In my own experience with meditation, I’ve often wondered about the difference between reading a thoughtful analysis or set of instructions, listening to an inspiring teacher, and sitting on the cushion to practice. These varied activities represent different ways of integrating information into our minds and bodies—in short, different ways of learning. Is one mode …
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Fear, Acceptance, and Compassion: Perspectives from Contemplative Neuroscience
This presentation will highlight what we know about the neuroscience of fear and anxiety and discuss its antidotes in compassion and related qualities. Distinctions will be made between fear as a state and trait. The impact of different forms of contemplative practice on the neuroscientific bases of fear and anxiety will be highlighted. Particular attention …
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Fostering Communities of Care: Toward an Ecological Approach to the Development and Implementation of Contemplative-Based Programs
Fostering compassion and trust among individuals and groups is key to the success and sustainability of communities of care. A number of mindfulness and compassion-based contemplative interventions offer methods for enhancing connection, empathy, and care, yet these approaches too often focus on the development of intra rather than interpersonal skills. This is due in part …
The ReSource Project: Fear, Trust, and the Effects of Mental Training
The ReSource Project is a large-scale, interdisciplinary study on the effects of mental training on the brain, subjective experience, health, and behavior. Over an eleven-month period, participants practice a variety of mental exercises aimed at cultivating attention, interoceptive awareness, perspective-taking on self and others, meta-cognition, compassion, empathy, and prosocial motivation. These exercises include meditative techniques …
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The Role of Social Relationships and Context in Meditative Practice
We know that high quality social relationships help us live longer, happier, and healthier lives whether we meditate or not. Moreover, research confirms that humans are highly sensitive to context—social, architectural, aural, and so on, regardless of geography or culture. Social baseline theory suggests that even meditation practices should be facilitated by proximity to safe …
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Basic Benefactor Practice: A Relational Contemplation for Deepening in Trust
In many compassion meditations, the meditator focuses on growing and extending love and compassion for others. In Benefactor Practice, a contemplative application adapted from an ancient form of Tibetan devotional practice by John Makransky, we visualize receiving love and acceptance from a trusted other. Using memories from our real life, we relive “benefactor moments,” times …
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Concentration, Mindfulness, and Compassion
How are these three meditative skills distinct from one another, and how do they come together to support one another? We’ll explore these 2 questions together through contemplative practice and open discussion.
Fear and Trust in the Study and Practice of Meditation
While meditation is commonly associated with positive emotions, many practitioners also report a variety of difficult experiences. A qualitative study of 60 meditation practitioners resulted in a 40-category taxonomy of meditation experiences, with fear being the most commonly reported. Fear arises in response to a variety of contexts and experiences. Sought after experiences practitioners assumed …
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Mind–Body Interventions Affect Sleep and Oxytocin in Cancer Survivors
Surviving a cancer diagnosis and the treatment that follows requires overcoming significant emotional and physical hurdles. Even after a patient is cancer-free, he or she often continues to struggle with depression and anxiety from fear of cancer recurrence, and many also suffer from sleep disturbances. These ongoing challenges negatively impact well-being and quality of life, …
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