NATIONAL (NBC) - It could be inside a Japanese temple, but the Chicago Zen Center sits inside a stately Evanston home that some call a hospital for the mind.

Sensei Sevan Ross heads the Zen Center.

"Since the beginning of Buddhism, to help people with mental afflictions. That's what we do," he said.

Student Mike McKane goes to the Zen Center to lighten his depression.

"The meditation sort of put things in perspective for me. It was doing something good for me," he said.

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Medical data now conclusively supports the fact that meditation reduces stress levels and leads to healthier, happier, and more productive lives for its practitioners. The problem for most people is that they don't know where to begin. Greg de Vries and Brett Jennings---who each credit meditation for their professional success---have turned their attention to addressing the need for practical meditation education in corporate America. Beginning in September they will offer their popular meditation classes on-site to corporate clients who wish to enhance productivity, performance, and communication in the workplace. » Read More

(Fortune Magazine) -- The crowd of Harvard Business School alums who gathered at their reunion to hear networking expert Keith Ferrazzi speak earlier this summer might have expected to pick up strategies on how to work a room, remember people's names, or identify mentors. But tactical skills, it turns out, aren't what turned Ferrazzi into a bestselling author or sought-after speaker.

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ADELAIDE, Australia, July 6 (UPI) -- Meditation produces changes in brain waves associated with being increasingly alert, say an Australian researcher.

Dylan DeLosAngeles, of the Flinders Medical Center in Adelaide, is to present his findings this month at the World Congress of Neuroscience in Melbourne.

Previous studies proved conflicting about meditation's impact on the brain, with some studies reporting that meditators were asleep, DeLosAngeles said.

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I have often described yoga as meditation in postures; tai chi as meditation in motion; and qigong as meditation in action.  

Indeed qigong has yoga-like postures, tai chi-like slow movements, and kung fu-like fast and forceful movements. If you go back to history, Shaolin kung fu was the martial arts component of qigong practised by the monks of the Shaolin temple. It is the meditative discipline of qigong that allows the kung fu exponents to do extraordinary feats. 

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If you name your emotions, you can tame them, according to new research that suggests why meditation works.

Brain scans show that putting negative emotions into words calms the brain's emotion center. That could explain meditation’s purported emotional benefits, because people who meditate often label their negative emotions in an effort to “let them go.”

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Science Daily — Researchers at the University of Pennsylvania say that practicing even small doses of daily meditation may improve focus and performance.

Meditation, according to Penn neuroscientist Amishi Jha and Michael Baime, director of Penn's Stress Management Program, is an active and effortful process that literally changes the way the brain works.  Their study is the first to examine how meditation may modify the three subcomponents of attention, including the ability to prioritize and manage tasks and goals, the ability to voluntarily focus on specific information and the ability to stay alert to the environment.
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A combination of cognitive behavioural therapy and Buddhist meditation can help people with drink problems turn their backs on alcohol. Dr Paramabandhu Groves, a consultant psychiatrist at the Alcohol Advisory Service in London, who has successfully run workshops with people with depression, has now turned his attention to using the techniques to help people with addictions. Dr Groves has been ordained into the Western Buddhist Order based at the London Buddhist Centre in Bethnal Green, east London.
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It is no longer a small issue. Obesity among U.S. children has become of the most pressing health concerns for Americans current and future well-being. Santa Cruz County, unfortunately, is not exempt from the disease despite its notorious natural playground and appreciation for organic living. Uniting Americans in this epidemic is chronic stress, a risk factor that is enhancing our understanding of obesity and its potential treatments. Clinical respect is developing for the view that "stress is a risk factor for chronic illnesses such as obesity, type 2 diabetes, and hypertension ... exhibiting greater weight, BMI and abdominal circumference," all of which are conditions that plague the U.S. population. » Read More