Eligibility requirements
AIDS
To be eligible for the study, individuals had to be 18 years of age or older, have smoked daily (at least 5 cigarettes per day) for the past 2 years, be willing to make a self-directed and voluntary cigarette smoking quit attempt during the study period, and be a current resident of California (verified by a state-issued ID, with a California mailing address). People were ineligible if they were not fluent in English, lacked access to remote video capability (such as a computer, camera, and internet or a smartphone), had an ongoing mindfulness or meditation practice of more than 5 minutes per day within the past 30 days, or had used any nicotine-replacement products (such as nicotine patch, gum, or lozenge) or smoking cessation medications (such as varenicline or bupropion) within 30 days of baseline. The exclusion of ongoing mindfulness practice of more than 5 minutes per day was necessary to test the effect of taking on a new study treatment (meditation) as the independent variable. Cessation aids were also excluded from the study to detect singular behavior intervention effects rather than interactions with pharmacologic effects.