Novice meditators who develop the ability to non-reactively observe their thoughts, feelings and physical sensations are more likely to experience self-transcendence, according to new research published in Psychology of Consciousness: Theory, Research, and Practice. The findings suggest that mindful decentering...
A new study offers evidence that music and nature sounds serve as effective attentional targets for acquiring mindfulness attentional skills. When compared to a mindfulness program that focused on the breath, interventions using either music or nature sounds led to...
An intensive meditation retreat improved controlled attention among those who had attended for five weeks, according to a new longitudinal, waitlist-controlled study. The study, published in Brain, Behavior, and Immunity, also found evidence that higher inflammatory activity was related to...
A new study suggests that mindfulness meditation can help mitigate the negative mental health consequences of the pandemic. The study was published in the International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health. The COVID-19 pandemic was an unforeseen public health...
New research suggests mindfulness-based cognitive therapy protects remitted depressed patients from relapse by reducing tendencies toward self-blame. The findings were published in Psychiatry Research: Neuroimaging. Major depressive disorder is a common mental health issue with a relatively high relapse rate....
A study published in Frontiers in Psychiatry found evidence to suggest that yoga breathing exercises can lead to improvements in emotional regulation. After pranayama training, participants showed decreased anxiety and negative affect, and changes in areas of the brain related...
A new study provides evidence that an single, 8-minute mindfulness meditation exercises can improve visual short-term memory. The findings appear in the journal Psychological Reports. "Mindfulness meditation has become a hot topic in recent years, with numerous studies beginning to...
A study published in Psychotherapy suggests that the causal link between mindfulness and better psychological functioning may not be as expected. The study found evidence to suggest that positive affect leads to increased time spent practicing mindfulness. Numerous studies have...
New research has found differences in the brain's signal of error processing between those who are able to observe their feelings without getting lost in them and those who struggle to do so. The findings, which appear in the journal...
New research provides evidence that mindfulness meditation training results in increases in prosocial behaviors, even in the absence of explicit ethics-based instructions. The study has been published in Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin. Mindfulness meditation has become an increasingly popular...
A mindfulness intervention reduces inflammatory biomarkers that are associated with cognitive decline and dementia in older adults, according to the results of a new randomized controlled trial. The research has been published in Translational Psychiatry. "Mindfulness has been gaining quite...
New research provides evidence that people who are more mindful are more prone to forgiveness and that mindfulness exercises can facilitate a forgiving attitude. The findings appear in the journal Emotion. "While mindfulness is studied extensively, there is relatively little...
Increased interest in meditation and its many positive benefits has been accompanied by a plethora of self-help books, YouTube guided meditations, and smartphone apps. Despite these various aids, users of meditation still have difficulty with certain practices, especially those that...
Mindfulness training might enhance cognitive control processes and the ability to overcome distractions, according to new research. The findings, published in the journal Mindfulness, suggest that meditation practices can improve the ability to focus and detect new changes in the...
Mindfulness training can reduce intention to procrastinate on a task one would normally avoid, according to a recent study published in the International Journal of Applied Positive Psychology. Procrastination is characterized by the delaying of a task for a dysfunctional...