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
- Feasibility of Integrating MEditatioN inTO heaRt Disease (the MENTOR Study): A Phase II Randomized Controlled Trial May 30, 2023BACKGROUND: Comorbid depression and/or anxiety symptoms occur in 25% of patients attending cardiac rehabilitation (CR) programs and are associated with poorer prognosis. There is a need to evaluate psychological interventions, including meditation, that have potential to improve psychological health in CR programs.
- Mindfulness Intervention for Improving Psychological Wellbeing Among Students During COVID-19 Pandemic: A Scoping Review May 30, 2023The COVID-19 pandemic can cause mental health problems such as stress, social anxiety, depression, and decrease social life on students. Mental health problems need to be taken seriously to develop the stage of development and improve the psychological well-being of students on learning in the school. The aim of this study was to explore mindfulness […]
- Effects of Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction on Blood Pressure, Mental Health, and Quality of Life in Hypertensive Adult Women: A Randomized Clinical Trial Study May 30, 2023CONCLUSION: The 12-week MBSR program resulted in a significant reduction in the mean systolic and diastolic blood pressures and improvement in mental health and different aspects of quality of life.
Neuroimaging and Meditation
- 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 […]
- Interoceptive awareness: MBSR training alters information processing of salience network April 7, 2023Mindfulness refers to a mental state of awareness of internal experience without judgment. Studies have suggested that each mindfulness practice may involve a unique mental state, but the underlying neurophysiological mechanisms remain unknown. Here we examined how distinct mindfulness practices after mindfulness-based intervention alter brain functionality. Specifically, we investigated the functional alterations of the salience […]
- Long-Term and Meditation-Specific Modulations of Brain Connectivity Revealed Through Multivariate Pattern Analysis March 28, 2023Neuroimaging studies have provided evidence that extensive meditation practice modifies the functional and structural properties of the human brain, such as large-scale brain region interplay. However, it remains unclear how different meditation styles are involved in the modulation of these large-scale brain networks. Here, using machine learning and fMRI functional connectivity, we investigated how focused […]
Mindfulness
- Comparative efficacy of remotely delivered mindfulness-based eating awareness training versus behavioral-weight loss counseling during COVID-19 June 2, 2023INTRODUCTION: Dysregulated eating (emotional eating, cue-elicited eating, and dietary restraint and restriction) has been linked to being overweight or obese. The present investigation used a random controlled trial (RCT) to test the differential efficacy of remotely delivered Mindfulness-Based Eating Awareness Training (MB-EAT) and Behavioral Weight Loss (BWL) counseling.
- Interoception Within the Context of Impulsivity and Addiction June 2, 2023PURPOSE OF REVIEW: The goal of this review is to examine the relationship between impulsivity and interoception in addiction, to summarize the current understanding of the topic, identify any gaps in knowledge, and provide directions for future research.
- Interdisciplinary pain therapy in the elderly June 2, 2023Chronic pain in the elderly is becoming increasingly important and is associated with serious health impacts. Therefore, international guidelines demand that pain therapy for the elderly preferably be a multimodal therapy based on a bio-psycho-social pain model. Specific psychometric tests and interview guidelines are available for the interdisciplinary pain assessment. Evidence for the effectiveness of […]