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just-throw-salt-at-it · 6 years

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#DoMagick Challenge Research Day 1 and 2

The first few days are all about gathering information. Here’s what I’ve gathered so far....

Article 1: Phenomenological Fingerprints of Four Meditations: Differential State Changes in Affect, Mind-Wandering, Meta-Cognition, and Interoception Before and After Daily Practice Across 9 Months of Training

https://www.researchgate.net/publication/306271852_Phenomenological_fingerprints_of_four_meditations_Differential_state_changes_in_affect_mind-wandering_meta-cognition_and_interoception_before_and_after_daily_practice_across_nine_months_of_training

Abstract: “Despite increasing interest in the effects of mental training practices such as meditation, there is much ambiguity regarding whether and to what extent the various types of mental practice have differential effects on psychological change. To address this gap, we compare the effects of four common meditation practices on measures of state change in affect, mind-wandering, meta-cognition, and interoception. In the context of a 9-month mental training program called the ReSource Project, 229 mid-life adults(meanage41)provided daily reports before and after meditation practice. Participants received training in the following three successive modules: the first module (presence) included breathing meditation and body scan, the second (affect) included loving-kindness meditation, and the third (perspective) included observing-thought meditation. Using multilevel modeling, we found that body scan led to the greatest state increase in interoceptive awareness and the greatest decrease in thought content, lovingkindness meditation led to the greatest increase in feelings of warmth and positive thoughts about others, and observing thought meditation led to the greatest increase in metacognitive awareness. All practices, including breathing meditation, increased positivity of affect, energy, and present focus and decreased thought distraction. Complementary network analysis of intervariate relationships revealed distinct phenomenological clusters of psychological change congruent with the content of each practice. These findings together suggest that although different meditation practices may have common beneficial effects, each practice can also be characterized by a distinct short-term psychological fingerprint, the latter having important implications for the use of meditative practices in different intervention contexts and with different populations.”

Article 2: A Randomized Controlled Trial of Mindfulness Meditation Versus Relaxation Training: Effects on Distress, Positive States of Mind, Rumination, and Distraction

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/17291166

Abstract: “Background: Although mindfulness meditation interventions have recently shown benefits for reducing stress in various populations, little is known about their relative efficacy compared with relaxation interventions. Purpose: This randomized controlled trial examines the effects of a 1-month mindfulness meditation versus somatic relaxation training as compared to a control group in 83 students (M age = 25; 16 men and 67 women) reporting distress. Method: Psychological distress, positive states of mind, distractive and ruminative thoughts and behaviors, and spiritual experience were measured, while controlling for social desirability. Results: Hierarchical linear modeling reveals that both meditation and relaxation groups experienced significant decreases in distress as well as increases in positive mood states over time, compared with the control group (p < .05 in all cases). There were no significant differences between meditation and relaxation on distress and positive mood states over time. Effect sizes for distress were large for both meditation and relaxation (Cohen's d = 1.36 and .91, respectively), whereas the meditation group showed a larger effect size for positive states of mind than relaxation (Cohen's d =. 71 and .25, respectively). The meditation group also demonstrated significant pre post decreases in both distractive and ruminative thoughts/behaviors compared with the control group (p < .04 in all cases; Cohen's d = .57 for rumination and .25 for distraction for the meditation group), with mediation models suggesting that mindfulness meditation's effects on reducing distress were partially mediated by reducing rumination. No significant effects were found for spiritual experience. Conclusions: The data suggest that compared with a no-treatment control, brief training in mindfulness meditation or somatic relaxation reduces distress and improves positive mood states. However, mindfulness meditation may be specific in its ability to reduce distractive and ruminative thoughts and behaviors, and this ability may provide a unique mechanism by which mindfulness meditation reduces distress.”

Article 3: The Neurology of Meditation: Implications for Meditation Therapies

http://www.triroc.com/sunnen/topics/meditationtherapies.htm

Abstract: “The perspective of this paper favors the concept of the existence of neuronal brain networks, that are not only more specialized than others in the creation of awareness, but also that are capable of expansion, both in their anatomical configurations and in the output of their electro-chemical activity. Herewith explored are meditative practices as activators of awareness development.

Awareness is a term that carries different meanings. While to most people it refers to the capacity to be conscious of oneself, herewith it is also applied to the property of the nervous system to generate energies that make such self-awareness possible. As such, awareness ultimately takes root in the nervous system’s capacity to create energy, which is a core expression of life itself.

This paper examines awareness from a neurological perspective, then as it applies to the practice of meditation, aiming to enhance the many promises that it embodies. Meditative therapies thus may enhance not only the creation of new neuronal networks, but also stimulate the corresponding creation of new dimensions of awareness, both quantitative and qualitative.

Knowing about mechanisms of awareness is important because it satisfies the rational mind’s quest to understand all that surrounds it. Reasons for meditation thus gather greater logical impetus.”

Article 4: Meditation and yoga for posttraumatic stress disorder: A meta-analytic review of randomized controlled trials

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/29100863

Abstract: “Posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is a chronic and debilitating disorder that affects the lives of 7-8% of adults in the U.S. Although several interventions demonstrate clinical effectiveness for treating PTSD, many patients continue to have residual symptoms and ask for a variety of treatment options. Complementary health approaches, such as meditation and yoga, hold promise for treating symptoms of PTSD. This meta-analysis evaluates the effect size (ES) of yoga and meditation on PTSD outcomes in adult patients. We also examined whether the intervention type, PTSD outcome measure, study population, sample size, or control condition moderated the effects of complementary approaches on PTSD outcomes. The studies included were 19 randomized control trials with data on 1173 participants. A random effects model yielded a statistically significant ES in the small to medium range (ES=-0.39, p<0.001, 95% CI [-0.57, -0.22]). There were no appreciable differences between intervention types, study population, outcome measures, or control condition. There was, however, a marginally significant higher ES for sample size≤30 (ES=-0.78, k=5). These findings suggest that meditation and yoga are promising complementary approaches in the treatment of PTSD among adults and warrant further study.”

Article 5: Meditation experience is associated with increased cortical thickness

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1361002/

Abstract: “Previous research indicates that long-term meditation practice is associated with altered resting electroencephalogram patterns, suggestive of long lasting changes in brain activity. We hypothesized that meditation practice might also be associated with changes in the brain’s physical structure. Magnetic resonance imaging was used to assess cortical thickness in 20 participants with extensive Insight meditation experience, which involves focused attention to internal experiences. Brain regions associated with attention, interoception and sensory processing were thicker in meditation participants than matched controls, including the prefrontal cortex and right anterior insula. Between-group differences in prefrontal cortical thickness were most pronounced in older participants, suggesting that meditation might offset age-related cortical thinning. Finally, the thickness of two regions correlated with meditation experience. These data provide the first structural evidence for experience-dependent cortical plasticity associated with meditation practice.”

Article 6: Short-term meditation training improves attention and self-regulation

http://www.pnas.org/content/104/43/17152.short

Abstract: “Recent studies suggest that months to years of intensive and systematic meditation training can improve attention. However, the lengthy training required has made it difficult to use random assignment of participants to conditions to confirm these findings. This article shows that a group randomly assigned to 5 days of meditation practice with the integrative body–mind training method shows significantly better attention and control of stress than a similarly chosen control group given relaxation training. The training method comes from traditional Chinese medicine and incorporates aspects of other meditation and mindfulness training. Compared with the control group, the experimental group of 40 undergraduate Chinese students given 5 days of 20-min integrative training showed greater improvement in conflict scores on the Attention Network Test, lower anxiety, depression, anger, and fatigue, and higher vigor on the Profile of Mood States scale, a significant decrease in stress-related cortisol, and an increase in immunoreactivity. These results provide a convenient method for studying the influence of meditation training by using experimental and control methods similar to those used to test drugs or other interventions.”

Article 7: Meditation programs for psychological stress and well-being: a systematic review and meta-analysis.

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/24395196

Abstract: “Importance: Many people meditate to reduce psychological stress and stress-related health problems. To counsel people appropriately, clinicians need to know what the evidence says about the health benefits of meditation. Objective: To determine the efficacy of meditation programs in improving stress-related outcomes (anxiety, depression, stress/distress, positive mood, mental health-related quality of life, attention, substance use, eating habits, sleep, pain, and weight) in diverse adult clinical populations. Evidence Review: We identified randomized clinical trials with active controls for placebo effects through November 2012 from MEDLINE, PsycINFO, EMBASE, PsycArticles, Scopus, CINAHL, AMED, the Cochrane Library, and hand searches. Two independent reviewers screened citations and extracted data. We graded the strength of evidence using 4 domains (risk of bias, precision, directness, and consistency) and determined the magnitude and direction of effect by calculating the relative difference between groups in change from baseline. When possible, we conducted meta-analyses using standardized mean differences to obtain aggregate estimates of effect size with 95% confidence intervals. Findings: After reviewing 18 753 citations, we included 47 trials with 3515 participants. Mindfulness meditation programs had moderate evidence of improved anxiety (effect size, 0.38 [95% CI, 0.12-0.64] at 8 weeks and 0.22 [0.02-0.43] at 3-6 months), depression (0.30 [0.00-0.59] at 8 weeks and 0.23 [0.05-0.42] at 3-6 months), and pain (0.33 [0.03- 0.62]) and low evidence of improved stress/distress and mental health-related quality of life. We found low evidence of no effect or insufficient evidence of any effect of meditation programs on positive mood, attention, substance use, eating habits, sleep, and weight. We found no evidence that meditation programs were better than any active treatment (ie, drugs, exercise, and other behavioral therapies). Conclusion and relevance: Clinicians should be aware that meditation programs can result in small to moderate reductions of multiple negative dimensions of psychological stress. Thus, clinicians should be prepared to talk with their patients about the role that a meditation program could have in addressing psychological stress. Stronger study designs are needed to determine the effects of meditation programs in improving the positive dimensions of mental health and stress-related behavior.”

Website 1: How To Practice Zen Meditation?

https://www.zen-buddhism.net/practice/zen-meditation.html

Website 2: Zazen Is Not the Same as Meditation

https://www.bcbsdharma.org/article/zazen-is-not-the-same-as-meditation/

Website 3: How to do Zazen

http://global.sotozen-net.or.jp/eng/practice/zazen/howto/index.html

Website 4: The Soto Zen Buddhist Association

http://szba.org/

Website 5: How to Meditate - Beginners Introduction to Zazen

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dDJ_wbjBL6c

....This list will be updated with any future resources. :)

#domagick

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