Resolving conflict is a pivotal self-control ability for human adaptation and survival. Although some studies reported meditation may affect conflict resolution, the neural mechanisms are poorly understood. We conducted a fully randomized 5 h trial of one form of mindfulness meditation-integrative body-mind training (IBMT) in comparison to a relaxation training control. During the Stroop...
The definition of meditation (or yoga) by Patanjali as “restriction (or stilling) of the fluctuations of the mind” (cf, Woods, 1927/2003, p. xxx, 8) may be an appropriate starting point for research on meditation using fMRI. An operational definition of the neural substrate of meditation which is adequate to Patanjalis definition, may be developed on the basis of a non-reductionistic...
There is an increasing interest in studying the association between spirituality and addiction, and the effect of mindfulness on recovery. There have been some attempts at exploring the mediators of the association, but seldom in the context of Christian contemplation and rarely within a single theoretical framework of psychology. This article reports two case studies from an intervention study...
A pragmatic mindfulness intervention to benefit personnel working in chronically high-stress environments, delivered onsite during the workday, is timely and valuable to employee and employer alike. Mindfulness in Motion (MIM) is a Mindfulness Based Intervention (MBI) offered as a modified, less time intensive method (compared to Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction), delivered onsite, during...
Aim: The study objective was to evaluate an eight-week Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) treatment group for chronic pain in terms of effects on pain disability, subjective ratings of pain and psychological distress related to pain, and activity level and willingness to experience pain. This pilot study evaluated the impact of two eight-week MBSR treatment groups that were delivered in...
Background: Mindfulness along with breathing is a well-established meditation technique. Breathing is an exquisite tool for exploring subtle awareness of mind and life itself. Aim: This study aimed at measuring changes in the different parameters of electrophotonic imaging (EPI) in anapanasati meditators. Materials and methods: To carry out this study, 51 subjects comprising 32 males and 19...
This article offers some in-depth reflections on the body in Buddhism, and particularly the concept of ‘impermanence’ and ‘mindfulness of body’. I explore here, how the body is classified and intellectualized in Buddhist culture and tradition, with a focus on definitions and practices of Buddhist Theravada, including: Satipatthana, Vipassana Meditation, Nama-Rupa and Kayagatasati. I offer...
Mantra (prolonged repetitive verbal utterance) is one of the most universal mental practices in human culture. However, the underlying neuronal mechanisms that may explain its powerful emotional and cognitive impact are unknown. In order to try to isolate the effect of silent repetitive speech, which is used in most commonly practiced Mantra meditative practices, on brain activity, we studied...
Meditation is often associated with a relaxed state of the body. However, meditation can also be regarded as a type of mental task and training, associated with mental effort and physiological arousal. The cardiovascular effects of meditation may vary depending on the type of meditation, degree of mental effort, and amount of training. In the current study we assessed heart rate (HR),...
Theory suggests that heightening state mindfulness in meditation practice over time increases trait mindfulness, which benefits psychological health. We prospectively examined individual trajectories of state mindfulness in meditation during a mindfulness-based intervention in relation to changes in trait mindfulness and psychological distress. Each week during the eight-week intervention,...
Meditation training has been shown to enhance attention and improve emotion regulation. However, the brain processes associated with such training are poorly understood and a computational modeling framework is lacking. Modeling approaches that can realistically simulate neurophysiological data while conforming to basic anatomical and physiological constraints can provide a unique opportunity...
Objectives The purpose of this study is to find out whether or not there are differences of effects when we count breaths on inspiration or expiration, and how differently the effects show up according to gender or Sasang Constitution Methods A group of 79 participants were enrolled and diagnosed Sasang Constitution by Sasang Constitution Diagnosis System of the Korea Institute of Oriental...
Normal aging is known to result in a reduction of gray matter within the hippocampal complex, particularly in the subiculum. The present study was designed to address the question whether the practice of meditation can amend this age-related subicular atrophy. For this purpose, we established the correlations between subicular volume and chronological age within 50 long-term meditators and 50...
In the last few decades, mindfulness meditation has gained prominence as an adjunctive psychotherapeutic technique. In fact, a vast literature of controlled studies has found that mindfulness meditation is related to improved mental health across a variety of disorders. Elucidating the components involved in mindfulness meditation's positive impact on psychological well-being is an important...
OBJECTIVES: Major depressive disorder is a significant mental illness that is highly likely to recur, particularly after three or more previous episodes. Increased mindfulness and decreased rumination have both been associated with decreased depressive relapse. The aim of this study was to investigate whether rumination mediates the relationship between mindfulness and depressive relapse....
Vipassana Meditation is measured to be the embodiment of the tradition from 2500 years back. It is non-scientific technique of self-observation which leads to progressive improved insight and positive life satisfaction attributes, as also, inculcations of family, friends, school, living environment and self life-satisfaction. The goal of this research was to study the effectiveness of Vipassana...
In contemporary western societies stress is highly prevalent, therefore the need for stress-reducing methods is great. This randomized controlled trial compared the efficacy of self-help physical activity (PA), mindfulness meditation (MM), and heart rate variability biofeedback (HRV-BF) in reducing stress and its related symptoms. We randomly allocated 126 participants to PA, MM, or HRV-BF upon...
The relevance of spiritual practices in health and diseases is well recognized but its application in health care management is lacking.There are many factors responsible for present state of affairs.Firstly, spirituality is dismissed as superstitions, blind faith or worst as quackery resulting in to its poor coverage in modern medical curriculum.Secondly, there is lack of information on...
Ruminative thoughts about a stressful event can seem subjectively real, as if the imagined event were happening in the moment. One possibility is that this subjective realism results from simulating the self as engaged in the stressful event (immersion). If so, then the process of decentering--disengaging the self from the event--should reduce the subjective realism associated with immersion,...
Based on mixed results linking both mindfulness and its opposing construct mind wandering to enhanced creativity, we predicted that the relationship between mindfulness and creativity might depend on whether creative problems are approached through analytic strategy or through "insight" (i.e., sudden awareness of a solution). Study 1 investigated the relationship between trait mindfulness and...