Effects of a 9-Day Shamatha Buddhist Meditation Retreat on Attention, Mindfulness and Self-Compassion in Participants with a Broad Range of Meditation Experience

Mindfulness ◽  
2015 ◽  
Vol 6 (6) ◽  
pp. 1235-1241 ◽  
Author(s):  
Elisa H. Kozasa ◽  
Shirley S. Lacerda ◽  
Carolina Menezes ◽  
B. Alan Wallace ◽  
João Radvany ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Buddhist Meditation ◽  
Self Compassion ◽  
Meditation Retreat ◽  
Meditation Experience

Ethnography of the Vipassana Meditation Retreat

2015 ◽  
Vol 9 (1) ◽  
pp. 68-86
Author(s):  
Glenys Eddy
Keyword(s):  
Experiential Learning ◽  
Mental States ◽  
Blue Mountains ◽  
Meditation Retreat ◽  
Insight Meditation ◽  
Vipassana Meditation ◽  
Ethnographic Data ◽  
The Difference ◽  
Meditation Experience

The practice of vipassana meditation emphasizes the role of meditative experience in coming to understand the Buddhist worldview and in effecting personal transformation. Data obtained from fieldwork conducted between 2003 and 2005 at the Blue Mountains Insight Meditation Centre (BMIMC) in Medlow Bath, NSW Australia, illustrate the process by which aspects of doctrine come to be accepted through an experiential understanding of their import. Many respondents attributed significance to their experiential understanding of dukkha, suffering, and anicca, impermanence, gained through Vipassana practice. My own significant instance of experiential learning involved that of the five hindrances, outlined in the Satipatthana Sutta as five mental states that hinder the meditator’s development of mindfulness. By reflecting upon the reasons for the difference between my experience and that of my interview respondents, I demonstrate the limitations of the researcher’s own meditation experience used as an interpretive tool for ethnographic data, and the need for the researcher to reflexively examine the way in which their own religious preferences and biases affect the significance they attribute to their own meditation experience.

scholarly journals Insight meditation and telomere biology: The effects of intensive retreat and the moderating role of personality

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Quinn Conklin ◽  
Brandon King ◽  
Anthony P. Zanesco ◽  
Jue Lin ◽  
Anahita B. Hamidi ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Telomerase Activity ◽  
Telomere Maintenance ◽  
Telomeric Dna ◽  
Positive Effects ◽  
Meditation Retreat ◽  
Insight Meditation ◽  
Telomere Biology ◽  
And Gender ◽  
Meditation Experience ◽  
Telomere Regulation

A growing body of evidence suggests that meditation training may have a range of salubrious effects, including improved telomere regulation. Telomeres and the enzyme telomerase interact with a variety of molecular components to regulate cell-cycle signaling cascades, and are implicated in pathways linking psychological stress to disease. We investigated the effects of intensive meditation practice on these biomarkers by measuring changes in telomere length (TL), telomerase activity (TA), and telomere-related gene (TRG) expression during a 1-month residential Insight meditation retreat. Multilevel analyses revealed an apparent TL increase in the retreat group, compared to a group of experienced meditators, similarly comprised in age and gender, who were not on retreat. Moreover, personality traits predicted changes in TL, such that retreat participants highest in neuroticism and lowest in agreeableness demonstrated the greatest increases in TL. Changes observed in TRGs further suggest retreat-related improvements in telomere maintenance, including increases in Gar1 and HnRNPA1, which encode proteins that bind telomerase RNA and telomeric DNA. Although no group-level changes were observed in TA, retreat participants’ TA levels at post-assessment were inversely related to several indices of retreat engagement and prior meditation experience. Neuroticism also predicted variation in TA across retreat. These findings suggest that meditation training in a retreat setting may have positive effects on telomere regulation, which are moderated by individual differences in personality and meditation experience. (ClinicalTrials.gov #NCT03056105).

scholarly journals Crafting Cinema in the Buddhist Contemplative Gaze

Religions ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 10 (4) ◽  
pp. 253
Author(s):  
Edward Burger
Keyword(s):  
Final Section ◽  
Buddhist Art ◽  
Buddhist Meditation ◽  
Meditation Experience ◽  
Fundamental Shift ◽  
Viewing Experience ◽  
Work And Life

In this essay, I discuss the evolution of my approach to creating Buddhist contemplative cinema. I begin, by way of personal anecdotes, defining my approach to Buddhist life and the evolution of what I will call the “Buddhist contemplative gaze”—a fundamental shift in perspective shaped by the Buddhist meditation experience. I continue with a discussion of Buddhist art and the distinctive multidimensional quality of the cinema-viewing experience that makes it suitable for celebrating, sharing, and exploring the Buddhist contemplative experience. I trace how my work and life as a Buddhist and a filmmaker come together in this working approach as an artist. The final section of the essay includes reflections on my film, ONE MIND, as an experiment in crafting cinema in the Buddhist contemplative gaze.

scholarly journals Teaching Transnational Buddhist Meditation with Vipassanā (Neiguan 內觀) and Mindfulness (Zhengnian 正念) for Healing Depression in Contemporary China

Religions ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 12 (3) ◽  
pp. 212
Author(s):  
Ngar-sze Lau
Keyword(s):  
Mainland China ◽  
Ethnographic Study ◽  
Chinese Society ◽  
Young Generation ◽  
Buddhist Meditation ◽  
Open Policy ◽  
The Social ◽  
Meditation Retreat ◽  
Vipassana Meditation ◽  
Contemporary Chinese

This paper examines how the teaching of embodied practices of transnational Buddhist meditation has been designated for healing depression explicitly in contemporary Chinese Buddhist communities with the influences of Buddhist modernism in Southeast Asia and globalization. Despite the revival of traditional Chan school meditation practices since the Open Policy, various transnational lay meditation practices, such as vipassanā and mindfulness, have been popularized in monastic and lay communities as a trendy way to heal physical and mental suffering in mainland China. Drawing from a recent ethnographic study of a meditation retreat held at a Chinese Buddhist monastery in South China, this paper examines how Buddhist monastics have promoted a hybrid mode of embodied Buddhist meditation practices, mindfulness and psychoanalytic exercises for healing depression in lay people. With analysis of the teaching and approach of the retreat guided by well-educated Chinese meditation monastics, I argue that some young generation Buddhist communities have contributed to giving active responses towards the recent yearning for individualized bodily practices and the social trend of the “subjective turn” and self-reflexivity in contemporary Chinese society. The hybrid inclusion of mindfulness exercises from secular programs and psychoanalytic exercises into a vipassanā meditation retreat may reflect an attempt to re-contextualize meditation in Chinese Buddhism.

scholarly journals Inner Engineering Practices and Advanced 4-day Isha Yoga Retreat Are Associated with Cannabimimetic Effects with Increased Endocannabinoids and Short-Term and Sustained Improvement in Mental Health: A Prospective Observational Study of Meditators

2020 ◽  
Vol 2020 ◽  
pp. 1-9 ◽  
Author(s):  
Senthilkumar Sadhasivam ◽  
Suresh Alankar ◽  
Raj Maturi ◽  
Ramana V. Vishnubhotla ◽  
Mayur Mudigonda ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Physiological Mechanism ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Underlying Mechanism ◽  
Modern World ◽  
Depression And Anxiety ◽  
Before And After ◽  
Meditation Retreat ◽  
Psychological Scales ◽  
Meditation Experience ◽  
Anxiety Depression

Background. Anxiety and depression are common in the modern world, and there is growing demand for alternative therapies such as meditation. Meditation can decrease perceived stress and increase general well-being, although the physiological mechanism is not well-characterized. Endocannabinoids (eCBs), lipid mediators associated with enhanced mood and reduced anxiety/depression, have not been previously studied as biomarkers of meditation effects. Our aim was to assess biomarkers (eCBs and brain-derived neurotrophic factor [BDNF]) and psychological parameters after a meditation retreat. Methods. This was an observational pilot study of adults before and after the 4-day Isha Yoga Bhava Spandana Program retreat. Participants completed online surveys (before and after retreat, and 1 month later) to assess anxiety, depression, focus, well-being, and happiness through validated psychological scales. Voluntary blood sampling for biomarker studies was done before and within a day after the retreat. The biomarkers anandamide, 2-arachidonoylglycerol (2-AG), 1-arachidonoylglycerol (1-AG), docosatetraenoylethanolamide (DEA), oleoylethanolamide (OLA), and BDNF were evaluated. Primary outcomes were changes in psychological scales, as well as changes in eCBs and BDNF. Results. Depression and anxiety scores decreased while focus, happiness, and positive well-being scores increased immediately after retreat from their baseline values (P<0.001). All improvements were sustained 1 month after BSP. All major eCBs including anandamide, 2-AG, 1-AG, DEA, and BDNF increased after meditation by > 70% (P<0.001). Increases of ≥20% in anandamide, 2-AG, 1-AG, and total AG levels after meditation from the baseline had weak correlations with changes in happiness and well-being. Conclusions. A short meditation experience improved focus, happiness, and positive well-being and reduced depression and anxiety in participants for at least 1 month. Participants had increased blood eCBs and BDNF, suggesting a role for these biomarkers in the underlying mechanism of meditation. Meditation is a simple, organic, and effective way to improve well-being and reduce depression and anxiety.

scholarly journals Modelo Integrador de Mindfulness (MIM): El cultivo de los estados mentales positivos hacia uno mismo y los demás a través del Mindfulness y la autocompasión

2016 ◽  
Vol 32 (3) ◽  
pp. 749 ◽  
Author(s):  
Raquel Rodríguez-Carvajal ◽  
Carlos García-Rubio ◽  
David Paniagua ◽  
Gustavo García-Diex ◽  
Sara De Rivas
Keyword(s):  
Mindfulness Meditation ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Mental States ◽  
Effect Sizes ◽  
Mindfulness Practice ◽  
Integrative Model ◽  
Main Hypothesis ◽  
Randomized Controlled ◽  
Self Compassion ◽  
Meditation Experience

There are more and more studies showing the effectiveness of Mindfulness-based interventions (MBI) in well-being. However, there are few studies that explore the mechanisms underlying this effect. The aim of this study is to present and validate the Integrative Model of Mindfulness (MIM). MIM main hypothesis is that mindfulness practice leads to an increment in mindfulness trait, which leads to an increase of self-compassion, and these in turn, lead to increase positive mental states towards others and oneself. A MBI intensive three-week with non-randomized controlled group was designed. Participants (N = 87) were differentiated by meditation experience as well. The results show large effect sizes regarding the effect of MBI on mindfulness trait, self-compassion and positive mental states to oneself and to others. The data support the MIM, indicating that the practice of mindfulness meditation leads in a sequentially way to the cultivation of mindfulness and self-compassion, which subsequently appears to lead to the development of positive mental states towards others and oneself.

Change on Psychological Scales following Buddhist and Roman Catholic Retreats

1999 ◽  
Vol 84 (1) ◽  
pp. 125-126 ◽  
Author(s):  
Christopher D. Tori
Keyword(s):  
Roman Catholic ◽  
Treatment Control ◽  
Change Scores ◽  
Orthogonal Contrasts ◽  
Adjective Checklist ◽  
Buddhist Meditation ◽  
Meditation Retreat ◽  
Psychological Scales

Orthogonal contrasts of Adjective Checklist pretest-posttest change scores obtained from adolescents who attended three-day Buddhist or Roman Catholic retreats ( n = 204) and no treatment control participants ( n = 102) indicated those who attended had higher change scores and greater change occurred among those attending the Buddhist meditation retreat.

Relationships of Mindfulness, Self-Compassion, and Meditation Experience With Shame-Proneness

2014 ◽  
Vol 28 (1) ◽  
pp. 20-33 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hannah Woods ◽  
Michael Proeve
Keyword(s):  
Substance Abuse ◽  
Regression Analysis ◽  
Hierarchical Regression ◽  
Hierarchical Regression Analysis ◽  
Self Compassion ◽  
Shame Proneness ◽  
Meditation Experience ◽  
Anxiety Depression ◽  
Guilt Proneness

The tendency to experience shame or guilt is associated differentially with anxiety, depression, and substance abuse, with shame being associated with greater psychopathology. Recent interventions designed to decrease shame emphasize mindfulness or self-compassion. This study investigated correlational relationships of shame-proneness and guilt-proneness with mindfulness and with self-compassion in undergraduate participants. Shame-proneness was strongly negatively correlated with all facets of mindfulness and with self-compassion, whereas guilt-proneness was weakly positively correlated with self-compassion and some facets of mindfulness. Hierarchical regression analysis showed that shame-proneness was predicted by self-compassion but not by mindfulness. More frequent meditation was associated with greater mindfulness and self-compassion and lower shame-proneness but not guilt-proneness. Limitations of the study and implications of the findings for interventions to reduce shame are discussed.

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