Psychological Effects of a 1-Month Meditation Retreat on Experienced Meditators: The Role of Non-attachment Cultivating mindfulness: effects on well-being. Experienced Mindfulness Meditators Exhibit Higher Parietal-Occipital EEG Gamma Activity during NREM Sleep Meditation and vacation effects have an impact on disease-associated molecular phenotypes From a state to a trait: Trajectories of state mindfulness in meditation during intervention predict changes in trait mindfulness. Mindfulness practice leads to increases in regional brain gray matter density Facing the Challenges of Hematopoietic Stem Cell Transplantation With Mindfulness Meditation: A Pilot Study
Background : There are few studies devoted to assessing the impact of meditation-intensive retreats  on the well-being , positive psychology , and personality of experienced meditators . We aim ed to assess whether a 1-month Vipassana retreat : ( a ) would increase mindfulness and well-being ; ( b ) would increase prosocial personality traits ; and ( c ) whether psychological changes would be mediated and /or moderated by non-attachment . Method : A controlled , non-r and omized , pre-post-intervention trial was used . The intervention group was a convenience sample ( n = 19 ) of experienced meditators who participated in a 1-month Vipassana meditation retreat . The control group ( n = 19 ) comprised matched experienced meditators who did not take part in the retreat .  During the retreat , the mean duration of daily practice was 8–9 h , the diet was vegetarian and silence was compulsory . The Experiences Question naire ( EQ ) , Non-attachment Scale ( NAS ) , Positive and Negative Affect Schedule ( PANAS ) , Satisfaction With Life Scale ( SWLS ) , Temperament Character Inventory Revised ( TCI-R-67 ) , Five Facets Mindfulness Question naire ( FFMQ ) , Self-Other Four Immeasurables ( SOFI ) and the MINDSENS Composite Index were administered . ANCOVAs and linear regression models were used to assess pre-post changes and mediation/moderation effects . Results : Compared to controls , retreatants showed increases in non-attachment , observing , MINDSENS , positive-affect , balance-affect , and cooperativeness ; and decreases in describing , negative-others , reward-dependence and self-directedness . Non-attachment had a mediating role in decentring , acting aware , non-reactivity , negative-affect , balance-affect and self-directedness ; and a moderating role in describing and positive others , with both mediating and moderating effects on satisfaction with life . Conclusions : A 1-month Vipassana meditation retreat seems to yield improvements in mindfulness , well-being , and personality , even in experienced meditators . Non-attachment might facilitate psychological improvements of meditation , making it possible to overcome possible ceiling effects ascribed to non-intensive practice There has been great interest in determining if mindfulness can be cultivated and if this cultivation leads to well-being . The current study offers preliminary evidence that at least one aspect of mindfulness , measured by the Mindful Attention and Awareness Scale ( MAAS ; K. W. Brown & R. M. Ryan , 2003 ) , can be cultivated and does mediate positive outcomes . Further , adherence to the practice s taught during the meditation-based interventions predicted positive outcomes . College undergraduates were r and omly allocated between training in two distinct meditation-based interventions , Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction ( MBSR ; J. Kabat-Zinn , 1990 ; n=15 ) and E. Easwaran 's ( 1978/1991 ) Eight Point Program ( EPP ; n=14 ) , or a waitlist control ( n=15 ) . Pretest , posttest , and 8-week follow-up data were gathered on self-report outcome measures . Compared to controls , participants in both treatment groups ( n=29 ) demonstrated increases in mindfulness at 8-week follow-up . Further , increases in mindfulness mediated reductions in perceived stress and rumination . These results suggest that distinct meditation-based practice s can increase mindfulness as measured by the MAAS , which may partly mediate benefits . Implication s and future directions are discussed Over the past several years meditation practice has gained increasing attention as a non-pharmacological intervention to provide health related benefits , from promoting general wellness to alleviating the symptoms of a variety of medical conditions . However , the effects of meditation training on brain activity still need to be fully characterized . Sleep provides a unique approach to explore the meditation-related plastic changes in brain function . In this study we performed sleep high-density electroencephalographic ( hdEEG ) recordings in  long-term meditators ( LTM ) of Buddhist meditation practice s ( approximately 8700 mean hours of life practice ) and meditation naive individuals . We found that LTM had increased parietal-occipital EEG gamma power during NREM sleep . This increase was specific for the gamma range ( 25–40 Hz ) , was not related to the level of spontaneous arousal during NREM and was positively correlated with the length of lifetime daily meditation practice . Altogether , these findings indicate that meditation practice produces measurable changes in spontaneous brain activity , and suggest that EEG gamma activity during sleep represents a sensitive measure of the long-lasting , plastic effects of meditative training on brain function Meditation is becoming increasingly practice d , especially for stress-related medical conditions .  Meditation may improve cellular health ; however , studies have not separated out effects of meditation from vacation-like effects in a residential r and omized controlled trial . We recruited healthy women non-meditators to live at a resort for 6 days and r and omized to either meditation retreat or relaxing on-site , with both groups compared with ‘ regular meditators ’ already enrolled in the retreat . Blood drawn at baseline and post intervention was assessed for transcriptome-wide expression patterns and aging-related biomarkers . Highly significant gene expression changes were detected across all groups ( the ‘ vacation effect ’ ) that could accurately predict ( 96 % accuracy ) between baseline and post-intervention states and were characterized by improved regulation of stress response , immune function and amyloid beta ( Aβ ) metabolism . Although a smaller set of genes was affected , regular meditators showed post-intervention differences in a gene network characterized by lower regulation of protein synthesis and viral genome activity . Changes in well-being were assessed post intervention relative to baseline , as well as 1 and 10 months later . All groups showed equivalently large immediate post-intervention improvements in well-being , but novice meditators showed greater maintenance of lower distress over time compared with those in the vacation arm . Regular meditators showed a trend toward increased telomerase activity compared with r and omized women , who showed increased plasma Aβ42/Aβ40 ratios and tumor necrosis factor alpha ( TNF-α ) levels . This highly controlled residential study showed large salutary changes in gene expression networks due to the vacation effect , common to all groups . For those already trained in the practice of meditation , a retreat appears to provide additional benefits to cellular health beyond the vacation effect Theory suggests that heightening state mindfulness in meditation practice over time increases trait mindfulness , which benefits psychological health . We prospect ively examined individual trajectories of state mindfulness in meditation during a mindfulness-based intervention in relation to changes in trait mindfulness and psychological distress . Each week during the eight-week intervention , participants reported their state mindfulness in meditation after a brief mindfulness meditation .  Participants also completed pre- and post-intervention measures of trait mindfulness and psychological symptoms . Tests of combined latent growth and path models suggested that individuals varied significantly in their rates of change in state mindfulness in meditation during the intervention , and that these individual trajectories predicted pre-post intervention changes in trait mindfulness and distress . These findings support that increasing state mindfulness over repeated meditation sessions may contribute to a more mindful and less distressed disposition . However , individuals ' trajectories of change may vary and warrant further investigation Therapeutic interventions that incorporate training in mindfulness meditation have become increasingly popular , but to date little is known about neural mechanisms associated with these interventions . Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction ( MBSR ) , one of the most widely used mindfulness training programs , has been reported to produce positive effects on psychological well-being and to ameliorate symptoms of a number of disorders . Here , we report a controlled longitudinal study to investigate pre-post changes in brain gray matter concentration attributable to participation in an MBSR program . Anatomical magnetic resonance ( MR ) images from 16 healthy , meditation-naïve participants were obtained before and after they underwent the 8-week program . Changes in gray matter concentration were investigated using voxel-based morphometry , and compared with a waiting list control group of 17 individuals . Analyses in a priori regions of interest confirmed increases in gray matter concentration within the left hippocampus . Whole brain analyses identified increases in the posterior cingulate cortex , the temporo-parietal junction , and the cerebellum in the MBSR group compared with the controls . The results suggest that participation in MBSR is associated with changes in gray matter concentration in brain regions involved in learning and memory processes , emotion regulation , self-referential processing , and perspective taking The hematopoietic stem cell transplant ( HSCT ) experience is emotionally and physically stressful for cancer patients who undergo this procedure .  Mindfulness-based interventions have been studied in patients with various diagnoses , including cancer , although minimal work has applied this intervention to hospitalized patients . Use of mindfulness meditation has potential to provide HSCT patients with coping skills to deal with unpleasant symptoms and an uncertain future . This exploratory study examined feasibility , physiological arousal , and psychological and physical symptoms in HSCT patients participating in a mindfulness meditation intervention that begins before and continues throughout hospitalization and involves one-on-one guided sessions and daily practice using a 17-minute meditation CD .  Of the 20 participants , 78.9 % completed the intervention . Statistically significant decreases in heart and respiratory rates and improvements in symptoms immediately before and after each session were found . These findings demonstrate feasibility and preliminary support of a mindfulness meditation intervention with symptomatic , hospitalized cancer patients
Despite the heterogeneity in intervention components and outcome variables , there were generally few significant associations between amount of meditation practice and its outcomes .
Interventions using the " Four  Immeasurables Meditations " ( FIM ) are effective for various outcomes ; however , whether increased meditation practice in these interventions leads to better results has not been well investigated .