A research paper by Yoshiyuki Ueda and colleagues has been published in the Japanese Journal of Mindfulness.

A research paper by Yoshiyuki Ueda (Lecturer, Kyoto University), Masahiro Fujino (Assistant Professor, Graduate School of Education, Kyoto University) and colleagues has been published in the Japanese Journal of Mindfulness.

In recent years, many mediation interventions have been developed to improve mindfulness and compassion, but the mechanisms underlying them remain unclear. Three meditation techniques (focused attention mediation, insight mediation and compassionate meditation) form the basis of these interventions. To investigate how each mediation technique helps reduce physical and mental symptoms and improve physical and mental health, the researchers developed guided meditation instructions to distinguish the three meditation techniques. These instructions, which control the structure and duration of meditation practice, are expected to be used in future psychological experiments to clarify the mechanisms of mindfulness practice and compassion practice.

【Abstract】

Over the last two decades, many meditation interventions comprising focused attention meditation, insight meditation, and compassion meditation, have been developed to improve mindfulness and compassion. These interventions have been found to reduce various physical and mental symptoms and improve physical and mental health. To improve the effectiveness and safety of interventions, it is necessary to clarify each effect and its underlying mechanism. In the present study, we developed Japanese and English instructions for short interventions for naïve subjects to compare meditation techniques. Specifically, based on a review of existing research and Buddhist literature that identifies concepts of meditation techniques, we identified and examined the functions of three meditation techniques that can be used with naïve participants. Furthermore, we controlled the structures of instructions and durations of practice of the three meditation techniques. Based on these instructions, we also developed 30 minutes Japanese and English audio instructions. In future, we hope that comparative researches using these short instructions will help improve the understanding of the underlying mechanisms of these three meditation techniques.

Visit the website of the Japanese Association of Mindfulness here.

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[Data]

Title: Development of Instructions of Short-Term Focused Attention, Insight, and Compassion Meditation for Use in Psychological Experiments

Authors: Masahiro Fujino, Yoshiyuki Ueda, Vimala Inoue, Jet G. Sanders, Stephen Murphy-Shigematsu, Michio Nomura

Japanese Journal of Mindfulness

Publisher: Japanese Association of Mindfulness

Online first published: December 12, 2019

2020/02/12