#734 Mindfulness Components

     Using words to express the extremely complex, constantly evolving, direct experience of Mindfulness is not possible, yet has to be attempted (as an "operational definition"), when studying it scientifically.

     Below, a few scientific snapshots of Mindfulness from the paper by Anka A. Vujanovic et al. "Mindfulness in the Treatment of Posttraumatic Stress Disorder Among Military Veterans." Professional Psychology: Research and Practice 2011; 42(1): 24-31. DOI: 10.1037/a0022272

Definition:
     Mindfulness is about bringing an attitude of curiosity and compassion to present experience.

What Is Mindfulness?
      Mindfulness is most commonly conceptualized as involving two key components: 

     (1) intentional regulation of attention to and awareness of the present moment, and 

     (2) nonjudgmental acceptance of the ongoing flow of sensations, thoughts, and/or emotional states. 

     Awareness is cultivated through intentional regulation of attention to present experience. While attending to the present, mindfulness also entails a stance of acceptance, or willingness to experience the array of one’s thoughts and emotions without judgment. Awareness of one’s present-centered experience might be considered a necessary first step toward nonjudgmental acceptance of that experience. 

#430 How Mindfulness Meditation Practice Improves Executive Function

     "Rimma Teper has always found her meditation sessions relaxing and therapeutic. Now, as a doctoral candidate in psychology at UTSC (University of Toronto, Scarborough College), she’s helping to understand why meditation is also good for boosting self-control.
     Compared to non-meditators, those who meditate show more self-control, Teper has discovered in her research. This is linked to their awareness and acceptance of their emotions. '[Meditators are] attuned to their own emotions,' Teper says.
     'They’re aware of how they’re feeling and they’re also good at regulating their emotions. The results suggest these traits account for the better self-control we see in meditators.'
     Teper was interested in a manifestation of self-control that psychologists call 'executive function' — the ability to pay attention to appropriate stimuli and react appropriately. It’s what keeps us studying when we’d rather watch TV, or forces us to go outside for that morning jog instead of going back to sleep. Earlier studies had shown that meditators exhibited higher levels of executive function than non-meditators, but the reason for this still had to be pinned down.
     Most meditation traditions emphasize two major practices: awareness of the present moment, and acceptance of emotional states. Teper suspected that emotional acceptance was the key to the better self-control.
     To test her premise, Teper gave the meditators and non-meditators in her study a test that required high executive control. She then measured their error-related negativity (ERN), which generates an electrical signal in the brain within 100 milliseconds of an error being committed during a task, well before the conscious mind is aware of the error. 'It’s kind of like an ‘uh-oh’ response, or a cortical alarm bell,' Teper says.
     The meditators did better at the task than the non-meditators and also had stronger ERNs. What’s even more interesting is that the meditators who did best on the test were the ones who tested highest for emotional awareness. Since ERN triggers a negative feeling that motivates people to do better, meditators may be more aware of that feeling and therefore quicker to improve.
     'Meditators are attuned to their emotions. They’re also good at regulating their emotions,' says Teper. '[This] fits well with our results.'

       by Kurt Kleiner - UTSC Commons Fall 2013
http://utsccommons.utsc.utoronto.ca/fall-2012/mosaic/breakthrough-thinking-zen-self-control

       Teper R, Inzlicht M. Meditation, mindfulness and executive control: the importance of emotional acceptance and brain-based performance monitoring. Soc Cogn Affect Neurosci 2013; 8(1): 85-92.

#387 Meditation Facilitating Normal Developmental Shift to Healthier Emotion Regulation

     "The challenge is to find ways of regulating our emotions so that we retain their helpful features while limiting their destructive aspects.
     ... two commonly used emotion regulation strategies:
     Cognitive REAPPRAISAL - changing the way one thinks about a potentially emotion-eliciting situation in order to modify its emotional impact; 

     Expressive SUPPRESSION - changing the way one responds behaviorally to an emotion-eliciting event. 

     ... experimental findings show that 

1) reappraisal has a healthier profile of ... consequences (patterns of affect, social functioning, & well-being) than suppression

2) (there's) a normative shift toward an increasingly healthy emotion regulation profile during adulthood (increases in the use of reappraisal & decreases in the use of suppression)."

 

       John OP, Gross JJ. Healthy and unhealthy emotion regulation: personality processes, individual differences, and life span development. J Pers 2004; 72(6): 1301-33.

     Meditation is based on seeing clearly (awareness). The acceptance aspect of meditation involves letting go of prevalent avoidant tendencies such as suppression by accepting reality as it is, rather than demanding that it conform to our preferences.