In the past decade the healing potential of mindfulness and its practice has gained widespread recognition across various health disciplines and institutions, especially mental health. Past and current research on mindfulness interventions have focused almost exclusively on the beneficial effects for clients. However, there is a serious shortage of research on how mindfulness practice influences therapists and their work. The current study looked specifically at how the influence of mindfulness meditation (MM) was experienced by therapists in the context of their work. An interpretive description methodology was used to guide the research process. Semi-structured in-depth interviews were conducted with six therapists who practiced MM regularly. A thematic analysis of interview transcripts highlighted commonalities and differences among participants’ perceptions of the influence of MM on their work. Eleven themes emerged from the data analysis. Thematic findings were considered in relation to key issues in psychotherapy, master therapist traits and other contemporary qualitative research addressing the influence of MM on practitioners. The results are discussed with an emphasis on the practical implications for future research, therapist training and clinical practice.

In this autoethnographic personal narrative, I share my multifaceted journey of developing ecological embodied cognition in the context of climate change, specifically in the West Kootenay region of British Columbia. Through spending time alone with the other-than-human world and using a deliberate practice of mindfulness to develop a participatory postmodern worldview, I seek to integrate multiple ways of knowing to complement my existing strengths of scientific, positivist understanding of the world. I suggest that expanding my (our) metaphoric construct of self to include ecological self, is vital to deepening sustainable relationships with nature and with other humans. I depict and evoke for readers my personal experience as a potential model of adaptation and worldview change. As environmental educator and education leader in the public school system, I will bring these new skills and ways of knowing and being to the classroom, to more meaningfully promote sustainability initiatives and behaviors.

Mindfulness is increasingly recognized as an important phenomenon in both clinical and empirical domains, though debate regarding the exact definition of mindfulness continues. Selfreport mindfulness measures have begun to appear, which is important as each measure represents an independent attempt to conceptualize mindfulness. Baer, Smith, Hopkins, Krietemeyer, and Toney (2006) recently identified five facets of mindfulness (observing, describing, acting with awareness, nonjudging, and nonreactivity) and developed the Five Facet Mindfulness Questionnaire (FFMQ) to assess them. They also provided preliminary evidence that the five facets were aspects of an overall mindfulness construct, demonstrated support for the convergent and discriminant validity of total mindfulness and its facets, and provided evidence to support the utility of the facets in understanding the relationships of mindfulness with other constructs. Their research raised interesting questions, especially as findings for the observe facet were not entirely consistent with current conceptualizations of mindfulness. The current study attempted to build upon and clarify the results of Baer et al. (2006) by examining the factor structure of mindfulness and the patterns of relationships between total mindfulness and its facets with already examined and newly investigated (absorption, rumination, reflection, and psychological well-being) constructs in a sample of individuals with meditation experience. One hundred ninety-three individuals completed packets including multiple self-report measures. Results indicated that a model conceptualizing the five facets as aspects of an overall mindfulness construct had good fit to the data, that the observe facet was almost entirely consistent with the conceptualization of mindfulness, that total mindfulness and its facets were related to previously examined constructs in a manner overall consistent with Baer et al. (2006), though some important differences in the strength of facet relationships with other constructs emerged, that the facets related to newly investigated constructs in conceptually consistent ways, and that mindfulness and its facets are strongly related to psychological well-being. These results support the current conceptualization of mindfulness and the adaptive nature of mindfulness in individuals with meditation experience.

This thesis focuses attention on the ongoing effects of the earthquakes on children in Christchurch. It identifies the learning and behavioural difficulties evident in an increasing number of students and cautions the use of the word 'resilient' to describe children who may be just managing. This assumption has a significant impact on the wellbeing of many Christchurch children who, disaster literature warns, are likely to be under-served. This thesis suggests that, because of the scale of need, schools are the best place to introduce practices that will foster wellbeing. Mindfulness practices are identified as a potential tool for ameliorating the vulnerabilities experienced by children, while at the same time working to increase their capabilities. This thesis argues that, through mindful practices, children can learn to be more reflective of their emotions and respond in more considered ways to different situations. They can become more relational, having a greater understanding of others through a deeper understanding of themselves, and they can build resilience by developing the protective factors that promote more adaptive functioning. This thesis identifies the strong links between mindfulness and the holistic wellbeing concept of Te Whare Tapa Whã and a Mãori worldview. Strong links are also identified with the vision, values and key competencies of the New Zealand Curriculum and 21st Century learners. Both short and long term recommendations are made for the introduction of mindfulness practices in schools to enhance the wellbeing of children.

<p>Effective emotion regulation plays an important role in psychological health. Two commonly-researched emotion regulation strategies are reappraisal, a cognitive change-based strategy, and mindfulness, an acceptance-based strategy. Although their potential in facilitating adaptive emotion regulation has been empirically demonstrated, little work has directly compared their cognitive and emotion regulatory effects, particularly in a symptomatic population. Using an analogue depressed sample, this study examined the relative effects of mindfulness and reappraisal in reducing sad mood and whether individual differences in trait mindfulness and habitual use of reappraisal moderated the effects. The study also compared the extent to which implementation of these strategies incurred cognitive resources and affected attitudes towards negative experiences. One hundred and twenty-nine participants were randomly assigned to receive training in mindfulness, reappraisal, or no training prior to undergoing an autobiographical sad mood induction. Following mood induction, participants rated their sadness on a visual analog scale before completing a Stroop test. Results showed that mindfulness and reappraisal were superior to no training, and equivalent in their effects in lowering sad moods. Compared to the mindfulness group, the reappraisal group reported significantly higher Stroop interference scores, reflecting greater depletion of cognitive resources. Higher trait mindfulness predicted greater reductions in sadness in the reappraisal group, but not in the mindfulness group. Habitual reappraisal did not moderate the effects of either mindfulness or reappraisal. Mindfulness, relative to reappraisal or no training, resulted in significant increases in acceptance of negative experiences and decreases in maladaptive beliefs about rumination. Overall, the study suggests that although mindfulness and reappraisal are equally effective in down-regulating sad mood, they incur different levels of cognitive costs and lead to differential changes in attitudes towards negative experiences.</p> / Dissertation

This study explored mindfulness in eight self–injuring psychiatric adolescents. A concurrent triangulation mixed–method design was used. In–depth semi–structured clinical interviews and clinical records constituted the qualitative data, while quantitative data was gathered using the Five–Facet Mindfulness Questionnaire (FFMQ). Thematic analysis was used to generate themes and subthemes for both selfinjury and mindfulness. Findings regarding self–injury were in line with the literature. In terms of mindfulness, two groups emerged: one sometimes acting mindfully and the other often acting mindfully. Both similarities and differences were found between the groups. Similarities in self–injuring behaviour can be explained by their similar scores on Observe and Nonreact, while the differences can be explained by the differences in their scores on Describe, Act with Awareness and Nonjudge. Those who sometimes act mindfully tend to be more self–critical, report more severe and lethal self–injuring episodes and more often use self–injury for self–punishment. Although those who often act mindfully self–injure more often, they show more selfcompassion and report less severe injuries and less lethal methods. Future research should explore the usefulness of mindfulness–based interventions, especially teaching Nonjudge and Nonreact skills, to not only increase mindfulness, but to decrease selfinjuring behaviour. Seeing that this is an exploratory study on a small sample, the results presented here should be considered to be preliminary until replicated with a larger clinical sample. / Thesis (M.A. (Clinical Psychology))--North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2011.

Mindful attention is qualitatively receptive and non-reactive, and is thought to facilitate adaptive emotional responding. Using a multi-method approach, I studied the relationship between individual differences in self-reported trait mindfulness and electrocortical, electromyographic, electrodermal, and self-reported responses to emotional pictures. Specifically, while subjects passively viewed IAPS pictures, electrocortical data, skin conductance, and also electromyographic data were recorded. Afterwards, subjects rated their subjective valence and arousal while viewing the pictures again. If trait mindfulness reduces general emotional responding, then responses from individuals with high mindfulness would be associated with decreased late positive potential amplitudes, decreased skin conductance response, and decreased subjective ratings of valence and arousal to emotional pictures. High mindfulness would also be associated with a decreased emotional modulation of startle eyeblink amplitudes and of startle P3 amplitudes during emotional pictures. Although analysis showed clear effects of emotion on dependent measures, in general, mindfulness did not moderate these effects.

I Sverige är besvär i rörelseorganen en av de största orsakerna till sjukskrivning och många personer lever med långvarig smärta. Många patienter som har långvarig smärta vill gärna prova på alternativ till medicinering och provar därför massage och olika typer av avslappningstekniker för att reducera smärtan. Forskningen kring dessa är ofta begränsad och utförd enligt kvantitativ metod. Syftet med denna uppsats är att kvalitativt undersöka hur massage och avslappning upplevs för personer med muskulära smärttillstånd. I studien ingick fyra kvinnor, som alla går regelbundet på massage, samt utövar någon form av avslappningsteknik. Kvalitativ innehållsanalys användes som analysmetod. Ur analysen framkom fem kategorier: Fysiska och psykiska effekter, fysisk aktivitet som smärtlindring, kombination av olika metoder, vikten av trygghet och tilltro samt resurskrävande. Resultatet visade att massage, avslappning och fysisk aktivitet är de tre viktigaste metoderna för smärtreducering. Deltagarna tycker att alla tre metoder är lika viktiga och att kombinera dem ger bäst resultat. Slutsatser som kan dras av studien är att avslappning, massage och fysisk aktivitet upplevs smärtreducerande och allra bäst effekt uppnås om dessa kombineras. Studiens resultat kan vara av betydelse för personer med långvarig smärta. Studien kan också vara intressant att ta del av för personer som arbetar med behandling av långvarig smärta, för att få kunskap om hur olika behandlingsmetoder upplevs.

This study explored mindfulness in eight self–injuring psychiatric adolescents. A concurrent triangulation mixed–method design was used. In–depth semi–structured clinical interviews and clinical records constituted the qualitative data, while quantitative data was gathered using the Five–Facet Mindfulness Questionnaire (FFMQ). Thematic analysis was used to generate themes and subthemes for both selfinjury and mindfulness. Findings regarding self–injury were in line with the literature. In terms of mindfulness, two groups emerged: one sometimes acting mindfully and the other often acting mindfully. Both similarities and differences were found between the groups. Similarities in self–injuring behaviour can be explained by their similar scores on Observe and Nonreact, while the differences can be explained by the differences in their scores on Describe, Act with Awareness and Nonjudge. Those who sometimes act mindfully tend to be more self–critical, report more severe and lethal self–injuring episodes and more often use self–injury for self–punishment. Although those who often act mindfully self–injure more often, they show more selfcompassion and report less severe injuries and less lethal methods. Future research should explore the usefulness of mindfulness–based interventions, especially teaching Nonjudge and Nonreact skills, to not only increase mindfulness, but to decrease selfinjuring behaviour. Seeing that this is an exploratory study on a small sample, the results presented here should be considered to be preliminary until replicated with a larger clinical sample. / Thesis (M.A. (Clinical Psychology))--North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2011.

There is a significant issue in society today regarding the lack of knowledge about and positive regard attributed to women’s bodies, but more specifically female genitalia. This is detrimental to women in that it causes us to see ourselves in a negative light, or to overly sexualize certain aspects of ourselves, which may lead to severe psychological damage (American Psychological Association Task Force on the Sexualization of Girls, 2010). The 1970’s Women’s Health Movement presented a way for women to get to know their own bodies in a way that was private from society in order to make their own judgments free from the pressures and input of the larger public: vaginal self-examinations. This study proposed a modified exam, a genital self-exam, as a way to counteract the negative attitudes projected on women’s genitals by giving women a chance to examine and decide for themselves. Participants were encouraged to practice mindfulness, a mental state achieved through focusing one’s awareness on the present moment while calmly accepting one’s feelings, during the exam as accounts of the 1970’s vaginal exams suggest a mindfulness-like attitude was also adopted during exams. This was done by randomly assigning participants to either complete a self-exam or to not and then measuring genital self-image and satisfaction, sexual body esteem, and mindfulness. The results were largely non-significant, save a few interesting minor findings. However, there is evidence to suggest a biased sample; recommendations for further research in this area are suggested.