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Om!, Aparajita Dutta

Comparative Woman

No abstract provided.

The Resurrection, Megan Barrios

Comparative Woman

No abstract provided.

Mindful Practices To Interrupt White Supremacy In Higher Education: Opportunities For Educators In Service Learning And Community Engagement, Jennifer F. Steinfeld

Mindfulness Studies Theses

This thesis proposes reflective practices for educators to interrupt white supremacy in higher education service learning programs. It is relevant today as higher education institutions look more closely at their history, often upholding or benefiting from slavery, racism, indigenous removal, and other forms of race-based exploitation. Other work on this topic demonstrates the power of reflectivity and mindfulness practices in reducing the impact of racial biases. The heart of this creative thesis is a research-based curriculum for a learning community of educators to develop capacity to incorporate reflectivity, meditation, and liberatory pedagogies into their classrooms. This curriculum is designed for …

Relaxations: Big Tools For Little Warriors, Taylor Harris

Children's Book and Media Review

Written for parents and teachers to read to their children and help them practice meditation techniques. Relaxations invites young listeners to use their mind as a blank screen and imagine different scenarios to help them relax. Exercises include imagining a piece of spaghetti becoming limp, a soothing day at the beach, and a light spreading within the body until readers become a star in the vast universe.

The Development And Validation Of A Preliminary Meditation Intentions Questionnaire, Daniel Kharlas

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

Meditation programs and mindfulness interventions have become increasingly popular over the last 30 years in both clinical and non-clinical populations. However, challenges such as motivating participants in 8-week programs and adherence rates are issues in many mindfulness meditation interventions. The Meditation Intentions Questionnaire (MIQ) was developed as a measure intended to guide participants to set their own goals and intentions for meditation. The MIQ has six subscales with 8 items each. The subscales assess intentions for participating in meditation programs in the following domains: cognitive enhancement, increased emotional control, greater positive affect, stress relief, spiritual discovery and psychological discovery. Items …

Happy Mind, Bailey Bourgeois, Erica Jacobs, Allison Wisneski, Amanda Torres, Antii Makkonen

Nexus Maximus

Center City is home to a vast majority of overworked 30 year old's with limited social lives and high stress levels which causes mental depletion and higher anxiety. Our solution to this problem is a mindfulness app for mobile phones that this specific group can participate in. The app would not only give you advice on your commute to work, but also give you invites to nearby social events and discounts to a number of stores in the area.

Nexus Maximus V

The 2018 Challenge: "Improving Lives Through Healthy Communities" Teams will evaluate and seek innovation that supports the health …

Do Mindful Breathing Exercises Benefit Reading Comprehension? A Brief Report, Virginia Clinton, Sara Elizabeth Carlson, Megan Swenseth

Educational Foundations and Research Faculty Publications

A brief breathing exercise designed to induce a mindful state could benefit reading comprehension performance, but has not been previously examined. Furthermore, the mechanisms of how an induced mindful state benefits cognition are not well understood. The purposes of this study are to test the effectiveness of a brief mindful breathing exercise on reading comprehension performance and examine two potential mechanisms (mind wandering and stress reduction). Undergraduate students (N = 104) engaged in either a mindful breathing exercise or control sham exercise, indicated their stress levels, and completed a reading comprehension assessment during which they self-reported their mind wandering. The …

Can Mindfulness Training Reduce Stress Reactivity In First-Year College Students?, Liat Zitron

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

ABSTRACT

Can Mindfulness Training Reduce Stress-Reactivity in First-Year College Students?

By

Liat Zitron

Advisor: Yu Gao, PhD

The positive effects of mindfulness-based practices on stress reactivity have been gaining steady attention in recent years. Yet, the effects of mindfulness training on stress responses via the autonomic nervous system (ANS) functioning, and in particular, changes in cardiovascular activity, have rarely been researched. The polyvagal theory (Porges, 1995) offers a theoretical framework in which the roles of the subdivisions of the ANS in regulating emotion and behaviors are delineated, and closely connected to the concept of heart rate variability (HRV) and its …

A Heuristic Inquiry: Engaging With Spirituality As Self-Care, Meredith E. Weissert

Creative Arts Therapies Theses

This heuristic inquiry explored effective self-care practices, specifically engaging with spirituality, for emerging dance/movement therapists. Guided by a pragmatic paradigm and heuristic methodology, I was the only researcher and participant and I engaged in meditation within nature as a spiritual practice. Data collection methods included completing a semi-structured self-interview after each spiritual practice, creating embodied experiences of spirituality as self-care and filming them, and recording themes from this footage in relation to Laban’s body, effort, shape, and space categories (Moore, 2014). Moustakas’ (1990) data analysis method and creative synthesis were used. Findings revealed that engaging in spiritual self-care fostered increased …

The Efficacy Of Mindfulness-Based Interventions On Depressive Symptoms And Quality Of Life: A Systematic Review Of Randomized Controlled Trials, Jonathan Manh Dang, Luma Bashmi, Stephen Meeneghan, Janet White, Rebecca Hedrick, Jelena Djurovic, Brigitte Vanle, Dennis Nguyen, Jonathan Almendarez, Paula Ravets, Yasmine Gohar, Sophia Hanna, Itai Danovitch, Waguih William Ishak

Student Publications

Background: An increasing number of patients and practitioners are using mindfulness meditation programs despite uncertainty about the evidence supporting these programs’ health benefits. Aim: To review the current evidence on the effectiveness of mindfulness-based interventions (MBI) on depressive symptoms and quality of life (QOL) among patients with depression comorbid medical conditions and those with major depressive disorder.

Methods: A comprehensive search of PubMed, Ovid MEDLINE, and PsycINFO was performed according to the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) guidelines for the past 30 years (1987-2017) published in English. The following keywords were used: meditation, QOL, depression, and …

Tantric Buddhist Art: Through An Integral Lens, Haven, Rien T.

Journal of Conscious Evolution

Tantric Buddhist art is a very diverse and unique form of art. Its main goals are to reveal the nature of reality by showing the perceiver that there is a more expansive and actualized being than the one currently experienced. In this way it shares many similarities with religious art, but puts its own special non-dual twist on religious art that will engage and surprise the reader.

Stop, Meditate, And Listen: A Treatment Modality For Iraqi Refugees With Depression, Katherine Goehring

Doctor of Nursing Practice Final Manuscripts

Purposes: To implement a mindfulness meditation program with Arabic speaking clients as an adjunctive treatment of depression

Background: Depression rates among Iraqi refugees are between 28.3 and 75% compared to 8.6% in the general population (Slewa-Younan, Guajardo, Heriseanu, & Hasan, 2015). Treatment options are limited at Neighborhood Healthcare in El Cajon due to budget limitations, cultural beliefs and language barriers, among other reasons. Individual therapy is intended to be a brief intervention due to limited staffing. Many middle eastern refugees decline group therapy due to stigma surrounding mental health treatment and concerns about privacy. Even though traditional treatment …

Body Based Meditative And Mindfulness Practices For Veterans With Combat Related Ptsd, Jessica Steurer

Expressive Therapies Capstone Theses

This literature review investigates and examines how body based meditative and mindfulness practices can be an effective treatment method for Veterans with symptoms of combat-related posttraumatic stress disorder. Yoga Therapy and other Expressive Therapy modalities (Art, Music) have developed evidenced-based practices and supporting research for this treatment area. Dance Movement Therapy (DMT) has shown effectiveness when treating conditions Veterans often present with such as combat-related PTSD, Substance Abuse, Anxiety, and Stress. DMT is a modality that focuses on the integration of the mind and body. Veterans benefit from body-based practices because they help to focus on the present moment while …

An Architecture Beyond The Walls: Aligning Mind, Body, And Soul For Human Connection, Priya Kharel

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The pace of urbanization is deepening a sense of social isolation. The brutality of urban settings allows limited access to nature resulting in stress, anxiety, and depression among city dwellers. To bridge the gap of human disconnection, this thesis project proposes an architecture of connection: A connection of mind, body, and soul, with nature as the medium. This connection is achieved by actively designing for the senses, in order to reconnect city dwellers with the built environment. Architecture with nature at its heart can produce a beautiful way of living. To understand this lived experience, phenomenological architecture is discussed, and …

Teaching Trauma-Sensitive Meditation: Principles And Competencies, Marjatta Moimas

Mindfulness Studies Theses

This study investigates teaching trauma-sensitive meditation, its importance, and its principles and practices. In order to investigate this topic, five experienced meditation teachers were interviewed. The participants of this study were Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction teachers and insight meditation teachers from the Buddhist Theravadan tradition, living on the East Coast and the West Coast of the USA. The aim of the research was to gather practical experiences on teaching trauma-sensitive meditation and to share the knowledge that exists among meditation teachers with the ever growing number of mindfulness professionals. The data were collected from interviews which were transcribed and returned …

The Effects Of Meditation/Mindfulness On Elementary Students In Crisis, Nicole C. Bixler

Creativity and Change Leadership Graduate Student Master's Projects

This project explores the effects that meditation and mindfulness practices have on elementary students in crisis. Changing the old methods used during the Time Away period, students will have the opportunity to utilize, explore, and take new risks while they experience the innovative opportunities to help cope with their stress and anxiety. The stressors that occur in school or in their personal life affect their performances and quality of life in school. The ultimate outcome from integrating new therapeutic methods is for student to use creative thinking to help create positive behavioral outcomes.

Effectiveness Of Integrative Restoration (Irest) Yoga Nidra On Mindfulness, Sleep, And Pain In Health Care Workers, Eva Livingston, Katreena Collette Merrill

Faculty Publications

This article examines the effectiveness of Integrative Restoration (iRest) Yoga Nidra meditation on mindfulness, sleep, and pain in health care workers. As health care workers provide emotional support to patients, it is not uncommon for workers to experience both physical and mental exhaustion. One holistic approach to support employees is mindfulness training. iRest Yoga Nidra is a complementary and integrative health therapy that increases mindfulness. A pre-/postinterveniton descriptive survey design was used. Before and after experiencing iRest meditation, participants completed a 51-item questionnaire consisting of demographics plus 3 validated instruments: the Five-Facet Mindfulness Questionnaire (FFMQ), the Epworth Sleepiness Scale (ESS), …

Mindfulness And Musicians: An Overview, Stephen Dubetz

Honors Projects

This overview of mindfulness begins with a basic history of the practice and filters chronologically to the application of mindfulness in the lives of modern musicians. From its origins in ancient India to its acceptance into Western culture and its eventual use in clinical, professional, and educational settings, this paper touches briefly on the story of mindfulness as it developed through time. The main questions addressed within are: What is mindfulness? Where does it come from? What use does it have? What fields of Western professional culture have adopted it so far and to what extent? and How can it …

Meditation May Diminish The Symptoms Of Postural Orthostatic Tachycardia Syndrome (Pots), Allyson Killen

Psychology: Student Scholarship & Creative Works

Various forms of meditation have been integrated into treatment options because of the derived benefits. Transcendental Meditation (TM) has been shown to decrease heartrate, blood pressure, and stress symptoms (Seaward, 2018). Additionally, Mindfulness Meditation (MM) has been shown to decrease anxiety and has been used in different treatments for chronic disorders (Buchholz, 2015). To my knowledge, no previous research has looked at the beneficial effects of meditation as a treatment option for POTS. POTS is a dysautonomic disorder characterized by an increase in HR by greater than 30 bpm and an intolerance of orthostatic fluctuations. Since this significantly affects physiological …

On Forgiveness, Kathleen M. Bolger

Student Publications

"On Forgiveness" is a young woman's thoughts on forgiveness - of the self and of others - based on several key moments in her life. Told through a series of memories, the essay wrestles with the power of forgiveness and how it can be misunderstood in difficult moments.

Promoting Secure Attachment Through Parental Mindfulness And Meditation, The Sampp Curriculum, Lauren E. Rubin

Mindfulness Studies Theses

This paper explains attachment theory, its acquisition in early childhood, and the difficulties that manifest from an insecure attachment. First time parents aspiring to raise their children differently than they were raised may lack the skills to alter habitual patterns of behaviors deeply embedded since childhood. The following research provides evidence of the myriad challenges that emerge from insecure attachments. Included are studies illustrating ways in which mindfulness and meditation have been found useful to individuals struggling with some of the challenges brought on by insecure attachments. Insecure attachments developed in early childhood have been found to impact relationships in …

Meditation As A Tool For Blood Pressure Management, Maggie Ray

Thinking Matters Symposium Archive

PURPOSE: Appraise existing evidence about meditation and blood pressure in persons with cardiac risk factors and offer evidence-based recommendations about the use of meditation in management of blood pressure

Biostatistics News, Georgia Southern University

Biostatistics News (2011-2018)

• Georgia Southern Conducts an Analysis of Food Service Risk Classification and Violation Frequency
• Georgia Southern Examines Quantiles Estimation
• Georgia Southern Studies Reduced Sample Sizes
• Georgia Southern Examines a Simpler Approach for Mediation Analysis

An Investigation Into Learning And Development Associated With Embodied Mindfulness, Kristen Picard

Educational Studies Dissertations

The intention of this study was to increase understanding of how Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) teachers cultivate embodied mindfulness. Recent publications reveal that embodied mindfulness is an essential competency for teaching mindfulness-based interventions. However, there is a gap in the literature related to how MBSR teachers learn or develop this competency. A qualitative phenomenological study influenced by a constructivist paradigm was designed to uncover the essence of MBSR teachers’ experiences of learning and developing embodied mindfulness. The participants were 10 MBSR teachers, defined as adults who received the designation of Qualified or Certified MBSR Teachers from the University of Massachusetts …

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Mindfulness And Multiple Sclerosis, Mandakini Sadhir

Pediatrics Faculty Publications

Multiple sclerosis is a chronic, debilitating autoimmune condition with unknown etiology. It can have significant impact on quality of life and overall sense of wellbeing. It can be associated with poor sleep, fatigue, mental health disorders such as anxiety, depression and affect interpersonal relationships. Impact of mindfulness based interventions in mental health conditions, chronic illness as well as multiple sclerosis in adults has been widely studied. Several studies have concluded that mindfulness based intervention can be beneficial in improving quality of life, mental health and physical symptoms such as fatigue in adult patients with multiple sclerosis. Current literature suggest that …

Biochemistry 4455g: Kids Kicking Cancer, Zameena Lakhani, Emily Evans, Hyobin Lim, Madhav Arora, Michelle Asselin

Community Engaged Learning Final Projects

No abstract provided.

Trauma Informed Brief Mindfulness Training: A New Adaptation For Homeless Women With Ptsd, Brighid Gannon

Yale School of Nursing Digital Theses

Women and children are the fastest growing segment of the homeless population and the United States has more homeless women than any other Industrialized nation (Committee on Health Care for Underserved Women, 2013). Many homeless women experience lifelong trauma and are increasingly at risk for Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) (Goodman et al, 1995). Although Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) is a gold standard treatment for PTSD, homeless women face a variety of barriers when trying to access this type of care including cost, stigma, and geographic inaccessibility (Dutton et al, 2013). Mindfulness may be a good treatment alternative because once …

An Examination Of A Mindfulness-Based Intervention For Older Adults, Morgan Levy

Theses and Dissertations

Mindfulness-based interventions use meditation and other learning exercises to help individuals become more aware of their current physiological and emotional experiences. Benefits of practicing mindfulness include an increase in positive psychological outcomes (e.g., psychological well-being, emotion regulation) and a decrease in negative psychological outcomes (e.g., anxiety, depression). The vast majority of studies focus on younger rather than older adults—setting the stage for the current study, which involved delivering a five-session mindfulness-based intervention to older adults (i.e., 60 and older). The smaller literature focused on older adults is promising but generally lacks methodological rigor (e.g., lack of no-treatment control groups). The …

Mind The Hype: A Critical Evaluation And Prescriptive Agenda For Research On Mindfulness And Meditation, Nicholas T. Van Dam, Marieke K. Van Vugt, David R. Vago, Laura Schmalzl, Clifford D. Saron, Andrew Olendzki, Ted Meissner, Sara W. Lazar, Catherine E. Kerr, Jolie Gorchov, Kieran C. R. Fox, Brent A. Field, Willoughby B. Britton, Julie A. Brefczynski-Lewis, David E. Meyer

Clinical and Translational Science Institute

During the past two decades, mindfulness meditation has gone from being a fringe topic of scientific investigation to being an occasional replacement for psychotherapy, tool of corporate well-being, widely implemented educational practice, and “key to building more resilient soldiers”. Yet the mindfulness movement and empirical evidence supporting it have not gone without criticism. Misinformation and poor methodology associated with past studies of mindfulness may lead public consumers to be harmed, misled, and disappointed. Addressing such concerns, the present article discusses the difficulties of defining mindfulness, delineates the proper scope of research into mindfulness practices, and explicates crucial methodological issues for …