The mindfulness trait is an intrinsic characteristic of one's disposition that facilitates awareness of the present moment. Meditation has proven to enhance situational awareness. In this study, we compared the performance of participants that were split into two groups depending on their experience in mindfulness meditation (a control group naive to mindfulness meditation and a group of...
Psychedelic use is generally considered safe, and their effects are being equated with those of meditation practices. To assess these conclusions, this paper compares psychedelic and meditation experiences in terms of 1) EEG patterns, 2) brain blood-flow patterns, 3) content of experience, 4) mechanism of action, and 5) therapeutic application. On these five factors, psychedelic and...
Ram Dass, the iconic, countercultural, spiritual seeker, brought the wisdom of the East to those of us in the West through his many books and frequent, charismatic dharma talks. This view of his spiritual journey describes the transformation of Richard Alpert, clinical psychologist and product of the Western milieu’s often-shackling conventional expectations, into Ram Dass, the free, embodied...
Chanting is practiced in many religious and secular traditions and involves rhythmic vocalization or mental repetition of a sound or phrase. This study examined how chanting relates to cognitive function, altered states, and quality of life across a wide range of traditions. A global survey was used to assess experiences during chanting including flow states, mystical experiences, mindfulness,...
Background: Cardiovascular diseases (CVD) are predominantly lifestyle related. Mental health issues also influence CVD progression and quality of life. Self-management of lifestyle behaviors and mental well-being may play a significant role in reducing the CVD burden. Previous studies have shown that mindfulness practices are associated with psychological well-being, but their effects on CVD...
Creative writing and cognitive neuroscience can jointly illuminate how literary writing can change our minds by enhancing our tolerance for uncertainty. From my perspective as a novelist, I will show how literary writing hijacks the mechanisms of day-to-day perception and orchestrates cognition to facilitate vividness of (imaginary) experience and insight. Drawing on examples from my novel and...
Migraine is a debilitating disorder with limited pharmacological options. Many migraine medications can have intolerable side effects leading patients to seek complementary and integrative health (CIM) approaches for treatment. One option that is growing in popularity and evidence is Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT), a mindfulness-based therapy. The purpose of this paper is to describe...
MindfulnessSeptember 27, 2022Elena López, Rafael Jódar Anchía, Lucía Halty et al.5 citations
Abstract Objectives The present research was intended to validate a new psychometric instrument—the Meditative State Scale (MSS)—designed from a novel approach that integrates knowledge from the foundational pillars in which meditation practices were grounded with recent neuroscientific and psychological findings. Methods The research was divided into two studies. Study 1 ( n = 241) comprised...
Focused-distraction strategies are commonly used for thought control, but their effectiveness in handling personal worries with different types of distractors has rarely been examined. To examine this issue, 101 undergraduate and graduate students whose depression levels fell below mild depression were recruited (64.4% female, M age = 20.27) and were randomly assigned to one of the three...
This article provides an overview of the fields of psychosocial and integrative oncology, highlighting common psychological reactions to being diagnosed with and treated for cancer, including distress, anxiety, depression, fear of cancer recurrence and caregiver burden, as well as symptoms of fatigue, pain, and sleep disturbance. Patterns of symptomatology across the disease continuum are also...