Loving-kindness and compassion meditations (LKCM) are considered a promising practice for increasing long-term well-being. While previous studies have mainly focused on meditation practice quantity, the current study provides an initial exploration of the quality of meditation during multiweek LKCM training. Data were collected through offline (Study 1; N = 41) and online (Study 2; N = 243)...
This case report on Transcendental Meditation covers 56 years, from its introduction in 1967 until today. It is divided into 3 main parts. Already in 1968, at the age of 22, this peak event, under the form of a meditative illumination completely took me by surprise and changed my life. A few days later, when I felt like a “person from Mars in disguise” started Phase 1: Rehabilitation, a state...
This article traces interface among four renowned Burmese masters of the Insight Meditation Movement, its political-historical context, and their distinct theoretical understandings and practical ways of dealing with two interrelated aspects of meditation: samatha (concentration) and vipassanā (wisdom). Two main approaches are found: samatha as a preparation for vipassanā, and vipassanā without...
PLoS One2023Mark S Nestor, Alec Lawson, Daniel Fischer
Frontline Healthcare provider (HCP) burnout has dramatically increased due to the COVID 19 pandemic. Hospitals are supporting wellness programs and techniques to reduce burnout including the Transcendental Meditation (TM) technique. This study evaluated the use of TM on HCP symptoms of stress, burnout and wellness. A total of 65 HCPs at three South Florida hospitals were recruited and...
Explore2023J C Thambyrajah, H W Dilanthi, S M Handunnetti et al.
Melatonin and its precursor serotonin are neurochemicals that play an important role in the physiological regulation of mood, sleep, and behavior. Studies have suggested the possibility of changes in the levels of melatonin and serotonin following meditation. However, the outcome of Buddhist meditation on both these two neurochemicals collectively have not been studied yet. To assess the effect...
This article provides a systematic review of studies evaluating the effect of meditation on the Default Mode Network (DMN). The review was conducted according to PRISMA guidelines. A literature search of PubMed, Scopus, and Embase was conducted up to June 2020. Search terms included default mode network or DMN and meditation.A total of 306 articles were identified, of which 16 controlled trials...
Abstract Objectives Mindfulness-Based Cognitive Therapy for Depression (MBCT-D) has been shown to be effective at repairing positive affect deficits in depressed individuals, but the mechanism of action underpinning these changes has not been empirically examined. To address this issue, secondary analyses of two randomised controlled trials in individuals with residual depression were...
Abstract This paper reports on the experience of the first cohort of cognitive behaviour therapists completing the first delivery of a UK government-funded mindfulness-based cognitive therapy (MBCT) teacher-training. Trainees completed a new curriculum approved by NHS England and commissioned by Health Education England (HEE) that enabled them to teach MBCT in Improving Access to Psychological...
This study is a secondary analysis evaluating changes in cognitive fusion and pain catastrophizing over 8 weeks of mindfulness-based cognitive therapy for migraine (MBCT-M) intervention versus waitlist/treatment as usual. Migraine is a common disabling neurological condition. MBCT-M combines elements of cognitive behavioral therapy with mindfulness-based approaches and has demonstrated efficacy...
Frontiers in Psychiatry2023Diego Carracedo-Sanchidrian, Consuelo De Dios-Perrino, Carmen Bayon-Perez et al.
Few controlled trials have assessed the benefits of Mindfulness Based Cognitive Therapy (MBCT) on cognitive functions and brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) in bipolar disorder (BD). This study aims to evaluate the impact of MBCT adjunctive treatment on these variables. Main hypothesis was that MBCT would improve cognitive functioning and BDNF more than Psychoeducation and TAU....
Adolescence is a time of increased emotional reactivity and improving cognitive control. Mindfulness meditation training may foster adolescents' cognitive control and emotional regulation skills; however little is known about the impact of mindfulness training in adolescents compared to adults. We examined the effect of mindfulness meditation versus a closely matched active control condition...
Mindfulness meditation has been shown to be beneficial for a range of different health conditions, impacts brain function and structure relatively quickly, and has shown promise with aging samples. Functional magnetic resonance imaging metrics provide insight into neurovascular health which plays a key role in both normal and pathological aging processes. Experimental mindfulness meditation...
Background: Self-compassion has received increased attention as a process of change inevidence-based psychotherapies, owing to its relation with numerous positive health outcomes. Though several practices have been shown to increase self-compassion, our aim here is to evaluate the utility of one particular practice, namely loving-kindness or metta meditation (LKM). Despite evidence supporting...
Research over the past decades has revealed a variety of beneficial effects of meditation training. These beneficial effects span the levels of health and well-being, cognition, emotion, and social behavior. Around the same time, sociologists have shown that traits and outcomes on the individual level have the potential to spread in communities over three or more degrees. This means, for...
This study aims to distinguish different stages in functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS) unlabeled data recorded during altered state of consciousness. We successfully identified three consistent clusters in each session and observed common patterns among different subjects, specifically a decrease in total hemoglobin levels throughout the experienced condition, which can underlie some...
In Greek mythology, the Muses (Mousikē) is the goddess of music and poetry. Muses provided us meaningful gifts, which are Meditation, music and medicine (three M’s). Mindfulness meditation brings focusing on our existence just now. Solfeggio frequency music may give bring relaxing effect, where 528Hz sound has been known for possible benefit for health. Medicine shows each pharmacokinetics with...
Buddhism is a historically and culturally diverse religious and philosophical tradition that offers a positive vision of the human potential for ending suffering and for leading lives that are happy and good. In recent years, ideas drawn from the Buddhist tradition have found their way into Western psychology, informing new ways of understanding and promoting human well-being. These insights...
Meditation is generally described as being in the present moment or being alert in the present moment, instead of constantly struggling to change or to become. Meditation is an essential part of Yoga philosophy and the seventh limb of Astanga Yoga described by sage Patanjali in the ancient text Patanjali Yoga Sutra. Yoga including meditation, is an ancient technique invented to unite the...
Our paper takes as its starting point the recent proposal, at the core of this special issue, to use the active inference framework (AIF) to computationally model what it is for a person to live a meaningful life. In broad brushstrokes, the AIF takes experiences of human flourishing to be the result of predictions and uncertainty estimations along many dimensions at multiple levels of...
Abstract (Lang: English):This essay aims to analyze comparatively similarities and differences found in Christian and Zen Buddhist forms of “mysticism.” Drawing on the works of Evelyn Underhill and D. T. Suzuki, it explores how the Christian prayers of Recollection, Quiet, and Contemplation can be paralleled by various aspects of Zen meditation, such as koan and zazen. The main comparative...