<p><p>In this essay, the phenomenon and the concept "meditation" are treated. Meditation is a mental training technique where one develops the ability to choose where to put attention and ability to focus. Techniques for meditation is used individually of people who wants to develop themselves as persons and in therapeutic aims of professional within the field of psychology in order to help people to find solutions of problems within themselves. The aim with this essay were to do a qualitative study in order to see how possible effects of meditation influences daily life of contributory practisian's. Issue has been as follows; which effects have one regularly conducting of meditation on people and their lives? Interviews with four experienced meditators were done in India and the material were analyzed afterwards with the aid of thematic analysis, furthermore in order to link the results with clinical research and established theories about meditation. Meditation is an important part of the Buddhist tradition and its importance for people's wellbeing has been recognized within Buddhism since approximately 2500 years back. In 1960 knowledge about meditation established in the world of vest, where the interest grows and researchers in the field of meditation permanently report about new health profits with this type of "mental" exercise. Eastern concepts and methods are integrated within western psychology and the meeting between science in east and vest leads to an extended understanding of humans and its intrinsic force. The result shows that meditation has a significant effect on the participants' lives and the training first of all leads to an increased degree of " mindfulness"; awareness of the presence, which according to established researchers, has a positive impact on people's wellbeing. To live in " the present" is seen as one ability valuable in handling life, leads to a feeling of increased internal strength and furthermore is what leads to the effects that is presented within different themes in the result of this study.</p><strong><p>Keywords:</p></strong>meditation, power of the mind, mindfulness, focus, harmony</p>

Mindfulness i klinisk behandling är ingen enhetlig företeelse. Ett flertal sätt att definiera, operationalisera och tillämpa mindfulness samexisterar i det kliniska rummet. Syftet med denna studie var att åskådliggöra terapeuters kvalitativt varierande sätt att beskriva, använda och uppleva mindfulness i klinisk behandling och att undersöka faktorer av betydelse för dessa variationer. Elva terapeuters arbete studerades genom semistrukturerade intervjuer varpå en teoristyrd tematisk analys av intervjumaterialet genomfördes. Resultatet går i linje med den internationella forskningsdebatten och åskådliggör ett stort antal variationer av hur terapeuter beskriver, tillämpar och upplever sitt arbete med mindfulness. Beskrivningarna varierar på en bred skala, från teknik till andlighet, stresshantering till upplysning. Variationer som framkom i terapeutisk tillämpning kan delas in i tre delar; mindfulness för terapeuten, mindfulness i relation till klienten och mindfulness som intervention för klienten. Av skiftande betydelse för dessa var psykoterapeutisk inriktning, klientens problematik och egen erfarenhet av mindfulness, varav den mest inflytelserika var egen erfarenhet, i vilken utsträckning terapeuten själv utövat mindfulness och i vilken kontext.

In this essay, the phenomenon and the concept "meditation" are treated. Meditation is a mental training technique where one develops the ability to choose where to put attention and ability to focus. Techniques for meditation is used individually of people who wants to develop themselves as persons and in therapeutic aims of professional within the field of psychology in order to help people to find solutions of problems within themselves. The aim with this essay were to do a qualitative study in order to see how possible effects of meditation influences daily life of contributory practisian's. Issue has been as follows; which effects have one regularly conducting of meditation on people and their lives? Interviews with four experienced meditators were done in India and the material were analyzed afterwards with the aid of thematic analysis, furthermore in order to link the results with clinical research and established theories about meditation. Meditation is an important part of the Buddhist tradition and its importance for people's wellbeing has been recognized within Buddhism since approximately 2500 years back. In 1960 knowledge about meditation established in the world of vest, where the interest grows and researchers in the field of meditation permanently report about new health profits with this type of "mental" exercise. Eastern concepts and methods are integrated within western psychology and the meeting between science in east and vest leads to an extended understanding of humans and its intrinsic force. The result shows that meditation has a significant effect on the participants' lives and the training first of all leads to an increased degree of " mindfulness"; awareness of the presence, which according to established researchers, has a positive impact on people's wellbeing. To live in " the present" is seen as one ability valuable in handling life, leads to a feeling of increased internal strength and furthermore is what leads to the effects that is presented within different themes in the result of this study. Keywords: meditation, power of the mind, mindfulness, focus, harmony

Mindfulness is an element of consciousness which has historically been associated with well-being. Mindfulness-based clinical interventions intend on reducing cognitive vulnerability to emotional distress and have produced promising results. Such endeavors however rest upon the dissent that remains among researchers on how to operationally define the construct. Measuring mindfulness in a valid and reliable manner is an essential part of scientific inquiry and facilitates the effort to define the construct. This study examines three newer self-report mindfulness instruments; Five Facet Mindfulness Questionnaire (FFMQ), the Toronto Mindfulness Scale (TMS) and the Experiences Questionnaire (EQ). A sample of non-meditators (Texas A&M University students; n =141) and meditators (non-clinical population from Bay Area, California; n =157) with a wide range of meditation experience completed the instruments. Multiple correlations allowed for an in-depth examination of the measures at full-scale and sub-scale level and all yielded significant and positive relations. Regression analyses established that meditation does increase mindfulness scores as measured by the FFMQ, TMS and EQ. Sub-scales FFMQ Observe, FFMQ Non React and TMS Decenter increased most of the combined eight facets; while FFMQ Describe and FFMQ Aware increased least. Lastly, the study examined how various aspects of meditation practice affect total mindfulness. Aspects of practice included: Number of sittings per week (sit/wk); time spent per meditation sitting (time/med); how long the participant has engaged in formal meditation (how long) and style of meditation (style). Meditation styles were grouped into the following categories; 1) Mindfulness, Vipassana, Zen and Shambhala; 2) Concentration and Transcendental; 3) Blend and 4) “I don’t know”. “Sit/wk”, “how long” and “style” were predictive of total mindfulness, with “how long” being the strongest predictor. All the mindfulness facets were predicted by meditation style except for FFMQ Observe, FFMQ Describe and TMS Curiosity. Meditation styles mindfulness, Vipassana, Zen and Shambhala were associated with the highest mindfulness scores.

Thesis (M.F.A.)--West Virginia University, 2003. / Title from document title page. Document formatted into pages; contains iv, 17 p. : col. ill. Vita. Includes abstract. Includes bibliographical references (p. 15).

The aim of this dissertation is to reflect on technologies of the self, a term coined by Michel Foucault to study western practices of self-formation. Influenced by his work on subjectivity and by Science and Technology Studies (STS), I explore two forms of meditation – Vipassana meditation in the tradition of S.N. Goenka and Thich Nhat Hanh’s practices of mindfulness – in order to analyze the entanglements between technologies, associations and subjectivity. Two research questions guided this study. First, how do Vipassana and Zen assemblages bring forth subjective transformations? Second, what are the politics of meditation practice, considering that Vipassana and Zen perform particular paradigms of subjectivity and aim at transforming the “social”? In order to address these questions, I relied on qualitative research methods, developing a multifaceted methodology that included participant observation at four meditation retreats, semi-structured interviews with meditators, the analysis of relevant literature and my own personal experiences as a beginner. I argue that the mechanisms of subjectification employed by meditation rely on two main devices: the transformation of habitual webs of associations, including couplings between selves, other humans, nonhumans and spaces and the installation of new automatisms. Vipassana and Zen technologies invite subjects to become aware of particular automatisms – regular ways of eating, sitting, walking and breathing - and to direct their attention towards them in novel ways, installing specific ways of managing their selves (stopping and breathing whenever they hear the sounds of bells; developing an attitude of equanimity when they are looking for sensations in their bodies). Vipassana and Zen are mediators that generate new experiences and ways of being informed by meditation, as well as a number of social applications that rely on the paradigmatic changes enacted by these practices. Informed by the dualism between modern and nonmodern, I argue that Zen and Vipassana can be understood as technologies of the nonmodern self (Pickering, 3 2010), suspending the dualism between body and mind, self and others, humans and nonhumans, contributing towards the establishment of nondual paradigms of selfhood and innovative forms of social organization that include new ways of performing human reformation, social action and humanenvironment couplings. The theoretical contributions of this dissertation are threefold. First, I want to extend current STS scholarly work on the self. Second, I want to contribute towards a post-humanist understanding of meditation assemblages. Finally, I am informed by Michel Foucault’s insights on technologies of the self to study meditation, but instead of focusing on the history or genealogy of the western self, I analyze a number of devices of subjectification mobilized to operate subjective changes and to transform the social.

published_or_final_version / Nursing Studies / Master / Master of Nursing in Advanced Practice

published_or_final_version / Buddhist Studies / Master / Master of Buddhist Studies

Mindfulness-based interventions (MBIs) such as Mindfulness-based Stress Reduction and Mindfulness-based Cognitive Therapy utilise a group format. Experts in the field of mindfulness endorse the group as beneficial to participants and professional practice literature promotes the need for mindfulness teachers to develop competence in group skills. However, the role of the group in MBIs has been largely overlooked in empirical research to date and the utility of existing group theory in this area is unconvincing. The current study presents a grounded-theory of the role of the group in MBIs. The theory was developed from semi-structured interviews conducted with mindfulness students, teachers and trainers (N=12) exploring their experiences and views related to the MBI group format. Through analysis, three higher-order categories emerged from the data describing five stages of group experiences, four group-based tasks the teacher attended to from a position of ‘embodiment’, and the impact of the MBI group. Findings were situated within existing group theory, facilitating differentiation between generic and MBI specific group factors. The sense of connection developed through non-verbal group meditation, the multi-layered experience of normalization, and the grounding of the teacher’s group-based responses in the embodiment of mindfulness, emerged as unique MBI group factors. The implications for clinical practice, research and theory are discussed.

Despite the growing interest in the general public and popular press about the scientific research into mindfulness meditation (e.g. Pickert, 2014), several critiques of this research have been published in the past few years outlining methodological flaws in many published studies on the topic (Goyal et al., 2014; Ospina et al., 2007). One potential way to improve methodology in this field would be to find better ways of measuring skill at meditation, giving researchers an ability to compare more advanced practitioners to those who are more novice. A total of 69 participants were recruited. Pilot data were collected from 33 participants and analyzed using exploratory methods to assess whether any self-report measures of mindfulness practice might correlate with any physiological variables thought to possibly reflect a dimension of skill at meditation. Participants spent a night in the sleep lab, and prior to their sleep study spent six minutes in a baseline condition followed by six minutes in a meditation condition, and differences were recorded on a number of physiological measures. Correlational analyses revealed that, of the physiological and self-report measures, six were correlated with other measures, and principal component analysis found 2 factors, each with three components. 36 additional participants were then recruited in an attempt to determine whether these two factors would replicate, and this latter group participated only in the meditation protocol. Both factors were largely replicated independently in the second sample and remained stable collapsing the two groups together. Factor 1 combined an increase in both alpha and theta power centrally and occipitally between baseline and meditation with self-reported mindfulness practice, and Factor 2 combined the inverse of the Brief Symptom Inventory, the Mindful Attention and Awareness Scale, and the change in respiration between baseline and meditation.