A version of this article originally appeared in Issue Ten of Gear Patrol Magazine with the headline How to Get Better at Everything Subscribe today Illustrations by EMMANUEL POLANCO

Its not just yogis and gurus who benefit from quiet time dedicated to focusing on the present moment; elite athletes and corporate strivers alike practice meditation for its performance benefits. The mind-body discipline has long been known to boost concentration, reduce stress and help with a good nights sleep. But dedicated training can also produce faster, better decision-making thanks to increased adaptability and insight. Its a simple, effective way to step up your game, no matter what that game is. Pause, take a breath, and read on to learn your TMs from your FAMs from your oooooommmms.

Best for CEOs: Open monitoring meditation involves watching your thoughts and feelings without becoming attached to them, maintaining a non-reactive and non-judgmental awareness of the present moment. Its been a favored technique of CEOs like Arianna Huffington and the late Steve Jobs. Recent research suggests OMM practitioners can control their states of consciousness and attention, and according to Michael Gervais, a high-performance psychologist who works with the NFLs Seattle Seahawks, long-term repetition can help identify which thought patterns are beneficial to performance and which ones are worth discarding. Plus, OMM can promote divergent thinking, which is conducive to creativity.

Best for Athletes: Focused attention meditation increases mindfulness by turning your concentration to your breath. By focusing on a simple target, like the in and out of your lungs, its easier to notice when your mind wanders, says Christina Heilman, Ph.D, C.S.C.S., and author of Elevate Your Excellence: The Mindset and Methods That Make Champions.

Focus is a huge part of athletic performance, Heilman says. Wherever your focus goes, everything follows. Learning to ignore irrelevant cues allows insight as to whats important in the moment, whether thats hydration or a subtle shift in the opposing teams defense. Elite performers such as Olympian Kerri Walsh Jennings and pro golfer Rory McIlroy practice FAM.

Best for Moguls: Transcendental meditation improves mood, attention, focus and emotional intelligence, and can promote a state of inner peace. A lot of us are stuck because we dont take time to reflect, Heilman says. A TM session allows time to process experiences and learn from them. Long-term transcendental meditators show significantly higher blood flow to the brain regions used for adjusting behavior and focusing attention. One study showed school staff in San Francisco who practiced TM enjoyed better moods, higher emotional intelligence, and increased adaptability and stress management skills.

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Meditation Can Make You Better at Everything: Here's How - Gear Patrol

This Top-Rated App Can Help You Deal With Stress in the New Year

Stress tends to accumulate around the holiday season but it's not like it simply disappears otherwise. Life is full of stressors, from tight project deadlines to frustrating coworkers to rush hour traffic. Don't just accept the stress, deal with it appropriately by investing in your own mindfulness. Aura is a meditation app that can help you manage stress and anxiety effectively without resorting to bad or destructive habits.

Aura was created by top meditation teachers and therapists and designed to help you prioritize and improve your mental health. Personalized with AI, Aura provides short, science-backed mindfulness meditation exercises every day to give you the peace of mind you need to power through stress and anxiety to be your best self. Each day, you'll get a free 3-minute guided meditation session and have the option to choose between 3-, 7-, or 10-minute meditations throughout the day depending on your availability. By rating each meditation experience, Aura learns your preferences and can provide more specific meditations to meet your needs. Through the app, you can also track your mood patterns, save unlimited meditations, and access additional wellness content like life coaching sessions, stories, and music.

Find out why Aura has a 4.7 rating on 17,000 reviews in the App Store and a 4.5 rating on more than 7,000 reviews in the Google Play Store. Right now, you can get a one-year premium subscription for 57 percentoff $94.99 at just $39.99, a three-year subscription for 78 percentoff $284.97 at just $59.99, or a lifetime subscription for 83 percentoff $499 at just $79.99.

Related: This Top-Rated App Can Help You Deal With Stress in the New Year 3 Stress-Busting Relaxation Exercises You Can Do Anywhere (60-Second Video) How to Feed Your Brain to Combat Stress

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This Top-Rated App Can Help You Deal With Stress in the New Year - Greenwich Time

Ursula didnt just dampen the Christmas spirit, it also left a trail of devastation in places that had earlier known the frightening fury of wind and rain and whose residents were then still treading the tortuous road to full recovery.

The stunning blow was doubly cruel for its timing, no matter that in these parts December is not always sweetness and light.

Occasionally, December descends or departs accompanied by a typhoon in full orchestra, so that, weather-wise, somewhere in this unhappy archipelago, there is terror even on Christmas Eve, inflicted by the unforgiving elements.

The new yeara constant symbol of hope, made more significant in that this one ushers in a new decadethus begins on a sobering fact: Ursula has set the nation back once more, and not exclusively in physical terms: lost lives and property, a new level of homelessness, damaged infrastructure, ruined agriculture.

The psychological state of its people, strained close to breaking by various disasters that leave them with unfilled needsexisting as well as newly formedis now even more fragile.

Its uncertain if there are still inner reserves with which to brace for yet another pummelling by earth, wind or fire, which invariably exposes the frailties of structures due to official corruption and greed (for example, a building that crumbled in an earthquake yields the grim discovery of substandard steel) or the brutal exigencies of impoverishment (coastal dwellings made of light materials are easily demolished by a storm surge).

After a lifetime of typhoons that grow fiercer by the year, those displaced by such calamities invariably seek shelter in schoolhouses.

A poignant question now haunts survivors in Eastern Visayas unable to quickly rebuild their dwellings: Where will they go when classes resume in 2020?

And yet, it is the disaster-weary that provide a heartening glimpse of never-say-die: television footage of six men fording chest-high floodwaters, bearing on their shoulders a prostrate neighbor requiring medical attention.

The footage, although all too brief, offers a shot in the arm for the new year, illustrating in fresh and vivid detail that Filipino trait, resilience, which politicians like to trot out in claiming credit for the survival of their constituents, even if these same constituents remain trapped in a primitive state.

Resilience is toughnessthe ability to cope with and not snap in critical conditions. Survivors of the apocalyptic Yolanda displayed it when they picked up the pieces of their lives and carried on in the face of the realization that long-term government succor would not go beyond the customary food packs, money doles and grand promises of better housing.

For the moment, the survivors of Ursula in the Visayas and in the Mindoro provinces need help, including the most basic: food, water, clothing.

The other urgency is housing materials, so they can put a roof over their heads. Now as in the aftermath of Yolanda, long-term planning is essential.

Assistance is sure to be forthcoming from the public, here and elsewhere; what is crucial is how its handled to the best advantage of target beneficiaries in the long term.

But apart from the necessity of giving, there are grim issues to address in this celebration of new beginnings.

Now more than ever, there is no room for indifference to the injustice that prevailsfrom the continuing escape of the dictator Ferdinand Marcos heirs from accountability to the continuing detention of prisoners of conscience; from the stalled trials of accused plunderers to the brazen refusal of powerful thieves to return purloined money despite official orders for them to do so; from the impunity with which fake news is manufactured and the law is violated in the highest places, to the barefaced attempts of lawmakers in the House to perpetuate themselves in power, to the unrelenting campaign against truth-tellers

Once more into the fray then, with 2020 vision marking the resistance to disempowerment, mindful of Nadine Gordimers sharp reminder: When people are deprived over years of any recourse to the provisions of civil society as a means of seeking redress for their material and spiritual deprivations, they lose the faculty of using the law when, at last, such recourse is open to them.

The result of this conditioning now is fashionably called the culture of violence; an oxymoron, for culture implies enlightenment, to aim towards attaining the fullness of life, not its destruction.

Click here for more weather related news."

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Meditation for the new year | Inquirer Opinion - INQUIRER.net

Principles of Mindfulness Leadership and Meditation

1) According to Buddhism, following Mind is the ultimate goal:

I follow spiritual and mystic traditions (mostly Hindu and Buddhist philosophies) and draw inspirations for leadership coaching . With the following article, I am endeavoring to shed light on the concept of mindfulness leadership and meditation.

In Buddhist traditions, mind is the ultimate deal. Mind is the deathless and timeless aspect of our being. Resting in its core of peace and calm is the way to countering human vices. That is the basic premise of Buddhist teachings. So, what is mind and what is its nature? The basic nature of mind is empty. This sense of base and bare awareness is transparent, clear and expansive. When we become quietin body, in mindwe feel and acknowledge our core of peace. We realize that this core of peace, basic awareness and primordial mind is non-quantifiable and yet all-knowing. It is that timeless aspect of our being that has existed before us and will remain after our worldly departure (Buddhists believe in the concept of reincarnation and the fact that our self or our Consciousness which essentially is non-self is a continuum.and empty). And acknowledgement of this aspect of our being can be brought about through the practice of mindfulness meditation.

2) Mindfulness Meditation explained:

In acknowledging the co-existence of mind and no-mind, being and non-being lay the great human challenge. Yet, arriving to a state where we witness non-duality is liberating. This state of non-duality is also called the Buddha-like-mind or the Buddha-mind. When we acknowledge and align to this illusory aspect of our being, we become more affectionate and empathic. We witness compassion imbuing our being; we are more open and creative. We love more and are loved more in return. That is the power of meditation. And mindfulness. The aforesaid analysis is also entertained and offered in the Buddhist practice of Mahamudra and is also its premise. And yet, Mahamudra can beand perhaps needs to bea non-intellectual undertaking or practice oriented more towards its practical approach and implication. Perhaps that is why it has classically gained appeal to laymen.

Now, getting back to the state of non-doing and just being:

When we are not thinking, or not indulging in relentless day-dreaming, ruminating and getting lost in the past and future, we notice, amid silence, that there is a silent knower or what I call an on-looker. This is called base awareness or in Tibetan Buddhism, rigpa. This aspect, as I mentioned before, is the non-dying core. So, this central peaceful core is what we should seek to align and acknowledge: to attain unswerving peace, balance and wisdom . Yes, mulling over our own existential inquiries, whilst aligning to our core of silence can help answer classic bigger questions of life like: Who am I? Where was I before I was born? (This particular question is also explored in a different Buddhist tradition, namely Zen Buddhism), What will happen to me after I am physically or bodily gone? But it is beyond the scope of this little article, so let me concentrate on the peace and calm generating effect of meditation.

In Mahamudra, we try to align to that state of unity. Here let me also add this: that the Buddhist meditation practice of samatha (of gently focusing ones mind in one object, mostly breaththe in-breath and out-breath to elicit mental and bodily calm and concentration ), and vipassana (the process of gaining wisdom and insight through the sheer positive effect of mental stillness), can be seamless. And, the above-said practices of samatha and vipassana complement Mahamudra.

3) How following Mindfulness Meditation has positively affected my life.

Personally, when I practice samatha and vipassana, I witness how past hurts and slights (that others have inflicted upon me and I have perhaps knowingly and unknowingly inflicted in others) have left a mark in my body through bodily aches and discomfort . Modern medical science is an evolving field: further research could elicit that many bodily ailments could have their origination in pent up hurts, slights and emotions. So, getting back to how the Insight helps me acknowledge my own mistakes (and the mistakes and hurts inflicted upon me), it also brings me to a sense of release. And calm and peace. It makes me realize how pent up emotions and hurts should be released. We need to forget our hurts in the pastand forgive. Since we cant go back in time, all we can do is not let those moments persist. Lets untie those knots. Perhaps Buddhist meditation is hinting at this very discernible effect and result of meditative and contemplative undertaking. Yes, even thoughexploring full repertoire of Buddhist practice leads to deeper understanding of our own existence, and goes beyond beckoning bodily and mental peace and calm; yet, starting with eliciting bodily and mental peace and calm through it is a great way to start. It can appeal to non-followers or non-practitioners of Buddhism too owing to its sheer power of helping attain peace and calm and transforming lives.

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Principles of Mindfulness Leadership and Meditation - Thrive Global

Let your Conscience be your guide!

AVERILL PARK, N.Y. (PRWEB) December 26, 2019

The first-ever National Conscience Month is being launched January 1, 2020 by The American Meditation Institute (AMI), an organization devoted to providing comprehensive training in Yoga Sciencethe worlds oldest holistic mind/body medicine. With the mission of encouraging individuals across the nation to practice using their conscience as a guide, this month-long observance is vital educationespecially for those burdened by stress, burnout, fear, anger and the general discontent that pervades our society.

New Years Eve means the making of resolutions for millions of Americans. However, while stating a resolution can be easy, sticking to it often proves to be quite difficult. The challenge comes soon after the first of the year when old, unconscious habits kick back in, or we find we are not fully committed to the resolution and we lose our focus and will power. This year, National Conscience Month reminds us to use the inborn technology of our Conscience for creating and keeping personally meaningful and culturally beneficial resolutions.

The inspiration for National Conscience Month grew out of the Yoga Science Law of Karma which states simply that thoughts lead to words, actions and, eventually, to consequences. According to Leonard Perlmutter, AMI founder and originator of Conscience Month, This law of cause and effect is as real and unavoidable as the Law of Gravity. Once we appreciate the mechanics of the Law of Karma (that thought precedes action, and action precedes consequence), we all can start experiencing the unimagined, profound benefits to be found in relying on the unerring wisdom of the Conscience as it guides the thoughts we choose to think, words we speak and actions we take.

National Conscience Month's (January 2020) campaign will:

1. A free screening of the movie Peaceful Warrior to be followed by an engaging discussion about the importance of using your Conscience as your guide for a healthy, happy, and productive life. This two-part event will be presented at the Cohoes Music Hall, 58 Remsen Street, Cohoes, NY, on January 9, 2020 at 7 pm.

2. Four high school students from the Capital region in New York State will be awarded the first-ever National Conscience Month scholarships totaling $2,000. Recipients will be selected through original artistic creations inspired by the use or denial of the Conscience. Submissions will be accepted in four categories: Creative Writing; Visual Art (two-dimensional); Music or Song; and Video.

Public Service Announcement: "The Time is Now" https://youtu.be/zUJH4ge_320 Public Service Announcement: MORE https://youtu.be/yWFgxjXB8HA

INTERVIEW OPPORTUNITY: Leonard Perlmutter, originator of National Conscience Month and founder of The American Meditation Institute will be available for interviews. Contact Robert Washington for details.

Media Contact: Robert Washington 60 Garner Road Averill Park, NY 12018 Tel: 518-674-8714 Fax: 518-674-8714

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The American Meditation Institute Inaugurates National Conscience Month to Instruct and Inspire Humanity on How to Let Their Conscience be Their Guide...

Being a student comes with its fair share of difficulties, regardless of your age or the type of educational system you're following, for that matter. One of the most difficult aspects is the learning process itself, since it's riddled with roadblocks, high volumes of information or even information that you don't necessarily find utility for at all times. However there are methods that can help students boost their ability to slow down, focus and synthesize information in a way that streamlines the learning process and propels them closer to their end goals:

There has been a lot of talk about meditation these past years, as it gradually found a way into more and more people's daily lives. This is mostly because practicants are starting to discover its multiple benefits that tend to span over their physical, emotional and spiritual sides. Having said this, there is an abundance of meditation techniques out there, each of them with their own purpose and style.

To this end,countless studieshave proven that daily mindfulness meditation sessions, for example, will have tremendous effects on your well-being by slashing the inflammatory response caused by stress. This type of meditation also helps you become more centered, calmer and more inclined to adopt a positive attitude. Considering meditation teaches you to continuously be focused on the present moment, it also lengthens your attention span considerably. As a student you may already know these attributes or lack thereof can make or break your studying game in the long-term.

Sports are detrimental to a student's physical and psychological health, as engaging in some sort of regular sports activities will help decrease stress levels and improve your ability to focus. Since sports are mostly fast-paced and goal-oriented, they will help you get a better grasp on what tasks are more important, while also motivating you to leave those procrastinating days behind.

Sports also inherently teaches you how to deal with failures, which in turn will make you as a student become more proactive and ready to get back in the game, regardless of the difficulties you are facing. So, regardless if you are planning to enroll in an online class with reputable portals such asTraining.com.auor in a traditional type of educational system, practicing sports as little as 1-2 times a week will help you become a more relaxed and productive student.3. Declutter and Organize Your Life

Unfortunately, students often tend to underestimate just how important their living and working environment is and more often than not will let clutter fill up their lives. It's been proven that ourbrains on clutteractually become cloudier and more anxious, which in turn leads us to adapting coping mechanisms, such as watching TV shows or eating junk food. However decluttering can also feel like an impossible and painful task, especially to those suffering from a form or another of hoarding disorder.

Thankfully, science backs up the benefits of decluttering, leading us to understand that if we commit to cleaning out our personal environments, we will most likely commit to solving other problematic aspects of our lives as well. As a student, you'll see an increase in your quality of sleep and diet, as well as in your ability to focus and efficiently carry out tasks.

An inability to perform in school can also be linked to something seemingly unimportant as note-taking. Take the time to objectively assess how you take your notes while you are in class or while you browse books and you may find that sometimes they are incomplete or jotted down in a hurry.

It's also important that when you take notes, you do so mindfully so you can assimilate the information as you write it down and create a strong base to which you can later on add missing details. There are manynote-taking techniquesout there and there is certainly one that best fits your personality as well.

All in all, being a student is all about balancing your projected goals and the effort it takes to meet them with the ability to relax and have fun. By implementing the techniques above into your life, you'll most likely see how this balance is easier to attain than you ever thought was possible.

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Becoming a More Relaxed and Productive Student in 4 Engaging Ways - University Herald

Whether you're thinking about family life, work, school, what you're going to make for dinner, what you said at last night's party, or all of the above, it's easy to get caught in a pattern of swirling thoughts. Sometimes we ruminate on past eventseven to the extent that it leads to anxietyor we focus on the could-be situations of the future.

Mindfulness meditation is a mental training practice that can be helpful in these situations. It brings you and your thoughts into the present, focusing on emotions, thoughts, and sensations that you're experiencing "in the now." While it can be initially difficult to quiet your thoughts, with time and practice you can experience the benefits of mindfulness meditation, including less stress and anxiety, and even a reduction in symptoms of conditions like IBS.

Mindfulness techniques can vary, but in general, mindfulness meditation involves a breathing practice, mental imagery, awareness of body and mind, and muscle and body relaxation.

One of the original standardized programs for mindfulness meditation is the Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) program, developed by Dr. Jon Kabat-Zinn, a student of the Buddhist monk and scholar Thich Nhat Hanh. His eight-week program guides students to pay attention to the present, decrease reactivity and arousal, and achieve a state of calm. Other more simplified, secular mindfulness meditation interventions have been increasingly incorporated into medical settings to treat stress, pain, and depression among other conditions.

Learning mindfulness meditation is straightforward enough to practice on your own, but a teacher or program can help you get started, particularly if you're practicing meditation for specific health reasons. While some people meditate for longer sessions, even a few minutes every day can make a difference. Here's a basic technique to help you get started:

There's no law that says you must be sitting on a cushion in a quiet room to practice mindfulness, says Kate Hanley, author of "A Year of Daily Calm." Mindfulness meditation is one technique, but everyday activities and tasks provide plenty of opportunities to practice.

Here are Hanley's tips on cultivating mindfulness in your daily routine.

Have you ever noticed how no one is trying to get your attention while you're doing the dishes? The combination of alone time and repetitive physical activity makes cleaning up after dinner a great time to try a little mindfulness. Savor the feeling of the warm water on your hands, the look of the bubbles, the sounds of the pans clunking on the bottom of the sink.

Zen teacher Thich Nhat Hanh calls this exercise "washing the dishes to wash the dishes"not to get them over with so you can go watch TV. When you give yourself over to the experience, you get the mental refreshment and a clean kitchen.

You can't go a day without brushing your teeth, making this task the perfect daily opportunity to practice mindfulness. Feel your feet on the floor, the brush in your hand, and your arm moving up and down.

It's easy to zone out while you're driving, thinking about what to have for dinner or what you forgot to do at work that day. Use your powers of mindfulness to keep your attention anchored to the inside of your car. Turn off the radioor put on something soothing, like classical musicimagine your spine growing tall, find the half-way point between relaxing your hands and gripping the wheel too tightly, and whenever you notice your mind wandering, bring your attention back to where you and your car are in space.

Watching TV while running on the treadmill may make your workout go more quickly, but it won't do much to quiet your mind. Flex both your physical and mental muscles by turning off all screens and focusing on your breathing and where your feet are in space as you move.

Instead of rushing through your evening routine and battling with your kids over bedtime, try to enjoy the experience. Get down to the same level as your kids, look in their eyes, listen more than you talk, and savor any snuggles. When you relax, they will too.

Of course, life can get in the waymaybe your little one calls for help while you're washing the dishes or a tricky traffic situation means you have to be even more focused on the road. But taking advantage of daily opportunities when they're available to you can help build a more consistent mindfulness practice. Even if you're not settling into a seated position for 30 minutes every day, just a few minutes of being present can reap significant benefits.

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Mindfulness Meditation - What It Is And How To Do It

JAMESTOWN The American naturalist and nature essayist John Burroughs said, It is the life of the crystal, the architect of the flake, the fire of the frost, the soul of the sunbeam. This crisp winter air is full of it.

Audubon Community Nature Center invites you to experience a Winter Walking Meditation, Thursday, Jan. 9 from 4 to 5 p.m.

Walking meditation allows us to find calm and connection through movement, breath, mindfulness and nature. You will quiet your mind, tune into your senses and connect with the world around you, discovering the wonders of the winter landscape and your place in it.

This class is appropriate for most, but you must be able to walk two miles at an easy pace. Be sure to dress appropriately for the weather.

Karen Hansen from Samsara Yoga Center will lead this winter exploration of Audubon.

Hansen is co-owner of Samsara Yoga Center. She is trained in the Sri Vidya Yoga Tradition. She completed her formal studies at the Himalayan Institute of Yoga Science & Philosophy, earning her 200, 500 Hour and Ayurvedic Yoga Specialist Certification (AYS). A yoga practitioner since 2001, Karen began teaching in 2010. In addition to private clients, classes, and volunteer work, she teaches at Chautauqua Institution during the summer season.

Cost is $16, $12 for Nature Center members.

Paid reservations are required by Wednesday, Jan. 8, and can be made by calling 569-2345 during business hours or going online to AudubonCNC.org/Programs and clicking through Current Schedule.

Walk-ins are accepted if there is room: call for availability.

This program is part of the Healthy Connection series for 2020 and will be offered again on Feb. 13, 2020.

Audubon Community Nature Center is at 1600 Riverside Road, one-quarter mile east of Route 62 between Jamestown and Warren.

Hours for the Nature Center building and its Blue Heron Gift Shop are 10 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Monday to Saturday and 1 to 4:30 p.m. Sundays. Bald Eagle viewing and trails to walk, snowshoe or cross country ski are open dawn to dusk daily.

Audubon Community Nature Center builds and nurtures connections between people and nature by providing positive outdoor experiences, opportunities to learn about and understand the natural world, and knowledge to act in environmentally responsible ways.

Chautauqua Sunrise, hosted by Doc Hamels, will have Jeff Julian discussing music in the classroom. The program airs ...

The Collins Public Library, located at 2341 Main St., Collins, has announced its schedule for January. For details ...

NORTH COLLINS In November, the North Collins Police officers were on duty for 149 hours. They responded to a ...

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Experience Winter Walking Meditation at Audubon, Thursday, Jan. 9 | News, Sports, Jobs - Evening Observer

Mindfulness-based intervention (MBI) has at least a short-term positive effect for university students not initiating MBI based on a specific mental health diagnosis, according to results of a meta-analysis of 51 randomized controlled trials (RCTs) recently published inApplied Psychology: Health and Well-Being. Because of potential for bias in RCTs, especially behavioral-therapy RCTs, further research is warranted to determine the effect of MBI on mental health variables in university-aged students.

The mental health and well-being of university students is a clinically important issue as they are considered to be a high-risk population for mental health disorders such as distress, anxiety, and depression. Attending higher education institutions usually entails a change to a new living environment and the additional stresses of a new educational setting, with greater demands as well as new social pressures, which can cause or exacerbate mental health issues.

The incidence of students requesting support each year from university counseling services has increased, according to research published by the Institute for Employment Studies and Research Equity. In response to this, more universities are offering MBI to students.

Mindfulness has garnered significant attention within psychological literature and clinical practice, Dawson and colleagues wrote. Current theoretical frameworks suggest that mindfulness training operates by producing changes in the structure and function of brain regions involved in attentional control, emotional regulation, sensory awareness, and self-awareness. In contrast, relaxation training has effect via regulation of inhibition and control, differing from the more diffuse cognitive functions engaged by MBI.

Studies investigating the effect of MBI are ongoing, and a variety of methods and durations of administration have been implemented. To provide a comprehensive overview of the current evidence on MBI for researchers and university policy-makers to enable more informed decisions, a series of meta-analyses were conducted.

Investigators performed a systematic search of research databases, literature databases, and the World Health Organization clinical trial registry to identify any RCTs focused on MBI. Overall, they used 9 databases to determine 51 RCTs for inclusion. The RCTs included in the study had been conducted in 15 different countries between 1988 and 2017 and involved various MBI practices. Of these, 22% were based on self-help rather than instructor led, and duration varied from single-session studies in a laboratory setting to multipart interventions in general campus settings, conducted over a 10-week period. The most common intervention length was 8 weeks. The outcome variables used for the meta-analysis were mental and physical health because of a paucity of data on health service use and academic performance. Researchers grouped results using 4 domains, described below.

Mental Ill-Health Outcomes:Meta-analyses revealed that distress was significantly reduced postintervention in study participants who received MBI, and prediction intervals based on compiled data indicated that MBI will reduce distress in at least 95% of MBI administration scenarios. A meta-regression, inclusive of 17 studies and 1842 participants, did not demonstrate a significant influence of intervention duration on postintervention distress level.

In a meta-analysis examining follow-up distress, findings were significant in favor of MBI. Of note, these data did not change after removing lower-quality trials or after removal of the 1-cluster RCTs included.

In addition to distress, anxiety was also significantly reduced among participants who underwent MBI, relative to both passive and active controls; however, prediction interval analysis indicated that MBI generally reduces state anxiety in some cases but may increase it in others. Outcomes did not specifically favor either MBIs or passive controls for the variable of worry, and the studies were not large enough to justify a subgroup analysis.

Positive Psychological Functioning Outcomes:Relative to passive controls, participants who underwent MBI experienced significantly increased trait mindfulness postintervention, although researchers noted substantial heterogeneity of effect sizes. They further explored this by separate analyses of 2 outcome instruments (Mindfulness Awareness Attention Scale and Five Facet Mindfulness Questionnaire).The analysis still showed significance in favor of MBI, although high levels of heterogeneity remained. Postintervention measures of self-compassion significantly favored MBI compared with passive controls; however, similar to anxiety, prediction intervals indicated that MBI will increase self-compassion in some scenarios and reduce it in others.

Well-Being Outcomes.A postintervention measure of life satisfaction did not differ significantly in favor of MBI in the overall meta-analysis; however, a sensitivity analysis excluding cluster-RCTs did show significance for MBI over passive control.

Physical Health Outcomes.The outcome measure of sleep impairment was not significantly decreased after MBI compared with passive control, and substantial heterogeneity was noted within the study groups for this variable as well. No significant differences between MBI and control were shown for systolic or diastolic blood pressure.

Psychological distress has previously been identified within literature as a focal point of mental health discussions within university-based populations, according to Williams and colleagues of the Institute for Employment Studies in Brighton, England, United Kingdom. They further stated that there is a need to help students reap the positive mental health benefits of higher education and identifying students who may be struggling and providing appropriate support. The potential value of the mindfulness-based programs provided by higher education institutions throughout the United Kingdom, listed in their report, is supported by the findings of the meta-analysis on MBI, which corroborated overall efficacy of MBI programs for university students in some critical mental-health-related outcomes.1,2

When comparing course-based MBI with passive controls, MBI significantly reduced levels of distress, depression, anxiety, and rumination, and increased well-being within university students when measured at post-intervention, reported Dawson and colleagues. They also noted longer-term reductions in distress, as measured by follow-up assessments.

Other studies on MBI that were not focused on university populations have identified ways in which MBI can help. One review, focused more specifically on anxiety and depression, found that MBI therapies perform comparably to cognitive-behavioral therapy; the treatment modalities have compatible treatment principles.

Another review, published in 2018, noted that despite its longstanding history, MBIs have only been incorporated in Western medicine and culture since the late 20th century. Despite this, considerable support has been amassed for the practice.

Despite these widespread positives, Dawson and colleagues cautioned that the findings from their meta-analysis were, in fact, highly heterogenous and that this raises questions about the overall operationalization of mindfulness, adding that more homogenous effects of mindfulness interventions should have been seen.

Although many positives of MBIs have been noted, the researchers cautioned that they may, in some students, create a sense of discomfort or unease: a phenomenon confirmed in the literature as well.5,6 These instances may require either focused individual attention from the course leader if in a group setting or support from other specialized services if it occurs from self-led MBI practice.

Overall, this review found some evidence that MBIs are effective for promoting mental health in the average student, Dawson and colleagues wrote, [h]owever, the low methodological quality of most of the included trials precludes making firm recommendations for practice.

Some students in some contexts may not benefit from the effects of mindfulness interventions. Institutions who are seeking to establish these practices should research the benefits, harms, and variability of effects before moving forward.

Future research directions include assessment of outcomes related to academic and mental health services. Data from RCTs included in the meta-analysis were insufficient to assess these outcomes, and thus RCTs within these categories should be conducted.

In addition, the potential for differences in effect between self-help and instructor-led MBIs should be explored. Although self-help interventions may be more cost-effective and easier to implement, this setting may ultimately limit the detection of potential adverse effects. In general, the potential adverse effects, be they mild or severe, of MBIs require additional attention from both researchers and mental health care providers.

Ultimately, this work shows that MBIs could have beneficial effects when implemented within a general university population, Dawson and colleagues concluded, however, higher quality research is needed to define their active components, long-term effects, effectiveness compared to other programs, optimal format and delivery, cultural variability, and safety profile.

References

1. Dawson AF, Brown WW, Anderson J, et al.Mindfulness-based interventions for university students: A systematic review and meta-analysis of randomised controlled trials[published online November 19, 2019].Appl Psychol Health Well Being.doi:10.1111/aphw.12188

2. Williams M, Coare P, Marvell R, Pollard E, Houghton A-M, Anderson J.Understanding provision for students with mental health problems and intensive support needs: Report to HEFCE by the Institute for Employment Studies (IES) and Researching Equity, Access and Partnership (REAP). Brighton, England, UK: Institute for Employment Studies; 2015. Accessed December 5, 2019.

3. Hofmann SG, Gmez AF.Mindfulness-based interventions for anxiety and depression.Psychiatr Clin North Am.2017;40(4):739-749.

4. Shapero BG, Greenberg J, Pedrelli P, de Jong M, Desbordes G.Mindfulness-based interventions in psychiatry.Focus (Am Psychiatr Publ).2018;16(1):32-39.

5. Burrows L.Safeguarding mindfulness meditation for vulnerable college students.Mindfulness.2016;7(7):284-285.

6. Cebolla A, Demarzo M, Martins P, Soler J, Garcia-Campayo J.Unwanted effects: Is there a negative side of meditation? A multicenter survey.PLoS One.2016;12(9):e0183137.

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Mindfulness-Based Meditation and Higher Education - Psychiatry Advisor

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This Top-Rated App Can Help You Deal With Stress in the New Year - mySanAntonio.com