We hypothesized that 8-week mindfulness meditative training (MMT) would significantly decrease 1) cognitive/emotional biases associated with perception of pain and general dysfunction in fibromyalgia (FM) and 2) the magnitudes of various symptoms in FM patients. Changes were documented in self-reported measures of primary and secondary symptoms, mindfulness, cognitive/emotional biases associated with the experience of pain …
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Mindfulness meditation for social anxiety disorder: Examining the neural and psychological mechanisms of therapeutic change
There is a growing interest in the application of mindfulness techniques for modulating one’s relationship to ongoing mental experience. However, there is need for detailed empirical investigations using experimental paradigms to address (a) whether mindfulness training works, (b) how it affects emotional reactivity and regulation, (c) what neural systems are modulated by training in mindfulness …
Effects of mindfulness meditation training on attentional control in neutral and emotional contexts
Mindfulness has been defined as a quality of “enhanced attention to and awareness of current experience or present reality” (p. 822, Brown & Ryan, 2003). Studies of mindfulness-based interventions have shown beneficial effects on well-being–both physical and psychological. However, few studies have addressed the mechanisms underlying these effects—using an experimental approach with conditions that control …
Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction, well-being and immune changes among rheumatoid arthritis patients
Within a randomized, waitlist-controlled study of Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) among rheumatoid arthritis patients, we evaluated treatment effect on immune parameters c-reactive protein (CRP), interleukin(IL)-6, IL-10 and transforming growth factor-beta-1 (TGF), the relation between depressive symptoms and well-being and immune parameters, and relation to meditation practice. 63 patients were randomized to 8-week MBSR or control. …
Session III – The Impact of Trauma on the Brain: Structural Changes and Behavioral Outcome
Evolution has shaped our brains to be ready for the worst. Some parts of the brain, like the amygdala, are similar across species and activate rapid responses in life-threatening situations. Although these responses are essential for escaping an unexpected assault or burning building, these same systems can be activated by stressors whose solutions require a …
Session II – Traditional Healer as Medium for Addressing Afflictions and Restoration of Wholistic Order within Botho/Ubuntu Cosmology
My presentation develops an understanding of the art of traditional healing as one pillar of the lived community experience of Botho/Ubuntu cosmology. Such healing holistically addresses afflictions at multiple levels — self, community, 11 nature and spirit. It signifies the co-agencies of God (creator/life-giver), ancestors (guiding/protecting), spirit-mediums (messengers between spirit/ material worlds), chiefs (custodian of …
Evaluation and Implementation: Challenges and Opportunities for Human Flourishing
Day Five brings the Dialogue to its crescendo with a discussion about implementation and evaluation of learning in the classroom. The session begins with a presentation on the biological stress response in brains that produce stress hormones that influence memory and emotion regulation. Studies are cited to demonstrate how perceiving a situation to be threatening …
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Meta-Awareness and Attention Training in Education Research
On Day Three, having discussed topics relevant to education practitioners, the Dialogue brings recent scientific findings into conversation with Buddhist understandings of the mind. The first presentation in this session surveys the current scientific research on meta-awareness and attention. References are made to the influence of mindfulness and compassion training in a broad range of …
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Early Childhood Development and Social Emotional Learning
Day One begins with an overview of key insights derived from developmental, affective, and contemplative neuroscience on the processes of change, epigenetic influences on development, early brain development, and the nurturing of social and emotional skills over the first 20 years of life. This will provide scientific background for the Dialogue and raise fundamental questions …
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Meditation in Japanese Context
Mindfulness meditation has been in the limelight recently in Japan. Zen meditation has had a long tradition in Japan and its spirit has greatly influenced arts—“道, or dou—such as tea ceremony, flower arrangement, and the martial arts. There are times when its fragrance is felt in our daily lives. Even so, up to now, ordinary …
