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<p>Introduces a series of papers on Buddhism and cognitive science in a special section of <em>Pacific World : The Journal of the Institute of Buddhist Studies</em>. The author discusses the points of contact between Buddhism, psychology, Western phenomenology, and the cognitive sciences, showing ways in which they are similar and offering ways they can contribute to each other's analysis of the mind and experience. (Zach Rowinski 2004- 06-10)</p>
Discriminatory experiences are not only momentarily distressing, but can also increase risk for lasting physical and psychological problems. Specifically, significantly higher rates of depression and depressive symptoms are reported among people who are frequently the target of prejudice (Kessler et al., 1999, Schulz et al., 2006). Given the gravity of this problem, this research focuses on an individual difference, trait mindfulness, as a protective factor in the association between discrimination and depressive symptoms. In a community sample of 605 individuals, trait mindfulness dampens the relationship between perceived discrimination and depressive symptoms. Additionally, mindfulness provides benefits above and beyond those of positive emotions. Trait mindfulness may thus operate as a protective individual difference for targets of discrimination.
Discriminatory experiences are not only momentarily distressing, but can also increase risk for lasting physical and psychological problems. Specifically, significantly higher rates of depression and depressive symptoms are reported among people who are frequently the target of prejudice. Given the gravity of this problem, this research focuses on an individual difference, trait mindfulness, as a protective factor in the association between discrimination and depressive symptoms. In a community sample of 605 individuals, trait mindfulness dampens the relationship between perceived discrimination and depressive symptoms. Additionally, mindfulness provides benefits above and beyond those of positive emotions. Trait mindfulness may thus operate as a protective individual difference for targets of discrimination.
Discriminatory experiences are not only momentarily distressing, but can also increase risk for lasting physical and psychological problems. Specifically, significantly higher rates of depression and depressive symptoms are reported among people who are frequently the target of prejudice. Given the gravity of this problem, this research focuses on an individual difference, trait mindfulness, as a protective factor in the association between discrimination and depressive symptoms. In a community sample of 605 individuals, trait mindfulness dampens the relationship between perceived discrimination and depressive symptoms. Additionally, mindfulness provides benefits above and beyond those of positive emotions. Trait mindfulness may thus operate as a protective individual difference for targets of discrimination.
Discriminatory experiences are not only momentarily distressing, but can also increase risk for lasting physical and psychological problems. Specifically, significantly higher rates of depression and depressive symptoms are reported among people who are frequently the target of prejudice (Kessler et al., 1999, Schulz et al., 2006). Given the gravity of this problem, this research focuses on an individual difference, trait mindfulness, as a protective factor in the association between discrimination and depressive symptoms. In a community sample of 605 individuals, trait mindfulness dampens the relationship between perceived discrimination and depressive symptoms. Additionally, mindfulness provides benefits above and beyond those of positive emotions. Trait mindfulness may thus operate as a protective individual difference for targets of discrimination.
The intersections of early years curriculum, pedagogy, policy and their research must now confront two seemingly intractable but mutually constitutive global problems within their materially ‘grounded’ geocultural-historical circumstances and conditions. The ‘lives’ of children embedded in the socioecological contexts of families, homes, meals, schools, playgrounds and neighbourhoods are ‘fast’ (dromosphere) ‘heating up’ (Anthropocene). Without alternatives, the accelerating and intensifying consequences are deeply disturbing. This chapter addresses a vital need in early childhood education and research. There is a compelling ‘early intervention’ warrant for critical problem identification, theory building, methodological innovation and empirically qualified insights into the increasingly vulnerable body~time~space scapes of childhood in the now complex, accelerated, climactic and abstracted/digitalized ‘everyday’ of their precariously ‘lived experiences’. Empirically informed theoretical development of an environmental education and its ecopedagogies capable of slowly sustaining an intergenerational ethic is overdue. This chapter anticipates the formatively sensitive development of an experience-rich education (and research within it) that is ecopedagogically meaningful to children’s immersion in various body~time~space scapes in, and with, a still vibrant nature that, in so doing, critically (en)counters the deeply problematic dromospherical advent of the Anthropocene.
The Anthropocene describes our current geological era, in which human activity has grown to become a planetary force. Interest in “sustainable fashion” reflects the necessity to address the social and environmental ills of fashion. Yet thinking on sustainable fashion remains chiefly industry and user-focused, examining narrow questions regarding how industry may shift practices, or how users may engage with fashion differently—hence only tacitly positioned within the context of the Anthropocene. Synthesizing scholarly and industry perspectives, this article establishes two positions on sustainable fashion, and aligns these with the philosophical positions of humanity’s future in the Anthropocene, adopting ethicist Clive Hamilton’s nomenclature. First, fashion’s Prometheans, the techno-optimists, propose a future in which cleaner technologies can lead to the gradual evolution of a better industry. In contrast, fashion’s Soterians take a cautionary approach, and seek to unbind fashion from the unsustainable growth imperative of capitalism itself. Under these two, the definition of “sustainable fashion” may differ, but, critically, their dialogue will shape the direction of fashion. Together, their actions create a “fashion futuring,” a dynamic process of negotiation between what I term the “taming” and the “rewilding” of fashion, within a world of our own making.
This review focuses on Meditative Movement (MM) and its effects on anxiety, depression, and other affective states. MM is a term identifying forms of exercise that use movement in conjunction with meditative attention to body sensations, including proprioception, interoception, and kinesthesis. MM includes the traditional Chinese methods of Qigong (Chi Kung) and Taijiquan (Tai Chi), some forms of Yoga, and other Asian practices, as well as Western Somatic practices; however this review focuses primarily on Qigong and Taijiquan. We clarify the differences between MM and conventional exercise, present descriptions of several of the key methodologies of MM, and suggest how research into these practices may be approached in a systematic way. We also present evidence for possible mechanisms of the effects of MM on affective states, including the roles of posture, rhythm, coherent breathing, and the involvement of specific cortical and subcortical structures. We survey research outcomes summarized in reviews published since 2007. Results suggest that MM may be at least as effective as conventional exercise or other interventions in ameliorating anxiety and depression; however, study quality is generally poor and there are many confounding factors. This makes it difficult to draw definitive conclusions at this time. We suggest, however, that more research is warranted, and we offer specific suggestions for ensuring high-quality and productive future studies.
Depression and dementia are major public health problems in the UK. Depression in early-stage dementia is very common and significantly reduces quality of life, speeds cognitive decline and increases functional impairment. Mindfulness-Based Cognitive Therapy (MBCT) is an effective depression prevention programme, and the National Institute for Clinical Excellence (NICE) has suggested that MBCT is a priority for implementation. Alongside this, there is emerging evidence demonstrating promising results in relation to the benefits of adapted mindfulness interventions for people with dementia, suggesting that it could be beneficial in reducing depressive symptoms and in slowing deterioration in cognitive functions such as sustained attention, distraction inhibition and task switching.
Depression and dementia are major public health problems in the UK. Depression in early-stage dementia is very common and significantly reduces quality of life, speeds cognitive decline and increases functional impairment. Mindfulness-Based Cognitive Therapy (MBCT) is an effective depression prevention programme, and the National Institute for Clinical Excellence (NICE) has suggested that MBCT is a priority for implementation. Alongside this, there is emerging evidence demonstrating promising results in relation to the benefits of adapted mindfulness interventions for people with dementia, suggesting that it could be beneficial in reducing depressive symptoms and in slowing deterioration in cognitive functions such as sustained attention, distraction inhibition and task switching.
Depression and dementia are major public health problems in the UK. Depression in early-stage dementia is very common and significantly reduces quality of life, speeds cognitive decline and increases functional impairment. Mindfulness-Based Cognitive Therapy (MBCT) is an effective depression prevention programme, and the National Institute for Clinical Excellence (NICE) has suggested that MBCT is a priority for implementation. Alongside this, there is emerging evidence demonstrating promising results in relation to the benefits of adapted mindfulness interventions for people with dementia, suggesting that it could be beneficial in reducing depressive symptoms and in slowing deterioration in cognitive functions such as sustained attention, distraction inhibition and task switching.
In this paper, in collaboration with a friend, who is an artist and a licensed counselor, I use a mixed-medium art project to enact Gloria Anzaldúa’s theorizations of nepantlera. I do so by making visible how I operate from the liminal space that Anzaldúa terms nepantla, as a transnational woman of color in US higher education. Using Anzaldúa’s framework of autohistoria-teoría, I integrate fragmented storytelling, art-making, and theorization, exposing the wounds that accompany my movement through personal and professional spaces in academia. Critical to this exploration are a sense of isolation and exile, unsettling understandings of home and belongingness, and the deep excavation of wounds that maintain and proliferate divisions between self and other. Such divisions offer sites of interrogation into our complicity with our oppression through denying power that comes from within, waging war on ourselves, and venerating oppressive externalized power structures.
<p>This special issue of <em>Pacific World</em> includes essays presented during a conference on Buddhism and cognitive science hosted by the Institute of Buddhist Studies and the Center for Theology and the Natural Sciences on May 10, 2002. A second section of the journal includes essays presented during a conference entitled "Visions and Visualization: Buddhist Praxis on the Silk Road". This second conference was hosted by the Institute of Buddhist Studies and the Stanford Buddhist Studies Center on March 22, 2002. Articles, translations, and book reviews unrelated to these conferences are also included. (Zach Rowinski 2004-06-10)</p>
For more than two decades, the Invitational Seminar on Research Development in Environmental (and Health) Education series has provided a unique opportunity for participants from around the planet to discuss critical problems, trends and issues in environmental education research (EER) and environmental education (EE). Using a critical realist/materialist ‘history of the present’ method, this brief commentary outlines some of the key principles and purposes of the Seminar series that helped shape the framing, conceptualization, and contextualization of the 13th Invitational Seminar held in Bertioga, Brazil in 2015. The main theme of the 13th Seminar, posed as a researchable question, was: “What is ‘critical’ about critical environmental education research (EER)?”. There are persistent concerns that the early promise and potential of EE in the 1970s is being diminished as the field develops, diversifies and is absorbed into certain dominant logics and/or prevailing practices. The Seminar series is an attractive alternative for researchers historically committed to a critical praxis of EER that promotes environmental ethics and socio-ecological justices. For the first time in the series, environmental education researchers from Brazil (as an indicator of Latin/South America) were invited to give ‘voice’ to their research efforts. In Brazil, there is an emergent ‘body of knowledge’ that serves environmentally as a ‘location of knowledge’. Possibly, this ‘literature base’ represents a distinctive ‘geo-epistemological’ understanding of the local, translocal, national, regional, and transnational achievements and aspirations of the ‘Brazilianess’ of EER. As an evolving history of the present (and future), this commentary concludes with some basic recommendations for the future local and translocal development of ‘post-critical’ framings of inquiry that highlight the importance of sustaining locations of knowledge production in and for critical perspectives of environmental education research.
This study examines the relationship between renewable energy consumption and economic growth for a panel of twenty OECD countries over the period 1985–2005 within a multivariate framework. Given the relatively short span of the time series data, a panel cointegration and error correction model is employed to infer the causal relationship. The heterogeneous panel cointegration test reveals a long-run equilibrium relationship between real GDP, renewable energy consumption, real gross fixed capital formation, and the labor force with the respective coefficients positive and statistically significant. The Granger-causality results indicate bidirectional causality between renewable energy consumption and economic growth in both the short- and long-run.