Mapping the Meditative Mind is an initiative that attempts to use mixed methods for understanding the elements (and the relationships between such elements) that make up 1st person phenomenological experience during various meditative practices. Neurobiological substrates that give rise to phenomenological experience underlying different modalities of awareness in mindfulness practice are mapped onto conceptual and computational models.
Psychological resilience, in this context, refers to the ability for an individual to adaptively respond to stress and adversity. Ideally, we would like to understand how mindfulness skills can contribute to decreasing risk and improving resilience from symptom onset through remission and recovery across the spectrum of psychological disorders.
What are the neural circuit changes and predictors of change in response to evidence-based treatments for psychopathology and neuropsychiatric disease states
Dr. Vago and the FNL are investigating the potential long-term effects of exposure to mindfulness training during elementary school, on subsequent health attitudes, resilience to stress, and well-being as adults.
There are many forms of meditation. You may be wondering where to start. Here, I provide my own personal perspective and provide conceptual models that propose to demonstrate how the most common practices function to transform your mind and brain.
Dr. Vago and the FNL are leading studies investigating the effects of meditation on the brain
There are now hundreds of medical and research-focused centers around the globe that incorporate mindfulness and other contemplative practices into core treatment protocol and evidence-based research. Find out about all the centers near you or networked in this community
Dr. Vago and the FNL have been designing systems-based models of contemplative practices that identify the core cognitive, psychological, computational, and neural mechanisms by which practices like meditation and yoga function to achieve their benefits
Dr. Vago’s Ted-X Talk on Self-Transformation Through Mindfulness
LATEST BLOG POSTS
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Meditation and Depression
- Role of yoga in stress management and implications in major depression disorder September 23, 2023Major Depressive Disorder (MDD) is one of the leading causes of disability affecting more than 340 million people and second largest contributor to global burden of disease. Chronic stress is a common risk factor and important contributor for MDD. Stress could be defined as the "perceived inability to cope". Stressful life events are shown to […]
- Do yoga and meditation moderate the relationship between negative life events and depressive symptoms? Analysis of a national cross-sectional survey of Australian women September 21, 2023CONCLUSION: Yoga/meditation use was a significant moderator of the relationship between negative life events and depression. Yoga/mediation use did not act via reducing perceived stress, but instead was found to dampen the influence of negative life events on depression directly. More research on how yoga has an impact on depression is warranted.
- Nonpharmacological approaches for pain and symptoms of depression in people with osteoarthritis: systematic review and meta-analyses September 18, 2023People with osteoarthritis often experience pain and depression. These meta-analyses examined and compared nonpharmacological randomized controlled trials (RCTs) for pain and symptoms of depression in people living with osteoarthritis. RCTs published up until April 2022 were sourced by searching electronic databases EMBASE, PUBMED & MEDLINE, Web of Science, CINAHL and PEDro. Random-effects meta-analyses were performed […]
Neuroimaging and Meditation
- Meditation attenuates default-mode activity: A pilot study using ultra-high field 7 Tesla MRI September 21, 2023CONCLUSIONS: This pilot study establishes the feasibility and utility of investigating focused attention meditation using ultra-high field (7 Tesla) fMRI, by supporting widespread evidence that focused attention meditation attenuates default-mode activity responsible for self-referential processing. Future functional neuroimaging studies of meditation should control for physiological confounds and include behavioural assessments.
- Perspective on salutogenic approaches to persistent pain with a focus on mindfulness interventions September 14, 2023In this article, we provide a unique perspective on the use of mindfulness interventions in a whole health framework embedded within the theory of salutogenesis and the concept of painogenic environments. We argue that mindfulness is a valuable tool to bridge exploration of inner experiences of bodily pain with socio-ecological influences on thoughts and emotions. […]
- Sparse Bayesian modeling of hierarchical independent component analysis: Reliable estimation of individual differences in brain networks April 10, 2023Independent component analysis (ICA) is one of the leading approaches for studying brain functional networks. There is increasing interest in neuroscience studies to investigate individual differences in brain networks and their association with demographic characteristics and clinical outcomes. In this work, we develop a sparse Bayesian group hierarchical ICA model that offers significant improvements over […]
Mindfulness
- Retraction: Psychometric assessment of the Persian translation of the interpersonal mindfulness scale with undergraduate students September 25, 2023[This retracts the article DOI: 10.3389/fpsyt.2022.866816.].
- Preliminary data that psychological treatment and baseline anxiety are associated with a decrease in postprandial fullness and early satiation for individuals with bulimia nervosa and related other specified feeding or eating disorder September 25, 2023OBJECTIVE: Gastrointestinal symptoms, particularly postprandial fullness, are frequently reported in eating disorders. Limited data exist evaluating how these symptoms change in response to outpatient psychological treatment. The current study sought to describe the course of postprandial fullness and early satiation across psychological treatment for adults with bulimia nervosa and related other specified feeding or eating […]
- Feasibility of a Mindfulness Education Module for Nurses: An Evidence-Based Practice Project September 25, 2023Nurse burnout is a well-defined problem that has been exacerbated by the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic and negatively affects nurses' mental health, nursing shortages, patient safety, and quality of care. Evidence shows that mindfulness is an effective strategy for managing stress and decreasing burnout among nurses. This article describes an evidence-based practice project that […]