Ecological degradation is accelerating worldwide, yet the losses of species, ecosystems, and landscapes often remain socially and culturally unmourned. This article explores how contemplative ecology may offer a pathway for engaging with ecological grief. Drawing on the case study of Lab Landschapspijn Veluwe in the Netherlands, it examines how contemplative practices—such as contemplative...
Pranayama, or yoga breathing, is a vital part of Indo-Tibetan traditions and offers both physical and spiritual benefits. It promotes spiritual enlightenment, increased awareness, physical well-being, and meditation. Pranayama calms the mind, eases tension, and enhances meditation techniques. Studies indicate that it is effective in treating mental health issues, reducing stress, and enhancing...
Yoga is widely considered as a method to improve psychological and physiological status of humans. A review is done about the benefits of yoga from the literature in modern medicine. The common benefits are in physical fitness, mental state, attention, processing speed, memory, cognitive functions and executive functions. Studies have demonstrated the benefits of yoga in metabolic syndrome with...
This chapter proposes that self-transcendent experiences can be usefully understood through the distinction between the reflective and experiential self, originally articulated by William James and developed in contemporary philosophy and neuroscience. The reflective self involves conscious, narrative self-referential processing, while the experiential self refers to affective processing and...
The paper is Article 1 of the Pali-Psycho series. It focuses on the empirical and clinical comparison axis: mindfulness, breath meditation, compassion cultivation, absorption states, affect labeling, default-mode-network findings, and selected positive-psychology parallels are treated as modern comparison points for Pali-canonical practice architectures. The central result is deliberately...
The interrelationship between mental health, emotional balance, and the evolution of consciousness has been a central concern of Yogic and Indic psychological traditions for millennia and is increasingly gaining attention within contemporary scientific research. Within these traditions, the human heart is regarded not merely as a physiological organ but as a subtle center of intelligence,...
Stress worsens clinical outcomes in patients with major depressive disorder (MDD); however, timely accessible stress management tools remain limited. Digital interventions offer scalable adjunctive solutions early during pharmacological treatment. In this multicenter, assessor-blinded, randomized controlled crossover pilot trial, we conducted a preliminary evaluation of the short-term efficacy...
This chapter explores how integrating contemplative praxis into the human rights field could transform the dominant separation paradigm of human rights, which is rooted in dualisms that separate political from spiritual, individual from community, and humans from nature. Drawing on feminist, Indigenous, and decolonial thought and empirical research on the mental health of human rights...
Most existing scholarship on contemplative practices and queer politics deals with the ways in which contemplative practices may help LGBTQIA+ people heal from traumas. Only a few studies discuss the roles that contemplative or wellness practices may play in queer activism. This chapter reviews these studies and discusses the benefits of contemplative practices in relation to healing and...
This chapter explores the intersection of contemplative practices and international relations theory, offering a reimagining of the classical security dilemma through the lens of nonself and interdependence—core insights from ancient Buddhist thought. Building on foundational realist thinkers such as Thucydides, Kenneth Waltz, and John Mearsheimer, the chapter critically examines the evolution...