Background: Meditation has become increasingly popular in recent decades. However, relatively little remains known about the prevalence of and risk factors for adverse experiences related to a single meditation practice. Objective: The objective of our study was to examine adverse experiences associated with 3 brief, digitally delivered meditation practices (mindfulness, self-compassion, and...
Objectives: Digital technology opens the possibility of providing meditation instruction in the midst of daily activities. This study explores the use of "active" meditation practices which involve meditating while completing daily activities (e.g., folding laundry). Method: We use data from public users of the Healthy Minds Program (HMP) meditation app (N = 26,532, Sample 1) and from a...
INTRODUCTION: Meditation practice and psychedelic use have attracted increasing attention in the public sphere and scientific research. Both methods induce non-ordinary states of consciousness that may have significant therapeutic benefits. Thus, there is growing scientific interest in potential synergies between psychedelic use and meditation practice with some research suggesting that...
Bidirectional associations between changes in symptoms and alliance are established for in-person psychotherapy. Alliance may play an important role in promoting engagement and effectiveness within unguided mobile health (mHealth) interventions. Using models disaggregating alliance and psychological distress into within- and between-person components (random intercept cross-lagged panel model),...
Digital interventions have the potential to alleviate mental health disparities for marginalized and minoritized communities. The current study examined whether disparities in access and utilization of meditation in the United States (US) were reduced for a freely available meditation app. We analyzed demographic and usage data from US-based users of the Healthy Minds Program (HMP; N = 66,482)...
Objectives: There is limited understanding of what motivates people to initiate and sustain a meditation practice. This study investigates initial and current motivations for meditation, demographic variability in motivations, and associations with ongoing and lifetime meditation practice. Methods: A national sample of internet users were recruited to examine initial and current motivations for...