Reiki healing is one of several complementary and integrative therapies becoming increasingly prevalent in mental health counseling. It has been identified in the medical field for its usefulness in treating anxiety, depression, distress, and pain but has rarely been studied for its counseling impact on client wellness. I conducted single-case research to explore psychotherapeutic Reiki's (PR's) influence on adult clients' anxiety symptoms and perceived sense of mindfulness and provided analysis of data collected from two assessments administered weekly: the Adult Manifest Anxiety Scale-Adult and the Mindful Attention Awareness Scale. Three of the four participants demonstrated significant improvement in both anxiety and mindfulness over the course of the PR intervention. The study revealed potential therapeutic benefits for integrating PR with conventional talk therapy. Included in discussion of study results are clinical implications and importance, suggestions for future research, and limitations.

Research tells us that there is an effect of prayer on well-being. However, little is known about the mechanisms that underlie this relationship. In addition, much of the available data concerning prayer and well-being is based on Christians living in the United States, and our knowledge of how prayer and well-being are functionally interconnected in other faith groups, including Muslims, is sparse. The primary aim of this study was to understand how prayer impacts well-being in individuals of the Muslim faith. Specifically, four potential mediators of the relationship between prayer and well-being were examined; optimism, spirituality, mindfulness, and social support. These mediators were selected based on previous empirical work demonstrating the role these factors have in both religious practices and mental health. Optimism, spirituality, and social support are important mechanisms in the relationship between prayer and well-being in Christian samples, while mindfulness underlies the beneficial effects of contemplative practices on well-being in studies focused on Buddhist practices. In this study it is proposed that as a contemplative practice of the Abrahamic faith, Muslim prayer (salah) relates to well-being through the mediatory roles of optimism, spirituality, social support, and mindfulness. Participants (N=155) were recruited from local mosques, Muslim Student Associations of the University of Ottawa and Carleton University, local halal restaurants, and MuslimLink (an Ottawa-based Muslim newsletter). SurveyMonkey was used to gather information on participants’ prayer habits, and level of trait mindfulness, spirituality, optimism, social support, and subjective well-being. The data were analysed using a parallel multiple mediator model via the Monte Carlo confidence interval to test for the indirect effect of the mediator variables. Optimism and spirituality were both found to be mediators of the relationship between frequency of prayer and subjective well-being. While mindfulness correlated with both frequency of prayer and well-being, it did not mediate the relationship between the two. Social support correlated with frequency of prayer and not well-being and was not a mediator between the two variables. Psychological interventions that incorporate faith-based practices have been found to have greater effectiveness for religious patients. Understanding prayer and how it relates to well-being is important to implementing intervention and prevention strategies that are culturally informed thus better serving the Muslim population needs.

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Ruminering är en maladaptiv emotionsregleringsstrategi som definieras av repetitiva, återkommande, okontrollerbara och påträngande tankar. Ruminering har visats vara starkt kopplat till depression. Självmedkänsla är en adaptiv emotionsregleringsstrategi som består av komponenterna mindfulness och motpolen överidentifiering, self- kindness och motpolen self-judgement och common humanity och motpolen isolering. Studiens syfte var att undersöka sambandet mellan de sex komponenterna av självmedkänsla och ruminering samt om komponenterna av självmedkänsla kunde predicera ruminering, kontrollerat för kön och ålder. Åttio deltagare varav 57 kvinnor, svarade på en online enkät som mätte självmedkänsla, ruminering samt demografiska variabler. Korrelationer visade, som förväntat att ruminering hade negativa samband med mindfulness, self-kindness och common humanity samt positiva samband med deras motpoler. En hierarkisk regression visade att överidentifiering kunde predicera 6.5% av ruminering kontrollerat för kön och ålder. Ju mer överidentifiering desto mer ruminering. Resultatet från studien kan vara viktigt i arbete med att förebygga ruminering då ruminering kan kopplas till depression.

This project explored whether mindfulness and acceptance-based practices (MABPs) for older adults would reduce the negative effects of ageism and negative attitudes and beliefs related to aging. In addition, state affect and stress were explored. This study used an experimental design to compare two groups of older adults and two groups of undergraduate students – those who received a MABP and those who did not, after being presented with negative ageist stereotypes. Condition and condition by age sample comparisons revealed several findings. Following the MABP, undergraduates who received a MABP had significantly lower ageism scores than did undergraduates who did not. Older adult findings were opposite of proposed hypotheses, with older adults having higher scores on ageism after receiving the MABP, as compared to the scores of older adults who were in the comparison condition. Differences in state mindfulness were seen between conditions, with the MABP condition exhibiting more state mindfulness than in the comparison condition. However, there was no significant condition by age sample interaction effect. Change scores for state affect after the MABP were non-significant at either level of analysis, and older adults showed no difference in digit span stress scores based on their condition assignment. Exploratory analyses revealed some research consistent, as well as nuanced, findings. These findings suggest that undergraduates may respond to MABPs for recontextualizing aging, discrimination, and stigma. These findings also suggest that older adults may employ different coping strategies when confronted with ageism in an experimental context when asked to reflect, as oppose to participate in MABPs. Overall, a need for aging education, experimental research with older adults, and empirical understandings of MABPs for age-related issues, is needed. Limitations and future directions are discussed.

Mindfulness meditation is known to improve attention, and neuroscience appears to be a field that can elucidate how mindfulness meditation achieves such an outcome. However, studies on mindfulness meditation have been criticized for a low methodological quality. Thus the current paper aimed to provide a literature review on the neural basis of the effects of mindfulness meditation on attention. Additionally, there was a critical examination of this research to evaluate factors that might compromise the validity of the research. The scope of the thesis was limited to studies on healthy adults using fMRI and on studies that incorporate the generally accepted elements of mindfulness meditation. A total of 17 cross-sectional and two longitudinal studies were reviewed with 510 participants in all. The main result of this literature review were that changes were observed in the mPFC. Furthermore, activation was seen in the insula, prefrontal areas and the ACC. Some of the interpretations of the selected studies were in conflict with each other. This can perhaps be explained by differences in neural activation depending on how experienced the subjects are in mindfulness meditation practices. Some prevalent methodological issues with the studies were small sample sizes, cross-sectional design, and poor or unclear instructions (e.g., not describing the instructions or the mantra employed). There were also more general problems regarding functional neuroimaging. These included movement artefacts and cardiovascular effects. However, based on the 19 studies reviewed in this paper there is tentative evidence for the beneficial effects of mindfulness meditation on attention.

Observational drawing has many benefits, yet it can be a difficult and frustrating curriculum for students and teachers alike. As I was teaching elementary and college art classes simultaneously, I noticed a significant discrepancy between my younger and older students. Students in my elementary art classes loved to draw and often expressed how excited they were to make art. However, students in my college art classes were more hesitant and self-conscious about drawing and did not believe they could progress artistically. Many of these students had abandoned drawing in elementary or middle school. This pattern evokes the U curve of artistic development as discussed in Harvard's Project Zero (Davis, 1997). Because of this lack of skill and confidence, many of the students in my college classes could not fully apply themselves to reap the benefits of observational drawing. How can educators help college students reclaim their confidence as visual artists after years of avoidance and fear? In an attempt to help college students overcome these anxieties and improve their art skills, I created and implemented a mindfulness intervention in a traditional drawing curriculum. Using case study methodology, I conducted a qualitative study throughout the winter semester of 2019 at Brigham Young University to examine the affordances or limitations of implementing mindfulness in an undergraduate drawing curriculum.

No description available.

Forgiveness and mindfulness have both been associated with a variety of salutary health-related outcomes. Though thought to be related to one another, very little empirical work has examined the association of forgiveness and mindfulness, including in the context of health. Consistent with theory regarding the forgiveness-health association and the definition of health behavior, we hypothesized that mindfulness would play a role in the relationship between forgiveness and health. Cross-sectional mediation-based analyses were conducted on data collected from a sample of 368 undergraduate students in southern Appalachia. Participants were 73.64% female and 88.32% Caucasian, with an average age of 21.62 years. Mindfulness played a role in the association of forgiveness of self, forgiveness of others, and forgiveness of situations with physical health status, somatic symptoms, mental health status, and psychological distress. In the context of the forgiveness-health association, mindfulness may play a primary role for forgiveness of others and largely a secondary role for forgiveness of self and forgiveness of situations. The role of mindfulness may be explained by the (un)forgiveness-energy hypothesis, such that forgiveness may allow energy to be invested in mindful processes. Religious/spiritual diversity may impact the association of forgiveness and mindfulness. As this study may be the first to examine mindfulness as a health behavior and only the second empirical study to explicitly examine the association between forgiveness and mindfulness, more research is needed to understand the relationships among forgiveness, mindfulness, and health.

Forgiveness and mindfulness have both been associated with a variety of salutary health-related outcomes. Though thought to be related to one another, very little empirical work has examined the association of forgiveness and mindfulness, including in the context of health. Consistent with theory regarding the forgiveness-health association and the definition of health behavior, we hypothesized that mindfulness would play a role in the relationship between forgiveness and health. Cross-sectional mediation-based analyses were conducted on data collected from a sample of 368 undergraduate students in southern Appalachia. Participants were 73.64% female and 88.32% Caucasian, with an average age of 21.62 years. Mindfulness played a role in the association of forgiveness of self, forgiveness of others, and forgiveness of situations with physical health status, somatic symptoms, mental health status, and psychological distress. In the context of the forgiveness-health association, mindfulness may play a primary role for forgiveness of others and largely a secondary role for forgiveness of self and forgiveness of situations. The role of mindfulness may be explained by the (un)forgiveness-energy hypothesis, such that forgiveness may allow energy to be invested in mindful processes. Religious/spiritual diversity may impact the association of forgiveness and mindfulness. As this study may be the first to examine mindfulness as a health behavior and only the second empirical study to explicitly examine the association between forgiveness and mindfulness, more research is needed to understand the relationships among forgiveness, mindfulness, and health.