Mindfulness and meditation are increasingly used in clinical practice to treat conditions such as depression, anxiety and addiction. However, the fundamental mechanisms underlying these practices are not yet well-known and theoretical frameworks are sparse. Two important explanatory mechanisms that will be considered in this workshop are sticky thinking (cognitive fusion) and the sense of self. …
Continue reading “Mechanisms of Meditation and Consequences for Clinical Practice”
Prejudice and discrimination have destructive consequences in contemporary society. Discrimination based on social categorization (e.g., by gender, age or ethnicity) is thought to stem from implicit and explicit expression of in-group bias, a preference for others who belong to one’s own salient social categories. Existing theories are limited in explaining how to limit the effects …
Continue reading “Embodiment, Contemplative Practice, and Equality: Developing a Programmatic and Research Agenda for Reducing Ingroup Bias through Embodied Inquiry and Contemplative Practice”
The proposed research aims to derive individual neural characteristics from data-driven analysis of resting state fMRI to predict the effectiveness of Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) training on fear extinction and stress reduction. This project aims to capture the individual variability in the amplitudes of spontaneous brain activity and neural network properties, and relate such variability …
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The goal of this grant is to investigate how advanced practitioners of gTum-mo (inner heat) meditation are able to tap into and manipulate the body’s homeostasis mechanisms―classically considered to be beyond voluntary control. In particular, we are interested in how this practice relates to the central and autonomic nervous systems. We propose to measure brain …
Continue reading “Neural and physiological correlates of Tibetan energy-channel meditation in highly trained practitioners”