module 6 & 7- link between religion, prayer, & health

The Link Between Religion, Prayer, and Health: Research Articles

Anoka-Ramsey CollegePPT #6 & 7

©Valerie Lis 2012

MODULES 6 and 7

• For Modules 6 and 7, we take a temporary break from the Young and Koopsen book.

• Our focus for both modules is on assigned readings, including journal articles that discuss research and other relevant factors from the field of Spirituality and Healing.

• You will find assigned journal articles in the “Content” area of D2L.

• Module 6- The primary focus is on the link between religion and health.

• Module 7- The primary focus is on the link between prayer and health.

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LINK BETWEEN RELIGION AND HEALTH

• Here is an overview of Module 6- The Link Between Religion and Health:

– Research Journal Articles• A1- “Frequent Attendance at Religious Services and

Mortality”• A2- “Attendance at Religious Services and Mortality”• A3- “Does Private Religious Activity Prolong Survival?”• A4- “The Neuroscience of Spirituality”• A5- “Psychophysiological Correlates of Spiritual Experience”• A6- “The Appreciative Heart The Psychophysiology of Positive

Emotions”(Note: A6 copyright approval is only for the assignment. Do not post online or share the pdf.)

– The Physiology of Spirituality (A4, A5, A6)• Blood Pressure• Immune System• PET & SPECT• HeartMath

©Valerie Lis 2012 3

Research is the highest form of adoration

~Tielhard de Chardin, Jesuit priest and scholar

LINK BETWEEN PRAYER AND HEALTH

• Here is an overview of Module 7- The Link Between Prayer and Health:

– Prayer is Good Medicine by Larry Dossey, MD• Read pp. 1-99 and 124-194

– Research Journal Articles• A7- “Positive Therapeutic Effects of Intercessory Prayer”• A8- “Effects of Remote, Retroactive Intercessory Prayer”• A9- “The Dark Side of Consciousness”

– Topics• Meditation and the Maharishi Effect• The Dark Side: Can Human Intentions Cause Harm? (A9)• The Link between Love & Health


DOES GOD AFFECT OUR BRAIN?

July 23, 2012 by Ruth Buczynski

Have you ever seen colors spelled out using the wrong color font? It’s called the Stroop task. Instead of reading the word, you have to determine the color of the word.

Researchers from the University of Toronto, led by psychologist Michael Inzlicht, PhD, examined subjects’ brains during the Stroop task to find out if believers’ and non-believers’ brains functioned differently under stress.

Subjects had a split second before having to push a button indicating what color they saw. At the same time, they were hooked up to a brain monitoring device which measured activity in the anterior cingulate cortex (ACC), a part of the brain that fires when we need to modify our behavior in a stressful situation.

Participants who had stronger religious beliefs made fewer mistakes on the Stroop task and, when they did mess up, exhibited less ACC firing.

According to this study, spiritual and religious beliefs may help prevent anxiety and reduce stress by means of regulating a certain part of the brain.

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MEDITATION AND THE MAHARISHI EFFECT

• According to Dossey in Prayer Is Good Medicine, “although our intellects may differentiate between prayer and meditation, our bodies do not” (p 92).

• More than 40 studies show how meditation, done as a group, can impact quality of life in surrounding communities and throughout the world.

• This consequence, called the “Maharishi Effect,” includes reductions in crime, international conflict, suicide, infectious diseases, infant mortality, cigarette and alcohol consumption, divorce, traffic fatalities and improvements in prosperity measures such as patent applications, corporate stock and gross national product.

• Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, the originator of Transcendental Meditation states that 1% of the population practicing T.M. will generate this effect.

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THE MAHARISHI EFFECT- RESEARCH

Crime in Washington D.C.

•A study conducted with 4,000 meditators from June 7–July 30, 1993 in Washington D.C. found that the crime rate dropped directly in proportion to the number of people who were meditating.

•Initially there were about 600 people meditating. This went up to around 4000 people by the end of the study period. As the number of people meditating went up, the crime rate decreased dramatically (23%).

•A time series analysis compared the experimental periods with similar periods from previous years and also controlled for many other variables.

•Hagelin et al., 1999

Taste of Utopia Assembly

•Over 7,000 TM-Sidhi practitioners met in Iowa for a three week period starting December 1983

•World trends were statistically evaluated before, during and after this event.

•The study shows positive correlations to world stock prices, patent applications and reductions in crime rate.

•Infectious diseases, traffic fatalities, air traffic fatalities world-wide were the fewest ever reported.

•Orme-Johnson et al., 1984

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Gregg Braden on Consciousness and the Maharishi Effect

©Valerie Lis 20128

http://youtu.be/vRQeIsfQtE4



Larry Dossey on Prayer

©Valerie Lis 20129

http://youtu.be/_IDlvrHIZ4M




makes no difference how deeply seated may be the trouble; how hopeless the outlook; how muddled the tangle; how great the mistake. A sufficient realization of love will dissolve it all. If only you could love enough you would be the happiest and most powerful being in the world….

~ Emmet Fox

There is no difficulty that enough love will not conquer; no disease that enough love will not heal; no door that enough love will not open; no gulf that enough love will not bridge; no wall that enough love will not throw down; no sin that enough love will not redeem….

THE LINK BETWEEN LOVE AND HEALTH

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DISCUSSION BOARD 6

• The Discussion Board for Module 6 centers on challenges faced by researchers in the field.

• You will first answer the following two questions:

1. If you were conducting research on religion and health, what ethical concerns might you have?

2. While conducting research on religion and health, what challenges might you face?

• Then, remember to place two more comments in response to other students’ posts.


DISCUSSION BOARD 7

• The Discussion Board for Module 7 focuses on Dossey’s "The Dark Side of Consciousness.” You will find this article in the Content area of D2L.

• In the article, Dossey states that a Gallup poll found that 5% of us admit to praying for harm for other people.

• You will first answer the following four questions:

1. This appears to be a fairly common. Does it surprise you?

2. Do you feel that this practice is ethical?

3. In your opinion, is it acceptable to pray for harm to blood cells, bacteria, or cancer cells when conducting medical research?

4. Do you have any examples of a person who has prayed for harm for others? What was the outcome?

• Then, remember to place two more comments in response to other students’ posts.


WIKI ACTIVITY- MODULE 6

©Valerie Lis 201213

CREATE A LABYRINTH

• Create a finger or walking labyrinth

for personal use. This can be a

drawing or painting on paper,

ceramic, or clay, a software creation

on the computer, or a representation

on the ground or in nature using sand

or chalk.

• Submit a representation or

photograph of your labyrinth, along

with a description of how you created

your project into the Group WIKI.

• Post three thoughtful comments to

your classmates’ submissions.

WIKI ACTIVITY- MODULE 7


• Use one of the programs at

http://www.eclipsecrossword.com/

or http://hotpot.uvic.ca/ to create a

crossword puzzle with 8- 12 words

from the assigned Dossey readings.

• Save your Crossword Puzzle as a jpg

(in Eclipse) or html (in Hot Potatoes)

and upload to the Group WIKI.

• Post three thoughtful comments to

your classmates’ submissions.

CREATE A CROSSWORD PUZZLE

CROSSWORD PUZZLE INSTRUCTIONS


1. Download & install Eclipse Crossword from

http://www.eclipsecrossword.com/.

2. Run Eclipse to create a new puzzle with 8-

12 words & clues.

3. Click “Next” until you reach the page that

allows you to “PUBLISH CROSSWORD.”

4. Publish to your desktop: 1) Save your clues

as an “RTF” File and 2) Save the empty

puzzle as a “WMF” File.

5. Open the “RTF” File in Microsoft Word. Copy

and paste the clues to your WIKI Page.

6. Open the “WMF” File in Microsoft Word.

7. Click File and Save As. Click the Drop Down

Box to find JPEG. Save as a JPEG File.

8. Upload the JPEG with your empty puzzle to

the Group WIKI.

9. If you wish, you may also upload the

answers for your crossword puzzle.

CREATE A CROSSWORD PUZZLE

http://www.eclipsecrossword.com/

REMINDERS. . .

• Be sure to complete the Quiz, the Discussion Board, and the Group WIKI activity this week.

• Remember: To receive credit for Discussion Boards and WIKIs, you must comment on other students’ posts.

• The due date for all assignments from the sixth module is October 7.

• The due date for all assignments from the seventh module is October 14.

• If you have any questions or concerns, please let me know. Thanks!

Valerie©Valerie Lis 2012 16


Prayer of an Unknown Confederate Soldier

I asked God for strength that I might achieve:I was made weak that I might learn to obey.

I asked for health that I might do great things.I was given infirmity, that I might do better things.

I asked for riches that I might be happy.I was given poverty that I might be wise.

I asked for power that I might have the praise of men.I was given weakness that I might feel the need of God.

I asked for all things that I might enjoy life.I was given life that I might enjoy all things.

I got nothing that I had asked for,But everything that I had hope for.

Almost despite myself my unspoken prayers were answered.I am, among all men, most richly blessed.

rayer is an ancient technology for implementation of one’s intention. People may have been taught prayers but they have not been taught how to pray.

~ John F. Rossiter Thornton

he Rx symbol that starts a prescription was an ancient symbol that the Romans borrowed from the Egyptians. The Romans thought that this hieroglyph was a prayer to God. So even today every prescription starts with a prayer to Jupiter.

~ Esther Sternberg

or all the tentative successes that scientists are scoring in their search for the biological basis of religious, spiritual, and mystical experience, one mystery will surely lie forever beyond their grasp. They may trace a sense of transcendence to this bulge on our gray matter. And they may trace a feeling of the Devine to that one. But it is likely that they will never resolve the greatest question of all- namely, whether our brain wiring creates God, or whether God created our brain wiring. Which you believe is, in the end, a matter of faith.

~ Sharon Begley


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module 6 & 7- link between religion, prayer, & health

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