Annals of Behavioral Medicine
February 1, 2007
Shamini Jain, Shauna L. Shapiro, Summer Swanick et al.
1,304 citations
A one-month mindfulness meditation program and a somatic relaxation training both reduced psychological distress and improved positive mood in 83 distressed students, compared with a no-treatment control group. The two active interventions produced similarly large reductions in distress, but mindfulness meditation had a larger effect on positive states of mind and was the only intervention that decreased both distractive and ruminative thoughts. Reducing rumination partially explained how mindfulness meditation lowered distress. No changes in spiritual experience were observed.
PLoS One
November 7, 2018
Cassandra Vieten, Helané Wahbeh, B Rael Cahn et al.
124 citations
A survey of 1120 meditators found that most report having had anomalous and extraordinary experiences during meditation, such as mystical, transpersonal, or difficult phenomena. While meditation research has largely focused on clinical effectiveness and neural correlates, these less-studied experiences may be crucial for psychological and spiritual development, act as mediators of meditation's benefits, or be important outcomes themselves. A task force of researchers and teachers developed recommendations to expand research into these areas, which represent largely uncharted scientific terrain suitable for rigorous investigation.
Journal of Evidence-Based Complementary & Alternative Medicine
September 22, 2017
Christine Tara Peterson, Sarah M. Bauer, Deepak Chopra et al.
54 citations
A 3-day retreat teaching Shambhavi Mahamudra kriya, a yogic practice combining deep breathing and meditation, followed by 21 minutes of daily practice for 6 weeks, led to lower perceived stress and higher general well-being among 142 adults (mean age 43). The findings suggest this practice may serve as a natural approach to reducing stress.
Journal of Alternative and Complementary Medicine
April 1, 2018
Paul J Mills, Christine Tara Peterson, Meredith A Pung et al.
23 citations
A 6-day Ayurveda-based mind-body program significantly increased nondual awareness, a shift in self-perception that was sustained one month later. The study compared 69 healthy adults (average age 53.9) who participated in the intensive program against a control group. The program addressed physical, emotional, and spiritual domains. Participants showed a significant increase in scores on the Nondual Embodiment Thematic Inventory after the program and at a one-month follow-up. The findings suggest that holistic mind-body instruction can produce lasting changes in awareness that may benefit well-being.
Glob Adv Health Med
May 21, 2020
Paul J Mills, Tiffany J Barsotti, Judith Blackstone et al.
18 citations
Integrative Health aims to treat the whole person within whole systems and practices. The authors question what constitutes the whole person and propose that transcendent aspects of human awareness, the goal of many meditative traditions, must be accounted for. Nondual awareness, characterized by nonseparation, compassion, and love, is described as a state where well-being is an innate attribute of living in nonduality, independent of experiences. Thus, nondual awareness is considered foundational to realizing the whole person and achieving optimal well-being.
The lancet. Psychiatry
December 1, 2018
Sanford Nidich, Paul J Mills, Maxwell Rainforth et al.
Transcendental Meditation (TM) is at least as effective as prolonged exposure therapy (PE) for reducing PTSD symptoms in military veterans, and both therapies outperform PTSD health education alone. In a randomized trial of 203 veterans with PTSD from active service, TM was non-inferior to PE on the primary outcome of symptom severity change over three months. Both TM and PE produced significantly greater reductions in PTSD symptoms than health education. 61% of veterans receiving TM showed clinically significant improvement, compared with 42% receiving PE and 32% receiving health education. TM may offer an effective alternative for veterans who prefer not to undergo trauma-focused treatment.
Contemporary Clinical Trials
September 1, 2014
Thomas Rutledge, Sanford Nidich, Robert H Schneider et al.
A randomized controlled trial is underway comparing Transcendental Meditation (TM) to Prolonged Exposure (PE) therapy and a health education control for posttraumatic stress disorder in 210 Veterans meeting DSM-IV criteria. The study will measure PTSD symptoms, depression, mood, quality of life, behavioral factors, and physiological/biochemical and gene expression mechanisms at 0 and 3 months. The hypothesis is that TM will be noninferior to PE and superior to the control on changes in PTSD symptoms as assessed by the Clinician Administered PTSD Scale. This protocol aims to establish TM's efficacy for PTSD in Veterans and identify underlying mechanisms.