MindBody Studies

Pārvatī had a singular desire—to win Śiva, the greatest of gods, as her husband.

Meditation is an ancient self-administered technique that has recently been shown to be an effective modulator of pain in adults.

In this article we explore the latter view, presenting the most challenging argument for the potential contribution of traditional healthcare, using the example of Indo-Tibetan medicine.

Integration has become a buzzword in the world of psychedelics, but there are still questions being asked about what it means to be integrated, who can do it, and how it can be done.

We are in exciting times with psychedelic medicines.

A summary of some of the critical perspectives concerning the use of psychedelic substances.

In the Vedic tradition, the basis of creation can only be known by becoming it.

How do I get out of the way?

We are all connected, through the air we breathe, the land we walk on, and the beauty of the earth that supports each one of us from the moment we are born until the moment we die.

Buddhist psychotherapy, which has been adopted in the last several decades, is a novel approach to the clinical practice of mental health.

In order to carefully assess the potential effects of meditative interventions it is of singular importance to ask whether enlightenment can be traced to specific neural correlates, cognition, or behavior.

So, what is mindfulness? Dr. Jon Kabat-Zinn defines mindfulness as “the awareness that emerges through paying attention on purpose, in the present moment, and nonjudgmentally to the unfolding of experience moment to moment.”

Mindfulness—as a state, trait, process, type of meditation, and intervention has proven to be beneficial across a diverse group of psychological disorders as well as for general stress reduction. Yet, there remains a lack of clarity in the operationalization of this construct, and underlying mechanisms.

We now have the means, with science, to determine what is good for what, and why. We can suffer the unfortunate fate of so many religions and maintain the supremacy of what we happen to believe, in spite of its being absolutely unsupported by a single empirical observation, or we can open our eyes and confirm or refute our current beliefs.

This article offers an overview of meditation research: its history, recent developments, and future directions. As the number and scope of studies grow, the field has converged with cognitive and affective neuroscience, and spawned many clinical applications.