Previous studies suggest that the practice of long-term (months to years) mindfulness meditation induces structural plasticity in gray matter. However, it remains unknown whether short-term (<30 days) mindfulness meditation in novices could induce similar structural changes. Our previous randomized controlled trials (RCTs) identified white matter changes surrounding the anterior cingulate...
BACKGROUND Integrative mental health care can be used to treat depression with a person-centered, lifestyle-modifying, and more salutogenic approach to mental health and human flourishing. In this article, we report on the feasibility and acceptability of a new mind-body program, Meditation Based Lifestyle Modification (MBLM), in outpatients with mild or moderate depression. METHODS This is a...
The combined use of cigarettes and alcohol is associated with an increased risk of morbidity and mortality. Yet, efficacious interventions that address both behaviors concurrently are lacking. Smoking cessation and alcohol modification not only garner health benefits, but there is also value in addressing alcohol use in the context of smoking cessation to reduce the risk for smoking relapse. In...
One personal quality that many patients seek in their physicians is compassion. In addition, medical schools are beginning to search for premedical students that possess compassionate qualities. Premedical students and physicians alike might wonder how they can increase their compassion. It seems that the answer may arise from an age-old tradition—meditation. Meditation has been around for...
INTRODUCTION Yoga practice in common usage is often confined to the physical aspects of the comprehensive practice. The purpose of this study was to examine the use of two additional aspects of yoga as part of yoga practice, i.e. yogic breathing and meditation (YoBaM). Prevalence and predictors of YoBaM use among yoga practitioners in the US general population were analyzed. METHOD...
Objectives This study aimed to explore predictors and outcomes associated with different trajectories of discontinuing antidepressant medication (ADM), in recurrently depressed individuals after participation in mindfulness-based cognitive therapy (MBCT). Facilitators and barriers of discontinuation were explored qualitatively.Design Mixed-methods study combining quantitative and qualitative...
Objectives The present study aimed to compare the psychological effects of meditation- and breathing-focused yoga practice in undergraduate students. Methods A 12-weeks yoga intervention was conducted among a group of undergraduate students enrolled in four yoga classes at an academically prestigious university in Beijing, China. Four classes were randomized to meditation-focused yoga or...
ABSTRACT Objectives Compassion meditation (CM) training has demonstrated potential in improving well-being and psychosocial functioning. However, most prior studies of CM training have focused on younger adults. The generalizability of the effectiveness of CM training with older adults requires further study. This pilot study was intended to inform future randomized controlled studies of CM...
Mindfulness- Based Cognitive Therapy (MBCT) could be a promising psychosocial intervention for people with bipolar disorder (BD). However, little is known about the feasibility of MBCT for people with BD. In this study we explore the facilitators and barriers people with BD experience of an adapted MBCT program. This qualitative study is part of a large, multicenter randomized controlled trial...
Abstract Meditation generally has small to moderate effects on health and well-being, but some people experience greater benefits from meditation than others. What are the characteristics of the study participants or meditation students that lead to beneficial outcomes of meditation? This chapter adopts a multilevel approach to evaluate the evidence on the relationship between participant...
Background Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) often improves health outcomes, though literature primarily focuses on middle-class, employed individuals. With an estimated average of six million unemployed over the past year, and the recent uptick in unemployment due to the COVID-19 pandemic, it is important to identify methods to mitigate and reduce the negative health outcomes often...
Abstract This chapter illustrates connections between meditation and social change, distinguishing assimilative and radical currents recognizable in the adoption of meditation as a tool of social stability and social transformation, especially within a North American context. The assimilative approach rests on the assumption that individual meditation practice will naturally lead to social...
Abstract This chapter features meditation theory from the perspective of Chan Buddhism. Simply known as Chan, or Zen in Japanese, it is regarded as the sinification of Indian Buddhism, especially of Indian dhyāna. There are three major periods of Chan in China. It started with Bodhidharma and his six major successors up to Huì Néng, the sixth patriarch. This period is known as the Pure Chan...
Abstract This chapter describes texts and practices associated with meditation in Southern, or Pali, Buddhism, sometimes known as Theravada Buddhism. It explores some different approaches to meditation that characterize this form of Buddhism, as well as the textual basis for their practice and theory. The word “meditation,” with its application in Southern Buddhism, is examined. In Southern...
November 9, 2020Elizabeth S. Allen, S. Evans, K. Wyka
Abstract Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) offers comprehensive instruction to clients in three forms of meditation: the body scan, sitting meditation, and gentle hatha yoga. Clinical experience suggests that participants may express a preference for one mode of practice over others. However, little research has addressed this question or explored participants’ experience of nonspecific...
Contemporary scholarship on mindfulness casts it as a form of purely non-evaluative engagement with experience. Yet, traditionally mindfulness was not intended to operate in a vacuum of dispassionate observation, but was seen as facilitative of eudaimonic mental states. In spite of this historical context, modern psychological research has neglected to ask the question of how the practice of...
Background: The way people respond to pain is based on psychological mechanisms, beliefs and expectations. Mindfulness meditation (MM) has been shown to regulate pain and mental suffering through different mechanisms such as positive reappraisal, attentional and emotional regulation. Yet, subjective experience and meaning of pain in connection with MM are still largely unexplored.Methods: The...
Background: GAD symptom complaints are common in general medical settings, yet psychosocial intervention options provided within such settings are limited. Randomized controlled trials have found that MBSR is effective for symptom reduction, but such research typically delivered MBSR to small diagnostically homogeneous patient groups rather than to larger heterogeneous groups as provided in...
ABSTRACT The psychological aspect of elite performance is increasingly recognized. Indeed, many elite athletes and sportspeople employ psychological techniques within their practice to reduce excess physical tension and feelings of performance anxiety. However, similar practices are less often part of standard singing training. Therefore, this study aimed to integrate mindfulness and wellbeing...