Extended Play Resources

The Seven Steps of EcoMeditation

Calendar of Upcoming Workshops and Live Events

Slate Interview with Anthony Ray Hinton

Video Interview: Weekend University Interview with Dr Andrew Newberg: Neuroscience, Spiritual Experiences and Self Transformation

Video Interview: Why Meditation Matters: Daniel Goleman and Richard Davidson with Richard Gere

Dawson Guided EcoMeditation: Activating Bliss Brain 1
Meditation Link: 

Updates to This Chapter

As new studies are published, updates to Chapter 1 are published here.

Image Credits

 1.1. Anthony Ray Hinton. Public Domain.

1.2. An orangutan mother kissing her adult daughter. iStockphoto.

1.3. Brain capacity in cubic centimeters before and after humans began using tools. Author.

1.4. Reconstruction of the features of an elderly Neanderthal. CC BY-SA 4.0 Neanderthal-Museum, Mettmann.

1.5. Mortality rates of children over the last two millennia. CC BY 4.0 Our World In Data.

1.6. CYP17 gene. CC BY-SA 3.0 A2-33, via Wikimedia Commons.

1.7. The Task Positive Network. Author.

1.8. An MRI image of the Default Mode Network. John Graner, Neuroimaging Department, National Intrepid Center of Excellence, Walter Reed National Military Medical Center. Public Domain.

1.9. Participants at a retreat I taught at Esalen Institute in California. Author.

1.10. France is full of beauty and grace. iStockphoto.

1.11. My morning meditation shortly after the fire. Author.

1.12. With advanced scanners like this Siemens fMRI. Author.

1.13. Emotion Regulation Circuit: Author.

1.14. Selfing Control Circuit: Author.

1.15. Attention Circuit: Author.

1.16. Empathy Circuit: Author.

1.17. The Default Mode Network and the Task Positive Network operate like a seesaw or teeter-totter. Author.

1.18. Mother Teresa. Getty Images.