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Calm World: Introduction to Meditation

By: Alice Fraser, Ash Ranpura
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  • Summary

  • Meditation is everywhere: your mobile phone, clothing stores and even in colouring books. But where does it come from and what even is it? With the help of neuroscientist Ash Ranpura, comedian Alice Fraser explores the science, history and culture behind meditation. On the way we will meet the tiny part of the brain that triggers most of our fear and anxiety, the NBA coach who taught Michael Jordan how to meditate, and the writer who says the best way to cope with our polarised politics is to practice mindfulness.

    This is an Audible Original Podcast. Free for members. You can download all 6 episodes to your Library now.

    ©2018 Audible, Ltd. (P)2018 Audible, Ltd.
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Episodes
  • Ep. 1: Why is Everyone Meditating?
    Nov 9 2018

    Alice Fraser starts this series by telling a story about how the world is speeding up. How did we get to a place where everything is so fast all the time? A place where we have no time to slow down. She chats to Robert Colville, an author who has written about the history of speeding up.

    Ash talks to Brigid Schulte. She wrote a book called Overwhelmed: How To Love Work And Play When No One Has The Time. She says technology and time management are taking over our lives and making us more and more distracted. And that is actually changing our brains. The episode will end with the author and journalist Robert Wright talking about the idea of the red pill in the Matrix. He tells Alice we have deluded ourselves for too long but there is a way out: meditation.

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    19 mins
  • Ep. 2: The Pause
    Nov 9 2018

    Alice tells Ash her own story of growing up in a Buddhist family. She says meditation allowed her to consider her emotions more but she doesn’t know why. What is it about that helps us deal with our emotions?

    To answer Ash goes back to Robert Wright who explains why we are so emotional in the first place. He says the main problem is we are not in as much control of our minds as we think. That’s because of evolution. But according to the neuroscientist Sara Lazar it’s also because of something else - this tiny part of our brains that controls our emotional response called the amygdala. Sara explains that meditation provides a pause between experiencing something and reacting this. This insight chimes with Alice’s experience of meditating.

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    24 mins
  • Ep. 3: How Does Meditation Change the Brain?
    Nov 9 2018

    Alice travels to Cambridge. She understands the experience of meditation but now she wants to know whether it actually changes the brain in any fundamental way. She has her brain imaged by the scientist Barbara Jachs, who is trying to work out the relationship between meditation and brain activity. This is now a mainstream area of science but it wasn’t always that way.

    Ash chats to Daniel Goleman who wrote the book The Science of Meditation. It turns out Dan was one of the first researchers to start studying this idea that meditation can change the brain. The idea was radical back then but a certain scientific theory changed everything: neuroplasticity. This theory has helped scientists realise meditation strengthens brain circuits like doing reps in the gym strengthens your muscles. Ash also talks to Sara Lazar about a pioneering study she did that shows meditation can make fundamental changes to the brain after just 8 weeks of practice.

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    24 mins

What listeners say about Calm World: Introduction to Meditation

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  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars

interesting

interesting view on meditation, I wish it was a little more in depth but it provided a good base knowledge.

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  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars

worth a listen

I enjoyed the interviews and Alice's personal story of growing up in a family that meditated.

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    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

Great for sceptics and first timers

this really opened my eyes especially coming from a logical and scientific mindset!

I really wanna know the app they trialed for 30 days!

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

Enjoyable and worthwhile

Easy to learn & gain from. Thank you for this lush listen. Alice's voice is beauty-full.

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    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

Light but inspiring

All guests & hosts spoke about very interesting aspects of meditation. Like the way they spoke of 'just startubg' an old habit again & again if u have to.. (like exercise) Timely after getting back to my laps this morning after 6wks prioritising uni study, feel great after btw)

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    5 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars

Loved it bruv

Loved it, hypnosis was a weird topic and the portion about the association of something you dislike to something you do like seemed a little far fetched, but that's me being harsh... Awesome duo and great topics that were so enjoyable to learn from and all with a touch of banter. You can't go wrong.

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    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

Perfect

I really loved it. It was exactly what I wanted it to be. I am a scientific person, so looking at meditation from scientific point of view, made me more convinced to keep on trying. Alise and Ash are great storytellers, and the stories were really good. Love Alises laugh :)

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    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

its time to start meditation!!

loved it! so interesting, real eye opening about the benefits of relaxing the mind and getting out of our heads

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    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

educational

Educational and thought provoking. I am going to give this meditation a try too. start with 1 minute a day.

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Good

worth the investment of time and was interactive and we'll presented. will definitely recommend it

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