Enacting Mindfulness: A View from Cognitive Science with Evan Thompson, PhD

Harvard Medical School Distinguished Lecture in Mindy Body Research and Health: This presentation will be our next annual HMS Distinguished Lecture in Mind Body Research and Health, jointly hosted by the Osher Center for Integrative Health at Harvard Medical School and Brigham and Women’s Hospital, The Benson-Henry Institute for Mind Body Medicine and the Center for Mindfulness Compassion at the Cambridge Health Alliance
From a cognitive science perspective, many of the cognitive processes crucially involved in mindfulness meditation practices are internalized forms of social cognition and depend not just on the brain but also on the rest of the body interacting with the environment. Therefore, thinking of mindfulness meditation as a kind of internal individual introspection or private mental monitoring in the head is inaccurate. This lecture will explore these ideas drawing from Buddhist philosophy and the cognitive and brain sciences.

[@rossmoore7868]

The distinction between classical mindfulness and non-dual mindfulness is overstated as the Satipatthana Sutta clearly indicates we merely watch the coming and going of thoughts, feelings etc. This leads to non-dual awareness because appearing phenomena are recognised as inseparable from sheer awareness.

[@philipm3173]

Monumental in scope whilst clear and succinct. Bravo.

[@metta1773]

I do not agree with what was stated around the 38min mark, regarding changes in brain regions that can happen as a result of mindfulness. This is because in these contexts, researchers are observing certain neural changes that have been *previously linked* to observations such as reductions in stress. For example, a reduction in the size of the amygdala is well known to be associated with reduced stress (based on several studies of induced stress) and mindfulness practices are also known to bring about reductions in the size of the amygdala, clearly indicating that these practices are reducing stress. Similarly, mindfulness brings about greater connectivity of brain networks and here again, this change is tied to better mental health (e.g. better emotional regulation) in individuals.