Research, published the Journal of Sex & Marital Therapy, investigated the link between meditation and sexual function in women by asking 450 participants aged between 17 and 70 about their experience of meditation, sexual desire, awareness of their own body sensations, their health and mood – and the 193 women who meditated scored higher than other women in sexual function and desire.

 “In particular, our findings show that women with meditation experience have higher scores related to arousal, lubrication, orgasm and desire than women with no meditation experience," study co-author Lori A. Brotto, a professor at the University of British Columbia and author of Better Sex Through Mindfulness.

It appears that in the women who meditated, mood was a significant factor and was also a predictor of improved sexual function and desire.

Another study of women with low arousal showed improvement in arousal, lubrication, and sexual function amongst women who learned to meditate.

The meditations, Brotto says, can also help men with specific sexual problems, such as impotence. 

Brotto says, “To be fully present with each sensation, without judgment or commentary, is what I think has been missing for the countless people who are dissatisfied with sex.”

Being distracted and unable to halt the incessant chatter running through the mind is a big passion-killer.  Learning a simple technique like Ishayas’ Ascension can teach you how to be present in any situation and I might add, can be used at any time, even sex.

Depression increases risk for and worsens outcomes among those with coronary artery disease, stroke, and cancer.  Worldwide, major depressive disorder is a leading source of morbidity, and by 2030 it is projected to be the number one contributor to the global burden of disease.
 
An article in Psychology Today by Ellen McGrath stated pretty simply, “The less love you have, the more depression you are likely to experience in your life. Love is probably the best antidepressant there is because one of the most common sources of depression is feeling unloved.”  The subheading to that article was “Love is the best antidepressant”.

The article goes on to say that common culture has many unrealistic and untrue ideas about love, especially romantic love.  Then she states, ‘It is not only possible but necessary to change one's approach to love’.

In our beginning course of “The Art of Ascension”, we talk about the many misconceptions we hold, not only about love, but also many other things in life.  These misconceptions do not serve us in living a fulfilled or happy life.  The Art of Ascension teaches simple tools that not only retrains the mind, but clarifies our perceptions…to experience life more innocently, rather than through the lens of our societal belief systems and misconceptions.

By simply learning these tools and incorporating them into our life, we begin to more innocently experience the attitudes of Praise, Gratitude, Love and Compassion.  That experience, the experiences of Love moving in and through our lives, opens us to so much more of life.

Research shows that meditation can reduce anxiety, stress, and possibly depression.  Results of a study on a meditation focused on positive emotions produced increases in a wide range of personal resources (e.g., purpose in life, social support, and decreased illness symptoms). In turn, these increments in personal resources predicted increased life satisfaction and reduced depressive symptoms.

Depressed people tend to ruminate on their problems, causing anxiety.  A daily practice such as Art of Ascension can give one skills to witness their thoughts as well as develop an ability to make clearer choices about their thoughts. Using the Art of Ascension throughout the day can replace those ruminating thoughts.

What we think influences every aspect of who we are and how we feel physically.
A fascinating study, one of many of this kind, done at Ohio State University shows that healing can be slowed by as much as 40% when one is stressed. Considering that stress is the body’s reaction to our thought life, our state of mind (our thought life), is quite literally determining our mental and physical health.

Dr. Caroline Leaf says, “When you adopt a lifestyle of intense mental focus, you quite literally “switch on” neuroplasticity, the marvelous ability of the brain the grow branches and unending scaffolds of networks to increase your intelligence.”  In the 1990’s, she began working with traumatic brain injured patients who had been given no hope of improvement by the medical community. She successfully helped them retrain their brain through focus to regain and outperform their own intelligence tests from pre-injury. 

Renewing the mind
One of her major tenets speaks of Toxic Thinking that takes up real estate in the brain and sets up limitations and boundaries.  She teaches of the importance of “renewing the mind” by considering “how” you think and what you think about to “detox the brain”. She teaches that every choice we make, down to the level of each thought we think, is a choice between life and death.

The Art of Ascension incorporates the important aspects she covers in “detoxing the brain” in a very simple tool.  By simply using the tool regularly, we begin to find the “Observer Self” and begin to witness our thoughts. Just as important, the tool itself is constructed to be a perfect thought, one with no opposites.  So, as we introduce this tool throughout the day, we not only replace those other less perfect thoughts, we experience the results of a perfect thought.  Depending on how often we use it, the tool can restructure the brain to work in harmony with divine purpose and work at higher and higher levels.

MSI, who brought the Art of Ascension to the public, teaches that there are 108 perfect thoughts.  These have the by-product of taking the mind inward to experience the most innocent and free aspects of our selves.  As our awareness moves ever deeper, our body experiences more freedom and health as well, as the body eventually reflects what is going on in the mind.
 

 Your DNA need not be your destiny
 
Research has shown that genetics plays a part in Alzheimer’s. 

• They have found that you are more likely to get Alzheimer’s if one parent carries an APOE4  gene. 
• You are even more likely to get it if both parents carry the APOE4 gene. 
• But some people with both parents carrying the APOE4 gene, don’t get Alzheimer’s.
• And some people get Alzheimer’s that don’t even have the APOE4 gene!
• They have found that stress levels may be the largest factor.

In fact, research indicates that 80-95% of all disease is a result of stress. 

​Lower Stress Levels = Lower Risk:
The in­tense pace of modern life is simply too great to be countered without the power of daily avenue that effectively releases and lowers the stress levels in the body. The Art of Ascension is ex­treme­ly easy to prac­tice and quick­ly frees any­one from stress.

​Does Prayer change the brain?  Does it affect others?

Andrew Newberg has been studying the effects of prayer on the brain.  Here are some of the findings that he published in his book, “How God Changes Your Brain”.

• He found that just 12 minutes of daily focused prayer over an 8 week period can change the brain to such an extent that it can be measured on a brain scan.   This type of prayer seems to increase activity in brain areas associated with social interaction compassion and sensitivity to others. 
• Prayer reduces stress and anxiety, and just 12 minutes of meditation per day may slow down the aging process.
• Contemplating a loving God rather than a punitive God reduces anxiety, depression, and stress, and increases feelings of security, compassion, and love.
• Intense prayer and meditation permanently change numerous structures and functions in the brain—altering your values and the way you perceive reality.

So, prayer & meditation changes matter for the person that is doing the prayer/meditation. 

Another question becomes does a person’s thoughts (essentially that is what prayer is) impact matter elsewhere?

Institute of Noetic Sciences conducted a study that has become known as the “Love-Study”.  They put 36 loving couples through an experiment.  They locked one of the  partners in an electro-magnetic shielded room away from the second partner who was in a room with a closed-circuit TV. Both partners were connected to electrodes measuring skin conductance and blood flow.   Randomly, the second person was shown the image of their partner for 10 seconds.  During that time, the second person was encouraged to think loving thoughts about their partner, who was completely unaware of what was taking place. Each time the image was shown, within 2 seconds, the first partner’s blood flow increased and perspiration dramatically changed.  The odds of this happening by chance were 1 in 11,000. Three dozen double blind, randomized studies by such institutions as the University of Washington and the University of Edinburgh have reported similar results.

So, if this article is about prayer, what does this have to do with the Art of Ascension? 

While we often say the Art of Ascension is a simple tool, for many of us that came from a tradition of prayer before we learned this practice, we consider the technique to be “the perfect prayer”.