Interventions based on training in mindfulness skills are becoming increasingly popular. Mindfulness involves intentionally bringing one's attention to the internal and external experiences occurring in the present moment, and is often taught through a variety of meditation exercises. This review summarizes conceptual approaches to mind-fulness and empirical research on the utility of mindfulness-based interventions. Meta-analytic techniques were incorporated to facilitate quantification of findings and comparison across studies. Although the current empirical literature includes many methodological flaws, findings suggest that mindfulness-based interventions may be helpful in the treatment of several disorders. Methodologically sound investigations are recommended in order to clarify the utility of these interventions.

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Mindfulness Training as a Clinical Intervention: A Conceptual and Empirical Review

When Dr. Herbert Benson introduced this simple, effective, mind/body approach to relieving stress twenty-five years ag, his book became an instant national bestseller. Since that time, millions of people have learned the secret--without high-priced lectures or prescription medicines. The Relaxation Response has become the classic reference recommended by most health care professionals and authorities to treat the harmful effects of stress.Discovered by Dr. Benson and his colleagues in the laboratories of Harvard Medical School and its teaching hospitals, this revitalizing, therapeutic approach is now routinely recommended to treat patients suffering from heart conditions, high blood pressure, chronic pain, insomnia, and many other physical ailments. It requires only minutes to learn, and just ten to twenty minutes of practice twice a day.

The Relaxation Response

Salivary cortisol in psychoneuroendocrine research: Recent developments and applications

Effects of Mindfulness on Psychological Health: A Review of Empirical Studies

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 diierences in prefrontal cortical thickness were most pronounced in older participants, suggesting that meditation might oiset age-related cortical thinning. Finally, the thickness of two regions correlated with meditation experience. These data provide the ¢rst structural evidence for experience-dependent cortical plasticity associated with meditation practice. NeuroReport 16:1893^1897 � c 2005 Lippincott Williams & Wilkins.

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Meditation experience is associated with increased cortical thickness

Oxygen consumption, heart rate, skin resistance, and electroenceph-alograph measurements were recorded before, during, and after subjects practiced a technique called transcendental meditation There were significant changes between the control period and the meditation period in all measurements During meditation, oxygen consumption and heart rate decreased, skin resistance increased, and the electroencephalogram showed specific changes in certain frequencies These results seem to distinguish the state produced by transcendental meditation from commonly encountered states of consciousness and suggest that it may have practical applications

https://science.sciencemag.org/content/sci/167/3926/1751.full.pdf

Robert Keith Wallace

Papers

Physiological Effects of Transcendental Meditation

A wakeful hypometabolic physiologic state

The physiology of meditation.

The physiology of meditation: a review. A wakeful hypometabolic integrated response.

Autonomic and EEG patterns during eyes-closed rest and transcendental meditation (TM) practice: the basis for a neural model of TM practice.