a significant
chunk of their adult life

510
00:29:04.106 --> 00:29:06.855
engaged in practice.

511
00:29:08.232 --> 00:29:11.690
So, in the words of one
of the practitioners,

512
00:29:11.690 --> 00:29:13.803
this is what they said they were doing,

513
00:29:13.803 --> 00:29:15.816
and I'll just read part of this.

514
00:29:15.816 --> 00:29:18.416
"What we have tried to do, for
the sake of the experiment,

515
00:29:18.416 --> 00:29:22.153
"is to generate a state, in
which love and compassion

516
00:29:22.153 --> 00:29:26.013
"permeate the whole mind,
with no other consideration,

517
00:29:26.013 --> 00:29:28.654
"reasoning, or discursive thoughts."

518
00:29:28.654 --> 00:29:32.250
Now, sometimes there are those
commercials on television,

519
00:29:32.250 --> 00:29:34.445
which say in fine-print at the bottom,

520
00:29:34.445 --> 00:29:36.090
"Don't try this at home."

521
00:29:36.090 --> 00:29:39.616
Well, I would encourage you,
please do try this at home.

522
00:29:39.616 --> 00:29:43.954
But don't be frustrated if it's
difficult for you to do this

523
00:29:43.954 --> 00:29:48.139
without any other "reasoning
or discursive thoughts."

524
00:29:48.139 --> 00:29:52.324
Because, at least speaking for myself,

525
00:29:53.674 --> 00:29:56.138
the mind is much more distracted,

526
00:29:56.138 --> 00:30:00.972
and discursive thoughts
are highly likely to arise,

527
00:30:00.972 --> 00:30:05.949
but at least if you believe the reports

528
00:30:05.949 --> 00:30:07.554
of these practitioners,

529
00:30:07.554 --> 00:30:09.688
they report that they were able to do this

530
00:30:09.688 --> 00:30:12.091
in a very focused way.

531
00:30:12.723 --> 00:30:16.278
This is one of the practitioners
that was in this study,

532
00:30:16.278 --> 00:30:20.361
someone who has given us
permission to identify himself,

533
00:30:20.361 --> 00:30:22.292
someone who's actually quite well-known

534
00:30:22.292 --> 00:30:24.140
in the meditation world,

535
00:30:24.140 --> 00:30:25.828
this is Mingyur Rinpoche,

536
00:30:25.828 --> 00:30:30.330
who is author of a
number of popular books,

537
00:30:30.330 --> 00:30:34.913
including "The Joy of
Living" and "Joyful Wisdom,"

538
00:30:34.913 --> 00:30:38.266
and was one of the early practitioners

539
00:30:38.266 --> 00:30:41.868
who actually visited our
lab on several occasions.

540
00:30:43.243 --> 00:30:46.597
Now, when we test these
kinds of practitioners,

541
00:30:46.597 --> 00:30:50.070
what we see when we record
the brain electrical activity,

542
00:30:50.070 --> 00:30:54.722
is nothing short of
completely, amazingly striking.

543
00:30:55.060 --> 00:30:58.190
This is stuff that you don't see typically

544
00:30:58.190 --> 00:31:00.444
in this kind of laboratory.

545
00:31:00.444 --> 00:31:04.650
We see changes that are
visible to the naked eye,

546
00:31:04.650 --> 00:31:07.901
and that's not something
that is very common

547
00:31:07.901 --> 00:31:11.070
in work using these kinds of measures.

548
00:31:11.070 --> 00:31:14.321
If you look at the period
during the resting state,

549
00:31:14.321 --> 00:31:17.938
and then when the practitioners
move into a meditation state

550
00:31:17.938 --> 00:31:20.889
this stuff here is

551
00:31:21.716 --> 00:31:24.459
high-frequency oscillations

552
00:31:24.459 --> 00:31:27.295
that we call "gamma oscillations".

553
00:31:27.295 --> 00:31:32.295
These are oscillations that
are about 40 cycles per second,

554
00:31:32.395 --> 00:31:36.133
and in the untrained brain

555
00:31:36.133 --> 00:31:39.811
we see these for very,
very short periods of time,

556
00:31:39.811 --> 00:31:42.188
typically less than one second.

557
00:31:42.188 --> 00:31:45.784
They are often associated with
states of focused attention,

558
00:31:45.784 --> 00:31:49.360
and with different elements
of a complex percept

559
00:31:49.360 --> 00:31:51.026
coming together.

560
00:31:51.026 --> 00:31:53.200
Here, in the long-term practitioners,

561
00:31:53.200 --> 00:31:57.304
we see this going on for seconds,
in certain cases minutes,

562
00:31:57.304 --> 00:32:00.087
and even in a few cases, for hours,

563
00:32:00.987 --> 00:32:04.630
among individuals with whom we've tested.

564
00:32:04.630 --> 00:32:07.212
The presence of these gamma oscillations

565
00:32:07.212 --> 00:32:11.822
is highly-correlated with the
amount of lifetime practice

566
00:32:11.822 --> 00:32:14.307
of these practitioners.

567
00:32:14.911 --> 00:32:17.328
Now, this is another
one of our practitioners

568
00:32:17.328 --> 00:32:21.128
who has also given us
permission to identify himself,

569
00:32:21.128 --> 00:32:25.232
and this is someone also quite well-known,

570
00:32:25.232 --> 00:32:27.337
his name is Matthieu Ricard,

571
00:32:27.337 --> 00:32:30.356
he is the author of a
number of popular books,

572
00:32:30.356 --> 00:32:35.151
including his first book, "The
Monk and the Philosopher",

573
00:32:35.151 --> 00:32:38.869
the first popular book, which
was written with his father,

574
00:32:38.869 --> 00:32:41.429
who is a very well-known
French philosopher,

575
00:32:41.429 --> 00:32:44.233
and he's written numerous
books since then.

576
00:32:44.233 --> 00:32:48.160
This is Matthieu after he
had been in the scanner

577
00:32:48.160 --> 00:32:50.070
for about three hours.

578
00:32:50.070 --> 00:32:52.183
Most people don't look like
this when they come out.

579
00:32:52.183 --> 00:32:55.007
(audience laughs)

580
00:32:55.007 --> 00:32:58.217
Matthieu also is quite unique.

581
00:32:58.217 --> 00:33:02.333
He has a PhD in Molecular Biology
from the Pasteur Institute

582
00:33:02.333 --> 00:33:06.510
where he worked with François
Jacob, a Nobel laureate.

583
00:33:06.510 --> 00:33:11.000
He's been a Tibetan
Buddhist monk since 1967.

584
00:33:11.000 --> 00:33:13.906
He comes with remarkable credentials,

585
00:33:13.906 --> 00:33:18.011
and he has been absolutely key to bridging

586
00:33:19.853 --> 00:33:21.702
the two worlds

587
00:33:21.702 --> 00:33:26.009
of science and contemplative practice

588
00:33:26.009 --> 00:33:28.163
or, Buddhism, together.

589
00:33:29.073 --> 00:33:33.629
And this is Mingyur Rinpoche
sitting on the bed of a scanner

590
00:33:33.629 --> 00:33:35.728
just about to go in.

591
00:33:37.876 --> 00:33:39.379
Now, what do we see

592
00:33:39.379 --> 00:33:42.345
when we put individuals
like this in the scanner

593
00:33:42.345 --> 00:33:44.682
when they're generating compassion?

594
00:33:44.682 --> 00:33:47.872
What we see is a remarkable change

595
00:33:47.872 --> 00:33:51.874
in a very unusual place in
the brain that's circled here.

596
00:33:51.874 --> 00:33:54.007
Now, these are images that we can get

597
00:33:54.007 --> 00:33:55.287
from the MRI scanner.

598
00:33:55.287 --> 00:33:59.574
We can non-invasively scan the brain

599
00:33:59.574 --> 00:34:02.378
and these images are called axial images,

600
00:34:02.378 --> 00:34:04.410
so that if you slice the brain

601
00:34:04.410 --> 00:34:08.595
from the neck to the top of
the head, in horizontal slices,

602
00:34:08.595 --> 00:34:12.333
the images that you get
will look like this.

603
00:34:12.333 --> 00:34:17.333
And roughly about two thirds
or three quarters of the way up

604
00:34:18.685 --> 00:34:20.127
on each side of the brain,

605
00:34:20.127 --> 00:34:24.343
is an area that we call
the anterior insula,

606
00:34:25.129 --> 00:34:27.791
and the anterior insula is
a very interesting area.

607
00:34:27.791 --> 00:34:30.526
The insula in general
is an interesting area.

608
00:34:30.526 --> 00:34:35.063
It's the only part of
the brain that has a map

609
00:34:35.063 --> 00:34:37.514
of the visceral organs in the body.

610
00:34:37.514 --> 00:34:42.514
It is literally the gateway
for the interaction between

611
00:34:43.649 --> 00:34:46.818
the mind, the brain, and the body.

612
00:34:48.038 --> 00:34:52.121
That communication goes
through the insula.

613
00:34:52.121 --> 00:34:56.306
And, in retrospect,
it's not that surprising

614
00:34:56.306 --> 00:35:01.306
that the insula is
tweaked quite dramatically

615
00:35:01.487 --> 00:35:04.576
when practitioners are
generating compassion.

616
00:35:04.576 --> 00:35:07.014
And the way we find this out,

617
00:35:07.014 --> 00:35:09.188
the way we learn about it, is this:

618
00:35:09.188 --> 00:35:12.966
The practitioners are
meditating on compassion

619
00:35:12.966 --> 00:35:16.847
and we challenge their
meditation by presenting

620
00:35:16.847 --> 00:35:19.439
sounds of human suffering.

621
00:35:20.351 --> 00:35:25.351
So, we present to them
sounds of a woman screaming,

622
00:35:25.877 --> 00:35:29.595
a baby crying unconsolably.

623
00:35:29.595 --> 00:35:34.595
These sounds of human suffering
are processed in the brain,

624
00:35:35.060 --> 00:35:37.783
and we can then interrogate how the brain

625
00:35:37.783 --> 00:35:40.871
differentially responds
to those kinds of sounds

626
00:35:40.871 --> 00:35:45.016
when the practitioners are
meditating on compassion.

627
00:35:45.016 --> 00:35:47.948
And if you look down here,

628
00:35:48.876 --> 00:35:51.063
the red lines are the
long-term practitioners,

629
00:35:51.063 --> 00:35:55.350
the blue lines are age-
and gender-match controls.

630
00:35:55.350 --> 00:35:58.032
I should say that

631
00:35:59.657 --> 00:36:01.262
at this point in time,

632
00:36:01.262 --> 00:36:05.528
fully 50% of our longterm
practitioners are women,

633
00:36:05.528 --> 00:36:07.520
so they're not all monks.

634
00:36:07.520 --> 00:36:08.962
(coughs) Excuse me.

635
00:36:08.962 --> 00:36:13.452
We've made a very tenacious effort

636
00:36:13.452 --> 00:36:16.906
to recruit female practitioners,

637
00:36:16.906 --> 00:36:20.096
and we've been quite
successful in doing that,

638
00:36:20.096 --> 00:36:21.518
and I can tell you

639
00:36:21.518 --> 00:36:24.690
that among the long-term practitioners

640
00:36:24.690 --> 00:36:29.690
we don't see any evidence of
any robust gender differences

641
00:36:29.810 --> 00:36:31.949
but we can talk about that later.

642
00:36:32.674 --> 00:36:35.905
So, in any case, these red
lines are the practitioners,

643
00:36:35.905 --> 00:36:37.815
the blue lines are the controls,

644
00:36:37.815 --> 00:36:42.264
and the solid line is when
they're generating compassion.

645
00:36:42.264 --> 00:36:46.714
The dotted line is during a
neutral control condition.

646
00:36:46.714 --> 00:36:48.806
And you can see among the controls,

647
00:36:48.806 --> 00:36:50.574
who are depicted in blue,

648
00:36:50.574 --> 00:36:52.483
there's not very much difference

649
00:36:52.483 --> 00:36:56.039
between the meditation period
and the control period.

650
00:36:56.039 --> 00:36:59.714
Among the long-term practitioners
there is a huge difference

651
00:37:00.093 --> 00:37:04.380
such that the activation
in this part of the brain

652
00:37:04.380 --> 00:37:05.782
is increased.

653
00:37:05.782 --> 00:37:09.202
It's like we turn up the
volume control in our insula.

654
00:37:09.622 --> 00:37:14.016
And it may be associated
with the fact that

655
00:37:14.016 --> 00:37:18.567
these states are very much embodied.

656
00:37:18.567 --> 00:37:23.567
Compassion is something
that very much involves,

657
00:37:24.561 --> 00:37:26.288
and likely requires,

658
00:37:26.288 --> 00:37:31.288
the body in order to
have the kind of response

659
00:37:31.387 --> 00:37:34.181
that these long-term practitioners do.

660
00:37:37.738 --> 00:37:42.361
So this was an early
indication of a dramatic change

661
00:37:42.361 --> 00:37:44.128
that we see in the brain

662
00:37:44.128 --> 00:37:48.625
that is associated with
this practice of compassion.

663
00:37:50.488 --> 00:37:53.885
Now, another area that we have examined

664
00:37:53.885 --> 00:37:55.801
is the area of attention.

665
00:37:57.786 --> 00:38:01.789
Another target of contemplative practice.

666
00:38:01.789 --> 00:38:03.373
And this is one of my

667
00:38:03.373 --> 00:38:06.035
all-time favorite quotes in psychology.

668
00:38:06.035 --> 00:38:09.346
This was written by William James in 1890

669
00:38:09.346 --> 00:38:11.616
in his chapter on attention

670
00:38:11.616 --> 00:38:13.607
in "The Principles of Psychology,"

671
00:38:13.607 --> 00:38:15.395
and James said, "The faculty of

672
00:38:15.395 --> 00:38:19.317
"voluntarily bringing back
a wandering attention,

673
00:38:19.317 --> 00:38:23.746
"over and over again, is
the very root of judgment,

674
00:38:23.746 --> 00:38:25.920
"character, and will."

675
00:38:25.920 --> 00:38:27.200
And he goes on to say that

676
00:38:27.200 --> 00:38:30.288
"An education which should
improve this faculty

677
00:38:30.288 --> 00:38:34.026
"would be the education par excellence."

678
00:38:34.026 --> 00:38:37.559
Those italics, by the
way, are in the original.

679
00:38:37.842 --> 00:38:40.808
And he ends this paragraph by saying,

680
00:38:40.808 --> 00:38:43.734
"It is easier to define this ideal,

681
00:38:43.734 --> 00:38:47.249
"than to give practical
directions for bringing it about."

682
00:38:47.249 --> 00:38:50.825
I think if William James had
more intimate familiarity

683
00:38:50.825 --> 00:38:54.990
with the contemplative
traditions of the east,

684
00:38:54.990 --> 00:38:59.703
he would've clearly seen
that these are vehicles

685
00:38:59.703 --> 00:39:01.837
for educating attention,

686
00:39:01.837 --> 00:39:06.469
and attention is the building
block for learning anything,

687
00:39:06.469 --> 00:39:07.640
and everything.

688
00:39:07.640 --> 00:39:10.484
If we're not attending
to what we're doing,

689
00:39:10.484 --> 00:39:13.897
which most of the time we're not,

690
00:39:14.713 --> 00:39:17.029
if we're really honest with ourselves,

691
00:39:17.029 --> 00:39:19.670
we can say more about that later,

692
00:39:19.670 --> 00:39:22.880
but if we're not attending
to what we're doing,

693
00:39:22.880 --> 00:39:24.851
we're not going to be learning

694
00:39:24.851 --> 00:39:28.933
in the way we have the capacity to learn.

695
00:39:29.557 --> 00:39:32.770
And so, attention is so fundamental,

696
00:39:33.580 --> 00:39:38.580
and we wanted to take
WIlliam James' invitation

697
00:39:39.984 --> 00:39:44.962
and see if certain simple
kinds of meditation practices

698
00:39:44.962 --> 00:39:47.140
can be used to educate attention.

699
00:39:47.140 --> 00:39:50.980
So, there are many different
constituents of attention

700
00:39:50.980 --> 00:39:53.702
that psychologists and
neuroscientists study

701
00:39:53.702 --> 00:39:55.307
and have identified,

702
00:39:55.307 --> 00:39:58.294
and I'll just mention
two of them this evening.

703
00:39:58.294 --> 00:40:01.545
One is a really interesting phenomenon,

704
00:40:01.545 --> 00:40:04.084
known as the "attentional blink",

705
00:40:04.084 --> 00:40:05.953
and what the attentional blink is,

706
00:40:05.953 --> 00:40:10.953
is your attention can,
if you're asked to focus

707
00:40:11.500 --> 00:40:13.755
on a particular aspect
of your environment,

708
00:40:13.755 --> 00:40:15.970
you can zoom in on that aspect,

709
00:40:15.970 --> 00:40:18.997
and then if another
instance of whatever it is

710
00:40:18.997 --> 00:40:21.008
that you're supposed to
be paying attention to

711
00:40:21.008 --> 00:40:24.503
occurs, very soon after
the first instance,

712
00:40:24.503 --> 00:40:26.717
it's as if your attention blinks.

713
00:40:26.717 --> 00:40:29.237
It's as if your mind goes blank,

714
00:40:29.237 --> 00:40:32.569
and you get so excited
about the first instance,

715
00:40:32.569 --> 00:40:35.393
that you completely space-out,

716
00:40:35.393 --> 00:40:37.302
and can't attend to the second.

717
00:40:37.302 --> 00:40:42.057
So we can actually see
how attentive you all are,

718
00:40:42.057 --> 00:40:44.109
and do a little experiment here.

719
00:40:44.109 --> 00:40:48.106
So please focus your
attention on that cross-hair,

720
00:40:48.106 --> 00:40:51.641
and I'll present a series of
letters and numbers to you,

721
00:40:51.641 --> 00:40:54.688
and I want you to just pay
attention to the numbers,

722
00:40:54.688 --> 00:40:57.371
and I'll ask you about them after.

723
00:40:59.234 --> 00:41:01.832
Did I present the number "1"?

724
00:41:02.293 --> 00:41:03.655
How many people say "1"?

725
00:41:03.655 --> 00:41:05.158
"2"?

726
00:41:05.158 --> 00:41:07.108
"3"?

727
00:41:07.108 --> 00:41:09.140
"4"?

728
00:41:09.140 --> 00:41:10.788
"5"?

729
00:41:10.788 --> 00:41:12.533
"6"?

730
00:41:12.533 --> 00:41:14.504
"7"?

731
00:41:14.504 --> 00:41:16.251
"8"?

732
00:41:16.251 --> 00:41:18.100
"9"?

733
00:41:18.100 --> 00:41:21.310
Okay, you're a very good attentive group.

734
00:41:21.730 --> 00:41:26.730
So, let me show you
roughly what I presented.

735
00:41:26.828 --> 00:41:30.240
I presented a series of letters,

736
00:41:30.965 --> 00:41:33.586
and then I did present the number "3",

737
00:41:33.586 --> 00:41:38.586
and it was followed very soon,
as soon as the crude software

738
00:41:40.657 --> 00:41:44.862
known as "Microsoft
Powerpoint" allows you,

739
00:41:44.862 --> 00:41:48.174
of course we don't use this
software in the laboratory,

740
00:41:48.174 --> 00:41:52.583
and so I can't really do it
the way we do it in the lab.

741
00:41:52.583 --> 00:41:56.219
But, almost all of you got "3",

742
00:41:56.219 --> 00:42:01.012
and I would say about 80% of you got "7".

743
00:42:01.311 --> 00:42:04.968
Now, when you do this
repeatedly, over time,

744
00:42:04.968 --> 00:42:09.968
it turns out that people tend
to miss the second number

745
00:42:10.454 --> 00:42:11.732
quite a bit.

746
00:42:12.497 --> 00:42:15.565
And they get so excited that
they found the first number,

747
00:42:15.565 --> 00:42:17.719
(audience laughs)

748
00:42:17.719 --> 00:42:21.234
that their minds just are unable
to see that second number.

749
00:42:21.234 --> 00:42:22.961
That's what the blink is about.

750
00:42:22.961 --> 00:42:24.911
So, we wanted to see

751
00:42:24.911 --> 00:42:28.223
if three months of intensive
mindfulness meditation

752
00:42:28.223 --> 00:42:29.381
makes a difference.

753
00:42:29.381 --> 00:42:30.783
So these are practitioners.

754
00:42:30.783 --> 00:42:34.277
The light bars are before

755
00:42:34.277 --> 00:42:37.569
they go on this three-month
retreat actually.

756
00:42:37.569 --> 00:42:40.060
The black bar is three months later.

757
00:42:40.060 --> 00:42:41.644
And we have a group of controls

758
00:42:41.644 --> 00:42:43.371
over the course of three months,

759
00:42:43.371 --> 00:42:46.053
and during that three
months, for the last week,

760
00:42:46.053 --> 00:42:48.136
they learn this same practice.

761
00:42:48.963 --> 00:42:50.527
And what you can see

762
00:42:50.527 --> 00:42:54.001
is that the folks who were
meditating got better,

763
00:42:54.001 --> 00:42:57.780
and the folks who were the
controls showed a slight bump

764
00:42:57.780 --> 00:43:00.747
probably because they were
doing it a second time,

765
00:43:00.747 --> 00:43:05.747
but this is much more
substantial and significant,

766
00:43:06.090 --> 00:43:09.991
suggesting that, contrary
to what many neuroscientists

767
00:43:09.991 --> 00:43:12.287
have invited us to believe,

768
00:43:12.287 --> 00:43:15.602
the attentional blink is
not an obligatory response

769
00:43:15.602 --> 00:43:16.882
of the nervous system.

770
00:43:16.882 --> 00:43:20.546
It's actually something that
can be trained and educated.

771
00:43:21.555 --> 00:43:24.135
So, let me give you another example.

772
00:43:24.135 --> 00:43:27.813
Children with Attention
Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder

773
00:43:27.813 --> 00:43:32.506
have a particular feature
of their attention

774
00:43:32.506 --> 00:43:35.716
which is quite diagnostic of their ADHD,

775
00:43:35.716 --> 00:43:38.033
and what that feature is, is that they are

776
00:43:38.033 --> 00:43:41.385
very variable in their responses.

777
00:43:41.385 --> 00:43:43.558
It's not that they're always slow.

778
00:43:43.558 --> 00:43:45.712
Sometimes they're slow,
sometimes they're fast.

779
00:43:45.712 --> 00:43:47.073
They're very variable.

780
00:43:47.073 --> 00:43:51.096
So if you look at the
distribution of reaction times,

781
00:43:51.096 --> 00:43:56.096
which is shown best-illustrated
in this histogram here,

782
00:43:56.147 --> 00:43:58.849
this is just showing the
distribution of reaction times

783
00:43:58.849 --> 00:44:02.141
compared to age-matched controls up here.

784
00:44:02.141 --> 00:44:05.371
And you can just see that
this distribution is broader.

785
00:44:05.371 --> 00:44:09.556
It just means that these
kids are much more variable

786
00:44:09.556 --> 00:44:13.802
in their responding to stimuli
that are being presented.

787
00:44:13.802 --> 00:44:17.053
And we asked whether
mindfulness meditation

788
00:44:17.053 --> 00:44:18.313
could make a difference,

789
00:44:18.313 --> 00:44:21.401
specifically in this
parameter of attention

790
00:44:21.401 --> 00:44:26.401
which is so closely diagnostic of ADHD.

791
00:44:26.419 --> 00:44:30.473
And if you pay attention
to this set of bars here,

792
00:44:31.117 --> 00:44:34.855
this is showing the standard
deviation of reaction time,

793
00:44:34.855 --> 00:44:38.858
which is just measuring the
variation, the variability

794
00:44:38.858 --> 00:44:40.178
of reaction time.

795
00:44:40.178 --> 00:44:42.637
Lower numbers here are better.

796
00:44:42.637 --> 00:44:44.729
And what you can see
is that practitioners,

797
00:44:44.729 --> 00:44:46.903
after three months of practice,

798
00:44:46.903 --> 00:44:50.946
are showing a reduction in variability

799
00:44:50.946 --> 00:44:55.315
whereas controls are not
showing any change whatsoever.

800
00:44:55.315 --> 00:44:58.321
And there were all kinds
of changes in the brain

801
00:44:58.321 --> 00:44:59.520
that we measured,

802
00:44:59.520 --> 00:45:02.751
that were associated with
these changes in behavior.

803
00:45:02.751 --> 00:45:04.742
And I won't bore you with the details,

804
00:45:04.742 --> 00:45:08.643
but we found changes in the
frontal parts of the brain

805
00:45:08.643 --> 00:45:13.643
that were highly-correlated
with the change

806
00:45:14.352 --> 00:45:17.893
in their variability of reaction time.

807
00:45:18.273 --> 00:45:21.767
Okay, so one of the questions
which I'm frequently asked,

808
00:45:21.767 --> 00:45:25.181
because so far I've told you
about long-term practitioners,

809
00:45:25.181 --> 00:45:28.695
and I've mentioned findings
with people who were doing

810
00:45:28.695 --> 00:45:32.678
three months of intensive
meditation practice.

811
00:45:32.678 --> 00:45:35.481
Can short amounts of
practice make a difference?

812
00:45:35.481 --> 00:45:38.590
So, we wanted to address that question

813
00:45:38.590 --> 00:45:41.273
in the context of compassion training,

814
00:45:41.273 --> 00:45:44.482
and this is a study done by
one of my graduate students,

815
00:45:44.482 --> 00:45:49.482
Helen Weng, which just was
published actually last week,

816
00:45:49.581 --> 00:45:51.004
and it asked the question

817
00:45:51.004 --> 00:45:53.035
whether short-term compassion training

818
00:45:53.035 --> 00:45:55.494
can change behavior in the brain.

819
00:45:55.494 --> 00:45:57.220
What we did in this study,

820
00:45:57.220 --> 00:46:01.011
this was a true randomized
controlled study,

821
00:46:01.011 --> 00:46:04.648
people signed-up for a
study where they were told

822
00:46:04.648 --> 00:46:07.878
that they would be taught a method,

823
00:46:07.878 --> 00:46:10.276
or an intervention, a practice,

824
00:46:10.276 --> 00:46:12.978
which is designed to cultivate well-being.

825
00:46:12.978 --> 00:46:14.523
And we randomly assigned them

826
00:46:14.523 --> 00:46:16.391
to either compassion meditation,

827
00:46:16.391 --> 00:46:19.012
and I'll say more about
what that was in a moment,

828
00:46:19.012 --> 00:46:24.012
or to a training based
on cognitive therapy,

829
00:46:27.159 --> 00:46:29.658
where they were given the
same amount of training.

830
00:46:29.658 --> 00:46:30.877
And cognitive therapy is

831
00:46:30.877 --> 00:46:34.798
one of the more empirically
well-validated treatments

832
00:46:34.798 --> 00:46:37.155
for depression and anxiety.

833
00:46:37.155 --> 00:46:39.715
So they were randomly assigned
to one of these two groups.

834
00:46:39.715 --> 00:46:42.397
They practiced for 30 minutes a day.

835
00:46:42.397 --> 00:46:45.201
These were all individuals
who have never done

836
00:46:45.201 --> 00:46:47.923
any meditation practice before.

837
00:46:47.923 --> 00:46:50.321
The other novel feature about this study

838
00:46:50.321 --> 00:46:55.321
which is both advantageous
as well as disadvantageous,

839
00:46:55.359 --> 00:47:00.359
is that we delivered the
practice over the internet.

840
00:47:02.389 --> 00:47:06.676
Now, we realize that it's
not the most optimal way

841
00:47:06.676 --> 00:47:09.419
to deliver this kind of intervention.

842
00:47:09.419 --> 00:47:12.060
On the other hand, if we actually see

843
00:47:12.060 --> 00:47:15.900
that we can see beneficial effects,

844
00:47:15.900 --> 00:47:19.516
the possibility of scaling
something like this is enormous.

845
00:47:19.516 --> 00:47:20.838
And I'll say something about that

846
00:47:20.838 --> 00:47:23.376
maybe during questions and answers.

847
00:47:23.376 --> 00:47:26.058
So it was a two-week
compassion intervention.

848
00:47:26.058 --> 00:47:29.756
They practiced daily, 30
minutes a day for two weeks,

849
00:47:29.756 --> 00:47:33.819
and the comparison group was
taught cognitive reappraisal,

850
00:47:33.819 --> 00:47:35.993
that comes from cognitive therapy.

851
00:47:35.993 --> 00:47:40.077
So the elements of the
compassion training were these,

852
00:47:41.157 --> 00:47:42.040
and I'll go through this

853
00:47:42.040 --> 00:47:44.396
for those who may not be
that familiar with it:

854
00:47:44.396 --> 00:47:49.110
We asked people to
contemplate, and visualize,

855
00:47:49.110 --> 00:47:51.345
different individuals in their life,

856
00:47:51.345 --> 00:47:55.103
and to visualize a time in their life

857
00:47:55.103 --> 00:47:58.517
when those individuals
may have been suffering,

858
00:47:58.517 --> 00:48:01.503
and then cultivate the strong aspiration

859
00:48:01.503 --> 00:48:03.880
that they be relieved of that suffering,

860
00:48:03.880 --> 00:48:06.704
and we start with a loved one.

861
00:48:06.704 --> 00:48:08.634
So, a family member,

862
00:48:08.634 --> 00:48:10.646
or a very, very close friend,

863
00:48:10.646 --> 00:48:13.876
bring that person to your
mind and to your heart,

864
00:48:13.876 --> 00:48:15.847
and visualize a time in their life

865
00:48:15.847 --> 00:48:17.648
when they may have been suffering,

866
00:48:17.648 --> 00:48:20.390
and then cultivate the strong aspiration

867
00:48:20.390 --> 00:48:22.828
that they be relieved from that suffering.

868
00:48:22.828 --> 00:48:25.571
We then move on to themselves:

869
00:48:25.571 --> 00:48:27.725
Imagine a time in your life,

870
00:48:27.725 --> 00:48:29.452
when you may have been suffering,

871
00:48:29.452 --> 00:48:32.337
and then, again, cultivate the aspiration

872
00:48:32.337 --> 00:48:35.039
that you be relieved of the suffering.

873
00:48:35.039 --> 00:48:37.761
We then have them move on to a stranger,

874
00:48:37.761 --> 00:48:42.719
and by a stranger we mean
someone who's face you recognize,

875
00:48:42.719 --> 00:48:44.405
but you don't know them very well.

876
00:48:44.405 --> 00:48:46.863
It could be someone who's
in the same class as you,

877
00:48:46.863 --> 00:48:50.277
someone who works in the
same building as you work in,

878
00:48:50.277 --> 00:48:52.593
but you don't know much about their life.

879
00:48:52.593 --> 00:48:55.620
Bring them into your mind and your heart,

880
00:48:57.640 --> 00:48:59.175
and imagine a time in their life

881
00:48:59.175 --> 00:49:00.606
when they may have been suffering,

882
00:49:00.606 --> 00:49:03.349
and cultivate the genuine aspiration

883
00:49:03.349 --> 00:49:06.214
that they be relieved of that suffering.

884
00:49:06.214 --> 00:49:09.363
And then we have them move
on to a difficult person,

885
00:49:09.363 --> 00:49:12.593
someone who really pushes your buttons,

886
00:49:12.593 --> 00:49:16.819
and bring that person into
your mind and into your heart,

887
00:49:16.819 --> 00:49:21.106
in a genuine way, and
imagine a time in their life

888
00:49:21.106 --> 00:49:22.650
when they may have been suffering

889
00:49:22.650 --> 00:49:25.779
and cultivate the genuine aspiration

890
00:49:25.779 --> 00:49:28.745
that they be relieved of that suffering.

891
00:49:28.745 --> 00:49:32.342
And then we have them move
on to all or as many beings

892
00:49:32.342 --> 00:49:35.633
as they can envision.

893
00:49:35.633 --> 00:49:38.132
We ask them to use a phrase

894
00:49:38.132 --> 00:49:40.631
which they silently repeat to themselves,

895
00:49:40.631 --> 00:49:44.491
a phrase such as, "May you
be free from suffering,

896
00:49:44.491 --> 00:49:48.540
"may you experience joy and ease."

897
00:49:49.225 --> 00:49:52.313
The participants were instructed to notice

898
00:49:52.313 --> 00:49:56.011
whatever visceral sensations
they may have been experiencing

899
00:49:56.011 --> 00:49:57.453
while they're doing this,

900
00:49:57.453 --> 00:49:58.835
and they were also instructed

901
00:49:58.835 --> 00:50:01.456
to feel the compassion emotionally,

902
00:50:01.456 --> 00:50:05.357
and not to simply repeat
these phrases cognitively.

903
00:50:05.357 --> 00:50:07.510
And this is the study design.

904
00:50:07.510 --> 00:50:10.883
We randomize people, as I
said, into these two groups,

905
00:50:10.883 --> 00:50:13.138
we then put them in the scanner

906
00:50:13.138 --> 00:50:17.762
before we went through
the two weeks of training

907
00:50:17.762 --> 00:50:20.220
then they went through
two weeks of training,

908
00:50:20.220 --> 00:50:22.455
and then after the training,

909
00:50:22.455 --> 00:50:24.467
we put them back in the scanner,

910
00:50:24.467 --> 00:50:29.467
and we also gave them a bunch
of really interesting, weird,

911
00:50:29.607 --> 00:50:32.837
economic decision-making tasks.

912
00:50:32.837 --> 00:50:36.738
These are tasks that
economists really love,

913
00:50:36.738 --> 00:50:39.786
and they're tasks that give us

914
00:50:39.786 --> 00:50:44.377
a behavioral measure of
altruism, and of fairness.

915
00:50:44.377 --> 00:50:47.750
And I don't have time
to go into the details,

916
00:50:47.750 --> 00:50:50.147
if there are questions I'd
be happy to answer them,

917
00:50:50.147 --> 00:50:53.723
but take my word that these are

918
00:50:53.723 --> 00:50:58.152
quite well-studied kinds of measures,

919
00:50:58.152 --> 00:51:01.748
and what we found is that,
after two weeks of training,

920
00:51:01.748 --> 00:51:05.426
the compassion group is
behaving more altruistically,

921
00:51:05.426 --> 00:51:09.489
more pro-socially, and the
compassion group is also showing

922
00:51:09.489 --> 00:51:13.045
changes in different regions of the brain,

923
00:51:13.045 --> 00:51:18.043
and the magnitude of change
that we see actually predicts

924
00:51:18.043 --> 00:51:21.882
the extent to which they
behave altruistically

925
00:51:21.882 --> 00:51:25.214
on this economic decision-making task.

926
00:51:25.214 --> 00:51:28.546
And that's what all this
stuff is showing you here.

927
00:51:29.716 --> 00:51:31.980
And I don't need to go into the detail,

928
00:51:31.980 --> 00:51:35.007
I just gave you the bottom line,

929
00:51:35.007 --> 00:51:38.920
but the amazing thing is
that this is seen after just

930
00:51:38.920 --> 00:51:42.598
two weeks of practice
for 30 minutes a day.

931
00:51:42.598 --> 00:51:44.873
That's a total of seven hours of practice,

932
00:51:44.873 --> 00:51:48.246
which is sufficient to change the brain

933
00:51:48.246 --> 00:51:50.528
in these reliable ways.

934
00:51:51.619 --> 00:51:54.485
I'm actually going to skip
this in the interest of time,

935
00:51:54.485 --> 00:51:55.730
and just

936
00:51:58.325 --> 00:52:00.855
mention two other things

937
00:52:00.855 --> 00:52:04.237
in the last few minutes that I have.

938
00:52:04.237 --> 00:52:08.341
One is to say that these practices

939
00:52:08.341 --> 00:52:10.251
don't just affect the mind and the brain,

940
00:52:10.251 --> 00:52:12.201
they also affect the body.

941
00:52:12.201 --> 00:52:15.960
This is a finding from a
study that was published

942
00:52:15.960 --> 00:52:19.231
now quite a long time ago, a
decade ago, this was actually

943
00:52:19.231 --> 00:52:22.339
the first randomized
control trial ever done

944
00:52:22.339 --> 00:52:25.224
of mindfulness-based stress reduction.

945
00:52:25.224 --> 00:52:26.456
And Jon Kabat-Zinn,

946
00:52:26.456 --> 00:52:29.320
who developed mindfulness-based
stress reduction,

947
00:52:29.320 --> 00:52:32.856
was a collaborator on this study,

948
00:52:32.856 --> 00:52:36.383
and Jon actually taught the MBSR course

949
00:52:36.383 --> 00:52:39.207
that this study was based on.

950
00:52:39.207 --> 00:52:41.909
It was done with high-tech employees

951
00:52:41.909 --> 00:52:45.180
at a corporation in Madison, Wisconsin,

952
00:52:45.180 --> 00:52:49.305
and what we did is the MBSR
class began in September,

953
00:52:49.305 --> 00:52:51.560
it ended around Thanksgiving time,

954
00:52:51.560 --> 00:52:54.953
and we gave everyone
a flu shot at the end,

955
00:52:54.953 --> 00:52:58.041
in the MBSR group and
in the control group.

956
00:52:58.041 --> 00:53:02.470
It was an ordinary flu shot
but we also took blood samples

957
00:53:02.470 --> 00:53:07.470
which allow us to quantify the
magnitude of antibody titers

958
00:53:07.684 --> 00:53:09.431
in response to the vaccine.

959
00:53:09.431 --> 00:53:12.642
This gives us a quantitative index

960
00:53:12.642 --> 00:53:14.714
of how well the vaccine is working,

961
00:53:14.714 --> 00:53:19.123
and what you can see is that
after two months of MBSR,

962
00:53:19.123 --> 00:53:21.378
the meditation group is showing

963
00:53:21.378 --> 00:53:26.274
a significantly greater
response to the flu vaccine,

964
00:53:26.274 --> 00:53:31.274
compared to the controls, who
are not going through MBSR.

965
00:53:32.260 --> 00:53:35.125
And so, if these two groups are exposed

966
00:53:35.125 --> 00:53:37.421
to the same level of flu virus,

967
00:53:37.421 --> 00:53:40.306
the MBSR group would be more protected.

968
00:53:41.446 --> 00:53:45.951
So, this affects the body
in very important ways,

969
00:53:45.951 --> 00:53:48.654
and there are now many studies

970
00:53:48.654 --> 00:53:52.615
which have begun to articulate
the systems in the body,

971
00:53:52.615 --> 00:53:55.907
the immune system, the
endocrine system, and so forth,

972
00:53:55.907 --> 00:53:59.352
which are directly affected
by these practices,

973
00:53:59.352 --> 00:54:02.786
and one of the most
important is inflammation,

974
00:54:02.786 --> 00:54:05.590
which plays a very important role

975
00:54:05.590 --> 00:54:08.048
in many chronic health conditions,

976
00:54:08.048 --> 00:54:10.649
and inflammation is reduced,

977
00:54:10.649 --> 00:54:14.814
and the molecular mediators
of inflammation are modified,

978
00:54:14.814 --> 00:54:17.485
through these practices.

979
00:54:18.190 --> 00:54:19.203
Okay.

980
00:54:19.807 --> 00:54:23.829
This is a paper which appeared in 2011

981
00:54:23.829 --> 00:54:26.450
by a group at Duke University,

982
00:54:26.450 --> 00:54:31.042
and this paper has nothing to
do with contemplative practice

983
00:54:31.042 --> 00:54:33.785
but it's a paper which
is a very important one

984
00:54:33.785 --> 00:54:36.142
and it has profound implications,

985
00:54:36.142 --> 00:54:39.220
and I'll just say a little
bit about what was done.

986
00:54:40.250 --> 00:54:43.135
This group at Duke has
been following a cohort

987
00:54:43.135 --> 00:54:48.135
of 1,000 people from birth
in a city in New Zealand,

988
00:54:48.296 --> 00:54:50.326
Dunedin, New Zealand.

989
00:54:50.787 --> 00:54:53.449
So this is a cohort that's
identified at birth,

990
00:54:53.449 --> 00:54:55.054
they're a random cohort,

991
00:54:55.054 --> 00:54:57.817
and they've been following
them since they were born

992
00:54:57.817 --> 00:55:00.560
on many different psychological,

993
00:55:00.560 --> 00:55:03.126
mostly psychological measures.

994
00:55:04.298 --> 00:55:07.325
These individuals, at the time
this publication was written,

995
00:55:07.325 --> 00:55:10.942
were 32 years of age, and they
had been followed from birth.

996
00:55:10.942 --> 00:55:13.054
And the question they asked in this study

997
00:55:13.054 --> 00:55:16.265
is what the relation is
between early measures

998
00:55:16.265 --> 00:55:20.003
within the child's
first six years of life,

999
00:55:20.003 --> 00:55:21.770
most of the measures come
from when the kids were

1000
00:55:21.770 --> 00:55:23.884
four and five years old,

1001
00:55:23.884 --> 00:55:28.597
early measures of a construct
that they call self-control,

1002
00:55:28.597 --> 00:55:31.502
and a primary attribute of self-control

1003
00:55:31.502 --> 00:55:34.540
is the ability to
regulate one's attention.

1004
00:55:35.672 --> 00:55:37.744
So they asked what the relation is

1005
00:55:37.744 --> 00:55:40.263
between these early
measures of self-control

1006
00:55:40.263 --> 00:55:42.519
when kids are four and five years of age,

1007
00:55:42.519 --> 00:55:45.464
and outcomes when the
individuals were adults,

1008
00:55:45.464 --> 00:55:47.782
when they were 32 years of age.

1009
00:55:47.782 --> 00:55:51.539
And they looked at a number
of health-related outcomes,

1010
00:55:51.539 --> 00:55:54.505
outcomes involving drug-abuse,

1011
00:55:54.505 --> 00:55:56.659
and also financial outcomes.

1012
00:55:56.659 --> 00:55:58.254
And here's what they found:

1013
00:55:58.837 --> 00:56:01.620
So, in this panel is a bunch of outcomes

1014
00:56:01.620 --> 00:56:05.216
related to health and substance abuse,

1015
00:56:05.216 --> 00:56:07.634
and basically what these data are showing

1016
00:56:07.634 --> 00:56:11.717
is that, when you're four
and five years of age,

1017
00:56:11.717 --> 00:56:15.039
if you're in the highest quintile

1018
00:56:15.805 --> 00:56:17.583
of self-control,

1019
00:56:18.308 --> 00:56:22.209
then you show the lowest
level of substance-abuse

1020
00:56:22.209 --> 00:56:24.363
when you're 32 years of age.

1021
00:56:24.363 --> 00:56:26.232
So again, the kids who,

1022
00:56:26.232 --> 00:56:27.939
when they're four and five years of age,

1023
00:56:27.939 --> 00:56:31.169
are the top in self-control,

1024
00:56:31.169 --> 00:56:33.465
when they're 32 years of age

1025
00:56:33.465 --> 00:56:37.264
they are showing the lowest
levels of substance abuse.

1026
00:56:37.264 --> 00:56:39.093
And this, in the blue line

1027
00:56:39.093 --> 00:56:41.734
is informant-rated substance dependence,

1028
00:56:41.734 --> 00:56:43.745
so this is not a self-report measure.

1029
00:56:43.745 --> 00:56:47.768
This is about as good a
measure as you can get.

1030
00:56:47.768 --> 00:56:50.104
On this panel are a bunch of outcomes

1031
00:56:50.104 --> 00:56:52.339
related to financial success,

1032
00:56:52.339 --> 00:56:55.307
including one which is
the light blue line here

1033
00:56:55.307 --> 00:56:57.565
which is actual income.

1034
00:56:57.565 --> 00:57:01.811
And this is very, very
carefully controlled

1035
00:57:01.811 --> 00:57:06.322
for the socioeconomic status
of the family of origin,

1036
00:57:06.322 --> 00:57:09.877
and what they found is that individuals,

1037
00:57:09.877 --> 00:57:11.767
when they were four and five years of age,

1038
00:57:11.767 --> 00:57:14.266
if they were in the highest
group of self-control,

1039
00:57:14.266 --> 00:57:18.329
they earned approximately
7,000 dollars a year more

1040
00:57:18.329 --> 00:57:22.778
at age 32, compared to their counterparts

1041
00:57:22.778 --> 00:57:26.110
who were in the lowest
quintile of self-control

1042
00:57:26.110 --> 00:57:28.691
when they were four and five years of age.

1043
00:57:28.691 --> 00:57:32.713
So, the financial consequences
of these characteristics

1044
00:57:32.713 --> 00:57:37.713
are dramatic, and other measures
go along the same lines.

1045
00:57:38.158 --> 00:57:42.821
And finally, this is adult
criminal convictions.

1046
00:57:43.628 --> 00:57:47.589
So this is actual criminal
convictions by the legal system,

1047
00:57:47.589 --> 00:57:50.901
and again, kids in the highest
quintile of self-control

1048
00:57:50.901 --> 00:57:52.445
when they are four and five,

1049
00:57:52.445 --> 00:57:54.558
have the lowest criminal convictions.

1050
00:57:54.558 --> 00:57:56.610
Those who are in the lowest quintile,

1051
00:57:56.610 --> 00:57:58.926
have the highest criminal convictions.

1052
00:57:58.926 --> 00:58:00.714
Now, this is their abstract,

1053
00:58:00.714 --> 00:58:04.798
and I want to read you the
last sentence of this abstract.

1054
00:58:04.798 --> 00:58:09.044
They say, "Interventions
addressing self-control

1055
00:58:09.044 --> 00:58:12.417
"might reduce a panoply of societal costs,

1056
00:58:12.417 --> 00:58:17.116
"save tax-payers money,
and promote prosperity."

1057
00:58:18.085 --> 00:58:19.426
So what can we do?

1058
00:58:19.426 --> 00:58:20.991
What are those interventions?

1059
00:58:20.991 --> 00:58:23.490
What can we do to facilitate

1060
00:58:23.490 --> 00:58:27.982
these kinds of characteristics

1061
00:58:27.982 --> 00:58:29.934
when the kids are really young?

1062
00:58:29.934 --> 00:58:33.266
So we decided we wanted to explore

1063
00:58:33.266 --> 00:58:35.765
applying simple contemplative practices

1064
00:58:35.765 --> 00:58:39.982
to preschool children,
to begin this project.

1065
00:58:39.982 --> 00:58:42.014
And we asked His Holiness the Dalai Lama,

1066
00:58:42.014 --> 00:58:44.736
for advice about how we
should go about this,

1067
00:58:44.736 --> 00:58:46.565
and he burst out laughing and said,

1068
00:58:46.565 --> 00:58:48.637
"I've never had children. I have no idea."

1069
00:58:48.637 --> 00:58:51.990
(audience laughs)

1070
00:58:51.990 --> 00:58:54.915
But he did encourage us to
pursue it scientifically.

1071
00:58:54.915 --> 00:58:59.163
So, we have developed a
"kindness curriculum",

1072
00:58:59.163 --> 00:59:01.660
that involves mindfulness and kindness,

1073
00:59:01.660 --> 00:59:04.932
that we're now deploying
with preschool children

1074
00:59:04.932 --> 00:59:07.634
in public schools in the city of Madison.

1075
00:59:07.634 --> 00:59:10.234
We're doing it with 200 kids this year,

1076
00:59:10.234 --> 00:59:13.932
we'll be doing it with about
the same number next year,

1077
00:59:13.932 --> 00:59:16.960
and by then we should
have a decent sample size.

1078
00:59:16.960 --> 00:59:19.844
These are just some of the
topics that we work with.

1079
00:59:19.844 --> 00:59:20.901
The curriculum involves

1080
00:59:20.901 --> 00:59:23.948
90 minutes of class instruction each week,

1081
00:59:23.948 --> 00:59:25.736
and I should say that we precede it

1082
00:59:25.736 --> 00:59:29.190
with 10 weeks of training
for the preschool teachers.

1083
00:59:29.190 --> 00:59:33.680
They go through a kind of MBSR course,

1084
00:59:33.680 --> 00:59:38.272
plus a few extra weeks focused
on applying these strategies

1085
00:59:38.272 --> 00:59:42.010
with their students in the classroom.

1086
00:59:42.010 --> 00:59:44.185
- [Audience member] Is that published?

1087
00:59:44.185 --> 00:59:46.420
- I'll address that later.

1088
00:59:46.420 --> 00:59:50.829
There's a detailed description
of this on our website,

1089
00:59:50.829 --> 00:59:54.791
and for anyone who wants to implement this

1090
00:59:54.791 --> 00:59:58.773
in a context where they can
actually collect evidence on it,

1091
00:59:58.773 --> 01:00:00.702
we are making it available.

1092
01:00:02.727 --> 01:00:04.962
So, I'll say more about that later.

1093
01:00:04.962 --> 01:00:07.786
This is just some early data.

1094
01:00:07.786 --> 01:00:10.834
These are teacher reports
of pro-social behavior,

1095
01:00:10.834 --> 01:00:14.206
like cooperative behavior
in the classroom,

1096
01:00:14.206 --> 01:00:15.852
for kids in the intervention group

1097
01:00:15.852 --> 01:00:18.148
and kids in a control group.

1098
01:00:18.148 --> 01:00:21.033
This is an objective measure of attention

1099
01:00:21.033 --> 01:00:22.435
that we administer.

1100
01:00:22.435 --> 01:00:26.600
So, here we present this
kind of stimulus to a child

1101
01:00:26.600 --> 01:00:30.257
and we say, "We'd like you
to simply press an arrow key

1102
01:00:30.257 --> 01:00:34.462
"to denote which direction
the center fish is pointing.

1103
01:00:34.462 --> 01:00:37.205
"Is this fish pointing to
the left or to the right?"

1104
01:00:37.205 --> 01:00:40.882
And this is a trial where
there are distracting flankers,

1105
01:00:40.882 --> 01:00:43.077
this is called a "flanker task".

1106
01:00:43.077 --> 01:00:47.587
And this really screws-up
not just kids' performance,

1107
01:00:47.587 --> 01:00:50.249
but it screws-up adult performance.

1108
01:00:50.249 --> 01:00:53.885
You tend to make more errors
on these kinds of trials,

1109
01:00:53.885 --> 01:00:57.067
and you also tend to go slower.

1110
01:00:57.067 --> 01:00:59.678
Now, what we found is that

1111
01:01:00.505 --> 01:01:02.760
after eight weeks of this intervention,

1112
01:01:02.760 --> 01:01:05.543
the kids in the intervention
group who are here

1113
01:01:05.543 --> 01:01:08.652
improved significantly in their accuracy,

1114
01:01:08.652 --> 01:01:12.248
and they also showed a decrease
in their reaction time,

1115
01:01:12.248 --> 01:01:15.458
so they actually got
faster and more accurate,

1116
01:01:15.458 --> 01:01:20.458
which is really kind of amazing,
given that this is based on

1117
01:01:20.761 --> 01:01:25.059
eight weeks of 90 minutes a
week of in-class training.

1118
01:01:25.059 --> 01:01:26.567
We also administered

1119
01:01:26.567 --> 01:01:29.513
a task that we call
"the other sharing task"

1120
01:01:29.513 --> 01:01:33.569
that was developed by a
scientist in our lab, Lisa Fluch.

1121
01:01:33.569 --> 01:01:36.941
What we do is we learn who
the kid's, each child's,

1122
01:01:36.941 --> 01:01:39.115
best friend is in the class,

1123
01:01:39.115 --> 01:01:43.118
and who each child's least
favorite person is in the class,

1124
01:01:43.118 --> 01:01:46.043
and we get pictures of these kids,

1125
01:01:46.043 --> 01:01:47.323
a picture of their best friend,

1126
01:01:47.323 --> 01:01:48.835
a picture of their least favorite friend,

1127
01:01:48.835 --> 01:01:49.835
(audience laughs)

1128
01:01:49.835 --> 01:01:52.802
and we also have a picture
of a stranger child,

1129
01:01:52.802 --> 01:01:54.976
a child that they've never seen before,

1130
01:01:54.976 --> 01:01:57.516
same gender child, on another envelope,

1131
01:01:57.516 --> 01:01:59.121
and finally on a fourth envelope

1132
01:01:59.121 --> 01:02:02.717
we have a picture of an
obviously sick-looking child.

1133
01:02:02.717 --> 01:02:05.449
And then we give the
kids a bunch of stickers,

1134
01:02:06.073 --> 01:02:08.815
and we say, "Please
distribute these stickers,

1135
01:02:08.815 --> 01:02:10.461
"and place them in the envelopes,

1136
01:02:10.461 --> 01:02:13.448
"according to who you'd
like to have them go to."

1137
01:02:13.448 --> 01:02:17.288
And what we see is that
before the intervention,

1138
01:02:17.288 --> 01:02:19.969
they give most of their
stickers to their best friend,

1139
01:02:19.969 --> 01:02:21.175
denoted in blue,

1140
01:02:21.175 --> 01:02:24.588
and give the same very
few number to the rest.

1141
01:02:24.588 --> 01:02:26.316
(audience laughs)

1142
01:02:26.316 --> 01:02:28.408
And after the intervention,

1143
01:02:28.408 --> 01:02:30.824
they actually distribute them equitably.

1144
01:02:32.464 --> 01:02:37.360
So we believe that change is possible,

1145
01:02:37.360 --> 01:02:42.360
that the brain is actually
more plastic earlier in life,

1146
01:02:43.150 --> 01:02:46.687
that this is really an
optimal time to intervene,

1147
01:02:46.687 --> 01:02:47.864
and the kids love it.

1148
01:02:47.864 --> 01:02:51.805
We, as I mentioned, go into the
classroom three days a week,

1149
01:02:51.805 --> 01:02:53.471
the children are complaining

1150
01:02:53.471 --> 01:02:55.340
because they want it five days a week,

1151
01:02:55.340 --> 01:02:59.688
and they don't understand
why we don't come every day,

1152
01:02:59.688 --> 01:03:01.824
rather than just three days a week.

1153
01:03:01.824 --> 01:03:04.666
Now, I want to end by just showing you

1154
01:03:04.666 --> 01:03:06.373
a very short video clip.

1155
01:03:06.373 --> 01:03:08.140
This will take about five minutes,

1156
01:03:08.140 --> 01:03:10.233
and we'll end just after this.

1157
01:03:10.233 --> 01:03:13.057
This is a clip that actually comes from

1158
01:03:13.057 --> 01:03:15.190
a documentary film that's been made about

1159
01:03:15.190 --> 01:03:17.059
some of the work in our center.

1160
01:03:17.059 --> 01:03:19.274
The film is called "Free The Mind",

1161
01:03:19.274 --> 01:03:22.423
and it actually recently
premiered in the United States

1162
01:03:22.423 --> 01:03:24.503
in New York, on May 3rd,

1163
01:03:24.503 --> 01:03:27.292
and has been shown now in several cities

1164
01:03:27.292 --> 01:03:28.772
throughout the country.

1165
01:03:29.762 --> 01:03:32.545
And this is just a little
trailer from that film.

1166
01:03:32.545 --> 01:03:35.125
One of the projects which
was featured in that film

1167
01:03:35.125 --> 01:03:37.665
is the work we're doing
with preschool kids,

1168
01:03:37.665 --> 01:03:41.228
so I'll show that to you,
and then we can talk.

1169
01:03:43.841 --> 01:03:48.841
(gentle orchestral music)

1170
01:03:54.961 --> 01:03:58.259
- [Teacher] We'll meet you
at the next floor, okay?

1171
01:04:10.321 --> 01:04:12.861
We have elevators, right?

1172
01:04:12.861 --> 01:04:16.457
I know that you didn't
have a good time with them,

1173
01:04:16.457 --> 01:04:19.524
but your Mom and Dad weren't
in there with you, right?

1174
01:04:19.524 --> 01:04:24.524
How about, you and I, we'll
take the elevator one time,

1175
01:04:24.827 --> 01:04:29.805
and then, (mumbles) we'll take it again.

1176
01:04:29.805 --> 01:04:32.026
It's okay.

1177
01:04:33.802 --> 01:04:35.590
Do you need a hug?

1178
01:04:35.590 --> 01:04:37.628
It's okay.

1179
01:04:45.525 --> 01:04:47.853
- There are different parts of the brain

1180
01:04:47.853 --> 01:04:52.853
that become active when we
have feelings of sadness,

1181
01:04:52.913 --> 01:04:55.533
and feelings of frustration,

1182
01:04:55.533 --> 01:04:57.991
and feelings of happiness.

1183
01:04:57.991 --> 01:05:02.045
And we can change our
brains, for the better.

1184
01:05:09.413 --> 01:05:11.912
- [student's parent] The
challenge first, for us and Will,

1185
01:05:11.912 --> 01:05:13.558
the doctor that we met with,

1186
01:05:13.558 --> 01:05:16.134
he recommended medication for Will.

1187
01:05:17.884 --> 01:05:19.178
It was--

1188
01:05:19.178 --> 01:05:23.200
- He looked like ADHD and
he was recommending Ritalin.

1189
01:05:23.200 --> 01:05:26.007
- And, for us, to put a three-year-old

1190
01:05:26.007 --> 01:05:27.734
or four-year-old on Ritalin

1191
01:05:27.734 --> 01:05:30.335
was not the path we wanted to go on,

1192
01:05:30.335 --> 01:05:33.524
and we're looking at alternative ways

1193
01:05:33.524 --> 01:05:37.405
for him to bridge his development

1194
01:05:37.405 --> 01:05:40.479
to get beyond the need for that.

1195
01:05:44.333 --> 01:05:47.137
- Social-emotional
learning is teaching kids

1196
01:05:47.137 --> 01:05:49.819
how to be more emotionally intelligent.

1197
01:05:49.819 --> 01:05:53.313
So teaching kids to take
the perspective of others

1198
01:05:53.313 --> 01:05:54.796
before they act,

1199
01:05:54.796 --> 01:05:59.490
and being more self-aware,
knowing what their emotions are.

1200
01:06:05.590 --> 01:06:09.786
(student cries)

1201
01:06:10.775 --> 01:06:13.051
- Does it feel tight in here?

1202
01:06:13.571 --> 01:06:16.600
Show me with your hands
how it feels inside.

1203
01:06:16.600 --> 01:06:18.693
Where does it feel tight?

1204
01:06:18.693 --> 01:06:21.619
Right there? Or in your throat?

1205
01:06:21.619 --> 01:06:22.899
Okay, watch me:

1206
01:06:22.899 --> 01:06:24.687
Put your hand on your belly,

1207
01:06:24.687 --> 01:06:27.937
and take a deep breath with me, alright?

1208
01:06:30.217 --> 01:06:31.686
Blow it out.

1209
01:06:31.916 --> 01:06:34.659
Tell him how you're feeling
when you see him so sad.

1210
01:06:34.659 --> 01:06:36.183
- I feel sad.

1211
01:06:36.183 --> 01:06:38.235
- You feel sad, too?

1212
01:06:38.965 --> 01:06:41.688
Show me where in your body you feel sad.

1213
01:06:41.688 --> 01:06:43.036
- In here.

1214
01:06:43.036 --> 01:06:44.844
- You feel sad in your body.

1215
01:06:44.844 --> 01:06:46.957
It doesn't feel so good, does it?

1216
01:06:46.957 --> 01:06:51.082
(gentle piano music)

1217
01:06:51.082 --> 01:06:53.764
- When you pay attention,
what happens to your body?

1218
01:06:53.764 --> 01:06:55.069
Does it get all busy?

1219
01:06:55.069 --> 01:06:56.329
- [Students] No.

1220
01:06:56.329 --> 01:06:57.893
- [Teacher] No? What happens to your body

1221
01:06:57.893 --> 01:06:59.737
when you're paying attention?

1222
01:07:00.631 --> 01:07:01.855
It gets slow.

1223
01:07:01.855 --> 01:07:05.980
You can pay attention on the outside

1224
01:07:05.980 --> 01:07:08.296
and you can pay attention on the inside.

1225
01:07:08.296 --> 01:07:09.901
So the first thing we're going to do today

1226
01:07:09.901 --> 01:07:12.237
is pay attention on the inside.

1227
01:07:12.237 --> 01:07:14.084
Is everybody ready?

1228
01:07:14.342 --> 01:07:17.132
- This is for you.

1229
01:07:18.081 --> 01:07:19.645
It's very cool, isn't it?

1230
01:07:19.645 --> 01:07:21.636
Shake it up really hard,

1231
01:07:21.636 --> 01:07:25.151
like as if you were really
mad, or really angry.

1232
01:07:25.151 --> 01:07:30.151
Now, this jar is like your mind
when you're angry and upset.

1233
01:07:30.758 --> 01:07:35.758
And then, we see the
angry dots settling down.

1234
01:07:36.947 --> 01:07:40.299
- We can actually be happier
people, we can suffer less

1235
01:07:40.299 --> 01:07:43.611
if we take responsibility
for our own mind.

1236
01:07:43.611 --> 01:07:46.841
- Well, I heard that when you

1237
01:07:46.841 --> 01:07:48.914
go by elevators,

1238
01:07:48.914 --> 01:07:50.803
they get you really, really angry,

1239
01:07:50.803 --> 01:07:51.822
or really upset.

1240
01:07:51.822 --> 01:07:53.194
Is that true?

1241
01:07:54.346 --> 01:07:57.027
How does it feel on the
inside when that's happening?

1242
01:07:57.027 --> 01:07:58.348
- Scared.

1243
01:07:58.348 --> 01:07:59.567
- You feel scared?

1244
01:07:59.567 --> 01:08:00.664
I'm wondering if we could

1245
01:08:00.664 --> 01:08:03.529
walk over by the elevator
together, is that okay?

1246
01:08:03.529 --> 01:08:04.789
- In a little while.

1247
01:08:04.789 --> 01:08:06.597
- And then shake this up,

1248
01:08:06.597 --> 01:08:09.400
when you start feeling scared,

1249
01:08:09.400 --> 01:08:10.599
on the inside.

1250
01:08:10.599 --> 01:08:12.204
Is that okay?

1251
01:08:12.204 --> 01:08:14.051
Great, here, you carry it.

1252
01:08:16.044 --> 01:08:17.873
Okay we're getting close to the elevator.

1253
01:08:17.873 --> 01:08:19.478
How does it feel in your body?

1254
01:08:19.478 --> 01:08:20.595
- Um, good.

1255
01:08:20.595 --> 01:08:22.796
- It does?

1256
01:08:25.593 --> 01:08:28.092
So I'm wondering, maybe another day,

1257
01:08:28.092 --> 01:08:29.717
could we take that "mind jar" with us

1258
01:08:29.717 --> 01:08:31.709
and take a ride on that elevator?

1259
01:08:31.709 --> 01:08:34.329
Another day? Or today?

1260
01:08:35.979 --> 01:08:38.050
- Um, another day.

1261
01:08:38.050 --> 01:08:39.280
- Alright.

1262
01:08:40.249 --> 01:08:42.138
What do you think about that "mind jar"?

1263
01:08:42.138 --> 01:08:43.256
- Good.

1264
01:08:43.256 --> 01:08:45.653
- Do you think that we
should leave it at school,

1265
01:08:45.653 --> 01:08:48.680
so that if you're feeling angry or upset

1266
01:08:48.680 --> 01:08:50.631
that you could maybe shake it?

1267
01:08:50.631 --> 01:08:52.236
- Is this brainwashing

1268
01:08:52.236 --> 01:08:54.186
(audience laughs)

1269
01:08:54.186 --> 01:08:56.188
for good, for a good cause?

1270
01:08:56.188 --> 01:08:57.630
- No, I wouldn't say that,

1271
01:08:57.630 --> 01:08:59.540
because brainwashing usually requires

1272
01:08:59.540 --> 01:09:01.592
that the pesron who is being brainwashed

1273
01:09:01.592 --> 01:09:06.013
is not agreeing to this process.

1274
01:09:06.013 --> 01:09:11.013
- [Teacher] Breathing in. Breathing out.

1275
01:09:12.555 --> 01:09:14.857
Breathing in.

1276
01:09:16.131 --> 01:09:18.351
Breathing out.

1277
01:09:19.016 --> 01:09:21.860
- How about today, you
can choose one friend,

1278
01:09:21.860 --> 01:09:23.392
and we'll all go to the elevator together?

1279
01:09:23.392 --> 01:09:25.097
You can bring your snowball.

1280
01:09:25.097 --> 01:09:26.743
We can go inside,

1281
01:09:26.743 --> 01:09:28.206
- And then what?

1282
01:09:28.206 --> 01:09:30.136
- And take a look at the elevator,

1283
01:09:30.136 --> 01:09:31.944
and if you want to ride, we can,

1284
01:09:31.944 --> 01:09:34.260
if you're not ready,
then we won't go on it.

1285
01:09:34.260 --> 01:09:35.967
- I'll try it. I'll try to ride it.

1286
01:09:35.967 --> 01:09:37.023
- You will?

1287
01:09:37.023 --> 01:09:38.498
Alright, my friend.

1288
01:09:38.498 --> 01:09:41.627
- Can I go with you then, in the elevator?

1289
01:09:41.627 --> 01:09:42.481
- Of course you can.

1290
01:09:42.481 --> 01:09:44.417
- I'm the littlest in there.

1291
01:09:50.276 --> 01:09:52.937
- And remember, what could
the snowball do for you?

1292
01:09:52.937 --> 01:09:53.765
- Make me calm.

1293
01:09:53.765 --> 01:09:55.559
- Yeah.

1294
01:09:57.117 --> 01:09:59.291
Now, if you feel worried, what
can you do with the snowball?

1295
01:09:59.291 --> 01:10:00.693
- Shake it?

1296
01:10:00.693 --> 01:10:01.932
- Shake it up.

1297
01:10:03.452 --> 01:10:05.186
Okay now watch this.

1298
01:10:06.136 --> 01:10:08.498
How does your mind and
your body feel right now?

1299
01:10:08.498 --> 01:10:09.636
- Calm.

1300
01:10:09.636 --> 01:10:11.525
- Good.

1301
01:10:11.525 --> 01:10:15.509
(soaring orchestral music)

1302
01:10:37.883 --> 01:10:40.971
- So, if you'd like to
learn more about our work--

1303
01:10:40.971 --> 01:10:45.849
(applause)

1304
01:10:49.134 --> 01:10:49.886
Thank you.

1305
01:10:49.886 --> 01:10:52.974
Please go to our center,

1306
01:10:52.974 --> 01:10:57.626
and our website is
"investigatinghealthyminds.org".

1307
01:10:57.626 --> 01:11:01.852
And finally, I just want to acknowledge

1308
01:11:01.852 --> 01:11:03.132
the many, many people,

1309
01:11:03.132 --> 01:11:08.132
this is just a shortlist
of a much larger group

1310
01:11:08.659 --> 01:11:10.873
who have played an instrumental role

1311
01:11:10.873 --> 01:11:12.397
in making this work possible.

1312
01:11:12.397 --> 01:11:14.551
So thank you all again for your attention

1313
01:11:14.551 --> 01:11:16.562
and I'm happy to answer questions.

1314
01:11:16.562 --> 01:11:19.236
(applause)

1315
01:11:19.236 --> 01:11:20.847
Thank you.

1316
01:11:26.144 --> 01:11:27.099
Thank you.

1317
01:11:27.099 --> 01:11:27.842
Yes, please.

1318
01:11:27.842 --> 01:11:30.219
- [Audience member] I have two questions.

1319
01:11:30.219 --> 01:11:30.962
I'm not going to be selfish.

1320
01:11:30.962 --> 01:11:32.303
You can choose which you answer.

1321
01:11:32.303 --> 01:11:35.757
One is: I'm very interested
in the "between-ness",

1322
01:11:35.757 --> 01:11:38.298
what goes on between you and me,

1323
01:11:38.298 --> 01:11:40.613
or this person and that person,

1324
01:11:40.613 --> 01:11:44.331
and so it's like the
ripple effect of that,

1325
01:11:44.331 --> 01:11:46.647
and is there research being done

1326
01:11:46.647 --> 01:11:50.589
on that, on how far
does this compassion go

1327
01:11:50.589 --> 01:11:52.397
between this person and that person?

1328
01:11:52.397 --> 01:11:54.043
- Yeah, so it's a great question.

1329
01:11:54.043 --> 01:11:55.024
For those who might not have heard it--

1330
01:11:55.024 --> 01:11:56.019
- [Audience member] Can
you repeat her question?

1331
01:11:56.019 --> 01:11:57.381
- I will repeat it.

1332
01:11:57.381 --> 01:12:00.408
So, for those who couldn't hear,

1333
01:12:00.408 --> 01:12:03.273
the question is about "between-ness",

1334
01:12:04.292 --> 01:12:08.701
and whether we have studied
what goes on between

1335
01:12:08.701 --> 01:12:13.536
a person who may be, for
example, expressing compassion

1336
01:12:13.536 --> 01:12:15.330
and a recipient.

1337
01:12:16.563 --> 01:12:17.945
And, it's a great question,

1338
01:12:17.945 --> 01:12:20.728
and I think that it actually represents

1339
01:12:20.728 --> 01:12:23.532
one of the best ways
of studying compassion.

1340
01:12:23.532 --> 01:12:26.988
We've thought a lot about
this, that rather than studying

1341
01:12:26.988 --> 01:12:30.176
the individual who's supposedly
generating compassion,

1342
01:12:30.176 --> 01:12:34.402
it might be even more
effective to study recipients,

1343
01:12:34.402 --> 01:12:37.957
and anyone who has been
in the close company

1344
01:12:37.957 --> 01:12:39.846
of His Holiness the Dalai Lama,

1345
01:12:39.846 --> 01:12:43.382
has gotten a heavy whiff of it.

1346
01:12:45.562 --> 01:12:50.562
Many people report that you
can really feel his presence

1347
01:12:51.508 --> 01:12:53.296
in that way,

1348
01:12:53.296 --> 01:12:56.019
and there's a little bit
of work that's been done.

1349
01:12:56.019 --> 01:13:00.933
We've done some crazy
studies where we've had

1350
01:13:02.776 --> 01:13:07.042
two individuals, couples
actually, in the scanner,

1351
01:13:07.042 --> 01:13:09.420
one lying in the scanner, the
other outside the scanner,

1352
01:13:09.420 --> 01:13:12.569
just touching the person
who's in the scanner

1353
01:13:12.569 --> 01:13:13.839
in a loving way,

1354
01:13:14.990 --> 01:13:17.632
and just simple touch
is something that can

1355
01:13:17.632 --> 01:13:21.095
dramatically alter the brain's response,

1356
01:13:22.227 --> 01:13:24.976
and tremendously reduce anxiety.

1357
01:13:25.722 --> 01:13:29.115
So, there are ways of doing this,

1358
01:13:29.115 --> 01:13:31.288
and I think over the next five years

1359
01:13:31.288 --> 01:13:34.052
we'll see more of this
kind of work being done.

1360
01:13:34.052 --> 01:13:35.778
So, thank you for the question.

1361
01:13:35.778 --> 01:13:37.363
- [Audience member] I
had a second question

1362
01:13:37.363 --> 01:13:40.614
which had to do with the
connection of the "heart-brain"

1363
01:13:40.614 --> 01:13:42.585
and the so-called "gut-brain",

1364
01:13:42.585 --> 01:13:44.319
are you studying that as well?

1365
01:13:44.319 --> 01:13:46.614
- Yes, so we study,

1366
01:13:46.614 --> 01:13:48.931
the question was about
the connections between

1367
01:13:48.931 --> 01:13:52.019
this brain, and the
heart-brain, and the gut-brain,

1368
01:13:52.019 --> 01:13:53.278
and are we studying that.

1369
01:13:53.278 --> 01:13:54.791
Yes, we are.

1370
01:13:57.122 --> 01:14:00.445
I have to tell you a story about that.

1371
01:14:01.636 --> 01:14:05.232
The very first time I
met His Holiness in 1992,

1372
01:14:05.232 --> 01:14:09.255
he asked whether I would
give a lecture to young monks

1373
01:14:09.255 --> 01:14:10.538
in the Namgyal monastery,

1374
01:14:10.538 --> 01:14:14.277
which is connected to his
residence in Dharamsala,

1375
01:14:14.277 --> 01:14:17.143
and that was a trip where we
schlepped all this equipment

1376
01:14:18.353 --> 01:14:22.708
in the hopes that we'd measure
brain activity of people

1377
01:14:22.708 --> 01:14:25.857
who were in semi-retreat
for the rest of their life,

1378
01:14:25.857 --> 01:14:29.648
up in the mountains near Dharamsala,

1379
01:14:29.648 --> 01:14:31.660
which was a complete bust,

1380
01:14:31.660 --> 01:14:34.992
but we had all this equipment
and so we thought that

1381
01:14:34.992 --> 01:14:37.044
we really should use the
equipment in the lecture,

1382
01:14:37.044 --> 01:14:38.791
instead of just giving a
dry lecture we'd actually

1383
01:14:38.791 --> 01:14:41.179
show the monks how we can
record brain activity.

1384
01:14:42.148 --> 01:14:44.998
Some of you know the
name Francisco Varela,

1385
01:14:44.998 --> 01:14:46.940
one of the founders of the
Mind and Life Institute.

1386
01:14:46.940 --> 01:14:49.746
Francisco was with us on that trip,

1387
01:14:49.746 --> 01:14:52.834
and so we decided that Francisco
would be the guinea pig

1388
01:14:52.834 --> 01:14:55.638
and I was putting electrodes
on Francisco's head,

1389
01:14:55.638 --> 01:14:57.080
and futzing with them,

1390
01:14:57.080 --> 01:14:59.051
and we had a bunch of laptop computers

1391
01:14:59.051 --> 01:15:01.367
which, in those days, were much larger,

1392
01:15:01.367 --> 01:15:02.899
and we finally got out of the way

1393
01:15:02.899 --> 01:15:05.398
so that the 200 monks

1394
01:15:05.398 --> 01:15:07.674
who were dutifully sitting on the floor

1395
01:15:07.674 --> 01:15:09.116
can see what was going on,

1396
01:15:09.116 --> 01:15:11.270
and we were displaying
Francisco's brain activity

1397
01:15:11.270 --> 01:15:12.590
on these laptops,

1398
01:15:12.590 --> 01:15:14.561
and as soon as we kind of parted,

1399
01:15:14.561 --> 01:15:18.259
and the audience could see
what we were doing, they just,

1400
01:15:18.259 --> 01:15:21.572
all 200 monks just burst
out laughing, hysterically.

1401
01:15:21.572 --> 01:15:23.520
(audience laughs)

1402
01:15:24.090 --> 01:15:27.786
And I thought, everyone
thought from our side,

1403
01:15:27.786 --> 01:15:30.224
that they were laughing
because Francisco looked funny

1404
01:15:30.224 --> 01:15:32.073
with this electrode cap on.

1405
01:15:32.073 --> 01:15:34.348
It turns out that's not what
they were laughing about.

1406
01:15:34.348 --> 01:15:35.528
What they were laughing about

1407
01:15:35.528 --> 01:15:38.147
is that we were talking
about studying compassion

1408
01:15:38.147 --> 01:15:39.712
by putting electrodes on the head

1409
01:15:39.712 --> 01:15:41.446
rather than on the heart.

1410
01:15:43.800 --> 01:15:47.985
That was a very deep and profound teaching

1411
01:15:47.985 --> 01:15:50.667
which took twenty years for us to process.

1412
01:15:50.667 --> 01:15:53.207
(audience laughs)

1413
01:15:54.077 --> 01:15:56.551
So, we're now doing that,

1414
01:15:56.551 --> 01:15:58.258
and it turns out that
there are all kinds of

1415
01:15:58.258 --> 01:16:01.978
really interesting things
that are going on in the body,

1416
01:16:01.978 --> 01:16:06.978
and it is very much a
mind-brain-body interaction,

1417
01:16:08.982 --> 01:16:12.827
and all of those constituents
are probably very important.

1418
01:16:13.552 --> 01:16:16.072
So, you know,

1419
01:16:16.072 --> 01:16:19.936
I could say a lot more technically
about what we found, but

1420
01:16:19.936 --> 01:16:24.936
the basic message is very much
the importance of the body.

1421
01:16:27.707 --> 01:16:29.472
Other questions?

1422
01:16:31.152 --> 01:16:32.296
Yes, please.

1423
01:16:32.655 --> 01:16:33.723
- [Audience member] Yeah,
I have two questions.

1424
01:16:33.723 --> 01:16:37.970
One was: are things like medications

1425
01:16:37.970 --> 01:16:41.871
and communities of faith,
and what gets generated

1426
01:16:41.871 --> 01:16:44.634
in that kind of a faith-based community.

1427
01:16:44.634 --> 01:16:46.442
Have there been studies to show, you know,

1428
01:16:46.442 --> 01:16:48.474
are there similar changes in the brain?

1429
01:16:48.474 --> 01:16:50.546
I know we've got plenty
on medication and things,

1430
01:16:50.546 --> 01:16:54.336
but what do you see as
similarities and differences there?

1431
01:16:54.336 --> 01:16:56.713
- Yeah, it's a very interesting question

1432
01:16:56.713 --> 01:17:00.785
about faith-based communities
and also medication.

1433
01:17:03.181 --> 01:17:05.269
From this kind of perspective,

1434
01:17:05.269 --> 01:17:06.833
to the best of my knowledge,

1435
01:17:06.833 --> 01:17:09.942
there have not been any studies
of faith-based communities.

1436
01:17:09.942 --> 01:17:13.613
There are psychological studies
of faith-based communities,

1437
01:17:14.823 --> 01:17:19.697
and certainly some of the
questionairre measures,

1438
01:17:19.697 --> 01:17:21.281
the self-report measures,

1439
01:17:21.281 --> 01:17:23.943
change in a way that is similar.

1440
01:17:23.943 --> 01:17:25.588
We don't know, though,

1441
01:17:25.588 --> 01:17:28.337
what the effects on the brain might be.

1442
01:17:31.298 --> 01:17:34.122
These days, the way neuroscientists think,

1443
01:17:34.122 --> 01:17:38.937
we really see the brain as
this organ of plasticity,

1444
01:17:40.607 --> 01:17:41.885
and there once was a time when,

1445
01:17:41.885 --> 01:17:44.628
if you talked about things in the brain,

1446
01:17:44.628 --> 01:17:46.172
people assumed that you were talking about

1447
01:17:46.172 --> 01:17:48.630
fixed kinds of qualities,

1448
01:17:48.630 --> 01:17:53.324
but we now understand that
our social worlds and culture

1449
01:17:53.324 --> 01:17:56.879
gets under the skin and
transforms the brain.

1450
01:17:56.879 --> 01:18:00.597
So it's quite possible that
faith-based communities

1451
01:18:00.597 --> 01:18:03.333
have effects which might be similar.

1452
01:18:03.333 --> 01:18:05.832
Medications are obviously
a whole other thing,

1453
01:18:05.832 --> 01:18:09.571
and a lot depends upon
the kind of medication,

1454
01:18:09.571 --> 01:18:14.571
and in general I think it's fair to say

1455
01:18:15.270 --> 01:18:16.774
that the changes that you see

1456
01:18:16.774 --> 01:18:19.862
with behavioral interventions in general,

1457
01:18:19.862 --> 01:18:23.722
meditation being one, but
also with cognitive therapy,

1458
01:18:23.722 --> 01:18:25.998
the changes that you see in the brain

1459
01:18:25.998 --> 01:18:28.212
are changes that are more enduring

1460
01:18:28.212 --> 01:18:30.955
than any change that
you see with medication.

1461
01:18:30.955 --> 01:18:33.596
And one of the things
that I tell my students

1462
01:18:33.596 --> 01:18:38.410
is that the best way to produce

1463
01:18:38.410 --> 01:18:43.367
a specific biological change in the brain

1464
01:18:43.367 --> 01:18:46.293
is through non-pharmacological methods,

1465
01:18:46.293 --> 01:18:48.833
because when you give
a person a medication

1466
01:18:48.833 --> 01:18:51.128
it's such a blunt instrument,

1467
01:18:51.128 --> 01:18:53.180
it affects so many different systems

1468
01:18:53.180 --> 01:18:55.859
in the brain and the body,
that's why there are side effects

1469
01:18:56.808 --> 01:18:59.205
and I think most people would agree

1470
01:18:59.205 --> 01:19:02.253
that the side effects of
meditation are much less severe

1471
01:19:02.253 --> 01:19:04.996
than the side effects of most medications.

1472
01:19:05.912 --> 01:19:07.070
- [Audience member] Thank you, again,

1473
01:19:07.070 --> 01:19:08.655
and now just kind of
the second question was

1474
01:19:08.655 --> 01:19:10.953
how long do you see the gains lasting?

1475
01:19:10.953 --> 01:19:12.251
When you look at those studies

1476
01:19:12.251 --> 01:19:16.294
and you're finding that
the brain's changed,

1477
01:19:16.294 --> 01:19:17.696
how long would you say,

1478
01:19:17.696 --> 01:19:20.276
if there was no other practice introduced,

1479
01:19:20.276 --> 01:19:21.495
how long would say those--

1480
01:19:21.495 --> 01:19:23.523
- Yeah, it's a very
interesting question, and

1481
01:19:25.543 --> 01:19:27.008
pardon me for saying this,

1482
01:19:27.008 --> 01:19:28.755
I mean I said the same thing myself,

1483
01:19:28.755 --> 01:19:30.401
but it's such an American question.

1484
01:19:30.401 --> 01:19:32.189
(audience laughs)

1485
01:19:32.189 --> 01:19:35.183
And you're American, so am
I, I asked the same question.

1486
01:19:39.963 --> 01:19:43.061
The honest answer is this: We don't know.

1487
01:19:43.887 --> 01:19:46.752
But, it's very, very likely

1488
01:19:46.752 --> 01:19:48.560
that the ffects are not going to endure

1489
01:19:48.560 --> 01:19:50.795
if the practices are not continued,

1490
01:19:50.795 --> 01:19:55.795
and it's kind of like
asking, if a person were to

1491
01:19:55.956 --> 01:20:00.710
undergo an intensive
physical exercise regime

1492
01:20:00.710 --> 01:20:03.554
and get a personal trainer for a month,

1493
01:20:03.554 --> 01:20:05.017
and really get in tip-top shape,

1494
01:20:05.017 --> 01:20:08.247
and then not do any
physical exercise again,

1495
01:20:08.247 --> 01:20:10.035
how long are the effects going to last?

1496
01:20:10.035 --> 01:20:12.717
Well, probably not that long.

1497
01:20:12.717 --> 01:20:16.177
And the same, I think, is true with this.

1498
01:20:20.011 --> 01:20:23.105
Sure. Any other questions?

1499
01:20:23.770 --> 01:20:25.618
Yes, in the back, please.

1500
01:20:25.618 --> 01:20:27.061
- [Audience member] Thank
you for coming here.

1501
01:20:27.061 --> 01:20:29.438
I'm curious about the studies being done

1502
01:20:29.438 --> 01:20:33.464
with longer-term practitioners,
or more concentrated...

1503
01:20:34.680 --> 01:20:36.122
Sorry, can you hear me?

1504
01:20:36.122 --> 01:20:38.008
- Little bit louder, please.

1505
01:20:38.008 --> 01:20:39.735
- [Audience member] Sorry.
Your studies where you

1506
01:20:39.735 --> 01:20:43.291
look at longer-term practitioners,

1507
01:20:44.821 --> 01:20:46.872
there are a couple of things
that always jump out at me,

1508
01:20:46.872 --> 01:20:48.255
and this question about whether

1509
01:20:48.255 --> 01:20:51.017
it's only people who come
from a monastic tradition,

1510
01:20:51.017 --> 01:20:53.719
versus people who are home followers,

1511
01:20:53.719 --> 01:20:56.868
and then if you're doing studies of people

1512
01:20:56.868 --> 01:20:59.915
who are not in a monastic tradition,

1513
01:20:59.915 --> 01:21:04.284
there is this piece of economics
of being able to take part

1514
01:21:04.284 --> 01:21:06.681
in a longer-term study,

1515
01:21:06.681 --> 01:21:10.622
and so I wonder how you deal
with that question of class,

1516
01:21:10.622 --> 01:21:13.915
and economic pressures,
when perhaps the studies

1517
01:21:13.915 --> 01:21:16.982
are really only engaging people

1518
01:21:16.982 --> 01:21:21.727
who either have a monastic
lifestyle, or have the privilege

1519
01:21:21.727 --> 01:21:23.799
of being able to take part in this study.

1520
01:21:24.923 --> 01:21:26.345
- Thank you for the questions.

1521
01:21:26.345 --> 01:21:28.601
They're very important questions.

1522
01:21:29.871 --> 01:21:31.570
I'll repeat the questions.

1523
01:21:33.200 --> 01:21:34.743
There were several questions.

1524
01:21:34.743 --> 01:21:39.209
One relates to whether all of
the subjects who were subjects

1525
01:21:39.209 --> 01:21:42.934
in our long-term practitioner
studies were monastics,

1526
01:21:42.934 --> 01:21:47.051
secondly, how do we deal
with the question of class,

1527
01:21:47.051 --> 01:21:49.957
because in order to undertake

1528
01:21:51.252 --> 01:21:53.704
that kind of extensive practice,

1529
01:21:54.194 --> 01:21:56.988
an individual needs to
have some financial means

1530
01:21:56.988 --> 01:21:58.166
in order to do that.

1531
01:21:58.166 --> 01:22:00.492
So, that was basically the question.

1532
01:22:02.294 --> 01:22:04.285
There are studies of
long-term practitioners

1533
01:22:04.285 --> 01:22:05.901
at this point in time,

1534
01:22:06.667 --> 01:22:08.556
about half of them are monastics,

1535
01:22:08.556 --> 01:22:10.634
and half of them are from a lay community,

1536
01:22:10.634 --> 01:22:12.564
so they're not all monastics.

1537
01:22:13.394 --> 01:22:15.969
We do not find any systematic differences

1538
01:22:15.969 --> 01:22:19.354
between the monastics and non-monastics

1539
01:22:19.354 --> 01:22:23.803
in terms of their brains or
other things that we measure.

1540
01:22:23.803 --> 01:22:26.749
With regard to the issue of economics:

1541
01:22:26.749 --> 01:22:30.183
You know, it's a great
question, it's a hard question,

1542
01:22:30.183 --> 01:22:33.434
and I don't have a great answer,

1543
01:22:34.164 --> 01:22:36.406
other than to say that

1544
01:22:38.411 --> 01:22:40.699
for many of these individuals,

1545
01:22:40.699 --> 01:22:45.699
they have voluntarily committed
themselves to a life of

1546
01:22:49.129 --> 01:22:51.161
very modest means.

1547
01:22:56.742 --> 01:23:00.533
I mean, the monastics are,
for all intents and purposes,

1548
01:23:00.533 --> 01:23:02.317
quite poor,

1549
01:23:04.294 --> 01:23:06.303
and they don't take any income,

1550
01:23:06.303 --> 01:23:08.604
and so they just live

1551
01:23:10.671 --> 01:23:13.297
on the basis of what people give them

1552
01:23:14.075 --> 01:23:16.357
for basic sustenance.

1553
01:23:17.875 --> 01:23:19.319
But it is true,

1554
01:23:21.709 --> 01:23:24.132
that you certainly, I mean, individuals

1555
01:23:24.132 --> 01:23:29.132
who are in a situation of economic strain,

1556
01:23:30.149 --> 01:23:33.867
are not going to go and
undertake something like this,

1557
01:23:33.867 --> 01:23:37.402
and so I think that there's no question

1558
01:23:37.402 --> 01:23:39.373
that we need to do everything we can

1559
01:23:39.373 --> 01:23:43.314
to work on many different
levels simultaneously.

1560
01:23:43.314 --> 01:23:46.002
This is one, it's
certainly not the only one.

1561
01:23:47.479 --> 01:23:50.730
So, you know, there's more I can say,

1562
01:23:50.730 --> 01:23:53.271
but it's a complicated problem

1563
01:23:53.271 --> 01:23:55.837
and I appreciate you raising it.

1564
01:23:57.192 --> 01:23:58.261
Yes, please.

1565
01:23:58.261 --> 01:24:00.455
- [Audience member] Could you talk about

1566
01:24:00.455 --> 01:24:03.218
the impact on the classroom experience

1567
01:24:03.218 --> 01:24:06.815
because of the training of the teachers?

1568
01:24:06.815 --> 01:24:10.817
With the increase in pro-social
behavior in the classroom.

1569
01:24:10.817 --> 01:24:13.325
- So the question's about
the impact on the classroom

1570
01:24:13.325 --> 01:24:15.538
behavior of training the teachers.

1571
01:24:16.466 --> 01:24:18.456
We're getting measures of that,

1572
01:24:20.726 --> 01:24:22.087
and what we're able to see

1573
01:24:22.087 --> 01:24:24.078
in the data that we've collected so far,

1574
01:24:24.078 --> 01:24:29.068
is that, by and large, there
are very siginificant changes

1575
01:24:29.068 --> 01:24:30.969
that we see in the classroom.

1576
01:24:30.969 --> 01:24:34.586
The teachers, those who've
gone through the training,

1577
01:24:34.586 --> 01:24:36.333
have really appreciated it

1578
01:24:36.333 --> 01:24:37.999
and have valued it tremendously,

1579
01:24:37.999 --> 01:24:40.516
they have felt it's
been hugely beneficial.

1580
01:24:41.019 --> 01:24:43.009
There are a couple of schools in Madison,

1581
01:24:43.009 --> 01:24:44.512
we made the decision,

1582
01:24:44.512 --> 01:24:47.401
actually this is apropos
of the last question,

1583
01:24:47.401 --> 01:24:52.401
to work in the schools in
Madison that are the lowest,

1584
01:24:54.674 --> 01:24:58.141
have families with the lowest
income of any of the schools,

1585
01:24:58.141 --> 01:25:00.374
and the most diversity.

1586
01:25:01.344 --> 01:25:03.294
In one school that we're working in,

1587
01:25:03.294 --> 01:25:06.707
70% of the families
qualify for food stamps,

1588
01:25:06.707 --> 01:25:11.250
and this is a school where
there's been a history of,

1589
01:25:11.250 --> 01:25:13.598
it's an elementary school,
there's been a history of,

1590
01:25:13.598 --> 01:25:15.142
it's been the school that,

1591
01:25:15.142 --> 01:25:18.413
before we did any work in the school,

1592
01:25:18.413 --> 01:25:20.384
it had the highest suspension rate

1593
01:25:20.384 --> 01:25:22.611
of any elementary school in Madison,

1594
01:25:22.611 --> 01:25:27.611
and it's now moved to actually
having a suspension rate,

1595
01:25:28.543 --> 01:25:31.774
this past year and the year before,

1596
01:25:31.774 --> 01:25:33.643
I think in one of those years

1597
01:25:33.643 --> 01:25:35.573
there was a single suspension,

1598
01:25:35.573 --> 01:25:38.728
and last year, this current
year, there was zero.

1599
01:25:39.636 --> 01:25:43.111
And the whole culture of
the school has changed.

1600
01:25:43.111 --> 01:25:45.752
In part, the principal has embraced this,

1601
01:25:45.752 --> 01:25:49.580
and she has gone through
the training herself,

1602
01:25:50.343 --> 01:25:53.696
and she's really made it
a central mission of her's

1603
01:25:53.696 --> 01:25:55.931
to bring this to the entire school,

1604
01:25:55.931 --> 01:25:57.968
and this is a public school.

1605
01:25:59.202 --> 01:26:03.570
And so, I think that there is
tremendous possibility here,

1606
01:26:03.570 --> 01:26:07.146
but I also think that
we're not going to be able

1607
01:26:07.146 --> 01:26:09.502
to implement these kinds of programs,

1608
01:26:09.502 --> 01:26:11.717
on a wide-scale basis,

1609
01:26:11.717 --> 01:26:13.708
unless we have much more evidence.

1610
01:26:13.708 --> 01:26:16.931
The federal officials

1611
01:26:18.957 --> 01:26:21.314
who set policy in these areas

1612
01:26:21.314 --> 01:26:24.428
are not going to pay attention
to these pilot studies.

1613
01:26:24.767 --> 01:26:27.026
They're going to want to see
something much more substantial

1614
01:26:27.026 --> 01:26:29.830
which is something that
we hope to move toward.

1615
01:26:29.830 --> 01:26:32.614
I should also mention one
other thing in passing,

1616
01:26:32.614 --> 01:26:35.072
and that is that we've
recently gotten a grant

1617
01:26:35.072 --> 01:26:40.072
from the Gates Foundation
to develop apps for tablets

1618
01:26:41.199 --> 01:26:43.454
for middle school kids,

1619
01:26:43.454 --> 01:26:46.055
and we've developed an app
to cultivate mindfulness

1620
01:26:46.055 --> 01:26:50.383
and another app to cultivate
empathy and pro-social behavior

1621
01:26:51.193 --> 01:26:55.099
in the hopes that we can
make games that are actually

1622
01:26:55.099 --> 01:26:57.964
as interesting to play as other games

1623
01:26:57.964 --> 01:27:01.734
and that may actaully serve
some beneficial purpose,

1624
01:27:01.734 --> 01:27:04.172
and so we're now evaluating these games

1625
01:27:04.172 --> 01:27:07.586
in a formal scientific evaluation,

1626
01:27:07.586 --> 01:27:10.918
and if they are shown to be beneficial

1627
01:27:10.918 --> 01:27:13.748
we hope to disseminate them very widely.

1628
01:27:15.489 --> 01:27:16.533
Yes.

1629
01:27:18.008 --> 01:27:18.853
- [Audience member] That
was a preschool classroom

1630
01:27:18.853 --> 01:27:19.950
that we saw?

1631
01:27:19.950 --> 01:27:21.169
- It was.

1632
01:27:21.169 --> 01:27:24.867
- [Audience member] And how
many years back was that filmed?

1633
01:27:25.837 --> 01:27:27.900
- Three years ago.

1634
01:27:27.900 --> 01:27:28.954
- [Audience member] And
it was only in Madison

1635
01:27:28.954 --> 01:27:31.108
that this happened?

1636
01:27:31.108 --> 01:27:33.891
It hasn't spread to the whole state?

1637
01:27:33.891 --> 01:27:35.578
- No it has not.

1638
01:27:35.578 --> 01:27:37.691
It's being done in a
couple of other cities

1639
01:27:37.691 --> 01:27:38.843
within Wisconsin,

1640
01:27:38.843 --> 01:27:41.383
and a couple of other
places in the country

1641
01:27:41.383 --> 01:27:43.257
that we've given our curriculum to.

1642
01:27:43.257 --> 01:27:45.335
But very selective.

1643
01:27:46.101 --> 01:27:47.483
Yeah, and I'm mindful of time,

1644
01:27:47.483 --> 01:27:50.287
I know that people have to leave at nine,

1645
01:27:50.287 --> 01:27:52.501
and so I'll stick around,

1646
01:27:52.501 --> 01:27:55.853
and let me just thank you all,

1647
01:27:55.853 --> 01:27:59.510
and I appreciate your
attention and good questions.

1648
01:27:59.510 --> 01:28:00.547
Thank you.

1649
01:28:00.547 --> 01:28:05.490
(applause)