I find this an excellent book by the late ex-neuroscientist and meditation adept, that illustrates how the mind works and distils the core of Buddhist meditation into easy to follow steps - the medtiation practice, as always, is the challenge to progress.
I have some The Mind Illuminated guided meditation audio files created by a meditation teacher if anyone is interested.
Has anyone used the book?
No, I do not, and honestly, I don’t think there is such a book just yet…
I remember looking at some of the studies a few years ago and I was left very unhappy with the state of the field. Low quality studies overall. That is not to say that meditation is not useful… We should not wait for science to validate our feelings. Meditation brings happiness and clarity and tranquility to many people. That is enough to me. Just don’t write a book and claim it’s science based when it is not.
Well put. i guess you’re right. I know that Shinzen Young is trying to do some of that kind of research. But in general the only thing I’ve heard of are studies in the direction of mindfulness. And afaik there’s a bunch of studies showing positive benefits to that. And in a way most meditation techniques, while not focusing on mindfulness, do require it to work. At least in one way or another. But you’re right. For me at least I know it is a good thing and that’s enough for me.