Meditation Course Research Articles

Efeitos de um curso de meditação de atenção plena em estudantes da saúde no Brasil

Resumo Objetivo Avaliar os efeitos de um curso de meditacao de atencao plena nas emocoes e na gentileza dos estudantes de Saude em relacao a si mesmos e aos outros. Metodos Estudo de caso longitudinal e de metodo misto com inclusao de ferramentas quantitativas e qualitativas. Os grupos de controle (n=14) e de estudo (n=16) foram formados por uma populacao de 30 estudantes de Enfermagem, Medicina e Fonoaudiologia. Os participantes do grupo de estudo fizeram curso eletivo sobre estrategias para desenvolver a atencao plena incluindo varredura corporal, respiracao consciente e movimento consciente, entre outros. Durante as aulas, os alunos tambem participaram de discussoes sobre gentileza e compaixao, com base em espiritualidade e neurociencia. O curso teve duracao de 36 horas, ao longo de nove semanas. Os alunos dos grupos de estudo e controle foram avaliados por meio de entrevistas em grupo, antes e apos o curso. As ferramentas de avaliacao incluiram a Escala de Estresse Percebido (PSS), a Escala de Atencao Plena e Consciencia (MAAS), a Escala de Afeto Positivo e Negativo X (PANAS-X); e o Indice de Bem-Estar OMS-5. Resultados Apos o curso, os individuos do grupo de estudo alcancaram pontuacoes significativamente mais baixas no PANAS-X (afeto negativo) em comparacao com as pontuacoes anteriores. Outras variaveis quantitativas nao tiveram alteracoes significativas (p>0,05). Tres categorias emergiram das analises qualitativas: (a) dificuldades em viver o momento presente e ansiedade na tentativa de controlar o futuro; (b) praticas de meditacao como ferramenta para enfrentar tais dificuldades; e (c) experiencia caracterizada pelo afeto. Conclusao O curso eletivo focado na meditacao da atencao plena e compaixao ajudou a desenvolver as habilidades socioemocionais de bem-estar, a autoconsciencia dos alunos e a reduzir o afeto negativo.

Effects of School-Based Meditation Courses on Self-Reflection, Academic Attention, and Subjective Well-Being in South Korean Middle School Students

PurposeThe purpose of this study was to examine the effects of school-based meditation courses on middle school students' self-reflection, academic attention (ability to focus in classrooms), and subjective well-being. Design and methodsThe research design was a nonequivalent group comparison (n = 163) with pretest and post-test. The experimental group (n = 81) was given an eight-week meditation course and the control group (n = 82) was given other elective courses such as calligraphy and reading. ResultsThe experimental group showed significant increases in self-reflection (t = 2.536, p = .012) and academic attention (t = 2.767, p = .006), but subjective well-being did not increase significantly (t = 0.906, p = .367). Life satisfaction was the only subcomponent of subjective well-being that increased significantly (t = 2.438, p = .016); the other subjective well-being subcomponents did not show any significant changes. ConclusionsSelf-reflection and academic attention significantly increased in middle school students after an eight-week meditation course. Even though changes in subjective well-being were not significant, one of its subcomponents (life satisfaction) did show significant improvement. Self-reflection and subjective well-being were shown to be influential factors for academic attention (48.5% of the variance explained). Practice implicationsThis study is meaningful in that it examined positive benefits of a meditation course in middle school students and explored the feasibility of such a course in a school system.

Mindfulness, happiness, and anxiety in a sample of college students before and after taking a meditation course

Objective To explore differences in mindfulness, happiness, and perceived anxiety in a sample of college students before and after taking a meditation course. Participants Participants were college students at a primarily undergraduate institution enrolled in an experiential meditation class (n = 74) and a non-meditation class comparison group (n = 73). Methods The study design was a before-after observational study with two groups and three dependent variables: the Mindfulness Attention Awareness Scale, the State Trait Anxiety Inventory and the Subjective Happiness Scale. Results Students in the meditation course increased average subjective happiness and mindfulness attention awareness. Mindfulness scores increased and anxiety decreased more for students in the meditation class compared to students in the psychosocial class. Conclusions This research provides evidence that taking a semester long meditation course is associated with improvements in college student well-being.

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The model of meditation course suitable for the sociocultural background of Americans

The objectives of this research were 1) to analyse sociocultural background of Americans 2) to analyse current American meditation practices and 3) to form the model of meditation course suitable for the sociocultural background of Americans. By nature, Americans are adaptable and open to new traditions and ideas. There are four widespread meditation schools in the United States, which are Goenka, Plum Village, Shambhala and TM. According to the results of analysis based on the concept of Sappāya 4 or Four Favorable Conditions, which are place, meal, personnel and meditation practice; the researcher synthesized the meditation course suitable for the sociocultural background of Americans thus; 1) Place (Meditation Center): Americans generally live hasty lives, and as such, they tend to use an easy location for daily meditation and choose a peaceful place for long retreat. 2) Meal: provision of two or three healthy vegetarian or non-vegetarian meals a day for long retreats. 3) Personnel: both meditation teachers and mentors should be local people who are systematically trained to the same standard and certified. 4) Meditation: focus on teaching meditation techniques, avoid religious instruction and sensitive issues.

Students' response to a Massage & Meditation medical school course elective.

This article was migrated. The article was marked as recommended. Objectives: Due to high incidence of medical student and physician burnout, medical education needs to include skills for life-work balance. Patients complain that clinicians depend on technology during clinic visits, and use less touch. To address this educational need, we designed an 18-hour curriculum that combines massage (to reduce anxiety and teach skillful touch) and meditation (for burnout prevention). We explored whether learning basics of massage and meditation could give medical students tools for self-care and skillful touch. Methods: The curriculum was implemented as an elective at the Medical School since 14 years. We collected 181 anonymous student evaluations and conducted pre-post surveys to evaluate the curriculum. We assess mindful bodily awareness (by Multidimensional Assessment of Interoceptive Awareness questionnaire) and conducted thematic analysis of students' comments. Results: Students appeared highly satisfied with the class (4.94 [Range 1-5]) and reported confidence in being able to apply massage and meditation in their personal and professional life. They commented on the importance of skillful touch and gained more confidence in using touch in clinical care. The pre-post survey showed improvements in interoceptive bodily awareness. Students felt that they developed new skills for self-care and stress management, experienced a sense of community among peers, and stated that the class provided necessary teaching complementary to the mandatory medical school curriculum. Conclusions: A course of Meditation and Massage may be a valuable complementary elective to medical school education, supporting self-care and stress management in preparation for a demanding profession, and may improve palpatory examination skills.

Capsule Commentary on Neto et al.: Effects of a Required Large-Group Mindfulness Meditation Course on First-Year Medical Students' Mental Health and Quality of Life: a Randomized Controlled Trial.

Capsule Commentary on Neto et al.: Effects of a Required Large-Group Mindfulness Meditation Course on First-Year Medical Students' Mental Health and Quality of Life: a Randomized Controlled Trial.

КОГНИТИВНЫЕ ОСНОВАНИЯ ПСИХОСОМАТИЧЕСКИХ ТРАНСФОРМАЦИЙ МАСТЕРОВ «ВНУТРЕННИХ ШКОЛ»

The cognitive bases of psychosomatic transformations of masters of "Internal Schools" Wushu are stretched in a range from archaic elements of classical Chinese philosophy and culture to ability of the person in the course of meditation to increase brain potential, developing it functional and any way transforming some of its departments. Such a wide range is explained both by the general purpose dàojiào – achievement of Personal Immortality of a Man, and by the specificity of "Internal Schools" Wushu, that incorporated the Buddhist Qigong systems Yi Jin Jing and Xi Sui Jing into Taoist practice.

Beyond Mindfulness: Meditation for Mystical Experience and Persisting Benefit

Modern psychological research on meditation has demonstrated its extensive psychological and physical benefits. Much of this modern research relies on ‘mindfulness’ training protocols, such as the popular MBSR program (from the 1970s) and similar offshoots. Though certainly useful, these mindfulness interventions are limited in scope. Their contents do not reflect voluminous recent research into related practices, nor the immense breadth of the traditions from which they come. Such mindfulness interventions derive generally from Buddhist teachings, but include only a fraction of the traditional meditative path – and they omit profound, essential elements.I created a novel curriculum to expand on existing mindfulness protocols, better represent the complete traditions that have been their source, and improve their efficacy by encouraging self-transcendent and mystical-type experiences. This program was offered as a semester-long Berkeley undergraduate course. Self-report assessments revealed myriad benefits: increased psychological well-being, resilience to stress, confidence, purpose; improvement of depression, anxiety, PTSD, and insomnia symptoms; and bolstered compassion, patience, focus, and empathy. 70% of students responded that in terms of overall life value, the meditation course was equal to or greater in significance than anything they had ever experienced.Students reported surprising levels of mystical experience as a result of the class. Intriguingly, out of all dimensions assessed, only mystical experience possessed a truly significant relationship with total reported participant benefit (Pearson coefficient=0.72). These findings demonstrate the efficacy of this novel meditation protocol, the accessibility of mystical experience with proper instruction, and the central importance of such experience for maximum participant benefit.

And Then There’s Us: Training yourself as a midwifery leader

If you’re a class rep, Royal College of Midwives rep, or perhaps you are single handedly getting a free meditation course or Baby Friendly Initiative accredited training set up for your university or trust, awesome, crack on, you probably don’t need this article! But if someone had talked to me about leadership while I was in the throes of being a student midwife I’d have said “Nice thought, but If I get to shift on time and my uniform’s not inside out, that’s me winning the day. I’m not cut out for being in charge.”

Still facial photographs of long-term meditators are perceived by naïve observers as less neurotic, more conscientious and more mindful than non-meditating controls.

The impact of meditation training on self-report psychological variables is well-established. Although meditation training is purported to have interpersonal impacts, whether naïve observers perceive differences associated with long- and short-term meditation training is largely unknown. The current study provided a stringent test of this possibility through observer ratings of a very thin slice of expressive behavior: still photographs. Photographs were drawn from a larger study investigating differences between long-term meditators (LTM) and meditation naïve participants (MNP) who were exposed to one of three experimental conditions. Photographs of ninety-nine targets (16 LTMs, 83 MNPs) were taken at baseline, prior to the randomization of MNPs to an eight-week mindfulness meditation course (mindfulness-based stress reduction; n = 27), an active control comparison condition (health enhancement program; n = 29), or a waitlist control group (n = 27) and again after the training period. Pre- and post-intervention photographs were then rated by 25 meditation teachers and 86 undergraduate raters on five domains theoretically linked to meditation training. Results indicated that relative to MNPs, LTMs were rated as less neurotic and more conscientious, mindful, and “comfortable in their own skin” at baseline (ds = 0.61 to 0.70, ps < .050), although not more agreeable or attractive. Results were largely unchanged when controlling for five observable confounds (age, gender, race/ethnicity, body mass index, attractiveness). No evidence was found supporting experimental effects of short-term meditation training on observer ratings. Thus, it seems that if meditation is associated with observable differences in facial behavior, effects may be limited to long-term training.

Effects of a Required Large-Group Mindfulness Meditation Course on First-Year Medical Students' Mental Health and Quality of Life: a Randomized Controlled Trial.

Teaching mindfulness techniques has been used in the attempt to prevent mental health problems in medical students. Although it has already shown promising results when offered to volunteers, the use as a required strategy is still controversial. To verify the efficacy of teaching mindfulness techniques to large groups when made part of a required discipline at the beginning of medical training. Randomized controlled trial PARTICIPANTS: First-year medical students at the Federal University of Juiz de Fora, Brazil METHOD: Students were randomized into two groups: an intervention group (receiving a 6-week mindfulness protocol) and a control group (given a 6-week course containing organizational aspects of the medical school). Intervention and control groups were compared on the levels of quality of life (WHOQOL-Bref), stress, anxiety and depression (DASS 21) and the facets of mindfulness (FFMQ) at baseline and at the end of the intervention. A total of 141 students were included in the study, 70 in the intervention group and 71 in the control group. No significant differences were found between the intervention and control groups in all mental health, quality of life, and FFMQ scores (Cohen's d = 0.01 to 0.14). Likewise, no significant gains in mental health measures, quality of life, and FFMQ were identified in the intervention group when compared with the control group (Cohen's d = 0.02 to 0.33). The incorporation of a required mindfulness course for large groups in the curriculum during the first semester of medical training was not associated with an improvement on medical students' mental health and quality of life. NCT03132597.

Mindfulness Meditation for Medical Students: a Student-Led Initiative to Expose Medical Students to Mindfulness Practices.

To explore the feasibility and impact of a brief mindfulness training for medical students and to learn about the perceptions, expectations, and problems associated with mindfulness practices in the context of medicine and medical education. Forty-one medical students were randomized into either an introductory mindfulness class only or an introductory mindfulness class plus an 8-week mindfulness meditation course. Quantitative and qualitative data were collected from both groups after the introductory class and again after the full course. Qualitative data was subject to close iterative reading as part of a grounded-theory-guided content analysis, generating a list of codes which were then assigned to statements and arranged into overarching themes. Mindfulness and awareness were negatively correlated with stress and depression. Students who took the full mindfulness course emerged with a greater familiarity with and willingness to utilize mindfulness modalities. There was no significant difference on wellness outcomes between the introductory-course-only group and the full-mindfulness-course group. Thematic analysis revealed student aspirations for a mindfulness alternative in medicine and medical education but also a recognition of the challenges inherent in applying such an alternative. A mindfulness course for medical students is feasible and has potential as a wellness and educational initiative. Shorter duration mindfulness interventions may increase accessibility without significantly reducing benefit. Interpretation of overarching themes derived from the grounded theory analysis illuminates the subject of mindfulness for medical students from the perspective of students themselves.

Meditation enhances brain oxygenation, upregulates BDNF and improves quality of life in patients with primary open angle glaucoma: A randomized controlled trial.

Glaucoma (POAG) is a kind of neurodegenerative disease known to be closely associated with stress and adverse quality of life (QOL). Stress has also been shown to be involved in etiopathogenesis of primary open angle glaucoma (POAG). Complementary treatment in form of Meditation has been reported to improve QOL, brain oxygenation and decrease markers of stress. With this premise, a randomized controlled trial was carried out to assess the effect of Meditation on intraocular pressure, subjective QOL and objective markers of stress and brain oxygenation in patients with POAG. Sixty patients were randomized into intervention and control groups. Intervention group underwent 45 minutes of Meditation daily for 6 weeks in addition to standard medical treatment while controls received only standard medical treatment. Inclusion criteria were patients with POAG, age >45 years, best corrected visual acuity >6/60. Patients with other ocular co-morbid conditions contributing to vision loss, systemic diseases, patients already practicing meditation in any form were excluded. An assessment of IOP, brain oxygenation using functional near infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS), QOL (WHO-BREF QOL) and stress markers in serum (cortisol, β-endorphins, interleukin-6, brain derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF), reactive oxygen species) was made at baseline and at 6 weeks. 21 female and 39 male patients were enrolled with a mean age of 57.28±9.37 years. All parameters were comparable between two groups at baseline. At 6 weeks mean level of IOP decreased significantly in intervention group (15.9±1.8 mmHg to 14.4±1.21 mm Hg, p-value 0.0001) as compared to control group (15.7±1.4 mmHg to 15.65±1.41, p-value 0.41). fNIRS showed significant improvement in oxygenated hemoglobin change (ΔHbO) in intervention group in the prefrontal cortex (p-value < 0.0001) as compared to control group (p-value 0.52). WHO-BREF QOL score increased significantly in intervention group (86.6±6.16 to 93.3±5.66, p-value 0.0001) as compared to control (89±7.25 to 89.07±3.24, p-value 0.74).Mean serum cortisol decreased significantly in intervention group (497±46.37 ng/ml to 447±53.78 ng/ml, p-value 0.01) as compared to control group (519.75±24.5 to 522.58±26.63 ng/ml, p-value 0.64). Mean β-endorphin levels increased significantly (33±5.52pg/ml to 43.27pg/ml, p-value < 0.0001) as compared to control group (34.78±4.1pg/ml to 36.33pg±4.07pg/ml p-value 0.27). Interleukin-6 decreased significantly in intervention group (2.2±0.5 ng/ml to 1.35±0.32 ng/ml, p-value < 0.0001) as compared to control group (2.03±0.37 to 2.17±0.34 ng/ml p-value 0.25). BDNF increased significantly in intervention group (52.24±6.71 to 63.25±13.48 ng/ml p-value 0.004) as compared to control group (53.23±5.82 to 54.42±5.66 ng/ml p-value 0.54). ROS decreased significantly in intervention group (1596.19±179.14 to 1261±244.31 RLU/min/104 neutrophils p-value 0.0001) as compared to control group (1577.5±172.02 to 1662.5±84.75 RLU/min/104 neutrophils p-value 0.16). A short term course of Meditation was associated with significant improvement in brain oxygenation and QOL along with a reduction in IOP and stress markers. Meditation may be a useful as an adjunct to standard treatment in patients with POAG and potentially decrease the risk of glaucoma progression.

An Engineering Approach for Health Assessment Based on Electrophotonic Image

Background: New techniques based on digital analysis and more precise visualisation in monitoring of individual health status can improve the accessibility and reliability of healthcare services. An innovation in capturing human biofield energy level using Electrophotonic Imaging (EPI) is seen as a breakthrough approach to healthcare service. This non-invasive imaging approach produces an image, i.e. the Kirlian image in digital form to aid visualization and probe for disease identification. The diagnosis and treatment process are fast, reproducible and cost-effective. EPI technique works using computational models of human health state, commonly before and after a course of treatment or meditation. The reliability and efficacy of EPI are validated by the physician’s perceptions using biomedical measurements. At the same time, the algorithms developed by engineers embedded in the imaging system have advanced gradually with the help of clinical data from physicians. To close the gap between engineering and medicine, the field of research known as ‘Biomedical Engineering’ (BME) has been established to merge engineering principles with medicine in order to advance = diagnosis, treatment, and monitoring, which will in turn improves quality of life of mankind. Engineering approach is used to study on how the captured image indicates the energy level of human biofield. This elementary analysis introduces a pre-processing procedure to extract the effects texture. The image indicates the radiation energy level based on its most significant glow (digitallyimaged isolines) and is used for medical biometrics and health analysis.

Present with You: Does Cultivated Mindfulness Predict Greater Social Connection Through Gains in Decentering and Reductions in Negative Emotions?

The current study investigates whether mindfulness increases feelings of social connection and tests possible mechanisms of action and consequences of any gains observed. We hypothesized that, relative to an active control condition, participants randomized to a mindfulness meditation course would experience gains in feeling socially connected. Further, we expected these gains would be mediated by boosts in decentering and reductions in negative emotions and that, as a result of greater social connection, participants would report greater positive emotions. Ninety-four community member adults were randomly assigned to a 6-week Mindfulness Meditation course (n = 51) or a 6-week active control course (“Health Promotion”; n = 43). Participants were assessed for social connection, decentering, and emotions at pre- and post-training. A higher-order latent change model found support for elements of the model that were unrelated to the experimental condition. An exploratory higher-order latent change model found that gains in trait mindfulness, rather than condition, supported the hypothesized model. These findings suggest that gains in trait mindfulness predict greater social connection through boosts in decentering and that gains in social connection predict greater positive emotions.

Pranayama Meditation (Yoga Breathing) for Stress Relief: Is it Beneficial for Teachers?

he effects of stress can have a significant impact on an individual’s personal life, relationship with colleagues, job satisfaction and career prospects. If unmanaged, stress can be the trigger that drives talented, motivated teachers out of our classrooms and into other professions. Yoga and meditation have been prescribed as a form of complementary alternative medicine for the treatment of stress, anxiety and depression. The current exploratory, mixed-methods case study aimed to determine if the participants in a five-week pranayama meditation (yoga breathing) course experienced a degree of stress relief. The course included one 60-minute weekly meditation class focusing on breath awareness. The Perceived Stress Scale was administered pre and post-course, weekly journal reflections were recorded, and a structured interview was completed at the conclusion of the course. Findings indicated that the participants experienced a decrease in their perceived level of stress. Participants reported benefits in both their professional and personal lives.

The Buddhi in Early Epic Adhyātma Discourse (the Dialog of Manu and Bṛhaspati)

This paper pursues precise information on the use of the Sanskrit word buddhi, “the intellect,” in the context of epic adhyātma discourse. The term buddhi makes its debut in this genre of discourse in texts of the Mahābhārata’s Mokṣadharmaparvan before going on to become a central term of classical Sāṃkhya philosophy. This paper examines closely the presence and role of the “intellect” (usually “buddhi,” but other words are used as well) in the argument of the Manubṛhaspatisaṃvāda, a text that is unusually rich in its theorizing and description of the intellect. But this text is not primarily about the intellect, even if that organ plays a prominent role in the three main phases of the text’s teaching (its basic psychology, its arguments to persuade its audience of the reality of the super-sensuous soul, and its soteriological method). The Manu-Bṛhaspati is a major, deliberately constructed body of teaching on ethics, ontology, and psychology, and what it says regarding the buddhi is embedded in those teachings, usually, but not always, incidentally. This paper tries to grasp those teachings in their particular idiom and present Manu’s teachings on the buddhi in the natural progression and settings of the overall argument. A number of points comparing the buddhi in this text to the adhyātma text-pair of MBh 12.187/239–41 are made and a striking contrast between Manu’s buddhi and the ‘saving buddhis’ of the early Mokṣadharma is discussed briefly. The main points regarding the buddhi in Manu’s teachings turn out to be: First, and most importantly, the buddhi has the ability not only to see and “resolve” current sensory experience coming from the senses and the mind, but to store those sensations (memory) and re-arrange and re-interpret them outside of ‘real time’ (imagination). This ‘trans-temporal depth’ of the buddhi may be the reason for the second major fact about it, that the buddhi is the locus in a person from which that person’s residual energy from past deeds (karma) operates; the buddhi transmits that energy and its qualitative differentiations into the mind (manas) and the senses, entities that derive from it and operate “below” it. Third, the buddhi’s ability to select and arrange past perceptions and imagine not previously observed arrangements among them is the source of its fatefully erroneous substitution of the immediately present, phenomenal self of experience for the transcendent true Self. Fourth, the buddhi’s ability to imagine and re-interpret experience makes it the principal faculty for determining the truth of things that are not immediately apparent to the senses. Establishing the existence of the transcendent soul is the most important such truth, for that serves as the foundation for one’s eventually coming to see the true Self. Fifth, the buddhi works with the main perceptual organ, the mind (manas), to clarify and then neutralize the operation of the senses, allowing yoga meditation to go forward. In the course of yoga meditation, when the buddhi is emptied of karma energy, the buddhi becomes “tantamount to the manas” and the ultimate reality is “seen, as if it were a streak of gold on a touchstone,” undoing the buddhi’s fateful error. Sixth, a point stressed in several places in the text, is that the entire embodied soul, which is basically led by the buddhi, is tremendously energetic in its rush down to the (separately created) physical reality (in constituting a body and interacting with the sensed objects of the physical world). It is not clear whether some of this energy is part of the original emanation of the principle of the embodied soul (“jnāna”, “Consciousness,” in the Manu-Bṛhaspati) from the Absolute, but it is clear that some of it is the energy of karma stored in the “intellect.”

The effectiveness of a meditation course on mindfulness and meaning in life.

The effectiveness of a meditation course on mindfulness and meaning in life.

Workplace spirituality, mindfulness meditation, and work engagement

Workplace spirituality has received increasing attention during the past few decades, especially their effect on work outcome. The purposes of the research were to: (1) extend the findings of Petchsawang and Duchon (2012) in examining the relationships among mindfulness meditation, workplace spirituality, and work engagement in an eastern – specifically Thai – context; and (2) compare workplace spirituality and work engagement in organizations that provide mindfulness meditation courses to employees and those that do not. The sample came from four organizations that offered meditation courses (248 from 300) and four organizations that did not (315 from 400) in Thailand. The level of workplace spirituality and work engagement were found to be higher in organizations that offer meditation courses than in those that do not. Additionally, mindfulness meditation has a statistically significant relationship with workplace spirituality and work engagement, and workplace spirituality fully meditates the relationship between meditation and work engagement.