Altered anterior insula activation during anticipation and experience of painful stimuli in expert meditators.

Experientially opening oneself to pain rather than avoiding it is said to reduce the mind's tendency toward avoidance or anxiety which can further exacerbate the experience of pain. This is a central feature of mindfulness-based therapies. Little is known about the neural mechanisms of mindfulness on pain. During a meditation practice similar to mindfulness, functional magnetic resonance imaging was used in expert meditators (> 10,000 h of practice) to dissociate neural activation patterns associated with pain, its anticipation, and habituation. Compared to novices, expert meditators reported equal pain intensity, but less unpleasantness. This difference was associated with enhanced activity in the dorsal anterior insula (aI), and the anterior mid-cingulate (aMCC) the so-called ‘salience network’, for experts during pain. This enhanced activity during pain was associated with reduced baseline activity before pain in these regions and the amygdala for experts only. The reduced baseline activation in left aI correlated with lifetime meditation experience. This pattern of low baseline activity coupled with high response in aIns and aMCC was associated with enhanced neural habituation in amygdala and pain-related regions before painful stimulation and in the pain-related regions during painful stimulation. These findings suggest that cultivating experiential openness down-regulates anticipatory representation of aversive events, and increases the recruitment of attentional resources during pain, which is associated with faster neural habituation.

Fem kvinnors beskrivning av hur de hanterade förlossningssmärtan efter mindfulness-baserad förlossningsförberedelse. : en kvalitativ pilotstudie

Bakgrund: Studier har visat att kvinnor som upplever att de har kunnat hantera smärtan välunder sin förlossning har mindre behov av farmakologisk smärtlindring och får en mer positivförlossningsupplevelse samt en ökad självkänsla. Mindfulness är en metod där manmedvetandegör och accepterar tankar, känslor och kroppsförnimmelser utan att värdera ellersträva efter att undvika dem. Om man istället accepterar och tillåter det som är gesoreflekterade tankar och känslor som ofta styr olika skeenden inte samma utrymme.Mindfulnessträning har ingått i program och utvärderats för t ex smärthantering ochstressreduktion. För att kunna genomföra en utvärdering där mindfulness ingår som metod föratt hantera förlossningssmärta behövs mera kunskap om kvinnors upplevelse av mindfulnessunder förlossning.Syfte: Syftet med studien var att beskriva hur några förstföderskor som genomgåttförlossningsförberedelse baserad på mindfulness, upplevde sin förmåga att hantera smärtanunder förlossningen.Metod: En kvalitativ studie baserad på intervjuer med fem kvinnor. Texterna analyseradesmed kvalitativ innehållsanalys enligt Graneheim och Lundman.Resultat: Kvinnorna beskrev hur de kände sig förberedda inför smärtan och att de upplevdeatt de hade ett ”verktyg” att ta till för att hantera smärtan. Genom att ha fokus på andningenoch därmed inte fästa sig vid tankar blev det ett stöd i att vara ”här och nu” i födandet ochkvinnorna upplevde en känsla av kontroll. Genom sin delaktighet kunde partnern hjälpakvinnan att hålla detta fokus.Konklusion: Mindfulnessbaserad förlossningsförberedelse kan utgöra ett redskap för kvinnoratt använda under förlossningen men behöver utvärderas.

A Meeting of East and West: Can Eastern-Influenced Therapies be Effective in the Treatment of Stress and Mood Disorders?

Given that the human brain is plastic and that structural alterations have been seen in monks who meditate on a regular basis, the question arises of whether these two facts are actually related. Furthermore, if this is in fact the case, would it be possible to apply these findings to the public? In this paper I will present the different conditions that induce neuroplasticity as well as give an overview of meditation and the ways that it is practiced nowadays. To this end I will argue that if monks are able to alter the structure of their brains and the brain is naturally inclined to heal itself then incorporating eastern practices, such as mindfulness and imagery, into western therapies could benefit patients suffering from mood disorders and, in particular, stress.

Growth of transcendental meditation: a sociological study

Sociology, in concerning itself with methodology and cultural determinism,may have overlooked the value of human experience in determining social action. We feel that the structural-functionalist point of view is not mutually exclusive with that of symbolic interaction theory. The field of collective behavior has not adequately explained a certain incidence of human activity called Transcendental Meditation. This paper will define Transcendental Meditation in sociological terms and explore its growth in terms of structural-functionalism,as well as in terms of the symbol-making faculty of human experience. In the first chapter, the author will state his biases and background as well as the problem and purpose of the paper. In the second chapter, Transcendental Meditation will be defined through an explanation of its concepts in sociological terms. A view of the TM program will also be reported. Following this in the third chapter, the origins of TM will be discussed~showing its basis to be in a tradition of Indian gurus and following its development in the United states until the present. The history of TM will proceed through biography of leading figures, with special mention of innovations in the TM institution of teaching and events in the growth of the 'movement' of TOO that are of key importance. Having set down the history of TM, in the fourth chapter we will discuss TM in terms of various sociological models. We will try to identify TM as either a social movement; a charismatic organization or a bureaucracy. In the fifth chapter we will look more closely at the structure of the organization that teaches TM in regard to its own functioning; that is, compliance, communication, socialization and recruitment, and also in regard to its relationship with national institutions, such as military, industry, religion, and government. Finally, we will explore TM in terms of individual and group goals and offer an explanation defining the growth of TM. Throughout-the paper, sociological perspectives will be applied to phenomena that exist in the society today. It is not within the scope of this paper to verify all the sociological implications and appraisals offered. It is hoped that this will not invalidate the ensuing discussion. It is also hoped that this paper will expand the horizons of sociology and offer some direction in future studies of collective behavior. If this is accomplished, the author will be gratified and indebted to his teachers. If not the author takes full responsibility. This paper is dedicated therefore to Mr. Birge, Mr Morrione, Mr. Geib as well as to my parents who have encouraged me, my friends whom I have interviewed, and to His Holiness, Maharishi Mahesh Yogi whose teaching has uplifted hundred of thousands of people in the world and may bring about the development of new thresholds of peace and prosperity for mankind.

Coaching for mindfulness and wisdom in complex environment

The primary objective for this paper is to build a compendium for a systemic intervention program for managers working in high-reliability organizations on an offshore rig. The second objective is then to work as a coach for these managers.

Efeitos da prática de Yoga na memória e em parâmetros psicológicos e fisiológicos de indivíduos saudáveis

Techniques of mind & body control seem to benefit human organism in general and cognition in particular, because they involve a mindfulness practice. However, there is still a scarcity of studies with well-controlled methods to investigate the possible effects of Yoga practice. In this study, we investigated the effects of regular Yoga practice, based on Yoga postures (asanas), breathing techniques, and meditation exercises, on memory and physiologic and psychological parameters related to quality of life. There were significant improvements on performance tasks of short term memory and long term memory. We also observed significant beneficial effects on psychological and physiological parameters such as mood, anxiety, depression, stress, and modulation of the autonomic nervous system in Yoga practitioners group compared to the conventional physical exercises group. The results suggest the possible influences of stress, emotional state and mental training on cognitive effects of yoga practice. Our results support the indication of practice of Yoga for the treatment or prevention of stress, psychological disorders and their possible cognitive consequences

Meditation training increases brain efficiency in an attention task

Meditation is a mental training, which involves attention and the ability to maintain focus on a particular object. In this study we have applied a specific attentional task to simply measure the performance of the participants with different levels of meditation experience, rather than evaluating meditation practice per se or task performance during meditation. Our objective was to evaluate the performance of regular meditators and non-meditators during an fMRI adapted Stroop Word-Colour Task (SWCT), which requires attention and impulse control, using a block design paradigm. We selected 20 right-handed regular meditators and 19 non-meditators matched for age, years of education and gender. Participants had to choose the colour (red, blue or green) of single words presented visually in three conditions: congruent, neutral and incongruent. Non-meditators showed greater activity than meditators in the right medial frontal, middle temporal, precentral and postcentral gyri and the lentiform nucleus during the incongruent conditions. No regions were more activated in meditators relative to non-meditators in the same comparison. Non-meditators showed an increased pattern of brain activation relative to regular meditators under the same behavioural performance level. This suggests that meditation training improves efficiency, possibly via improved sustained attention and impulse control. (C) 2011 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.