Contemplative Practices: A Strategy to Improve Health and Reduce Disparities.

Marino A Bruce; Kia Skrine Jeffers; Jan King Robinson; Keith C Norris

doi:10.3390/ijerph15102253

Contemplative Practices: A Strategy to Improve Health and Reduce Disparities.

Marino A Bruce, Kia Skrine Jeffers, Jan King Robinson, Keith C Norris

International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health October 15, 2018 DOI: 10.3390/ijerph15102253 (opens in new tab)

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Study at a glance

AI-extracted from the abstract

Characteristics	Theoretical or philosophical paper Peer reviewed
Intervention	Contemplative practices
Topics	Meditation
Keywords	Humans Spiritual therapies Empathy Population health Spirituality Health disparities Stress reduction
Key points	Argues that intolerance and lack of compassion contribute to poor health and disparities, and that contemplative practices can cultivate tolerance and compassion to improve individual and population health. Proposes that tolerance's acceptance dimension, an acknowledgement and acceptance of what "is" in the present moment, can relieve stress tied to differing beliefs and practices, and that combining compassionate consideration with acceptance creates harmony within and across individuals.

Abstract

Health has many dimensions, and intolerance and lack of compassion may contribute to the poor health and disparities in our nation. Tolerance can convey an inherent paradox or dissonance that can be associated with stress. However, tolerance has a dimension of acceptance, an acknowledgement and acceptance of what "is" at the present moment, that can relieve tension associated with differing beliefs and practices. Compassionate consideration of others can be combined with acceptance to create harmony within and across individuals. In this article, we explore how contemplative practices can cultivate tolerance and compassion and contribute to improvements in individual and population health.

Comparable studies

Other theoretical and historical papers on meditation, most cited first.

Study	Year	Design
Mindfulness: A proposed operational definition.	2004	Theoretical or philosophical paper
Mechanisms of mindfulness	2005	Theoretical or philosophical paper
How Does Mindfulness Meditation Work? Proposing Mechanisms of Action From a Conceptual and Neural Perspective	2011	Theoretical or philosophical paper
Mindfulness-based cognitive therapy for depression	2006	Theoretical or philosophical paper
Self-awareness, self-regulation, and self-transcendence (S-ART): a framework for understanding the neurobiological mechanisms of mindfulness	2012	Theoretical or philosophical paper

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