A JOINT PROJECT WITH THE SANTA BARBARA INSTITUTE FOR CONSCIOUSNESS, UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA-DAVIS & SHAMBHALA MOUNTAIN CENTER

Help us explore the human potential for genuine happiness and well-being by joining one of the most extensive studies on the long-term benefits of meditation practice. We invite you to participate in this extensive group meditation retreat hosted by Shambhala Mountain.

Over a three-month retreat, Dr. B. Alan Wallace will guide study participants in various forms of shamatha ("calm abiding") practice drawn from the Theravada and Mahayana Buddhist traditions. Instruction will also be offered on the cultivation of the Four Immeasurables (lovingkindness, compassion, empathetic joy and equanimity), which will be practiced between shamatha sessions.

Participants will devote themselves to meditating for eight to ten hours daily and will collaborate with a team of neuroscientists and psychologists led by neuroscientist Clifford Saron, PhD, shortly before, during and after this training period. Sixty-four individuals with varying degrees of prior meditation retreat experience will be selected to participate in these two retreats. To ensure the integrity of the research, participants will be randomly selected for one of these two retreats.

Retreat 1: February 27 – June 3, 2007

Retreat 2: September 3 – December 8, 2007

Those who are appointed to the second retreat will be expected to come, at the Project's expense, to Shambhala Mountain Center before, during, and after the first retreat to participate in scientific measurements as a "control group" to be compared with the first set of retreatants. This comparison process is essential for the scientific validity of the study.

Participants will be responsible for the cost of housing and food during their three-month retreat, but they will be paid $640 for participating in the scientific study. Several scholarships will be available, and if you are interested in supporting this project, your donations will be greatly appreciated.

Participation & Application Process

The primary list of participants has been established. If you are interested in serving as a project alternate and want to join our waitlist, please email us at shamatha@shamabhalamountain.org to receive an application.

Shamatha Project Background

This research project represents a unique collaboration between top-ranking neuroscientists and psychologists at the University of California and Tibetan Buddhist scholar B. Alan Wallace, PhD. This project has received substantial funding from the Fetzer Institute and Hershey Family Foundation.

B. Alan Wallace is the founder and president of the Santa Barbara Institute for Consciousness Studies. Combining 14 years of training as a Tibetan Buddhist monk with degrees in physics, the philosophy of science and religious studies, he is currently seeking ways to integrate Buddhist contemplative practices and Western science to advance the study of the mind. He is the author of numerous books, including Genuine Happiness: Meditation as the Path to Fulfillment and The Attention Revolution: Unlocking the Power of the Focused Mind.

Clifford Saron is an assistant research scientist at the Center for Mind and Brain at University of California-Davis. Interested in the brain and behavioral effects of meditation, he has been studying Tibetan Buddhist mind training in collaboration with the Mind and Life Institute, the Santa Barbara Institute for Consciousness Studies and numerous colleagues.