Meditation Retreat Research Articles

Intensive Meditation for Refractory Pain and Symptoms

The objective of this study was to assess patient interest in intensive meditation training for chronic symptoms. This was a cross-sectional anonymous survey among six chronic disease clinics in Baltimore including Chronic Kidney Disease, Crohn's Disease, Headache, Renal Transplant Recipients, General Rheumatology, and lupus clinic. Subjects were 1119 consecutive patients registering for their appointments at these clinics. Outcome measures were 6-month pain, global symptomatology, four-item perceived stress scale, use of complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) therapies, and attitudes toward use of meditation for managing symptoms. We then gave a scripted description of an intensive, 10-day meditation training retreat. Patient interest in attending such a retreat was assessed. Seventy-seven percent (77%) of patients approached completed the survey. Fifty-three percent (53%) of patients reported moderate to severe pain over the past 6 months. Eighty percent (80%) reported use of some CAM therapy in the past. Thirty-five percent (35%) thought that learning meditation would improve their health, and 49% thought it would reduce stress. Overall, 39% reported interest in attending the intensive 10-day meditation retreat. Among those reporting moderate to severe pain or stress, the percentages were higher (48% and 59%). In a univariate analysis, higher education, nonworking/disabled status, female gender, higher stress, higher pain, higher symptomatology, and any CAM use were all associated with a greater odds of being moderately to very interested in an intensive 10-day meditation retreat. A multivariate model that included prior use of CAM therapies as predictors of interest in the program fit the data significantly better than a model not including CAM therapies (p = 0.0013). Over 50% of patients followed in chronic disease clinics complain of moderate to severe pain. Patients with persistent pain or stress are more likely to be interested in intensive meditation.

Studying mindfulness in experienced meditators: A quasi-experimental approach

Self-report measures were used to study mindfulness and well-being in experienced meditators in a quasi-experimental intervention study. Seventy-six experienced meditators were studied, 48 who were participating in an intensive meditation retreat in the Vipassana (insight meditation) tradition and 28 who did not. Retreat participants had scheduled meditation practice from early morning to late at night, and were encouraged to practice mindfulness throughout the whole day. The Kentucky Inventory of Mindfulness Skills (KIMS) and the Five Facet Mindfulness Questionnaire (FFMQ) were used to measure mindfulness, and the General Population version of the Clinical Outcomes in Routine Evaluation (GP-CORE) was used to measure well-being. Correlation analyses in the pre-intervention data showed that self-reported mindfulness was strongly related to well-being, with the exception for the observe subscale of FFMQ. Only the acceptance subscales were associated with meditation experience. Mindfulness increased after the retreat, but the increase was not significantly larger for retreat participants than for the control group. However, well-being increased more in the retreat group than the control group, and increase in mindfulness was associated with increase in well-being across both groups. Results are discussed in relation to previous research and methodological aspects.

Preliminary functional magnetic resonance imaging Stroop task results before and after a Zen meditation retreat

Preliminary functional magnetic resonance imaging Stroop task results before and after a Zen meditation retreat

The Impact of Intensive Mindfulness Training on Attentional Control, Cognitive Style, and Affect

To evaluate the impact of an intensive period of mindfulness meditation training on cognitive and affective function, a non-clinical group of 20 novice meditators were tested before and after participation in a 10-day intensive mindfulness meditation retreat. They were evaluated with self-report scales measuring mindfulness, rumination and affect, as well as performance tasks assessing working memory, sustained attention, and attention switching. Results indicated that those completing the mindfulness training demonstrated significant improvements in self-reported mindfulness, depressive symptoms, rumination, and performance measures of working memory and sustained attention, relative to a comparison group who did not undergo any meditation training. This study suggests future directions for the elucidation of the critical processes that underlie the therapeutic benefits of mindfulness-based interventions.

Measuring mindfulness—the Freiburg Mindfulness Inventory (FMI)

Mindfulness, a concept originally derived from Buddhist psychology, is essential for some well-known clinical interventions. Therefore an instrument for measuring mindfulness is useful. We report here on two studies constructing and validating the Freiburg Mindfulness Inventory (FMI) including a short form. A preliminary questionnaire was constructed through expert interviews and extensive literature analysis and tested in 115 subjects attending mindfulness meditation retreats. This psychometrically sound 30-item scale with an internal consistency of Cronbach alpha = .93 was able to significantly demonstrate the increase in mindfulness after the retreat and to discriminate between experienced and novice meditators. In a second study we broadened the scope of the concept to 86 subjects without meditation experience, 117 subjects with clinical problems, and 54 participants from retreats. Reducing the scale to a short form with 14 items resulted in a semantically robust and psychometrically stable (alpha = .86) form. Correlation with other relevant constructs (self-awareness, dissociation, global severity index, meditation experience in years) was significant in the medium to low range of correlations and lends construct validity to the scale. Principal Component Analysis suggests one common factor. This short scale is sensitive to change and can be used also with subjects without previous meditation experience.

Emotional effects of sertraline: Novel findings revealed by meditation.

Use of selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors continues to increase, as does concern about previously unrecognized, subtle side effects and questions about whether these drugs produce effects on healthy subjects. The authors report novel emotional effects identified by an experienced, psychologically healthy meditator who is a psychiatrist and researcher. On a meditation retreat, the subject identified a specific profile of emotional changes related to sertraline use. In particular, cognitive abilities and the emotions of fear and anger seemed unaffected. However, the emotions of sadness, happiness, rapture, and love were dramatically reduced in intensity and duration.

The Evocation of Death Anxiety on a Meditation Retreat

This paper begins an examination of the complex relationship between psychoanalysis and Buddhist psychology and the practice of meditation. It describes in a series of episodes the ordeal of one patient during a Buddhist meditation retreat. She is asked during the course of the teachings to confront her own inevitable death, and in so doing finds herself simultaneously enduring the agony of a psychic death or collapse originating in earlier trauma. The narrative and subsequent discussion, using the language of psychoanalysis, aim to capture the conflictual yet generative aspects of the interplay between these two invaluable disciplines.

Letting Go: The Story of Zen Master Tosui (review)

Reviewed by: Letting Go: The Story of Zen Master Tosui David E. Riggs Letting Go: The Story of Zen Master Tosui. By Peter Haskel. Honolulu: University of Hawai'i Press. Pp. xv + 167. Hardcover $45.00. Paper $17.00. In his latest book, Letting Go: The Story of Zen Master Tōsui, Peter Haskel has taken on the task of translating the traditional biography of an obscure and eccentric Japanese Zen monk of the seventeenth century, the Tōsui oshō densan, which was compiled by the celebrated scholar-monk Menzan Zuihō (1683-1769). Haskel has added an impressively comprehensive critical introduction, extensive footnotes, and a concluding essay. The translation of this collection of anecdotes is accurate and very readable, and the supporting critical apparatus is a concise survey of recent critical scholarship concerning the turbulent world of Zen Buddhism in early Tokugawa Japan. The first half of Tōsui's life was unremarkable: he traveled and met various teachers and then was recognized as a master in his own right. He was eventually invited to preside over a Sōtō Zen training temple, where he settled down and led meditation retreats for five years. By the end of this time he was attracting many disciples, including some very well known monks, when suddenly he simply disappeared. At the end of a training season, instead of presiding over the usual elaborate ceremonies, he stuck a poem to the wall, and without a word to anyone walked out with just the clothes on his back. Even the earlier facts of his life are sketchy, but from this time on all we have are stories that Menzan himself acknowledges cannot be arranged in a clear chronology. According to one tale, after an extensive search, two of his closest disciples found Tōsui living among beggars. His hair and beard were wild, his Buddhist robe was tattered, and his begging bowl was broken. Tōsui berated the two for interfering with his desire to be left alone and stalked off. One disciple continued to pester him; Tōsui relented, and they set off together. At the side of the road Tōsui discovered the body of a dead beggar and set about to bury him with his own hands. He then insisted that the disciple accompany him in eating what food remained in the beggar's bowl, but the disciple was overcome with disgust. Tōsui sent him off with instructions to go study under the émigré Chinese master Kao-ch'uan, an important teacher of the newly imported Chinese Buddhism (called Ōbaku Zen in Japan). As is always the case with these stories, there is no explanation of his actions: no indication of why Tōsui chose this teacher or if there was any significance to sending his student to a teacher in another lineage. Various people continued to attempt to find Tōsui over a span of many years, but he refused to teach or even talk to most of them. Besides anecdotes like this, we have only a few short poems and ripostes that give a flavor of his irreverent style. In response to a merchant who wanted to know how to do Zen meditation, Tōsui would only say, "Soy sauce should be made in midsummer; miso should be made in winter." If people persisted in trying to see him, he simply disappeared rather than deal with them. He lived in tiny rented rooms in towns working as a maker of straw sandals, doing day labor or simply begging for his sustenance. He rejected all offers of support, and if someone attempted to get around his refusals by leaving money or [End Page 132] clothes nearby, he distributed everything to the beggars among whom he lived. As he got older he relented a bit and allowed a follower to provide a meager living for him making vinegar, using the ruse that it wasn't patronage since the rice used for making the vinegar would otherwise have been discarded. When Tōsui died, his funeral was presided over by Kao-ch'uan (the Ōbaku teacher to whom he had entrusted his former students), and his remains were interred at Kao-ch...

Stumbling Our Way Toward a World-Wide Democratic Government: Globalization and Sweatshops - Nonzero: The Logic of Human DestinyRobert Wright 2001, New York, Vintage Books, 435 pages, $15 paperback, ISBN 0-679-75894-1 - Thunder from the East: Portrait of a Rising AsiaNicholas D. Kristof and Sheryl WuDunn New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 2000, 377 pages, ISBN: 0-375-40325-6

Stumbling Our Way Toward a World-Wide Democratic Government: Globalization and Sweatshops - Nonzero: The Logic of Human DestinyRobert Wright 2001, New York, Vintage Books, 435 pages, $15 paperback, ISBN 0-679-75894-1 - Thunder from the East: Portrait of a Rising AsiaNicholas D. Kristof and Sheryl WuDunn New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 2000, 377 pages, ISBN: 0-375-40325-6 - Volume 13 Issue 3

Changes in Self-Concept, Ego Defense Mechanisms, and Religiosity Following Seven-Day Vipassana Meditation Retreats

To enhance psychological adjustment, Vipassana meditation assists individuals to perceive the transitory nature of the self. Because the consequences of this potentially troubling insight are not well understood, changes in self-concept and ego defense mechanisms of two cohorts (N 1 = 222, N 2 = 216) of young (M = 18.03 years) Thai participants who attended separate seven-day Vipassana meditation retreats and a nontreated control group (N = 281) were compared. Multivariate statistical analysis revealed positive gains in all areas of self-representation among meditators relative to controls (p <.001). Ego defense mechanisms of the meditation participants also underwent significant change (p <.0001) with coping becoming characterized by greater maturity and tolerance of common stressors. Increases in Buddhist beliefs were significantly correlated with heightened self-esteem and less impulsiveness (ps <.001). Theoretical and applied implications of the findings are discussed.

Solitary Retreat in American Buddhism and Buddhist-Christian Dialogue

Intensive meditation has always been a central feature of Buddhism, even if it has been variously practiced. Such is not the case with the Christian tradition. Learning about intensive meditation in the Buddhist tradition-its history, theory, and practice-can helpfully inform Christians who may discover useful parallels. One way to begin this discovery is to read about a typical one-month Buddhist meditation retreat as a way of seeing new possibilities for Christian spiritual practice. INTENSIVE MEDITATION IN BUDDHISM AND THE CONTEXT OF DIALOGUE Meditation within Buddhism is most simply characterized as the development of awareness through the practice of silent, mindful attention to the phenomena of body and mind. As is well known, this practice is espoused throughout the tradition as the heart of Buddhist spiritual life. Most Westerners think of Buddhist meditation in terms of the relatively short periods of quiet sitting, typically carried out in the midst of other responsibilities, that characterize most lay or monastic life throughout Asia and now in the West. Yet this was not the original way in which meditation was practiced in Buddhism. In fact, for the Buddha as well as for the other great saints of the tradition, meditation meant withdrawing into solitude for extended periods of time and practicing meditation intensively. Westerners who do know about retreat practice in Buddhism tend to regard it as a more extreme version of daily meditation, which they see as the norm. However, from another viewpoint, retreat practice can be taken as the norm, and the short periods of meditation that layand settled monastic people can generally manage are a reflection and foretaste of the retreat experience. From this angle, in order to appreciate the intention of meditation in Buddhism fully, it is necessary to understand its historically original form in the context of intensive retreat. If meditation is the core of Buddhism, retreat practice is the core of meditation.1 Buddhist-Christian Studies 16 (1996). ? by University of Hawai'i Press. All rights reserved. This content downloaded from 157.55.39.192 on Wed, 24 Aug 2016 04:21:47 UTC All use subject to http://about.jstor.org/terms

Naropa Institute Buddhist-Christian-Jewish Retreats: Contemplation of the Psalms

In the 1980s, the Naropa Institute, the only accredited Buddhism-related college in North America, hosted seven landmark conferences on Buddhist and Christian meditation. Papers and dialogues from these conferences were published in Speaking of Silence: Christians andBuddhists on the Contemplative Way, edited by Susan Walker (New York: Paulist Press, 1987). In this decade, the focus of Naropa's conferences has expanded to include Judaism as well. In August 1992, the first of these expanded conferences began with an interfaith contemplation of the Psalms titled Cry of Anguish, A Song of Praise. The retreat used the common ground of basic Zen meditation practice, zazen, and the study of the Psalms to explore the Buddhist, Christian, and Jewish religious perspectives. The distinctive design of this program was that the retreat faculty were all authorized Zen students of Bernard Tetsugen Glassman Sensei, Abbot of the Zen Community of New York. These students also serve as religious leaders in their own respective traditions. Father Robert Kennedy, S.J., is a Jesuit Priest from St. Peter's College. He is one of the first American Catholic priests to become a fully recognized Zen teacher. Rabbi Donald R. Singer is founder of Shir Hadash in Malibu. And Sandra Jisu Holmes is head of the Social Action Family at the Zen Community of New York. The program followed the structure of a Zen meditation retreat (sesshin), with each day being flavored by one of these three traditions. Starting with morning services, participants enjoyed days of meditation, contemplative meals, work sessions, study time, talks, private interviews with teachers, and group discussions. In everything, the inward practice of simple meditation became the common ground for exploring the outward beauty of the Psalms, which both induce and express the contemplative state. The focus of this retreat was twofold. First, the participants were introduced to the ways in which different traditions come to understand the meaning of the Psalms. And second, they were given an experience of where this understanding comes from, and

Effects of Intensive Meditation on Sex-Role Identification: Implications for a Control Model of Psychological Health

This study assessed the impact of a 3-mo. meditation retreat on 15 respondents' self-perceived masculinity and femininity. As hypothesized, male and female subjects, who on pretest perceived themselves to be more stereotypically feminine than normative samples, on posttest reported a significant shift to even greater endorsement of feminine adjectives and less endorsement of masculine adjectives.