Uconnect Research MaterialThis is an inventory of all the videos / research material we have in this folder.

Video:

The Softest Skill

By Virat Chirania at TEDx IIM Shillong

Virat is currently the COO of IMFS (Institute of Management and Foreign Studies), a company that trains students for studies abroad. Virat also co-founded 'Institute of Soft- Skills', a Mumbai based firm dedicated to imparting soft-skills training to young students and professionals to help them succeed in the real world.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lVcYwPa4uDU

Article:

Eight weeks to a better brain

By Sara Lazar

Although the practice of meditation is associated with a sense of peacefulness and physical relaxation, practitioners have long claimed that meditation also provides cognitive and psychological benefits that persist throughout the day," says the study’s senior author Sara Lazar, a Harvard Medical School instructor in psychology.

http://news.harvard.edu/gazette/story/2011/01/eight-weeks-to-a-better-brain/

Video:

Hack Your Brain's Default Mode with Meditation

By Dan Harris

Dan Harris explains the neuroscience behind meditation, but reminds us that the ancient practice isn't magic and likely won't send one floating into the cosmic ooze. He predicts that the exercise will soon become regularly scheduled maintenance, as commonplace as brushing your teeth or eating your veggies. Harris, an ABC News correspondent, was turned on to mediation after a live, on-air panic attack.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FAcTIrA2Qhk

Video:

The habits of happiness

By Matthieu Ricard

What is happiness, and how can we all get some? Biochemist turned Buddhist monk Matthieu Ricard says we can train our minds in habits of well-being, to generate a true sense of serenity and fulfilment.

http://www.ted.com/talks/matthieu_ricard_on_the_habits_of_happiness

Video:

The art of stillness

By Pico Iyer

The place that travel writer Pico Iyer would most like to go? Nowhere. In a counterintuitive and lyrical meditation, Iyer takes a look at the incredible insight that comes with taking time for stillness. In our world of constant movement and distraction, he teases out strategies we all can use to take back a few minutes out of every day, or a few days out of every season. It’s the talk for anyone who feels overwhelmed by the demands for our world.

http://www.ted.com/talks/pico_iyer_the_art_of_stillness

Video:

All it takes is 10 mindful minutes

By Andy Puddicombe

When is the last time you did absolutely nothing for 10 whole minutes? Not texting, talking or even thinking? Mindfulness expert Andy Puddicombe describes the transformative power of doing just that: Refreshing your mind for 10 minutes a day, simply by being mindful and experiencing the present moment.

http://www.ted.com/talks/andy_puddicombe_all_it_takes_is_10_mindful_minutes

Video:

San Francisco Schools Transformed by the Power of Meditation

By Cynthia McFadden, Tim Sandler and Elisha Fieldstadt

Silence isn't something people usually associate with middle school, but twice a day the halls of Visitacion Valley School in San Francisco fall quiet as the sixth, seventh and eighth grade students meditate for fifteen minutes.

http://www.nbcnews.com/nightly-news/san-francisco-schools-transformed-power-meditation-n276301

Article:

The unique brain anatomy of meditation practitioners: alterations in cortical gyrification

By Eileen Luders, Florian Kurth, Emeran A. Mayer, Arthur W. Toga, Katherine L. Narr and Christian Gaser

Several cortical regions are reported to vary in meditation practitioners. However, prior analyses have focused primarily on examining grey matter or cortical thickness. Thus, additional effects with respect to other cortical features might have remained undetected. Gyrification (the pattern and degree of cortical folding) is an important cerebral characteristic related to the geometry of the brain’s surface. 

http://journal.frontiersin.org/article/10.3389/fnhum.2012.00034/full

Article:

How Meditation Changes the Structure of Your Brain

Research continues to show that meditation has a powerful impact upon regions of the brain associated with stress, empathy, and sense of self. But would you believe it can occur in just eight weeks? It can, according to a new Harvard study.

http://corespirit.co.uk/mind/how-meditation-changes-the-structure-of-your-brain

Article:

Magical Power of Meditation : How It Helped Me Rediscover Happiness and Boost Productivity

Ever since my dad tried to convince me to meditate when I was about 12, I’ve been fairly skeptical of this practice. It always seemed to be so vague and hard to understand that I just decided it wasn’t for me.

http://read.plash.in/2015/02/25/power-meditation-helped-rediscover-happiness-boost-productivity/

Article:

7 Ways Meditation Can Actually Change The Brain

By Alice.G.Walton

A study from UCLA found that long-term meditators had better-preserved brains than non-meditators as they aged. Participants who’d been meditating for an average of 20 years had more grey matter volume throughout the brain — although older meditators still had some volume loss compared to younger meditators, it wasn’t as pronounced as the non-meditators.

http://www.forbes.com/sites/alicegwalton/2015/02/09/7-ways-meditation-can-actually-change-the-brain/

Article:

7 reasons meditation isn't a waste of time

Think meditation is a waste of time? Here are seven reasons why you are wrong

Sitting in total silence, eyes closed, palms facing upward and mouthing Om, may seem a practice for sadhus. But this very mindful meditation technique can fit perfectly into the mundane lives of nine-to-five working professionals. And you'll be more than enlightened. Here are seven benefits . http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/life-style/health-fitness/de-stress/7-reasons-meditation-isnt-a-waste-of-time/articleshow/34677955.cms

Video:

The happy secret to better work

Shawn Achor

We believe that we should work to be happy, but could that be backwards? In this fast-moving and entertaining talk from TEDxBloomington, psychologist Shawn Achor argues that actually happiness inspires productivity.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fLJsdqxnZb0

Article:

100 Benefits of Meditation

There are so many advantages to meditation. When I first originally thought of this post, I indeed wanted to make it 100 benefits long (think big right!), however, I wasn’t sure I could find more than perhaps 20-25 benefits. Well, I made it happen! Meditation is as powerful as I thought it would be.

http://www.ineedmotivation.com/blog/2008/05/100-benefits-of-meditation/

Article:

Meditation not only reduces stress, here’s how it changes your brain

By Brigid Schulte

Sara Lazar, a neuroscientist at Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard Medical School, was one of the first scientists to take the anecdotal claims about the benefits of meditation and mindfulness and test them in brain scans. What she found surprised her — that meditating can literally change your brain. She explains:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/news/inspired-life/wp/2015/05/26/harvard-neuroscientist-meditation-not-only-reduces-stress-it-literally-changes-your-brain/