After a three-month retreat with 16 hours of daily mindfulness meditation, practitioners showed improved visual sensitivity: they could detect briefer light flashes and distinguish shorter intervals between successive flashes. A control group of retreat staff showed no change. Phenomenological reports suggest mindfulness practice brings normally preattentive visual processes into conscious awareness. These results support Buddhist textual claims about perceptual changes during mindfulness meditation.
A blended individual mindfulness-based intervention, combining brief therapist support with patient-led practice, shows promise for reducing depression symptoms. Of 39 patients with persistent depression who started the 12-week program, 24 completed it. Completers engaged in 89% of formal practices and showed large reductions in symptoms, with 75% moving below the clinical threshold. Patients found the approach acceptable but requested longer therapist sessions. The intervention may help make mindfulness-based treatments more accessible and sustainable for people with depression.