My Varela award supported a pilot study based on two case studies of medical students in a Compassion Cultivation Training elective course at Stanford University School of Medicine. Current literature shows that burnout in physicians is prevalent, and is associated with poor health outcomes for both physicians and patients. Burnout is associated with lower levels …
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This think tank will develop a meditation-based curriculum for peacebuilding along with guidelines for its implementation as a component of Colombia’s ongoing peacebuilding process. We will draw on Mind & Life’s model to bring together scholars, scientists, and contemplatives across institutional and geographical boundaries for this immediate opportunity to promote individual and societal flourishing in …
In previous years, scientists documented many personal benefits resulting from mindfulness- and compassion-based meditation, including increases in health. There was less known, however, regarding the social and relational benefits of meditation. Thus, this project examined whether mindfulness and compassion-based meditation training increased the likelihood that people would act to relieve the suffering of others in …
Recent advances in memory research indicate that cognitive processing during sleep supports memory storage (e.g., Paller & Voss, 2004; Born, 2010). In recent studies from our lab, individual memories were strengthened through memory reactivation achieved by presenting task-associated sounds during sleep (Rudoy et al., 2009; Creery et al., in preparation). Here, we propose to use …
The goal of this study is to examine the multi-modal effect of loving-kindness meditation (LKM) training on the motivational system evidenced by amygdala responding and behavioral tendencies to approach the world. We will also examine the extent to which LKM training can reduce levels of anxious and depressive symptomatology. We predict that LKM training will …
Although the benefits of meditation for physical and psychological well-being are well-known, little is known about factors that contribute to the successful completion of a meditation program and establishment of a regular meditation practice. Beginning meditators are often frustrated by the difficulties that they have meditating. Self-compassion, or treating oneself kindly in the face of …
This Think Tank explores how Critical Pedagogy and Social and Emotional Learning can be synthesised through an Ethics rooted in Compassion. The intention is to develop innovative pedagogy for a ‘Global Education Curriculum’ for students aged 8-15. Traditionally, Global Education nurtures competencies in line with Paulo Freire’s Critical Pedagogy. It is proposed that the nurturing …
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The study of compassion is gaining increasing attention. Yet to date, there is little consensus on what compassion is, how it is to be cultivated, or whether compassion is the appropriate term to capture a range of complex motivations, capacities and behaviors deemed critical not only to our survival, but also to our collective evolution …
Continue reading “Conceptualizing Compassion: A Heuristic Model”
A compassionate and prosocial attitude can be cultivated through loving-kindness (metta) meditation. The proposed study aims to elucidate how brain activity, prosocial behaviour and prosocial attitudes in novice meditators change with a brief loving-kindness meditation training. Furthermore, the benefits of using neurofeedback to learn metta meditation strategies will be investigated. Twenty female participants will receive …
In this study we will examine the neural and autonomic correlates of emotional face perception before and after Compassion meditation practice. Our long-term goal of this project is to contribute to an improved understanding of how stress-causing social perceptions can be changed through Compassion meditation (ComM). Our objective in this study is to determine if, …
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