A couple of weeks ago, I wrote about growth of the brain as a result of Mindfulness Meditation and Yoga Nidra. I had just returned from a Yoga Nidra training a few weeks before and was struck by what seem to be more frequent mentions of meditation around me.
Have you heard of the term synchronicity? It was first used by Carl G. Jung in the early 1920’s to describe “meaningful coincidences” that hold no causal relationship to one another.
Synchronicity is what occurred when today, I picked up the October 2015 issue of the American Psychologist to find that it is a special issue focusing on The Emergence of Mindfulness in Basic and Clinical Psychological Science. This issue of American Psychologist has made it clear to me that meditation and the management of stress using mindfulness and other meditative techniques is an important area of research right now. I just have not been paying close enough attention to notice!
This special issue addresses the conceptual and methodological challenges present in research on Mindfulness and Meditation; an evidence-based clinical science of mindfulness-based intervention; mindfulness as therapy vs. spiritual practice; and an investigation of a phenomenological or experiential matrix of mindfulness-related practices from a neurocognitive angle.
Clearly, meditative methods have become a broadly interesting arena drawing the attention of serious scientists and clinicians alike.
I would be very curious to know how many of our readers or their organizations utilize mindfulness meditation or other types of meditative practices as part of the treatments they offer their behavioral health patients. Are you willing to share?
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