THE FEMALE BRAIN IS GENERALLY CLOSER TO ENLIGHTENMENT

I suspect women may find the road to 'enlightenment', as it were, easier to traverse than men. Mindful states in Olympian meditators reach high levels of gamma brainwaves.

When I worked with Michael Raduga at the Phase Research Center, where we tested subjects on lucid dreaming, it was found that women achieved the hybrid phase states responsible for lucid dreaming and out-of-body experiences more often than men.

This 'phase state' of the brain is subjectively compounded by two mental characteristics: wakefulness and dreaming.
Objectively, brain scans show unusual levels of gamma waves around 40 Hz.

Conclusion: lucid dreaming (the state of being aware of dreaming whilst it's happening) is no different to mindfulness in waking life. Dream lucidity = mindfulness during sleep, if you prefer.

Females empirically recorded more lucid dreams than males during trials.

Overall research by Michael Raduga et al was published on his website obe4u.com and later, The Lancet.

And from experience, women seem to open up about their feelings more than men.

A lot of men seem to think that seeking help is a form of weakness, or unmanly (not sure how much the old saying, 'Men don't cry', that boys sometimes hear, plays a role here) when in fact the weakness REALLY IS: not opening up or the unwillingness to concede that sometimes we all need help---even if it means trying something new.

I'm also sure some men considered trying yoga classes only to realise that the majority of students are female on the first day, prompting them to think, 'This is for women! Not for me ...'

It's a little sad. Virtually most people can benefit from yoga and mindfulness. Gender plays less of a role here, in determining whether someone suits the practice, than, say, certain severe mental/physical handicaps---such as schizophrenia or paraplegia.

For anyone wondering if masculinity is a curse here: I think anyone can impart knowledge in this field regardless of gender. In fact, the number of people who reach the 'Olympian' level that a meditator can achieve, includes both men and women.

Identity politics really have no room here. There are male and female monks and advanced mindfulness practitioners doing countless hours in retreats and all achieving great levels of success. Like Sharon Salzberg, there are many others. Like Jon Kabat-Zinn, many have jumped on this beneficial bandwagon.

The gender differences regarding brain chemistry here are so minimal that literally, all one needs in this context is what we ALL have in common: sentience and all the contents of consciousness that can be mindfully observed.