Um…manipulating scientific jargons won’t give you anything meaningful, until you make sense of it as related to the context. Then it may be meaningful, but still not necessarily correct.
Shanti wrote:
Shanti, it doesn’t make much sense to say whether we “agree with” certain scientific findings, just as we don’t usually say we “agree with” the statistics that most dogs have 4 legs. We challenge scientific findings by pointing at their methodological fallicies or limitations.
Thought does influence matter. HOW exactly this is done I don’t know.
But hey, what else are we doing here in Yoga other than expanding
and purifying our nervous system. Our nervous system is matter,
is our body. We are changing it through exercises of thought.
Does any thinking person doubt that thought is the foundation of reality?
Thought triggers will, emotion, and desire.
Will, emotion, and desire trigger bio-chemical reactions which in turn motivate behavior.
We are the creator of our self.
By chosing to think a certain thought, I create something.
In Yoga I am purifying and expanding my nervous system.
This is influencing matter.
Hi Wolfgang and all;
I agree that our thoughts create our realities. Our thoughts are based on how we perceive, and our perceptions are influenced by our thoughts. It’s a circle that keeps our world tidy so we can feel comfortable collecting our nuts. Our perceptions are also based on how we feel through our senses; hot, cold, hungry etc. The circle is a linear experience in this place. We are trying to figure out on this thread how we create our realities within the confines of this linear circle. I don’t think it can be done with such a limited thought process.
Understanding how it works directly through the experience of being is a different kind of understanding; it cannot be measured within the confines of the linear circle that It manifested in the beginning.
As Wolfgang said we are purifying our nervous systems through yoga. That will change our focus of perception away from the linear circle to the source. But it was also said that we are changing our nervous systems through exercises of thought. I don’t think yoga and thoughts are the same thing
I think yoga can change our focus of perception so that our thoughts will come from the source more and more rather than from the circle of thought/feeling/perception in this created world. As that change of focus comes about I think we will be more effective at accessing more potent thoughts from the source of creation which are thoughts that have potential to change our realities.
Just my two cents. Peace, alan
I was just viewing my post and noticed that I didn’t really make clear whatever point I was trying to make. I think I was trying to say that when we are unconscious (caught up in maya) we don’t see how our thoughts are creating our realities. Hence our realities seem to be out of our hands as we are only looking at peices of the whole; an incomplete picture. When we are conscious we not only see the process but we also have access to the source at the beginning of the process. We “see” the whole picture and step aside from the process of creation and can better channel positive change from the source.
I’ve veered off the original post 
I think it’s wonderful that scientific study shows evidence of brain growth due to meditation.
Peace, alan
Hello;
I almost deleted all that gobbeldydegoop I posted above. Quite nauseating. But I left it just in case there might be something of value(?).
So I decided to leave something of beauty:
sandalwood & jasmine
There’s my two scents! Peace, alan
Dear one Alan,
thank you for not deleting your posts. I enjoyed reading them and they are indeed of value for us to share. And I also love those two ‘scents’!! How clever is that!
in all love,
Kathy
Nice post, Alan!
Wolfgang wrote:
By all means I agree with this. Any thought would have some results (not necessarily desirable ones) in us. And pseudo-science; or scientific jargons without enough understanding of their deeper meaning; could not help us in a positive way. Not spiritually, and not intellectually.
Up to now, scientists has very little to say about the mechanics of yoga, meditations, etc, although we do know some of their effects. Using scientific jargons without any thoughtful real substance gives no explanation. The way it “influence matters”?----Pseudo-science gives layman a feeling of “being very deep and mysterious”. At best it gives people some entertainment or some peotic (but meaningless or wrong) statements; at worst it can be often used by “false guru” to cover their poor quality of actual teaching, creating many traps for the public.
I am a strong advocate of examining yoga with science. Just not to confuse that with careless statements full of scientific jargons. For a more thorough discussion on a related topic in the forum, see: http://www.aypsite.org/forum/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=884
Alvin
Hi Alvin;
Yes it’s good. Lets continue to measure and test the effects of yoga and meditation on the organism. It is part of our adventure toward the infinite. I do believe though that ultimately the infinite will never be measurable except by our individual experience. Each one of us makes our final measure until the measure dissolves away and measure, measurer and measurable become one
immeshed, immersed, immesure
iamsure 
alan
Moderator note: Topic moved for better placement