OBJECTIVES: Yoga is promoted as an anti-stress activity, however, little is known about the mechanisms through which it acts. The present study investigated the acute effects of a hatha yoga session, displayed on a video, on the response to and recovery from an acute psychological stressor. METHODS: Twenty-four healthy young adults took part in a counterbalanced, randomized-crossover trial, with a yoga and a control condition (watching TV). Participants attended the laboratory in the afternoon on two days and each session comprised a baseline, control or yoga task, stress task and recovery. Blood pressure (BP), heart rate (HR) and salivary cortisol responses were measured. State cognitive- and somatic-anxiety along with self-confidence were assessed before and after the stressor. RESULTS: Although no difference in the BP or HR responses to stress were found between conditions, systolic BP (p=0.047) and diastolic BP (p=0.018) recovery from stress were significantly accelerated and salivary cortisol reactivity was significantly lower (p=0.01) in the yoga condition. A yoga session also increased self-confidence (p=0.006) in preparation for the task and after completion. Moreover, self-confidence reported after the stress task was considered debilitative towards performance in the control condition, but remained facilitative in the yoga condition. CONCLUSION: Our results show that a single video-instructed session of hatha yoga was able to improve stress reactivity and recovery from an acute stress task in healthy individuals. These positive preliminary findings encourage further investigation in at-risk populations in which the magnitude of effects may be greater, and support the use of yoga for stress reactivity and recovery.
OBJECTIVES: Yoga is promoted as an anti-stress activity, however, little is known about the mechanisms through which it acts. The present study investigated the acute effects of a hatha yoga session, displayed on a video, on the response to and recovery from an acute psychological stressor. METHODS: Twenty-four healthy young adults took part in a counterbalanced, randomized-crossover trial, with a yoga and a control condition (watching TV). Participants attended the laboratory in the afternoon on two days and each session comprised a baseline, control or yoga task, stress task and recovery. Blood pressure (BP), heart rate (HR) and salivary cortisol responses were measured. State cognitive- and somatic-anxiety along with self-confidence were assessed before and after the stressor. RESULTS: Although no difference in the BP or HR responses to stress were found between conditions, systolic BP (p=0.047) and diastolic BP (p=0.018) recovery from stress were significantly accelerated and salivary cortisol reactivity was significantly lower (p=0.01) in the yoga condition. A yoga session also increased self-confidence (p=0.006) in preparation for the task and after completion. Moreover, self-confidence reported after the stress task was considered debilitative towards performance in the control condition, but remained facilitative in the yoga condition. CONCLUSION: Our results show that a single video-instructed session of hatha yoga was able to improve stress reactivity and recovery from an acute stress task in healthy individuals. These positive preliminary findings encourage further investigation in at-risk populations in which the magnitude of effects may be greater, and support the use of yoga for stress reactivity and recovery.
Beginning as early as preschool, race and gender are intertwined with the way US schools mete out discipline. In particular, black students and male students are much more likely than others to be suspended or expelled--punishments that we know can hold them back academically. These disparities, and the damage they can cause, have driven recent reforms, including some that incorporate social and emotional learning (SEL) practices. Anne Gregory and Edward Fergus review federal and state mandates to cut down on punishments that remove students from school, and they show how some districts are embracing SEL in their efforts to do so. Yet even in these districts, large disparities in discipline persist. The authors suggest two reasons current discipline reforms that embrace SEL practices may hold limited promise for reducing discipline disparities. The first is that prevailing "colorblind" notions of SEL don't consider power, privilege, and cultural difference--thus ignoring how individual beliefs and structural biases can lead educators to react harshly to behaviors that fall outside a white cultural frame of reference. The second is that most SEL models are centered on students, but not on the adults who interact with them. Yet research shows that educators' own social and emotional competencies strongly influence students' motivation to learn and the school climate in general. Gregory and Fergus describe how one school district is striving to orient its discipline policies around a conception of SEL that stresses equity and promotes both adults' and students' SEL competencies. Although such reforms hold promise, they are still in the early stages, and the authors call for rigorous empirical work to test whether such efforts can substantially reduce or eradicate racial and gender disparities in discipline.
BackgroundDepression is a common and distressing mental health problem that is responsible for significant individual disability and cost to society. Medication and psychological therapies are effective for treating depression and maintenance anti-depressants (m-ADM) can prevent relapse. However, individuals with depression often express a wish for psychological help that can help them recover from depression in the long-term. We need to develop psychological therapies that prevent depressive relapse/recurrence. A recently developed treatment, Mindfulness-based Cognitive Therapy (MBCT, see http://www.mbct.co.uk) shows potential as a brief group programme for people with recurring depression. In two studies it has been shown to halve the rates of depression recurring compared to usual care.
This trial asks the policy research question, is MBCT superior to m-ADM in terms of: a primary outcome of preventing depressive relapse/recurrence over 24 months; and, secondary outcomes of (a) depression free days, (b) residual depressive symptoms, (c) antidepressant (ADM) usage, (d) psychiatric and medical co-morbidity, (e) quality of life, and (f) cost effectiveness? An explanatory research question asks is an increase in mindfulness skills the key mechanism of change?
Methods/Design
The design is a single blind, parallel RCT examining MBCT vs. m-ADM with an embedded process study. To answer the main policy research question the proposed trial compares MBCT plus ADM-tapering with m-ADM for patients with recurrent depression. Four hundred and twenty patients with recurrent major depressive disorder in full or partial remission will be recruited through primary care. Depressive relapse/recurrence over two years is the primary outcome variable. The explanatory question will be addressed in two mutually informative ways: quantitative measurement of potential mediating variables pre/post-treatment and a qualitative study of service users' views and experiences.
Discussion
If the results of our exploratory trial are extended to this definitive trial, MBCT will be established as an alternative approach to maintenance anti-depressants for people with a history of recurrent depression. The process studies will provide evidence about the effective components which can be used to improve MBCT and inform theory as well as other therapeutic approaches.
<p>This article looks at the figure of Katok Rikdzin Tsewang Norbu (kaḥ thog rig 'dzin tshe dbang nor bu, 1698-1755) who in his writings displayed a concern for primary source material such as old Tibetan documents and inscriptions from the eighth and ninth centuries. Richardson frames Rikdzin Tsewang Norbu against that of other Tibetan historians who cited inscriptions such as Gö Lotsawa ('gos lo tsA ba) and Pawo Tsuklak Trengwa (dpa' bo gtsug lag 'phreng ba). The article ends with a sketch of Rikdzin Tsewang Norbu's eventful life. (Ben Deitle 2006-05-23)</p>
<p>A Tibetan-English dictionary which contains a vocabulary of several thousand items drawn from colloquial speech. (Michael Walter and Manfred Taube 2006-05-15, revised by Bill McGrath 2008-01-03)</p>
<p>Each of 2950 syllables is numbered. Compound words are listed under each heading, and crossreferenced to each of their members. A phonetic transcription is given. Intransiive and transitive verbs are marked, as well as honorifics and high honorifics. A real contribution to Tibetan etymology and word analysis which has not be properly followed up on. For a similar work see TSHE DBANG RNAM RGYAL (<em>dag yig ma nor lam bzang /</em>). (Nathan Hill 2007-12-13, revised by Bill McGrath 2008-01-03)</p>
BACKGROUND:Depression is a common and distressing mental health problem that is responsible for significant individual disability and cost to society. Medication and psychological therapies are effective for treating depression and maintenance anti-depressants (m-ADM) can prevent relapse. However, individuals with depression often express a wish for psychological help that can help them recover from depression in the long-term. A recently developed treatment, mindfulness-based cognitive therapy (MBCT), shows potential as a brief group program for people with recurring depression.This trial asks the policy research question; is MBCT with support to taper/discontinue antidepressant medication (MBCT-TS) superior to m-ADM in terms of: a primary outcome of preventing depressive relapse/recurrence over 24 months; and secondary outcomes of (a) depression free days, (b) residual depressive symptoms, (c) antidepressant medication (ADM) usage, (d) psychiatric and medical co-morbidity, (e) quality of life, and (f) cost effectiveness? An explanatory research question also asks whether an increase in mindfulness skills is the key mechanism of change.The design is a single-blind, parallel randomized controlled trial examining MBCT-TS versus m-ADM with an embedded process study. To answer the main policy research question the proposed trial compares MBCT-TS with m-ADM for patients with recurrent depression. Four hundred and twenty patients with recurrent major depressive disorder in full or partial remission will be recruited through primary care.
RESULTS:
Depressive relapse/recurrence over two years is the primary outcome variable. Analyses will be conducted following CONSORT standards and overseen by the trial's Data Monitoring and Safety Committee. Initial analyses will be conducted on an intention-to-treat basis, with subsequent analyses being per protocol. The explanatory question will be addressed in two mutually informative ways: quantitative measurement of potential mediating variables pre- and post-treatment and a qualitative study of service users' views and experiences.
CONCLUSIONS:
If the results of our exploratory trial are extended to this definitive trial, MBCT-TS will be established as an alternative approach to maintenance antidepressants for people with a history of recurrent depression. The process studies will provide evidence about the effective components which can be used to improve MBCT and inform theory as well as other therapeutic approaches.
<p>Contains a Sanskrit-Tibetan-English glossary. (Michael Walter and Manfred Taube 2006-05-15, revised by Bill McGrath 2008-01-03)</p>
<p>This chapter seeks to establish connections Western psychological and Indo-Tibetan Buddhist philosophy in the area of ethics and value. In the face of how values have varied widely and changed greatly throughout time and place, it can be a challenge to determine exactly how values might hold any claim of validity, especially in an culture where the discussion of values often is founded in a framework of absolutism versus relativism. Absolutism, the author suggests, "clings to validity, but at the price of rigid and rule bound exclusivity," while relativity eliminates exclusivity at the price of any claims to validity or universality. The author suggests that in looking at the psychology of values, there are other paradigms which live outside the narrow duality of absolutism and relativism, namely the traditions of Gestalt psychology and Mahāyāna Buddhism, and which allow for an approach to ethics and values which recognizes plurality and diversity. (Zach Rowinski 2005-01-09)</p>
The value of mindfulness-based methods in an undergraduate field placement was investigated in relation to the acquisition of self-care and other basic clinical competencies. The participants were 22 students in an applied behavioral analysis course, which included a mindfulness-based training module, and 20 students enrolled in an experimental psychology course without mindfulness training. The Mindfulness Attention and Awareness Scale, the Freiberg Mindfulness Inventory, and the Kentucky Inventory of Mindfulness Skills were used as measurements before and after intervention. Mindfulness-trained participants kept records and were asked to share their personal experiences during supervision and an exit interview. Results demonstrated that training significantly increased mindfulness. Qualitative data indicated enhanced self-care, attention to well-being, self-awareness, active involvement acquiring skills, and empathy and compassion. The need to expand the utility of mindfulness to the realm of education and the importance of including comparison groups with other self-care modules for future studies were discussed.
Virtue ethics is currently one of three major approaches in normativeethics. It may, initially, be identified as the one that emphasizesthe virtues, or moral character, in contrast to the approach thatemphasizes duties or rules (deontology) or that emphasizes theconsequences of actions (consequentialism). Suppose it is obvious thatsomeone in need should be helped. A utilitarian will point to the factthat the consequences of doing so will maximize well-being, adeontologist to the fact that, in doing so the agent will be acting inaccordance with a moral rule such as “Do unto others as youwould be done by” and a virtue ethicist to the fact that helpingthe person would be charitable or benevolent., This is not to say that only virtue ethicists attend to virtues, anymore than it is to say that only consequentialists attend toconsequences or only deontologists to rules. Each of theabove-mentioned approaches can make room for virtues, consequences,and rules. Indeed, any plausible normative ethical theorywill have something to say about all three. What distinguishes virtueethics from consequentialism or deontology is the centrality of virtuewithin the theory (Watson 1990; Kawall 2009). Whereasconsequentialists will define virtues as traits that yield goodconsequences and deontologists will define them as traits possessed bythose who reliably fulfil their duties, virtue ethicists will resistthe attempt to define virtues in terms of some other concept that istaken to be more fundamental. Rather, virtues and vices will befoundational for virtue ethical theories and other normative notionswill be grounded in them., We begin by discussing two concepts that are central to all forms ofvirtue ethics, namely, virtue and practical wisdom. Then we note someof the features that distinguish different virtue ethical theoriesfrom one another before turning to objections that have been raisedagainst virtue ethics and responses offered on its behalf. We concludewith a look at some of the directions in which future research mightdevelop.
Economic and sociological theories explaining bandwagon behaviors, along with cognitive and behavioral theories of decision making, do not fully address the process whereby decision makers choose whether or not to jump on bandwagons. In this article we model the interactions between mindfulness as a decision-maker characteristic and the decision-making context, and we show the impact of those interactions on managers' ability to discriminate in the face of bandwagons. We illustrate the framework by applying it to recent integration and disintegration bandwagon behaviors in the U.S. health care market.
Zotero Collections:
Contemplative approaches to higher education have been gaining in popularity and application across a wide range of disciplines. Spurring conferences, a growing body of literature, and several academic programs or centers, these approaches promise to contribute significantly to higher education in the years to come. This volume provides an overview of the current landscape of contemplative instruction, pedagogy, philosophy, and curriculum from the perspectives of leading researchers and scholar-practitioners. Contributors come from a variety of disciplines, including education, management and leadership studies, humanities, social sciences, the arts, and information science. Drawing on diverse contexts, the essays reveal the applicability of contemplative studies as a watershed field, capable of informing, enriching, and sustaining the many disciplines and instructional contexts that comprise higher education. Chapters discuss the theoretical aspects of the field; the details, experiences, and challenges of contemplative approaches; and the hopes and concerns for the future of this field.
BACKGROUND: Stress and back pain are two key factors leading to sickness absence at work. Recent research indicates that yoga can be effective for reducing perceived stress, alleviating back pain, and improving psychological well-being.AIMS: To determine the effectiveness of a yoga-based intervention for reducing perceived stress and back pain at work.
METHODS: Participants were recruited from a British local government authority and randomized into a yoga group who received one 50 min Dru Yoga session each week for 8 weeks and a 20 min DVD for home practice and a control group who received no intervention. Baseline and end-programme measurements of self-reported stress, back pain and psychological well-being were assessed with the Perceived Stress Scale, Roland Morris Disability Questionnaire and the Positive and Negative Affect Scale.
RESULTS: There were 37 participants in each group. Analysis of variance and multiple linear regression showed that in comparison to the control group, the yoga group reported significant reductions in perceived stress and back pain, and a substantial improvement in psychological well-being. When compared with the control group at the end of the programme, the yoga group scores were significantly lower for perceived stress, back pain, sadness and hostility, and substantially higher for feeling self-assured, attentive and serene.
CONCLUSIONS: The results indicate that a workplace yoga intervention can reduce perceived stress and back pain and improve psychological well-being. Larger randomized controlled trials are needed to determine the broader efficacy of yoga for improving workplace productivity and reducing sickness absence.
BACKGROUND: Stress and back pain are two key factors leading to sickness absence at work. Recent research indicates that yoga can be effective for reducing perceived stress, alleviating back pain, and improving psychological well-being.AIMS: To determine the effectiveness of a yoga-based intervention for reducing perceived stress and back pain at work.
METHODS: Participants were recruited from a British local government authority and randomized into a yoga group who received one 50 min Dru Yoga session each week for 8 weeks and a 20 min DVD for home practice and a control group who received no intervention. Baseline and end-programme measurements of self-reported stress, back pain and psychological well-being were assessed with the Perceived Stress Scale, Roland Morris Disability Questionnaire and the Positive and Negative Affect Scale.
RESULTS: There were 37 participants in each group. Analysis of variance and multiple linear regression showed that in comparison to the control group, the yoga group reported significant reductions in perceived stress and back pain, and a substantial improvement in psychological well-being. When compared with the control group at the end of the programme, the yoga group scores were significantly lower for perceived stress, back pain, sadness and hostility, and substantially higher for feeling self-assured, attentive and serene.
CONCLUSIONS: The results indicate that a workplace yoga intervention can reduce perceived stress and back pain and improve psychological well-being. Larger randomized controlled trials are needed to determine the broader efficacy of yoga for improving workplace productivity and reducing sickness absence.
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