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

Tag: meditation

Brigham and Women's Hospital

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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A few links for Meditation practice

There are many types of meditation practice from many types of contemplative traditions. Some are rooted in the Buddhist contemplative tradition (Theravada or Mahayana) and others from traditions like Kabbalah in Judaism, and centering prayer originating in Christianity. There are many other contemplative practices, but it is those that stem from Buddhism that have been…
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Meditation ‘eases heart disease’

There was a piece in the BBC News today about research conducted at the Maharishi University in Iowa. Trancendental Meditation eases heart disease. Using a longitudinal design, researchers showed the meditation group had a 47% reduction in deaths, heart attacks and strokes. Click HERE for the link. here is a link to the maharishi talking…
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Buddhist Deity Meditation Temporarily Augments Visuospatial Abilities, Study Suggests

ScienceDaily (Apr. 28, 2009) — Meditation has been practiced for centuries, as a way to calm the soul and bring about inner peace. According to a new study in Psychological Science, a journal of the Association for Psychological Science, there is now evidence that a specific method of meditation may temporarily boost our visuospatial abilities…
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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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2009 Mind and Life Summer Research Institute

Applications are now being accepted for the 2009 Mind and Life Summer Research Institute (MLSRI) to be held at the Garrison Institute (www.garrisoninstitute.org) in New York from June 7 (mid-aft. to the morning of June 13, 2009, The application period will close on Sunday, February 8, 2009. To apply now, please go to: http://www.mindandlife.org/sri09.ml.summer.apply.html. This…
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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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Measures of Mindfulness

In order of personal preference: 1. Five Facet Mindfulness Questionnaire (FFMQ) [Link] – The FFMQ, revised from the Kentucky Inventory of Mindfulness Skills, is used to assess the construct of mindfulness. Previous research on assessment of mindfulness by self-report suggests that it may include five component skills: observing, describing, acting with awareness, nonjudging of inner…
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The effects of Meditation on Fibromyalgia

Meditation has been shown to have benefits in many clinical disorders. An 8-week course in which women diagnosed with fibromyaliga are practicing mindfulness and meditation skills 5 days/week and meeting once/week for 2 hours, along with 1 full-day retreat at week 6 have shown benefits in attention, stress reduction, and emotion regulation. David Vago and…
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