Classifying different meditation techniques is essential for the progress of meditation research, as this will enable discerning which effects are associated with which techniques, in addition to supporting the development of increasingly effective and efficient meditation-based training programs and clinical interventions. However, both the task of defining meditation itself, as well as defining specific techniques, faces many fundamental challenges. Here we describe problems involved in this endeavor and suggest an integrated model for defining meditation. For classifying different meditation techniques, we (...) draw on classical, contemporary, and holistic systems of classification. We analyze different techniques and propose that all meditation techniques are based on a specific set of activities, that is: focusing, releasing, imagining, and moving in relation to an object of meditation, including fields of experience. Meditative activities can be combined and unified in the activities of observing, producing, and being aware. All meditative activities are unified in awareness of awareness. Defining specific meditation techniques may be done by specifying which activities and objects are involved. The advantage of our approach is that it can potentially account for the inner workings of all current systems of classification and hence it lays the foundation for formulating an overarching system of meditation that can guide future research and practice. (shrink)

Mindfulness has emerged as a potential motivator for sustainable lifestyles, yet few studies provide insight into the relationship between mindfulness practice levels and individual engagement in pro-environmental behaviors. We also lack information about the significance of meditators’ behavioral differences in terms of their measurable environmental impact and the motivational processes underlying these differences in pro-environmental performance. We classified 300 individuals in three groups with varying meditation experience and compared their pro-environmental motivations and levels of animal protein consumption. Exceeding prior attempts (...) to compare high-impact behaviors of mindfulness practitioners and non-practitioners, we created the most detailed classification of practice engagement by assessing frequency, experience and type of meditation practice. This nuanced view on mindfulness practice reveals that advanced meditators, who reported high levels of connectedness with nature, subjective happiness and dispositional mindfulness showed significantly more concern for the environment. They also demonstrated the lowest levels of greenhouse gas emissions, land occupation and water use related to their animal-protein consumption. This study is the first to follow a self-determination theory perspective to deepen our understanding of the motivational differences between meditator groups. We revealed that advanced meditators reported significantly more integrated motivation toward the environment than non-meditators. We also provided preliminary evidence for a new theoretical framework suggesting that experiential strategies such as mindfulness practices could strengthen the relational pathway of pro-environmental behaviors. Using sequential mediation analysis, we confirmed that the negative effect of mindful compassion practice on greenhouse gas emissions from animal-protein consumption is partially mediated by CWN and integrated motivation toward the environment. While our study does not support assumptions of causality, it shows that much can be learned by studying the motivations of advanced meditators for maintaining high levels of pro-environmental behavior. (shrink)

Однією із сильних сторін наукового світогляду є здатність створювати дослідницькі середовища, які постійно між собою взаємодіють, належачи навіть до різних галузей знання. Поняття медитації – це приклад того, як увага дослідників з різних наукових дисциплін фокусується на одній темі, на одному предметі, але підходи зумовлюють різні визначення. У статті розглянуто основні існуючі підходи до поняття медитації і виокремлено основні: нейронауковий, інклюзивний (партисипативний), галузевий (наприклад, психологічний) і міжгалузевий. Здійснено попередню систематизацію підходів до визначення поняття медитації з огляду на труднощі, які пов’язані (...) з контекстами, інтепретаціями і запитами сучасного світу до контемплятивних практик. У випадку з медитацією наука демонструє водночас проблему спеціалізації, схильність редукувати досліджуваний феномен згідно з власними методологіями, пояснювати локальні культурні середовища крізь призму постколоніального спадку. Особливу роль у цій дискусії відіграють саме гуманітарні науки (філософія, релігієзнавство, психологія), методологія яких більше орієнтована на людину, людські практики і значущість суб’єктивного знання. (shrink)