Where can I find evidence-based research on mindfulness?

[Warren Stupidity]

Meditation practices, it turns out, are not entirely woo, and unlike theology, their claims can be subject to evidence based research and analysis.

Several mindfulness-based interventions have been studied to determine their utility in improving health outcomes.

For a brief and compelling introduction to the brain science behind mindfulness meditation, see a 2012 TEDxCambridge talk in which Dr. Sara Lazar of Harvard Medical School describes her research on meditation and increased cortical thickness.

Below are links to selected articles examining the evidence base for different interventions, used with permission from the Mindfulness Research Guide. You may subscribe to the free Mindfulness Research Monthly, a monthly bulletin that aims to build awareness of and inform readers about the latest scientific advances in mindfulness.

Mindfulness and Wellbeing
Mindfulness and Mental Health
Mindfulness and Physical Health

Links to research here: http://evp.harvard.edu/book/where-can-i-find-evidence-based-research-mindfulness

[lasttrip]

1. here is another book on MBSR

I just picked up. http://www.amazon.com/Full-Catastrophe-Living-Revised-Edition/dp/0345536932
Peace.
LT

[Bradical79]

2. Jon Kabat-Zinn is a name that comes to mind -nt

[NeoGreen]

3. What?... please help me understand...

Mindfullness?
What does that mean?

Wiki is no help...to me at least...

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mindfulness

Mindfulness

For other uses, see Mindfulness (disambiguation).

The practice of mindfulness involves being aware moment-to-moment, of one’s subjective conscious experience from a first-person perspective.[1] When practising mindfulness, one becomes aware of one’s "stream of consciousness". The skill of mindfulness can be gradually developed using meditational practices that are described in detail in the Buddhist tradition. The Five-Aggregate Model, an ancient link between mind and body, is a helpful theoretical resource that could guide mindfulness interventions.[2] The term "mindfulness" is derived from the Pali-term sati [3] which is an essential element of Buddhist practice, including vipassana, satipaṭṭhāna andanapanasati. It has been popularized in the West by Jon Kabat-Zinn with his mindfulness-based stress reduction (MBSR) program.[4]

It doesn't convey anything meaningful to me. Except, maybe, being aware that you are awake and conscious at every given moment you are awake and conscious. Who isn't?

What...am I...missing?

Smells like reiki to me.

[Warren Stupidity]

4. It is a focus on and awareness of the present.

You know that incessant chatter that is going on in your head right now? Try to turn it off (or at least down) and to just be aware of the moment. Just sit or stand still and do nothing more than breathe, and instead of letting your mind run its mouth off, with all of its anxieties and concerns and dredging up of past experiences and future possibilities, just focus on the present, on the moment as it is.

Now keep doing that for a few minutes each day. See if you find it interesting or beneficial.

[NeoGreen]

7. Thanks...

...that helps.

Turn off the voice(s) and observe.

Or in other words (for me) another walk in the woods...

[Major Nikon]

11. It's quite commonly used in pain management therapy

It's effectiveness seems to be no different than relaxation techniques and I suspect it works through the same mechanism.

[rug]

5. Epictetus, Marcus Aurelius, and Seneca.

“Nothing, to my way of thinking, is a better proof of a well ordered mind than a man’s ability to stop just where he is and pass some time in his own company.” — Seneca, Letters From a Stoic

You won't like it though. It's philosophy not biofeedback.

[Warren Stupidity]

6. I'll have to doublecheck, but discounting MBSR because stoics were aware of meditation

practices is really missing the point by approximately 10 light years. I do however understand why people who believe fervently in utter nonsense like transubstantiation would be rather defensive.

[rug]

8. You're replying to yourself.

That's prudent.

[Igel]

9. Careful with the research.

There are two different things out there.

One is simply awareness of surroundings, not being ruminant.

The other is closer to the meditation practice.

They overlap, but those into meditation tend to object to the way psychology's taken to using the word (at times).

[Mufaddal]

10. For research, you'll want to check PubMed and PsycINFO databases.

Those are your best bets for clinical evaluations of mindfulness-based therapeutic models.