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The Feeling of Mindfulness in Meditation

J. L. Cassaniti

Remembering the Present April 15, 2018 DOI: 10.7591/cornell/9781501707995.003.0003 (opens in new tab)

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Study at a glance

AI-extracted from the abstract
Characteristics Ethnography Peer reviewed
Topics Meditation
Key findings Mindfulness is trained in the body and mind through various meditative techniques in Thailand, as shown by phenomenological descriptions of personal experience.

Abstract

This chapter investigates some of the main meditative techniques practiced in Thailand, as well as what it feels like to practice them and improve over time. It begins with an ethnographic encounter with a man who has just spent a month in meditation at Wat Rampoeng in Chiang Mai, and then follows the author’s personal experience at five different meditation retreats to learn about mindfulness in meditation. These meditative retreats include the training in mindfulness of sensations and saṅkhāras at S.N. Goenka’s vipassana-based courses in India and Phitsanulok, the mindfulness of breathing (ānāpānasati) at Buddhadhasa Bhikkhu’s monastery of Wat Suan Mokkh in Southern Thailand, and the mindfulness of walking (yup naw phong naw) at the rural cave monastery of Wat Tham Thong near Chiang Mai. Together these close descriptive examples of the phenomenological experience of meditation show how mindfulness is trained in the body and mind in Thailand.

Comparable studies

Other qualitative studies on meditation, most cited first.

Study Year Design Participants
The varieties of contemplative experience: A mixed-methods study of meditation-related challenges in Western Buddhists Western Buddhist meditation practitioners and experts in Theravāda, Zen, and Tibetan... 2017 Qualitative study with mixed-methods
The Effects of Mindfulness-based Stress Reduction on Nurse Stress and Burnout Nurses in a hospital system 2004 Implementation study with mixed methods
An exploratory mixed methods study of the acceptability and effectiveness of mindfulness -based cognitive therapy for patients with active depression and anxiety in primary care Primary care patients with recurrent depression or recurrent depression and anxiety 2006 Exploratory mixed methods study n = 13
A qualitative study of mindfulness‐based cognitive therapy for depression Participants in mindfulness-based cognitive therapy in a mental-health context 2001 Qualitative study n = 7
Effortless awareness: using real time neurofeedback to investigate correlates of posterior cingulate cortex activity in meditators' self-report Meditators 2013 Qualitative study using grounded theory methodology

Related reading

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Meditation Philosophy of mind