The nine months long study involved seven theoretical/practical weekends and two meditation retreats. The participants attended a series of presentations, watched video courses, and took part in open discussions on various topics, in the theoretical part of the study.
The topics were psychology, neuroscience, history of Western thought, philosophy of life of Buddhism, neuroplasticity, the brain circuits of attention and mind wandering, stress and anxiety, pain and pleasure, positive and negative emotions, desire and addiction, the sense of self, empathy and compassion.
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For the practical part, a series of exercises like meditation on the breath, analytical meditation and personal journal, taken from different traditions were carried out.
Results also showed that the participants reported a substantial decrease in anxiety, perceived stress, negative thoughts, rumination and anger tendencies. Simultaneous improvements in the positive aspects and a reduction of negative emotions were also observed by researchers, both in the short term and longitudinally.
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De Pisapia concluded, “I believe that in times like these, full of changes and uncertainties, it is fundamental to scientifically study how Western and Eastern philosophical traditions, together with the most recent discoveries on the mind and the brain, can be integrated with contemplative practices in a secular way. The goal is to give healthy people the opportunity to work on themselves to develop authentic happiness, not hedonism or superficial happiness. With this study we wanted to take a small step in this direction.”
Source: Medindia
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