Search

Context: Mindfulness interventions (yoga, meditation) in traumatic brain injury populations show promising improvements in injury outcomes. However, most studies include all injury severities and use in-person, general programming lacking accessibility and specificity to the nuance of concussion. Therefore, this study investigated the feasibility and preliminary effectiveness of an online, concussion-focused meditation intervention among young adults with a concussion history. Design: Unblinded, single-arm, pilot intervention. Methods: Fifteen young adults aged 18 to 30 with a concussion history within the past 5 years completed 10 to 20 minutes per day of online, guided meditations for 6 weeks. Feasibility was assessed using the Feasibility of Intervention Measure. Concussion symptoms were measured using the Rivermead Post-Concussion Symptom Questionnaire, perceived stress the Perceived Stress Scale-10, and mindfulness the Five Facet Mindfulness Questionnaire. Descriptive statistics described the study sample and determined intervention adherence and feasibility. Paired sample t tests were used to examine preintervention/postintervention changes in concussion symptoms, perceived stress, and mindfulness, with descriptive statistics further detailing significant t tests. Results: Fifteen participants were enrolled, and 12 completed the intervention. The majority completed 5+ days per week of the meditations, and Feasibility of Intervention Measure (17.4 [1.8]) scores indicated high feasibility. Concussion symptom severity significantly decreased after completing the meditation intervention (11.3 [10.3]) compared with before the intervention (24.5 [17.2]; t[11] = 3.0, P =.01). The number of concussion symptoms reported as worse than before their concussion significantly decreased after completing the meditation intervention (2.7 [3.9]) compared with before the intervention (8.0 [5.7]; t[11] = 3.7, P =.004). Postintervention, 83.33% (n = 10) reported lower concussion symptom severity, and 75.00% (n = 9) reported less concussion symptoms as a mild, moderate, or severe problem (ie, worse than before injury). Conclusions: Findings suggest positive adherence and feasibility of the meditation intervention, with the majority reporting concussion symptom improvement postintervention. Future research is necessary to expand these pilot findings into a large trial investigating concussion-specific meditation programming. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

"I'm not dead, or paralyzed, or brain damaged. But I easily could be." These words, which I uttered with a trembling voice, initiate this autoethnographic study: an inquiry into meditative (contemplative) resources for healing from trauma. Such resources can be applied in everyday life, and in psychotherapy and other healing disciplines. "My contemplative practice truly saved my life and sanity, coupled with the loving-kindness of my family and friends." This appreciative insight originally sparked the present research and conveys its primary focus: how formal methods of meditation and, more importantly, living day-to-day with a contemplative sensibility, can come to people's aid, just as they did for me when I suffered a life-threatening broken neck in a terrible mountain biking accident. My personal stories of trauma and healing serve as qualitative phenomenological data that are explicated and interpreted by way of insights from existential and transpersonal psychology, Zen Buddhism (including a beautiful kōan), and Christian mysticism (Julian of Norwich and Saint John of the Cross). The psychospiritual significance and healing effects of several nondual spiritual/transpersonal/mystical experiences are explored: for example, how agonizing pain and death-dread gave way to boundless love, openness, and a wellness deeper than all wounds; and how that infinite love surprisingly showed up as compassion for a rageful, ranting, deeply suffering stranger. The article is offered in the heartfelt hope that it will touch survivors of trauma; family, friends, psychotherapists, doctors, nurses, and spiritual mentors who are supporting their healing process; and contemplative practitioners and meditation teachers. Public Significance Statement: Trauma is intrinsic in human existence, as nearly everyone will undergo one or more traumatic experiences at some point in their life. The present study offers an innovative approach to trauma care, one that complements other recent advances in clinical psychology, psychiatry, and related fields. In the service of trauma survivors and those supporting their healing, the article explores the distinctive benefits of contemplative/meditative practices and, more pervasively, an existence imbued with a contemplative sensibility. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: Research has shown that mind–body practices like meditation and yoga can improve quality of life among female cancer survivors. Yet, correlates of the likelihood to use these practices are unknown in the USA. The goal of this study was to use recent data from the 2022 National Health Interview Survey (NHIS) to establish the prevalence and correlates of meditation and yoga practices among female cancer survivors in the USA, as well as among survivors who report high or frequent anxiety. Methods: Using data from the NHIS, we identified eligible female respondents who had reported being diagnosed with cancer (N = 1,945). We identified factors associated with meditation and yoga practice use through self-reported surveys. Results: Our sample (N = 1945) was primarily White (82.9%), 65 years or older (55.2%), heterosexual (97.2%), lived in medium/small metro areas (35.3%) in the South (36.6%), did not report frequent or high anxiety (63.9%), 21.5% used meditation, and 16.8% used yoga. Our results showed that among female survivors with high or frequent anxiety, there were higher odds of using yoga among those living in large central metro areas or who reported other cancers. Conclusion: Use of meditation and yoga practices after cancer diagnosis remains uncommon. To best reach diverse survivors who may benefit from evidence-based mind–body practices, tailoring may be needed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Mindfulness meditation seems to generate the following puzzle: On one hand, mindfulness reveals to the meditator that many of their thoughts are outside of their control and leads to a diminished sense of self; on the other, regular mindfulness practice is supposed to lead to greater self-awareness and self-control. In this article, the author develops an agent-causal account of agential control that explains both claims. It is suggested that the work of phenomenologist Hans Reiner shows us why the feeling of agency extends further than that which is directly controlled; this provides a way of addressing the puzzle above, while also explaining why many beginner meditators are surprised that much conscious thought is uncontrolled. The author then extends the account by appealing to William James's notion of the fringe of consciousness, a notion that has been extensively developed by thinkers in the phenomenological tradition, in particular, Aron Gurwitsch. Inspired by Bruce Mangan's use of the fringe in service of "explanatory phenomenology," the author argues that Gurwitsch's model of awareness suggests that the fringe makes possible a distinctive type of choice. This facilitates an account of agency that can explain the types of control possessed during different stages of mindfulness practice. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This special issue collects papers that explore the relationship between phenomenology and mindfulness with the goal of creating a fruitful dialogue between these two traditions, so as to bring into relief the overlaps and incongruities, exploring historical as well as systematic connections. Both phenomenology and mindfulness are inclusively construed: the former (phenomenology) is understood as an umbrella term that includes philosophers and approaches that follow directly from Brentano's and Husserl's phenomenological discoveries. For this reason, the issue will focus on phenomenology as a method as well as a philosophical approach with a major emphasis on Husserl's, Heidegger's, and Merleau-Ponty's approach. The latter (mindfulness) includes a wide range of conceptions of mindfulness, from Buddhist-inspired strands of meditation practices and theories to Stoic-inspired. The journal issue takes into consideration the potential benefits that such a theme would have to clinical psychology by exploring the existing connection between mindfulness, well-being, and self-exploration. In particular, in this special issue we will point out how the phenomenological approach to mindfulness can help to further the understanding of such notions as "attention," "authenticity," "time," "dignity," and more. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The concept of mindlessness is tacitly present in Heidegger's earlier and later works. In Being and Time, Dasein is mindless insofar as it engages with the world in ways already publicly interpreted by das Man. In Heidegger's later work, mindlessness reaches its peak in the technological mode of revealing, according to which reality is disclosed as a standing reserve. In this technological mode, efficiency becomes an end in itself. Mindlessness is present here in two senses: (a) efficiency is a publicly dictated norm, which we adopt more or less automatically and (b) efficiency demands that we are never fully absorbed in our work, but always concerned to move on to the next task. The question then arises as to what extent mindfulness is associated with the structures Heidegger describes as being opposed to inauthenticity and technology, namely authenticity and releasement. In what follows, I argue that mindfulness can be understood as a tool to cultivate the distance from the they-self necessary to engage more authentically with the world or to cultivate a free relation to technology. Mindfulness can also be viewed as a tool to dwell in the fourfold. I conclude by drawing distinctions between Heidegger's thought and the practice of mindfulness. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Mindfulness practices adapted from Theravada Buddhism have become widespread among many in Western societies who seek stress reduction and greater present-centeredness. Less well-known is the mindfulness practice in Sufism–the mystical path of Islam–known as meditative remembrance (dhikr). While mindfulness is often understood as a self-help technique, the aim of Buddhist and Sufi meditative paths is not limited to enhancing the well-being of a self that is envisioned as strictly bounded. Rather, both meditative paths aim at unitive mystical experience, which is held to profoundly transform the meaning of the practitioner's selfhood as such. Whereas Buddhism's non-self-doctrine is generally understood to hold that personal selfhood is an illusion, this is not the case for Akbari Sufism. This inquiry takes a phenomenological approach, exploring the varied meanings of being or "having" a self in the context of mindfulness, and contrasting these with the humanistic psychology of Abraham Maslow. I contrast Theravada and Akbari Sufism's understandings of the aim of meditation and the meanings of selfhood and compare both traditions with Abraham Maslow's view of self-transcendence. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this article, an attempt is made to free mindfulness from its modern psychologically utilitarian interpretation and display its ontological-existential essence. To do that, the essay offers the existential roots of human suffering and the ontological meaning of attachment that is found at the basis of suffering. Heidegger's philosophy is used to show that due to our anxious rejection of the nothingness that co-constitutes the Being of beings, we exist in a mode in which beings can only be experienced as objects of attachment. This ontological predicament is explicated in terms of radical alienation from the world, which takes the form of the subject–object dualism and founds what we normally take to be our psychological identity. The essay stresses that this predicament cannot be overcome by mindfulness as long as mindfulness is understood as a technique used to utilize one's psychological resources. This impossibility is tightly related to the paradox that one cannot achieve liberation by intending to do so. Heidegger's ideas of "letting-be," "objectless waiting," and "attention to Beyng" are then applied to show how mindfulness meditation can afford one to become acquainted with a nonintentional dimension of experience wherein liberation from suffering may occur. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction: Clinical guidelines recommend a holistic approach to Parkinson’s disease (PD) care, yet randomized trials examining mindfulness-based interventions in this context are scarce. This study investigated the effects of two mindfulness practices – meditation and yoga – on biopsychosocial outcomes in PD patients, including anxiety symptoms, depressive symptoms, motor/nonmotor symptoms, health-related quality-of-life (HRQOL), mindfulness, and stress and inflammation biomarkers, compared to usual care. Methods: 159 participants with a clinical diagnosis of idiopathic PD and a Hoehn and Yahr stage of 1, 2, and 3, were randomized into meditation (n = 53), yoga (n = 52), and control (n = 54). Meditation and yoga were delivered in 90-min groups for 8 weeks. Primary outcomes included anxiety symptoms and depressive symptoms. Secondary outcomes included motor and nonmotor symptoms, HRQOL, mindfulness, and serum levels of interleukin-6, cortisol and TNF-alpha. Assessments were done at baseline (T0), 2 months (T1), and 6 months (T2). Linear mixed models were conducted following intention-to-treat principle. Results: Compared to control, both meditation, and yoga groups had significant improvements in anxiety symptoms (meditation: mean difference [MD] = −1.36, 95% CI: −2.46 to−0.26; yoga: MD = −1.61, CI: −2.70 to −0.52), motor symptoms (meditation: MD = −5.35, CI: −8.61 to−2.09; yoga: MD = −6.59, CI: −9.82 to−3.36), HRQOL (meditation: MD = −2.01, CI: −3.41 to−0.62; yoga: MD = −1.45, CI: −2.83 to−0.08), and describing skills (meditation: MD = 0.97, CI: 0.04–1.89; yoga: MD = 0.92, CI: 0.01–1.84) at T1, and significant reductions in serum interleukin-6 levels (meditation: MD = −1.14, CI: −2.18 to−0.10; yoga: MD = −1.11, CI: −2.09 to−0.13) at T2. Only meditation significantly reduced depression (MD = −1.44, CI: −2.57 to−0.30) at T1 and sustained the motor and HRQOL improvements at T2. Conclusion: Meditation and yoga significantly improved anxiety symptoms, chronic inflammation, motor symptoms, mindfulness-describing facet, and HRQOL in PD patients. Meditation provided additional benefits in reducing depressive symptoms and sustaining motor and HRQOL improvements. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Smoking cessation apps and electronic cigarettes have emerged as potentially effective tools for smokers motivated to quit. Nuumi, a novel intervention, integrates app-based behavioral therapy and an electronic cigarette. Using secondary data from a single-arm pilot trial evaluating the intervention, we investigated the degree to which users engaged with the program's features, and the relationships between feature utilization and smoking abstinence during the first 8 weeks of the trial. Features included (1) behavioral therapy lessons, (2) meditation audios, (3) a toolbox, (4) progress tracking, and (5) an electronic cigarette. Outcomes were self-reported 7-day point prevalence abstinence from smoking 4 weeks and 8 weeks after program initiation. Self-reported smoking abstinence data and app utilization data of 62 participants were analyzed. Multiple univariate logistic regressions were performed with total program engagement and feature utilization as predictor variables, and 4-week and 8-week post-baseline smoking abstinence rates as dependent variables. Results: Four weeks and eight weeks after program initiation, 35% (n = 22) of participants reported abstinence. Higher total engagement predicted higher likelihood of abstinence at 4 weeks (OR = 2.73, 95% CI [1.53, 5.70], p = 0.002), and 8 weeks follow-up (OR = 1.52, 95% CI [1.10, 2.22], p = 0.017). Four weeks after program initiation, significant feature-level predictors of smoking cessation included the number of therapy lessons completed (OR = 1.13, 95% CI [1.04, 1.24], p = 0.010), meditations completed (OR = 1.54, 95% CI [1.11, 2.30], p = 0.025), the number of times the progress tracking feature was accessed OR = 1.02, 95% CI [1.00, 1.03], p = 0.036), and the number of days the electronic cigarette was used (OR = 1.30, 95% CI [1.21, 1.58], p = 0.010). Eight weeks after initiation, only electronic cigarette use was predictive of smoking abstinence (OR = 1.06, 95% CI [1.02, 1.12], p = 0.048). Conclusion: The intervention may have potential to support smokers motivated to quit. With respect to program features, use of the electronic cigarette may promote sustained cigarette abstinence; however, the association between behavioral therapy features and smoking abstinence may disappear over time. Measures to increase user engagement should be explored, and future research should test the intervention using a randomized controlled trial. Trial registration: German Clinical Trials Register DRKS00032652, registered prospectively 09/15/2023. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Prospective memory (PM) is the ability to remember a delayed intention to perform in a specific future situation. According to the extent to which PM cues overlap with ongoing task processing, PM can be divided into focal PM and non-focal PM. Mindfulness meditation includes focused attention (FA) meditation and open monitoring (OM) meditation. The present study was conducted with 81 participants, using a 3 (group: FA, OM, control group) × 2 (focality: focal, non-focal) design to investigate the effects of FA meditation and OM meditation on PM with focal and non-focal cues. The results showed that there was no difference in the facilitative effects of FA and OM on PM with focal and non-focal cues. Meanwhile, both types of mindfulness meditation improved PM performance by enhancing cue monitoring. The results of this study confirmed the views of preparatory attention processing and memory processing theory. This study has been registered and the registration number is ChiCTR2400094091. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Meditation interventions have important benefits, including potentially helping those with higher attachment anxiety and avoidance enjoy better personal and relational growth. This preregistered and reproducible systematic map sought to identify the extent and scope of experimental evidence investigating the role of mindfulness, loving-kindness, and compassion-based multi-session meditation interventions in (a) moderating the effects of attachment orientations on outcomes over time and/or (b) changing attachment orientations over time. We conducted a systematic map, as the literature on meditation interventions and attachment is nascent. We searched 5 databases, screening 725 studies. We extracted data from four journal articles and one dissertation (five studies in total) which met our inclusion criteria. Four studies examined the effects of meditation interventions on buffering attachment insecurity and one examined attachment security enhancement. All five studies included a mindfulness meditation intervention, and one included a loving-kindness meditation intervention. All studies were conducted in Western cultures. Studies primarily found evidence for interventions benefitting those with higher attachment anxiety, although some evidence emerged for higher attachment avoidance. Our systematic map highlights a critical need for further application of meditation interventions in an attachment and personal growth context, given the promising nature of early work in this area. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Warhammer 40,000 (40k) is the world's most popular miniature wargame. The game is played with miniatures (small-scale figures made of hard plastic or other materials), which have usually been painted by each individual player. These player–painters typically spend hours in deep concentration painting the models. Drawing on interviews and journal entries from a six-month participant study of 14 painters, this paper explores whether miniature painters achieve a flow state, whether this creates a greater feeling of mindfulness, and how painting impacts their overall mental health. Results from this study indicate that miniature painting is meditative, meaningful, and positive for the participants' mental health. Using the definition of flow outlined in Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi's book Optimal Experience: Psychological Studies of Flow in Consciousness (1988), flow is a state of pleasure had when an individual concentrates on a specific task. Csikszentmihalyi, from his research on flow, notes that this state of mind involves both immersion and a sense of transcendence, where the individual temporarily loses a sense of self. This sense of loss of self was explored with an increased attention to the feeling of the body, and situated cognition has been further explored to understand how this connects to painting. While flow is regularly applied to videogame studies, less work has been carried out on this flow state during activities like miniature painting. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: Clinical trials often focus on symptom reduction as a primary outcome, overlooking positive psychology factors of potential importance although many individuals can and do live well with pain. The Patient-Reported Outcomes Measurement Information System (PROMIS) Psychosocial Illness Impact—Positive (PIIP) scale assesses perceptions of adaptive psychosocial functioning (e.g., coping and meaning-making) after illness onset. This study evaluated the effects of hypnosis (HYP), mindfulness meditation (MM), and pain psychoeducation (ED) on PIIP scores, using data from a completed randomized clinical trial (RCT) of complementary and integrative chronic pain interventions. We hypothesized that treatment effects on PIIP would mirror the RCT's primary pain intensity outcome, such that HYP and MM, relative to ED, would lead to greater improvements in PIIP during trial follow-up. Method: Our sample included 262 Veterans who completed the PROMIS PIIP Short-Form 8a at pre- and posttreatment and at 3- and 6-month follow-up. Linear regression was used to test between-group differences in PIIP at each time point, controlling for baseline PIIP, average pain intensity, and baseline perceptions of prepain psychosocial functioning. Results: There were no significant between-group differences in PIIP at posttreatment or 3-month follow-up. However, group differences emerged at 6-month follow-up: individuals randomized to MM and HYP showed improved PIIP relative to those randomized to ED. Conclusions: Positive psychosocial outcomes are a mostly untapped territory in clinical trials of pain interventions. The present work highlights the potential benefits of including positive psychology concepts in both research and clinical contexts, emphasizing the importance of understanding human flourishing in the presence of illness and disability. Impact and Implications: This study speaks to the utility of including positive psychology outcome measures across clinical and research contexts. Without considering broader positive psychosocial factors, we risk clinically overlooking important aspects of the chronic pain experience, namely how people can live well with, and despite, pain. Scientifically, we risk a limited mechanistic understanding of how interventions work and how they could be optimized. Positive psychology-informed measures offer a means of capturing the full spectrum of an individual's illness experiences, which may include improvements, growth, or benefits in the social, cognitive, and emotional domains. This person-centered perspective aligns more closely with a biopsychosocial framework and with values-based principles. It also aligns more closely with national health care priorities for treating chronic pain. The present study also raises questions of directionality: if interventions targeting pain can improve psychosocial perceptions, might interventions targeting well-being more broadly improve pain or reduce symptoms? This work moves the field toward a more holistic approach for managing chronic pain that integrates positive treatment strategies and outcomes. These results also suggest that interventions explicitly focused on modifying positive psychology factors could be even more effective in improving psychosocial functioning in the face of chronic pain. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose/Objective: Since the prevalence and cost of cardiovascular diseases (CVD) are high in the United States, research on affordable preventative and treatment approaches is needed. While meditation shows promise for heart-health promotion, there is little knowledge about its use among people with CVD and factors that may influence its usage. In response, the purposes of the current research are to (a) shed light on the proportion of people with CVD who practice meditation; and (b) reveal variables that predict the use of meditation among them. Research Method: A secondary data analysis was conducted using data from the 2017 National Health Interview Survey. A total of 4,197 data entries (respondents with CVD) were included for analysis, and both descriptive and logistic regression analysis results were reported. Results: Approximately 16% of respondents with CVD practiced meditation. Among them, many used spiritual (82.5%) meditation, followed by mindfulness (29.9%), and mantra (24.9%) meditation. Females (odds ratio [OR] = 1.69), those advised to increase physical activity (OR = 1.34), and email users (OR = 1.63) had higher odds; and those able to afford medication (OR = 0.70) or mental health care/counseling (OR = 0.46) had lower odds to use meditation compared to respective counterparts. Conclusions/Implications: There is a significant proportion of people with CVD who used meditation practices, especially spiritual meditations. However, more research is needed to reveal the determinants of meditation use among people with CVD to facilitate their heart-health-self-care. Impact and Implications: The current study shed light on variables that predicted the use of meditation practices among individuals with cardiovascular diseases (CVD). Those variables included sex, being told to increase physical activity (by a doctor or health professional), cannot afford medication, cannot afford mental health care/counseling, and email usage. Determinants of meditation usage for people with CVD should receive more scholarly attention to foster the application of meditation for heart-health promotion purposes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The last decade has witnessed increasing interest in the potential place of contemplative practices (such as mindfulness, meditation and yoga) in education. Regarding the lives and work of teachers, research in this area has focused almost exclusively on mindfulness-based interventions and related outcomes of stress, burnout and wellbeing, neglecting important questions regarding teacher professional identities, ethics and agency. This paper presents findings from an in-depth qualitative study that examined the role of contemplative practices in the professional becoming of seven beginning teachers using research interviews, ethnographic observation and participatory visual methods. The study explored how participants understood, imagined and enacted contemplative practices in their lives as teachers, revealing a complex ecology of personal histories, multiple practices, secular/instrumental and spiritual/transformational aims, the expression of which was mediated by intersecting personal and institutional contexts. Practices of contemplation acted as nodes of stability within the spaces of considerable vulnerability, uncertainty and flux which characterise early experiences of teaching. Specifically, they inflected professional becoming by providing a distinctive telos to teaching activity, making available existential ways of being grounded in calm, compassionate, presence and, for some participants, stimulated radical questioning of the nature of the (teacher) self, itself. These findings add much-needed complexity to debate about the uses of mindfulness and other contemplative practices in education, and provide an important new evidence-base for considering the role of contemplative practices in initial teacher education and professional development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Reasoning with diagrams is considered to be a peculiar form of reasoning. Diagrams are often associated with imagistic representations conveyed by spatial arrangements of lines, points, figures, or letters that can be manipulated to obtain knowledge on a subject matter. Reasoning with diagrams is not just 'peculiar' because reasoners use spatially arranged characters to obtain knowledge – diagrams apparently have cognitive surplus: they enable a quasi-intuitive form of knowledge. The present paper analyses the issue of diagrams' cognitive value by enquiring into the tradition of symbolic cognition developed by Leibniz, Lambert, and Kant. The proposal resulting from this enquiry is to question the idea that the cognitive value of diagrams lies solely in allowing evidence for inferences. The imaginative dimension of diagrams connects reasoning to doxastic attitudes of meditation and enquiry. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Transformative experience has become increasingly important for both academics and tourism industries. This study aims to investigate the relationships between transformative tourism experience’s dimensions, tourist engagement, and loyalty, under the moderating effect of openness to experience. Through a survey on 310 tourists participating in meditation trips in Vietnam, we found that the transformative tourism experience has less influence on tourists’ behaviours than previously expected. Such experience can encourage engagement in activities at the destination, especially for individuals who are more open to new experience. However, it has limited influence on the development of tourists’ loyalty. The findings are discussed, and implications are provided [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this study, I recounted my experience using mantra meditation during a phenomenological study for the purposes of bracketing. The efficacy and purpose of bracketing have been debated from Husserl (1931), whose aimed was to achieve objectivity, to Heidegger (1962) who advocated for immersion of the researcher, through the French school (Merleau-Ponty, 1964) of middle ground, by whom bracketing was seen as the process to unearth and suspend biases for the better understanding of participants' experiences (Arsel, 2017; Creswell & Creswell, 2017; Creswell & Poth, 2016; Fischer & Guzel, 2023). In this study, however, I propose another approach to bracketing that expands beyond phenomenology and the duality of objectivity or immersion. I propose that bracketing, with the aim of meditation is inseparable from qualitative research. Meditation, as a form of bracketing, provokes the researcher to be fully present ensuring that participants' experiences are heard and interpreted in a faithful manner. In this orientation, the goal of bracketing is not to rid one's subjectivity but to allow subjectivity to be diminished and the researcher to be fully present to the other. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objectives: This intervention study aimed to evaluate mindfulness meditation as a method of treatment for cancer outpatients for stress reduction and control of symptoms of depression and to find out effects of socio demographic differences. Method: Cancer outpatients were randomly selected on separate clinic dates at the National Cancer Institute of Sri Lanka and were enrolled as cases (n=44) and controls (n=30). Volunteers followed training sessions once weekly in addition to home based mindfulness meditation. All participants were asked to complete the "Beck's Depression" and "Symptoms of Stress" questionnaires prior to intervention and at each session. Controls were assessed based on the identical questionnaire at start and end of 9 weeks. Both groups were heterogeneous in age, sociodemographic characteristics and cancer types / stage. Result: At the end of the intervention, patients in the intervention group had significantly lower scores of depressions and stress. Reduction in Beck's depression score was from 33.21 to 24.56 (p<0.001) in the treatment group, compared to 34.5 to 32.34 (p>0.05) in the control group. Reduction in Symptoms of Stress Inventory from 21.21 to 10.76 (p<0.001) was seen in the intervention group, compared to 22.50 to 25.5 increase in controls. Significant changes (p<0.05) were seen in all age categories, gender, education, income and levels of social interactions. Conclusion: Mindfulness meditation programme was effective in decreasing levels of depression and stress in people with cancer, irrespective of socio-demographic backgrounds and cancer types or stages. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: Focusing on body functionality – what the body can do – may benefit women's body image. This pilot study examined the effects of focusing on body functionality appreciation during an audio-guided mirror gazing task (F-MGT). Participants: 101 college women, M(SD)AGE = 19.49(1.31), were alternately assigned to F-MGT or a comparison with no guidance on how to examine the body, directed attention mirror gazing task (DA-MGT). Methods: Participants self-reported pre- and post-MGT body appreciation, state appearance satisfaction, and orientation to and satisfaction with physical functionality. Results: Group interactions were significant for body appreciation and functionality orientation. DA-MGT decreased body appreciation from pre- to post-MGT; F-MGT did not change. There were no significant interactions in post-MGT state appearance satisfaction or functionality satisfaction, though state appearance satisfaction increased significantly in F-MGT. Conclusions: Integrating body functionality may buffer against harmful effects of mirror gazing. Given F-MGT's brevity, additional work must assess its potential as an intervention technique. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses non-pharmacological approaches to managing menopausal symptoms, focusing on progressive muscle relaxation (PMR) and Tai Chi. Topics discussed include the effects of PMR on sleep quality and fatigue, the benefits of Tai Chi on cardiovascular and vascular health, and the need for further research to explore long-term efficacy and broader applicability.

AbstractObjective: To explore the effects of guided imagery with progressive deep muscle relaxation (PDMR) and meditation programs on chronic stress perception and health related quality of life in college students. Participants: College students were recruited from a local private university in Northeast Pennsylvania. Participants were not concurrently enrolled in another weekly meditation class. Students were randomly assigned to a meditation group (n = 16) or guided imagery with PDMR (n = 17). Method: The study design was an experimental, repeated measures design with two groups and two independent variables: the Perceived Stress Scale and Health-Related Quality of Life (SF-36v2). Results: Students in both the meditation and guided imagery groups demonstrated a decrease in chronic stress and increase in their mental-health related quality of life midway through the 8-week program and maintained throughout. Conclusion: This research lends support for weekly participation in a mind-body class as a viable method to decrease stress for college students. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

According to the Satipaṭṭhāna Sutta, mindfulness of the body involves seeing the body in a threefold way: ajjhatta;ṃ, bahiddhā, and ajjhattabahiddhā. This article attempts to show how an investigation of bodily perception, following the approach adopted by the phenomenologist Maurice Merleau-Ponty, can serve as the basis for a philosophically grounded understanding of the Pāli words ajjhatta;ṃ and bahiddhā. The interpretation that emerges is the distinction between "right here" and "out there": two mutually dependent, internally related domains that are experienced as what Merleau-Ponty called the "chiasm" or the "intertwining." This is different from the standard interpretations found in the Abhidhamma, the Pāli commentaries, the Visuddhimagga, and the instructions of most contemporary meditation teachers. It is hoped that the interpretation offered here can give some exposure to a movement within Theravāda Buddhism, initiated by Ñā?avīra Thera but slowly gaining traction, characterized by a phenomenological reading of the Pāli suttas. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background/Objectives: Cardiovascular diseases are a leading cause of death, and psychosocial stress is considered a contributing factor to these issues. With the rising number of heart surgeries, proper rehabilitation post-surgery is essential. Previous studies have demonstrated the positive impact of yoga and transcendental meditation on the cardiovascular system. This pilot study aimed to investigate the effects of yoga and transcendental meditation on retinal microcirculation in cardiac patients before (admission), after (discharge), and following (3 weeks after discharge) rehabilitation. Methods: This study examined changes in retinal microcirculation in three rehabilitation groups of patients after heart surgery. The control group received standard exercise therapy, while the meditation group incorporated 20 min of meditation, and the yoga group incorporated 20 min of yoga practice, twice per day for the duration of four weeks of rehabilitation. Retinal images were captured using a non-mydriatic digital retinal camera (Canon CR-2, Canon Medical Systems Europe B.V., Netherlands), and the microcirculation parameters central retinal artery equivalent, central retinal vein equivalent, and artery-to-vein ratio were analyzed using MONA REVA software ((version 2.1.1), VITO, Mol, Belgium). Repeated measures ANOVA was performed to evaluate differences between the three groups in the course of rehabilitation. Results: None of the parameters revealed significant differences in retinal microcirculation between the three rehabilitation groups. Conclusions: The study evaluating changes in retinal microcirculation, as an indicator of central circulation in cardiac patients undergoing rehabilitation, did not observe any significant changes. As yoga and meditation are underestimated approaches in cardiac rehabilitation, this pilot study acts as a basis for providing preliminary information for future studies to encourage the research community to fill the gap in this area. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Goal: A lack of healthcare worker well-being is a serious threat to patient care quality and safety, as well as to the overall operational performance of hospitals in the US healthcare delivery system. Extreme resilience depletion and compassion fatigue are known to negatively influence individual well-being and have contributed to the rise in turnover in the healthcare workforce. The primary aim of this research was to identify interventions that health system leaders can use to combat resilience depletion and exhaustion among healthcare workers. Methods: Researchers deployed a randomized controlled trial methodology to study the association between the use of regular mindfulness practices, resilience, and compassion satisfaction. After completing an initial screening questionnaire and preassessments, participants were randomized into one of two groups: (1) an experimental group with mindfulness practices as the intervention and (2) a control group. The experimental group participated in structured mindfulness practices during their regular workday on three different days per week for a minimum of 10 minutes per day. At the end of the six-week study period, both groups completed postassessment questionnaires. Results from the pre- and postassessments were analyzed to determine the correlation between mindfulness practices, resilience, and compassion satisfaction. Principal Findings: Data analysis revealed that baseline resilience scores in the experimental group increased by 4 points, with a progressive 92% power. In addition, the experimental group demonstrated a statistically significant improvement in resilience (p mean difference pre-post = .147/.002) and compassion satisfaction (p mean difference pre-post = 3.99/.019). Practical Applications: Readily available, low-cost mindfulness practices may be introduced to hospital staff to build resilience and improve compassion satisfaction. In turn, this may help support hospital efforts to reduce turnover in the healthcare workforce. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Rather than a passive reflection of nociception, pain is shaped by the interplay between one's experiences, current cognitive-affective states, and expectations. The placebo response, a paradoxical yet reliable phenomenon, is postulated to reduce pain by engaging mechanisms shared with active therapies. It has been assumed that mindfulness meditation, practiced by sustaining nonjudgmental awareness of arising sensory events, merely reflects mechanisms evoked by placebo. Recently, brain-based multivariate pattern analysis has been validated to successfully disentangle nociceptive-specific, negative affective, and placebo-based dimensions of the subjective pain experience. To determine whether mindfulness meditation engages distinct brain mechanisms from placebo and sham mindfulness to reduce pain, multivariate pattern analysis pain signatures were applied across 2 randomized clinical trials that employed overlapping psychophysical pain testing procedures (49 °C noxious heat; visual analog pain scales) and distinct functional magnetic resonance imaging techniques (blood oxygen level–dependent; perfusion based). After baseline pain testing, 115 healthy participants were randomized into a 4-session mindfulness meditation (n = 37), placebo-cream conditioning (n = 19), sham mindfulness meditation (n = 20), or book-listening control (n = 39) intervention. After each intervention, noxious heat was administered during functional magnetic resonance imaging and each manipulation. A double dissociation in the multivariate pattern analysis signatures supporting pain regulation was revealed by mindfulness meditation compared with placebo cream. Mindfulness meditation produced significantly greater reductions in pain intensity and pain unpleasantness ratings and nociceptive-specific and negative affective pain signatures than placebo cream, sham mindfulness meditation, and control interventions. The placebo-cream group significantly lowered the placebo-based signature. Mindfulness meditation and placebo engaged distinct and granular neural pain signatures to reduce pain. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Mindfulness is commonly defined in the public and professional realms as a secular therapeutic technique, but less attention has been paid to the practitioners at the vanguard of the contemporary UK mindfulness milieu and the extent to which their personal beliefs align with this profile. Drawing on a nationwide survey of 768 teachers of mindfulness, as well as 82 semi-structured interviews and a focus group with selected mindfulness practitioners, this article presents a detailed sociological portrait of UK mindfulness teachers, including their religious and spiritual identities, understandings of mindfulness, and strategies for negotiating these across personal and professional domains. The analysis reveals a far more spiritual cohort than might have been assumed, raising questions about the nature, function and significance of increasingly widespread mindfulness teaching practices in Western societies, and offering insights into the evolution of contemporary relations between 'the secular', 'the religious' and 'the spiritual' within the modern world. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Our conscious experience seemingly involves the subjective sense or feeling of the passage of time. However, in recent years, several authors have denied that such an aspect or feature of experience can be found. If the experience of the flow of time exists, it remains elusive and intangible. My aim here is to try to pin it down. For this purpose, I will investigate acute disturbances of normal temporal experience that accompany deep meditative and psychedelic states. I will argue that these experiences of altered temporality provide phenomenal contrast cases to ordinary passage phenomenology, allowing us to establish the existence of the latter and making it amenable to theorizing. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction: Social anxiety presents a significant mental health challenge, impeding individuals' social interactions and overall well-being. Mindfulness-based interventions offer a promising avenue for addressing social anxiety by cultivating present-moment awareness and acceptance(1). This study aims to investigate the effectiveness of a structured mindfulness-based intervention in alleviating symptoms of social anxiety. Methods: A Randomized Controlled Trial (RCT) was conducted involving 60 participants aged 18-65 with self-reported social anxiety symptoms. Participants were randomly assigned to either a mindfulness intervention group or a waitlist control group. The mindfulness intervention comprised group sessions incorporating mindfulness meditation, mindful movement, and discussions focused on applying mindfulness to social anxiety challenges (2,3) Validated assessment tools measured social anxiety levels pre- and post-intervention, supplemented by qualitative interviews to explore subjective experiences (4). Results: Statistical analysis revealed a significant reduction in social anxiety levels within the mindfulness intervention group compared to the control group (p < 0.001) (5). Follow-up assessments at 3 and 6 months demonstrated sustained improvements in the intervention group, indicating the enduring benefits of the mindfulness intervention. Qualitative interviews elucidated themes of heightened self-awareness, improved emotional regulation, and enhanced coping strategies among participants (6). Conclusion: The findings of this study underscore the effectiveness of mindfulness-based interventions in mitigating symptoms of social anxiety. By promoting acceptance and present- moment awareness, mindfulness practices offer a holistic approach to addressing social anxiety challenges(2). These results contribute valuable insights to the field of mental health interventions and highlight the potential of mindfulness as a viable treatment option for individuals grappling with social anxiety. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Much work has investigated beneficial effects of mindfulness-based meditation methods, but less work has investigated potential risks and differences across meditation methods. We addressed this in a large pre-registered online survey including 613 mediators where we correlated participants' experience with fifty meditation techniques to psychotic-like experiences (PLEs) and mystical experiences. We found a positive correlation for both PLEs and mystical experiences with techniques aiming at reducing phenomenological content ('null-directed', NDM) or classified as non-dual or less embodied. In contrast, methods aiming at achieving an enhanced cognitive state (CDM), also described as 'attentional' or strongly embodied, showed negative correlations with PLEs. Interestingly, participants' subjectively perceived that all types of meditation techniques were preventative of PLEs but less so for NDM. Participants differed in their reasons for meditating, broadly grouped into associated with spiritual exploration and associated with health. Participants who meditated for spiritual reasons were more likely to choose NDM techniques and more likely to experience PLEs. In contrast, participants who meditated for health-related reasons were more likely to choose CDM techniques. This study provides important information for meditators about the relationship of different techniques with PLEs and the moderating influences of individual traits. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An introduction is presented in which editor discusses various articles within the issue on topics including meditation on manliness and the androgyne in terms of contemporary Trans theory; William Blake's visuality of text and bodies and interview with T. R. Brady.

The article discusses the ancient time-tested science of Ayurveda in 2025. Topics covered include the holistic view of the body and mind, the link of autoimmune diseases to imbalances in the body, improper digestion, and accumulation of toxins, and the functions and balancing of such factors as Vata, Pitta, Kapha, Agni, and Aama. Also noted is the combination of Ayurveda, Aromatic Medicine and Bowen Therapy to address stress, anxiety, hormonal balance, and menstrual cycle regulation.

Psychedelics have shown early evidence for a range of benefits and low harm profiles in extant research. However, adverse effects (AEs) research in psychedelics has been limited, leading to underspecified AE profiles, inconsistent measurement, and potential undercounting of AEs. The development of safe, effective psychedelic therapies and treatments for AEs when they occur requires a thorough assessment of psychedelic-related AEs, their phenomenology, risk factors, and longitudinal duration. This article proposes that research on meditation-related AEs, which overlap in important ways with the phenomenological and contextual characteristics of psychedelic-related AEs, has engaged many methodological challenges present in the study of psychedelic-related AEs. Thus, meditation-related AE research offers thematic and methodological insights that are valuable to psychedelic AE research. An integrative review of extant AE research in both psychedelics and meditation is provided, and an agenda for leveraging meditation research to advance the investigation of psychedelic AEs is recommended. This includes the utility of meditation-related AEs as a comparator condition for psychedelic-related AEs, as well as recommendations for the adoption of (1) detailed and comprehensive, (2) user-informed, (3) impact-based, (4) standardized, (5) unbiased, and (6) representative measures of AEs and (7) examining factors that influence their impacts and trajectories. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Adjuvant chemotherapy can promote the 5‐year overall survival rate of pancreatic cancer (PC) patients to 16%–21%. However, the negative emotions of patients, such as anxiety, are usually omitted. Moreover, their disease burden concentrates on pain symptoms, seriously affecting the quality of life of patients. How to improve the negative emotions of PC patients, alleviate their pain, and ameliorate their quality of life has become an urgent issue. Objective: To explore the effect of mindfulness meditation (MM) combined with the BrainLink intelligent biofeedback instrument on the anxiety, pain, brain fatigue, and quality of life of PC patients under chemotherapy. Method: A total of 145 PC patients under chemotherapy were admitted to the Department of Hepatobiliary Surgery of the Second Affiliated Hospital of Army Military Medical University from January 2022 to March 2024 and were incorporated as study objects. They were divided into a control group (n = 72) and a test group (n = 73) according to the random number table. The control group received routine nursing treatment; the experimental group was treated with MM combined with an intelligent biofeedback instrument. The general information, anxiety (SAS), pain (VAS), EEG signal data (degrees of fatigue, concentration, and relaxation and EEG waves), and quality of life (EORTC QLQ‐C30) of the two groups before intervention and 4th, 8th, and 12th weeks after intervention were compared. Result: There is no significant difference in baseline data and pathological features between the two groups. After the 4th, 8th, and 12th weeks of intervention, the SAS values of the experimental group are remarkably lower than those of the control group (p < 0.05). In the 4th, 8th, and 12th weeks of intervention, the VAS scores of the experimental group are apparently lower than those of the control group (p < 0.05). In the 4th, 8th, and 12th weeks of intervention, the score of the quality of life (EORTC QLQ‐C30) in the experimental group is significantly higher than that in the control group (p < 0.05). In the 4th, 8th, and 12th weeks, compared with the control group, the experimental group patients showed significant improvement in brain fatigue relief, concentration, and relaxation levels (p < 0.05), while the experimental group's brain α and θ. The wave showed an upward trend (p < 0.05). Conclusion: MM combined with the BrainLink intelligent biofeedback instrument can significantly mitigate the anxiety, pain severity, and brain fatigue relief degree of PC patients under chemotherapy, thereby promoting their quality of life. It provides a novel intervention for the psychosomatic health of PC patients under chemotherapy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract:Objective: The study investigated the effects of a short video-app-guided loving-kindness meditation (LKM) on affect, oneness belief, and proenvironmenal behavior. Methods: We recruited 93 college students from a university in China and randomized them to an LKM group (n = 47) and a wait-list control group (n = 46). The app-group engaged in an 8-week LKM intervention, while the wait-list control group underwent no intervention. We measured five major variable factors (positive affect, negative affect, oneness belief, and proenvironmenal behavior) before and after the LKM intervention. Results: In the app-group, oneness belief, positive affect, and proenvironmenal behavior were significantly higher and negative affect was significantly lower than in the wait-list control group. The wait-list control group displayed no noticeable differences in any of the four variants[variables??] between the pretest and posttest. Conclusions: Our findings demonstrate that the short video-app-guided LKM may help to improve oneness belief, positive affect, proenvironmenal behavior and reduce negative affect. The finding of the short video-app-guided LKM's effect extends our understanding of the integrative effects of positive psychology and digital media on proenvironmenal behavior. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Currently, no systematic evidence synthesis of the mechanism of action of mindfulness-based approaches exists for pain conditions. Aim: To identify and synthesize experimental and clinical studies examining aspects of the mechanism of action of mindfulness for pain relief. Methods: The following databases and search interfaces were searched: Embase (via Embase.com) and Medline (via PubMed). Additional references were identified via bibliographies of included studies. The following were the inclusion criteria applied: (1) original studies published in peer-reviewed journals, (2) in adult populations that (3) examined the mechanism of action of mindfulness meditation on pain outcomes or (4) provided conclusions regarding the potential mechanism of action of mindfulness meditation. The studies were selected by two independent reviewers. Discrepancies were resolved by discussion. Results: A total of 21 studies published in English met the inclusion criteria, of which 5 studies were clinical studies, which included patients with chronic pain, and 16 studies used experimental pain induction. The investigation into brain mechanisms through functional magnetic resonance imaging and diffusion tensor imaging revealed mindfulness meditation's ability to modulate brain activity, particularly in the anterior cingulate cortex, anterior insula, and orbitofrontal cortex, and to enhance structural and functional connectivity in regions associated with pain perception. Regarding the role of opioids, findings across five studies indicated that the analgesic effects of mindfulness are maintained even when opioid receptors are blocked, suggesting a nonopioidergic pathway for pain modulation. Pain perception studies highlighted that mindfulness practices foster pain acceptance and modify pain control beliefs, serving as key mediators in improving pain outcomes. For experienced versus novice mindfulness practitioners, results demonstrated that long-term practice enhances pain threshold and reduces pain unpleasantness through increased activity in salience and attentional control regions. Conclusion: This systematic review highlights mindfulness meditation as a multifaceted approach to pain management, utilizing mechanisms such as cognitive and emotional reappraisal, nonopioidergic pathways, and enhanced attention in control regions. It emphasizes the role of mindfulness in fostering pain acceptance and altering pain control perceptions, showcasing its broad impact on the neurological and experiential dimensions of pain. However, the predominance of studies on healthy subjects and methodological variations across experiments necessitates careful interpretation of the findings. The review calls for further research to explore the mechanisms of mindfulness in chronic pain populations more deeply, distinguishing the specific effects of mindfulness from nonspecific effects and expanding its applicability in clinical settings for chronic pain management. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: COVID-19 pandemic brought a dramatic change in the lives of people both personally and professionally. The compulsion of learning from home after the outbreak of pandemic brought about a significant shift in the usual routine of the students. This study examines meditational practices and mindfulness among the youth who had experienced the breakdown of their normal routines. The study conducts a psychometric assessment of the business management students during the lockdown using a well-established scale to gauge the level of mindfulness among the respondents. Method: This study deploys a quantitative exploratory research design using a widely popular scale, the 15-item Mindful Attention Awareness Scale (MAAS) for measuring mindfulness among the 392 respondents. The sample consisted of young management students from two Higher Education Institutes in Northern India. Results: The results of the study revealed MAAS Scale to be highly reliable in Indian sample with Cronbach's alpha of.914 and a single factor dimension as was reported in the original study. The majority of respondents were found to have a medium level of mindfulness with no significant differences based on gender or education. Further, meditation skill was found to be the strongest predictor of mindfulness with β =.235 followed by the frequency of meditation (β =.126) and the age (β =.130) of the respondents while gender and education of respondents had no significant effect. Conclusion: The result of the study clearly indicates that meditation can significantly enhance the mindfulness of young adults; therefore, initiatives should be taken to promote meditation among the youth. Public Significance Statement: This study advances the idea that gender and education make no significant difference in the mindfulness rather meditation has a positive impact in enhancing the mindfulness. The meditation skill level and frequency of meditation increased the mindfulness of respondents in which meditation skill level contributed the most. Therefore encouraging the practice of meditation can enhance the mindfulness among public. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article examines, intellectually and experientially, the nature of a class of processes that have had a profound effect on human evolution, though their importance has largely been taken for granted by psychology and is only beginning to be recognized. The relevant process can be called conscious phenomenological transformation (CPT). A CPT is a consciously-willed transformation of phenomenal experience. It is performed for its immediate and long-term effects on both mind and body. CPT techniques and practices are grounded in biologically-based processes, here termed systemic phenomenological operators. These include breathing, body awareness, movement, cognition, and attention. These systemic processes are organized into practices which are given sense and value through their embedding within a conceptual context. The article examines the structure and dynamics of this class of processes. Across a range of specific disciplines, CPT techniques have found applications as religious, spiritual, philosophical, and psychological tools. Public Significance Statement: This article explores the structure and dynamics of an emerging class of human behavior which the author terms conscious phenomenological transformation. This class includes what has been termed meditative or contemplative processes but extends beyond these to include important experiential processes in philosophy, psychology, and everyday life. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective Fibromyalgia (FM) is a chronic and disabling condition that presents treatment challenges for both patients and healthcare providers. The objective of this review was to systematically assess the effectiveness and safety of mind-body therapies for FM. Methods We searched MEDLINE, EMBASE, PsycINFO, AMED, and CINAHL databases from their inception to December 2023. Eligible articles included adults diagnosed with FM participating in a mind-body therapy intervention and were published from the beginning of 2012 onwards. We assessed the quality of the studies using the Joanna Briggs Institute Critical Appraisal Checklists. Results Twenty-seven studies (1969 participants) were included, comprising 22 randomized controlled trials and 5 quasi-experimental studies. Mind-body therapies included guided imagery (n = 5), mindfulness-based stress reduction (n = 5), qi gong (n = 5), tai chi (n = 5), biofeedback (n = 3), yoga (n = 2), mindfulness awareness training (n = 1), and progressive muscle relaxation (n = 1). With the exception of mindfulness-based stress reduction, all therapies had at least 1 study showing significant improvements in pain at the end of treatment. Three or more studies on qi gong and tai chi demonstrated significant improvements in fatigue and multidimensional function, with tai chi showing the most evidence for improvement in anxiety and depression. Approximately one-third of the studies reported on adverse events. Conclusions This systematic review found that mind-body therapies are potentially beneficial for adults with FM. Further research is necessary to determine if the positive effects observed post-intervention are sustained. Study registration Open Science Framework (https://osf.io) (September 12, 2023; https://doi.org/10.17605/osf.io/6w7ac). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Buddhist Jhāna meditation and the Christian practice of speaking in tongues appear wildly distinct. These spiritual techniques differ in their ethical, theological, and historical frames and seem, from the outside, to produce markedly different states of consciousness—one a state of utter calm and the other of high emotional arousal. Yet, our phenomenological interviews with experienced practitioners in the USA found significant points of convergence. Practitioners in both traditions describe a dynamic relationship between focused attention, aroused joy, and a sense of letting go or release that they describe as crucial to their practice. This paper highlights these shared phenomenological features and theorizes possible underlying mechanisms. Analyzing our phenomenological data through the lens of various theories of brain function, including sensory gating and predictive processing, we propose that these practices both engage an autonomic field built through a spiral between attention, arousal, and release (AAR). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This longitudinal study with female youth in the slums of Kampala, Uganda (n = 130), explored the impact of the Transcendental Meditation® (TM®) technique on self-esteem, the primary outcome measure, and self-efficacy, gratitude, hope, tiredness, and resilience as secondary outcomes. Quality-of-life behaviors were also assessed, including excessive alcohol use. After baseline testing participants learned TM over five consecutive days. Participants practiced TM at home for 20 min twice a day and attended two follow-up sessions. Post-testing occurred at five months. Significant improvements in self-esteem (p <.001), self-efficacy (p <.001), gratitude (p <.001), and tiredness (p =.05) were found. A decrease in excessive alcohol use was also observed (p =.02). At eight months a short answer questionnaire showed improved physical health, decreased stress and anxiety levels, and improved relationships in the family and community. Our findings have important implications for enhancing the well-being and empowerment of these vulnerable female youth. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Yang Shi initiated the Neo-Confucian methodology of self-cultivation centered on quiet-sitting, and focusing on Yang Shi may shift the study of Confucian quiet-sitting to a more chronologically appropriate "beginning-forward" approach. Incorporating techniques such as breathing and calming the mind, Yang's approach to self-cultivation follows a model of returning to the state of centrality through quiet-sitting, and then preserving and expanding that state in moments of everyday life. This model is based on a moral psychology and metaphysics that views the comprehensive pattern-principle of the universe, Tianli, as fully manifest in the vital state of the human heartmind achievable through the practice of quiet-sitting. This view inherits major features of Cheng Hao's philosophy while distinguishing itself from Cheng Yi's. Yang Shi's reflections on the differences between Confucian and Buddhist contemplative practices also indicate, despite his view being closer to the Huayan Buddhist metaphysical perspective of perfect fusion between pattern-principle and things compared to Cheng Yi, an insistence on characterizing his quiet-sitting philosophy as distinctively Confucian. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This essay reflects on the difficulties of situating recognition as a basis for ethics by putting end (2018), a paper, wood, and staple assemblage by Philadelphia- and Brooklyn-based conceptual artist Wilmer Wilson IV, in conversation with Judith Butler's Giving an Account of Oneself. Analyzing end, which offers a meditation on representation, racial capitalism, and intimacy, reveals how visual art can be both the scene and mode of address. This duality has important implications for Black studies' effort to work around recognition. It does so by muddying firm distinctions between "you" and "I" and enabling a deeper consideration of what escapes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper describes three spiritual practices utilized for healing. These modalities—meditation, mindfulness, and prayer—share a spiritual foundation and appear to operate, in part, through mind–body connections that can be accessed to ameliorate physical and psychological symptoms and to promote health. For each modality, this paper discusses pertinent conceptual issues, summarizes empirical evidence suggestive of a role in healing, and outlines theoretical support for such a relationship. Also discussed is a fourth modality, energy healing, and how it might be studied, as well as why further investigation of spiritual healing is merited and a worthwhile topic for medical research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Previously, the electroencephalogram (EEG) recorded while listening to repetition of a Sanskrit monosyllable (i.e., OM) was not significantly different from the EEG recorded during control periods. In the present study, fifteen adult volunteers from northern India (all male, average age 25.0 ± 4.9 years) were assessed using monopolar scalp EEG recordings before, during and after (i) silent repetition of a monosyllable (OM), (ii) silent repetition of 'one' and (iii) quiet rest. In (i), (ii) and (iii) breathing was not consciously modified. The participants had an average of five years' experience of focused meditation (dharana), involving awareness directed to the breath. Participants had no prior experience of silent repetition of either 'OM' or 'one'. They were Indian Hindus for whom OM has special spiritual significance, whereas 'one' does not. The sessions were on separate days in random order. The absolute and relative energy of theta waves in the EEG recorded at Pz-A2 increased significantly during repetition of OM compared to the preceding state. There were no changes during silent repetition of 'one' or during quiet rest. Increased energy in the theta band while awake reflects a state of relaxation devoid of effort. Hence, during silent repetition of OM alone there were changes suggestive of effortless relaxation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Buddhist meditation practices, including Samadhi meditation, which forms the basis for mindfulness practice, are broadly promoted as pathways to wellbeing, but evidence of their adverse effects is emerging. In a single-group observational study with assessments of autonomic system before, during, and after Samadhi meditation, we explore the relationship between post-meditation nausea symptoms and the degree of change in autonomic system activity during meditation as compared to before and after in 57 university students (42 women; mean age = 22.6) without any previous experience in meditation or yoga practices. We hypothesize that nauseous feelings in meditation are connected to a rapid increase of activity in the sympathetic nervous system, as indicated by decreased heart-rate variability (HRV). We additionally explore links between meditation-induced nausea and two markers of parasympathetic activity: increased HRV and vasovagal syncope. Engaging in meditation and increased nausea during meditation were both associated with increased markers of HRV parasympathetic activity, but 12 individuals with markedly higher nausea demonstrated increased HRV markers of sympathetic activity during meditation. Vasovagal syncope was observed but found to be unrelated to nausea levels. Drivers of adverse effects of meditation in some individuals require further investigation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Contemplative approaches rooted in Buddhist traditions have been linked to the attenuation of response to social stress. Anticipatory cognitive appraisals of social situations potentially represent a mechanism explaining the stress-reducing effects of contemplative practices. The cognitive appraisal of threat is associated with an anticipated loss of social self-esteem. In contrast, the cognitive appraisal of challenge involves recognizing the potential for gain or growth in stressful situations and is associated with a more adaptive cardiovascular response. In this secondary analysis of a randomized controlled experiment performed in Switzerland, we evaluated the effects of two contemplative interventions on cognitive appraisals of challenge and threat and associated physiological profiles. The interventions were a standard Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) program and a new program (MBSR-B), which included several elements from Buddhist practices. After an eight-week intervention, participants completed the Trier Social Stress Test (TSST) and underwent the assessment of primary cognitive appraisals and cardiovascular response to stress. The results demonstrated greater challenge appraisal in the MBSR (n = 20) and MBSR-B (n = 21) groups compared to Control (n = 24), and MBSR-B participants scored higher on the challenge than threat appraisal. At the physiological level, the groups did not differ on changes in cardiac output and total peripheral resistance. Still, an exploratory analysis demonstrated that the MBSR-B group's cardiovascular profile best resembled challenge appraisal. The results suggest that contemplative approaches foster challenge appraisal, contributing to a more adaptive response to stress. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article argues for a revised understanding of Coleridge's aesthetics of the preternatural by analyzing them through the lens of his long-standing engagement with the phenomenology and hermeneutics of ghost-seeing. Focusing first on critical works such as The Friend, The Statesman's Manual , and Coleridge's notes on Hamlet , I contend that Coleridge articulates an account of visionary experience which stresses the primacy of the interpretive act. The article concludes with a reading of Christabel as a meditation on the hermeneutics of apparitions in which the interpretive crisis of ghost-seeing facilitates a necromantic sociality interpenetrated by the presences of the dead. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]