Even before the coronavirus hit, the United States was considered one of the most stressed out countries in the world. Fear and anxiety brought on by the pandemic has only exacerbated the problem, with 8 out of 10 adults citing the pandemic as a significant source of stress in their lives. Researchers have been studying …
Continue reading “Coping with Loneliness & Stress: The Role of Mindful Acceptance”
Chronic pain is a major source of human suffering, and chronic low back pain (cLBP) is among the most prevalent, costly, and disabling persistent pain conditions. There is an urgent need for safe and effective treatments for cLBP and a greater understanding of the mechanisms whereby these treatments confer their therapeutic effects. Contemplative practices, including …
Continue reading “Conscious Connected Breathing for Chronic Low Back Pain: A Pilot RCT”
This study seeks to evaluate the effectiveness of Tuned In! — A Mindfulness-Based Affirmative Program for LGBTQIA Youth (herein called Tuned In!) with sexual and gender minority youth (SGMY). This project will build upon the promising results from previous community-based research (a pilot feasibility study of the Tuned In! intervention) to test Tuned In! on …
Black Americans experience significantly more stress and anxiety than other racial groups but have fewer sources of support. Although mindfulness represents a promising intervention for decreasing stress and anxiety, there are significant barriers that prevent Black Americans from accessing extant mindfulness tools, including cost, time, and limited cultural relevance. Under the mentorship of Dr. Matthew …
Continue reading “Music-Based Mindfulness Intervention for Black Americans”
Our January conversation, “Mindfulness, Resilience, and Compassion for the New Year,” features Rhonda Magee and Jack Kornfield, with musicians Marti Nikko and DJ Drez. We look at how we can lay the foundations for a year of compassion and healing grounded in our shared humanity.
“What excites me is making connections,” says Dr. Peter Wayne, who has devoted much of his career to bridging Chinese medicine and Western science, the mind and body, research and practice. As Director of the Osher Center for Integrative Health at Harvard Medical School and Brigham and Women’s Hospital, Peter oversees efforts to facilitate connections …
Our December conversation, “Finding Connections: Pathways to Embodied Wisdom,” features Peter Wayne, Willa Blythe Baker, and Srinivas Reddy. We discuss the relevance of ancient wisdom practices today and the profound inner-knowing that lies within the body.
We theorize that mindfulness and compassion training tailored to forcibly displaced refugees will have significant salutary pro-social effects. By means of a randomized (active) control design, we will test whether Mindfulness-Based Trauma Recovery for Refugees (MBTR-R) has restorative pro-social effects on traumatized Eritrean asylum seekers. Pro-social outcomes include (i) Trust, (ii) Compassion, (iii) Pro-social inter-personal …
In the last twenty years, a sharp increase in contemplative research has created the need for an academic home for interdisciplinary scholarship, community, dialogue, and collaboration. This special Think Tank grant goes to a multidisciplinary group of leading contemplative researchers to begin the development of a new professional society for the field. This is a …
Continue reading “International Society for Contemplative Research”
The World Health Organization estimates that 20 million adults across the globe need palliative care, including a growing cohort of transgender-identified older adults. While best practices for palliative care exist, information to guide community-based care at the end of life for this cohort is not consistently available. Guided by the wisdom from contemplative practice, art, …
Continue reading “Silent Illumination: Compassionate End-of-Life Care for Transgender Elders”
