CNMB Lab, Nashville, TN
dvago@bwh.harvard.edu

Category: research

Brigham and Women's Hospital

Contemplative Science & Mindfulness Meditation Centers Across the World

The following list includes Education, Dharma, and research-related centers across the world interested in mindfulness and meditation Contemplative & Mindfulness-related Resources (Centers and websites) 1. Mind and Life Institute [Link] 2. UMASS – center for Mindfulness in Medicine, Health Care, and Society (JKZ) [Link] 3. UK Mindfulness-based Cognitive Therapy – [Link] 2. Mindful.org – A…
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Evidence-based Mindfulness Interventions

Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) Kabat-Zinn, J. (1982). An outpatient program in behavioral medicine for chronic pain patients based on the practice of mindfulness meditation: Theoretical considerations and preliminary results. General Hospital Psychiatry, 4(1), 33-47. Kabat-Zinn, J., Lipworth, L., & Burney, R. (1985). The clinical use of mindfulness meditation for the self-regulation of chronic pain. Journal…
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Short term “integrative body-mind training” (IBMT) improves self- and autonomic regulation

A group from Univ. of Oregon in collaboration with the Institute of Neuroinformatics and Laboratory for Body and Mind, Dalian University of Technology, Dalian, China has found more evidence (see 2007, 2009 and 2010 articles) that short-term meditation in the form of IBMT can improve self-regulation and components of attention. What is IBMT? According to…
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Measures of Mindfulness (revisiting the problems of defining the concept)

As clinicians, researchers, and basic scientists, we are slowly operationalizing the concept of mindfulness. It is important that we consider the cultural context from which the term arises and clearly distinguish it from secular practices like: Progressive Muscle Relaxation (E.Jacobson) Relaxation Response (H.Benson) Biofeedback-induced relaxation Situational Awareness (E. Langer) These practices all involve: Cultivation of…
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Mindfulness in the workplace

Jayanath Narayanan of the National University of Singapore, also affiliated with University of Michigan School of Business and center for Positive Organizational Scholarship has been studying how mindfulness training can affect the workplace. In two studies, they claim that, “mindfulness leads to superior performance and lower emotional exhaustion thereby contributing to workplace well-being and performance”…
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Integrative body-mind training (IBMT) for 5 days induces neuroplastic changes in areas of self-regulation

“We were able to show that the training improved the connection between a central nervous system structure, the anterior cingulate, and the parasympathetic part of the autonomic nervous system to help put a person into a more bodily state,” Posner said. “The results seem to show integration — a connectivity of brain and body.” see…
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Can Meditation improve Attention?

What types of meditation improve attention? And what types of attention? There appears to be some data that suggest “mindfulness training” will improve orienting ( a component of attention proposed by Posner and colleagues). There appears to be less an effect on shifting attention and engagement of attention. How about the phenomenon of “Change Blindness”…
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Compassion Meditation May Improve Physical and Emotional Responses to Psychological Stress

Data from a new study suggests that individuals who engage in compassion meditation may benefit by reductions in inflammatory and behavioral responses to stress that have been linked to depression and a number of medical illnesses. The study’s findings are published online at www.sciencedirect.com and in the medical journal Psychoneuroendocrinology. “While much attention has been…
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The Science of Buddhist Meditation

The University of Liverpool is sponsoring an event concerning the science of Buddhist Meditation November 09, 2008. The Link is HERE. The abstract follows: Increasingly scientific investigations suggest that Buddhist meditators are happier, have improved cognitive abilities and that meditation practice leads to measurable changes in brain activity. Four experts from psychology, psychotherapy, neuroscience and…
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Zen Meditators Show faster return to resting state

Giuseppe Pagnoni, a Neuroscientist in the dept. of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences at Emory University just recently published a study on Zen Meditators and fMRI. Using fMRI and a simplified meditative condition interspersed with a lexical decision task, they investigated the neural correlates of conceptual processing during meditation in regular Zen practitioners and matched control…
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