{ "packId": "mindfulness-meditation", "packName": "Meditation & Mindfulness", "packVersion": "1.2.1", "description": "What meditation and mindfulness mean and how they differ: the body scan, loving-kindness, zazen, the five hindrances, sati and the Anapanasati Sutta, MBSR and MBCT, how the practices reached the West, and what trials show and do not show.", "author": "Flash Feed", "language": "en", "tagsVocabulary": [ "meditation", "mindfulness", "relaxation", "breathwork", "attention-styles", "mantra", "research-methods", "myths", "practice-families", "loving-kindness", "compassion", "guided-imagery", "yoga-nidra", "nondual", "uses-of-mindfulness", "wandering-mind", "default-mode-network", "open-monitoring", "meta-awareness", "traditions", "zen", "vipassana", "tibetan-buddhism", "transcendental-meditation", "yoga", "christian-contemplative", "daoist", "teachers", "timeline", "sati", "bare-attention", "mbsr", "mbct", "schools", "workplace", "military", "apps", "early-texts", "posture", "anchors", "hindrances", "retreats", "informal-practice", "walking", "body-scan", "mindful-eating", "breath-counting", "rain", "stress-response", "mechanisms", "wright", "objections", "trials", "evidence-strength", "adverse-effects", "safety", "critiques" ], "icon": "🧘", "shortName": "Meditation", "healthNotice": true, "lessons": [ { "id": "l00-introduction", "title": "Introduction: Meditation and Mindfulness", "order": 0, "studyGuidePath": "/packs/mindfulness-meditation/guides/l00-introduction.md", "parts": [ { "id": "l00p1-sorting-the-words", "title": "Sorting the words: meditation, mindfulness, relaxation and breathwork", "order": 0, "blurb": "How NCCIH and Lutz and colleagues use meditation, and how mindfulness, relaxation and breathwork fit around it.", "studyGuideAnchor": "sorting-the-words-meditation-mindfulness-relaxation-and-breathwork", "itemIds": [ "mm-l00-f-meditation-broad-word", "mm-l00-f-relaxation-and-breath", "mm-l00-d-mindfulness", "mm-l00-cmp-watch-or-change-breath", "mm-l00-tf-meditation-relaxation-technique", "mm-l00-q-lutz-definition", "mm-l00-p-relaxation-techniques", "ot-mm-l00-mindfulness-and-meditation", "ot-mm-l00-relaxation-response-changes", "ot-mm-l00-relaxation-breathwork-overlap", "ot-mm-l00-mind-body-integration" ] }, { "id": "l00p2-words-you-will-meet-again", "title": "Words you will meet again: two attention styles and mantra", "order": 1, "blurb": "Focused attention, open monitoring and mantra: three words that return in later lessons.", "studyGuideAnchor": "words-you-will-meet-again-two-attention-styles-and-mantra", "itemIds": [ "mm-l00-f-attention-styles-mantra", "mm-l00-d-focused-attention", "mm-l00-d-open-monitoring", "mm-l00-p-mantra", "mm-l00-tf-styles-one-tradition", "ot-mm-l00-focused-attention-does", "ot-mm-l00-open-monitoring-reaction", "ot-mm-l00-open-monitoring-purpose", "ot-mm-l00-mantra-not-a-style", "ot-mm-l00-styles-in-mbsr" ] } ], "objectives": [ { "id": "obj-l00-o1", "statement": "Say what meditation, mindfulness and relaxation techniques are, and tell them apart, including watching the breath (mindfulness) from changing it (breathwork).", "demonstrationIds": [ "d-l00-o1" ] }, { "id": "obj-l00-o2", "statement": "Say in plain words what focused attention, open monitoring and a mantra are, and where the two attention styles are found.", "demonstrationIds": [ "d-l00-o2" ] } ], "demonstrations": [ { "id": "d-l00-o1", "label": "Tell the four words apart", "itemIds": [ "mm-l00-d-mindfulness", "mm-l00-cmp-watch-or-change-breath", "mm-l00-tf-meditation-relaxation-technique", "mm-l00-q-lutz-definition", "mm-l00-p-relaxation-techniques" ], "requiredCorrect": 5 }, { "id": "d-l00-o2", "label": "Match the word", "itemIds": [ "mm-l00-d-focused-attention", "mm-l00-d-open-monitoring", "mm-l00-p-mantra", "mm-l00-tf-styles-one-tradition" ], "requiredCorrect": 4 } ], "objectiveTests": [ { "id": "test-l00-o1", "objectiveId": "obj-l00-o1", "title": "Sorting the words", "mcqIds": [ "mm-l00-q-lutz-definition", "ot-mm-l00-mindfulness-and-meditation", "ot-mm-l00-relaxation-response-changes", "ot-mm-l00-relaxation-breathwork-overlap", "ot-mm-l00-mind-body-integration" ] }, { "id": "test-l00-o2", "objectiveId": "obj-l00-o2", "title": "Attention styles and mantra", "mcqIds": [ "ot-mm-l00-focused-attention-does", "ot-mm-l00-open-monitoring-reaction", "ot-mm-l00-open-monitoring-purpose", "ot-mm-l00-mantra-not-a-style", "ot-mm-l00-styles-in-mbsr" ] } ] }, { "id": "l01-what-meditation-is", "title": "What Meditation Is", "order": 1, "studyGuidePath": "/packs/mindfulness-meditation/guides/l01-what-meditation-is.md", "parts": [ { "id": "l01p2-common-myths", "title": "Common myths, corrected", "order": 0, "blurb": "Eight common myths about meditation, each corrected at the strength its sources give.", "studyGuideAnchor": "common-myths-corrected", "itemIds": [ "mm-l01-f-thoughts-and-mindfulness-myths", "mm-l01-f-innate-ability", "mm-l01-f-relaxation-belief-posture-risk", "mm-l01-q-thoughts-and-wandering", "mm-l01-tf-form-of-meditation-buddhist-roots", "mm-l01-tf-secular-relaxation-by-product", "mm-l01-tf-seat-cross-legged", "mm-l01-q-meditation-and-risk", "ot-mm-l01-thoughts-observed", "ot-mm-l01-universal-dharma-dimension", "ot-mm-l01-innate-ability" ] }, { "id": "l01p3-families-of-practice", "title": "Focused attention, open monitoring and the three families", "order": 1, "blurb": "Two attention styles and three families of practice, offered by their authors as a proposal.", "studyGuideAnchor": "focused-attention-open-monitoring-and-the-three-families", "itemIds": [ "mm-l01-f-two-styles-of-attention", "mm-l01-f-three-families-proposal", "mm-l01-d-attentional-family", "mm-l01-d-constructive-family", "mm-l01-cmp-imagery-family", "mm-l01-p-self-inquiry-family", "mm-l01-q-non-dual-family", "mm-l01-tf-mixed-practices-placement", "ot-mm-l01-styles-often-combined", "ot-mm-l01-attention-family" ] }, { "id": "l01p4-kindness-imagery-and-rest", "title": "Beyond attention: kindness, imagery and lying-down practice", "order": 2, "blurb": "Loving-kindness, compassion, empathy, guided imagery and yoga nidra, with the cautions sources give.", "studyGuideAnchor": "beyond-attention-kindness-imagery-and-lying-down-practice", "itemIds": [ "mm-l01-f-loving-kindness-research", "mm-l01-f-empathy-versus-compassion", "mm-l01-f-imagery-yoga-nidra-nsdr", "mm-l01-d-karuna", "mm-l01-cmp-compassion-not-empathy", "mm-l01-p-kindness-practice-name", "mm-l01-q-lying-down-and-imagery", "ot-mm-l01-loving-kindness-literature", "ot-mm-l01-empathy-without-distinction" ] } ], "objectives": [ { "id": "obj-l01-o2", "statement": "Correct the common myths about what meditation is and what it requires.", "demonstrationIds": [ "d-l01-o2" ] }, { "id": "obj-l01-o3", "statement": "Sort a described practice into a family of the 2015 scheme, and describe loving-kindness, compassion, guided imagery, non-dual practice and yoga nidra.", "demonstrationIds": [ "d-l01-o3" ] } ], "demonstrations": [ { "id": "d-l01-o2", "label": "Myth or supported?", "itemIds": [ "mm-l01-q-thoughts-and-wandering", "mm-l01-tf-form-of-meditation-buddhist-roots", "mm-l01-tf-secular-relaxation-by-product", "mm-l01-tf-seat-cross-legged", "mm-l01-q-meditation-and-risk" ], "requiredCorrect": 5 }, { "id": "d-l01-o3", "label": "Which family is this?", "itemIds": [ "mm-l01-cmp-imagery-family", "mm-l01-q-non-dual-family", "mm-l01-tf-mixed-practices-placement", "mm-l01-cmp-compassion-not-empathy", "mm-l01-p-kindness-practice-name", "mm-l01-q-lying-down-and-imagery" ], "requiredCorrect": 6 } ], "objectiveTests": [ { "id": "test-l01-o2", "objectiveId": "obj-l01-o2", "title": "Myths about meditation", "mcqIds": [ "mm-l01-q-thoughts-and-wandering", "mm-l01-q-meditation-and-risk", "ot-mm-l01-thoughts-observed", "ot-mm-l01-universal-dharma-dimension", "ot-mm-l01-innate-ability" ] }, { "id": "test-l01-o3", "objectiveId": "obj-l01-o3", "title": "Families of meditation practice", "mcqIds": [ "mm-l01-q-non-dual-family", "mm-l01-q-lying-down-and-imagery", "ot-mm-l01-attention-family", "ot-mm-l01-loving-kindness-literature", "ot-mm-l01-empathy-without-distinction" ] } ] }, { "id": "l02-what-mindfulness-means", "title": "What Mindfulness Means", "order": 2, "studyGuidePath": "/packs/mindfulness-meditation/guides/l02-what-mindfulness-means.md", "parts": [ { "id": "l02p1-three-meanings-of-mindfulness", "title": "Three things people mean by mindfulness", "order": 0, "blurb": "Researchers sort uses of the word mindfulness into state, trait and procedure, and authors define it differently.", "studyGuideAnchor": "three-things-people-mean-by-mindfulness", "itemIds": [ "mm-l02-f-three-uses", "mm-l02-f-defined-author-by-author", "mm-l02-d-trait-mindfulness", "mm-l02-q-three-studies-sorted", "mm-l02-c-effects-that-endure", "mm-l02-q-bishop-second-component", "mm-l02-tf-kz-ends-with-curiosity" ] }, { "id": "l02p2-the-wandering-mind", "title": "The wandering mind, in practice and in daily life", "order": 1, "blurb": "A proposed four-interval wandering cycle, the default mode network, and a large study of everyday mind wandering.", "studyGuideAnchor": "the-wandering-mind-in-practice-and-in-daily-life", "itemIds": [ "mm-l02-f-four-interval-cycle", "mm-l02-f-minds-wander-daily", "mm-l02-d-mind-wandering", "mm-l02-d-default-mode-network", "mm-l02-proc-wandering-cycle", "mm-l02-c-default-mode-areas", "mm-l02-q-share-of-samples", "mm-l02-tf-thinking-beats-doing", "ot-mm-l02-cycle-is-a-process" ] }, { "id": "l02p3-open-monitoring-and-meta-awareness", "title": "Open monitoring and meta-awareness", "order": 2, "blurb": "Open monitoring in detail: non-reactive awareness, labeling, two kinds of monitoring, and meta-awareness.", "studyGuideAnchor": "open-monitoring-and-meta-awareness", "itemIds": [ "mm-l02-f-open-monitoring-basics", "mm-l02-f-labeling-and-two-kinds", "mm-l02-d-meta-awareness", "mm-l02-cmp-attention-to-whatever-arises", "mm-l02-cmp-aim-of-open-monitoring", "mm-l02-c-labeling-tradition", "mm-l02-q-why-open-monitoring-term" ] } ], "objectives": [ { "id": "obj-l02-o1", "statement": "Explain what researchers mean by the word mindfulness, and describe how they study the wandering mind and open monitoring.", "demonstrationIds": [ "d-l02-o1" ] } ], "demonstrations": [ { "id": "d-l02-o1", "label": "Sort the uses, order the cycle, place open monitoring", "itemIds": [ "mm-l02-q-three-studies-sorted", "mm-l02-tf-kz-ends-with-curiosity", "mm-l02-proc-wandering-cycle", "mm-l02-q-share-of-samples", "mm-l02-cmp-aim-of-open-monitoring", "mm-l02-c-labeling-tradition" ], "requiredCorrect": 6 } ], "objectiveTests": [ { "id": "test-l02-o1", "objectiveId": "obj-l02-o1", "title": "Mindfulness, the wandering mind and open monitoring", "mcqIds": [ "mm-l02-q-three-studies-sorted", "mm-l02-q-bishop-second-component", "mm-l02-q-share-of-samples", "mm-l02-q-why-open-monitoring-term", "ot-mm-l02-cycle-is-a-process" ] } ] }, { "id": "l03-where-meditation-comes-from", "title": "Where Meditation Comes From", "order": 3, "studyGuidePath": "/packs/mindfulness-meditation/guides/l03-where-meditation-comes-from.md", "parts": [ { "id": "l03p1-traditions-at-a-glance", "title": "The traditions at a glance", "order": 0, "blurb": "Eight traditions to tell apart, from the Vipassana movement and Zen to centering prayer and secular programs.", "studyGuideAnchor": "the-traditions-at-a-glance", "itemIds": [ "mm-l03-f-buddhist-roads-differ", "mm-l03-f-mantra-prayer-programs", "mm-l03-k-vipassana-movement", "mm-l03-k-zen", "mm-l03-k-tibetan-buddhism", "mm-l03-k-transcendental-meditation", "mm-l03-k-centering-prayer", "mm-l03-k-secular-programs", "ot-mm-l03-soto-approach", "ot-mm-l03-emptiness-meditation" ] }, { "id": "l03p2-teachers-who-carried-practice-west", "title": "Teachers who carried practice West", "order": 1, "blurb": "Ten teachers who carried practice West, from the two Suzukis and Maharishi to Goenka, Kornfield and Salzberg.", "studyGuideAnchor": "teachers-who-carried-practice-west", "itemIds": [ "mm-l03-f-teachers-japan-india", "mm-l03-f-hippie-trail-to-barre", "mm-l03-k-dt-suzuki", "mm-l03-k-shunryu-suzuki", "mm-l03-k-maharishi-mahesh-yogi", "mm-l03-k-sn-goenka", "mm-l03-k-jack-kornfield", "mm-l03-k-sharon-salzberg", "ot-mm-l03-naropa-courses" ] }, { "id": "l03p3-timeline-1893-to-1990", "title": "A timeline of the crossing West, 1893 to 1990", "order": 2, "blurb": "Dated events from the 1893 Parliament of Religions to Full Catastrophe Living in 1990, in order.", "studyGuideAnchor": "a-timeline-of-the-crossing-west-1893-to-1990", "itemIds": [ "mm-l03-f-parliament-and-suzuki", "mm-l03-f-arrivals-and-books", "mm-l03-n-parliament-1893", "mm-l03-n-essays-1927", "mm-l03-n-shunryu-1959", "mm-l03-n-beatles-1968", "mm-l03-n-relaxation-1975", "mm-l03-n-full-catastrophe-1990", "ot-mm-l03-sokoji-teacher", "ot-mm-l03-between-1959-and-1975" ] } ], "objectives": [ { "id": "obj-l03-o1", "statement": "Tell the main meditation traditions apart from short descriptions, and say who carried practice to the West and when.", "demonstrationIds": [ "d-l03-o1" ] } ], "demonstrations": [ { "id": "d-l03-o1", "label": "Traditions, teachers and dates of the crossing West", "itemIds": [ "mm-l03-k-tibetan-buddhism", "mm-l03-k-centering-prayer", "mm-l03-k-sn-goenka", "mm-l03-k-shunryu-suzuki", "mm-l03-n-parliament-1893", "mm-l03-n-full-catastrophe-1990" ], "requiredCorrect": 6 } ], "objectiveTests": [ { "id": "test-l03-o1", "objectiveId": "obj-l03-o1", "title": "Where meditation comes from: traditions, teachers, dates", "mcqIds": [ "ot-mm-l03-soto-approach", "ot-mm-l03-emptiness-meditation", "ot-mm-l03-sokoji-teacher", "ot-mm-l03-naropa-courses", "ot-mm-l03-between-1959-and-1975" ] } ] }, { "id": "l04-where-mindfulness-comes-from", "title": "Where Mindfulness Comes From", "order": 4, "studyGuidePath": "/packs/mindfulness-meditation/guides/l04-where-mindfulness-comes-from.md", "parts": [ { "id": "l04p1-sati-to-mindfulness", "title": "From sati to mindfulness", "order": 0, "blurb": "What sati meant, how it became mindfulness, the MN 10 formula, and the bare-attention reading with its critics", "studyGuideAnchor": "from-sati-to-mindfulness", "itemIds": [ "mm-l04-d-sati", "mm-l04-d-reductionism", "mm-l04-f-lucid-awareness", "mm-l04-f-mn10-formula", "mm-l04-f-bare-attention-origin", "mm-l04-q-formula-count", "mm-l04-q-bare-attention-origin", "mm-l04-q-secular-scholar", "ot-mm-l04-sati-first-meaning", "ot-mm-l04-sharf-argument" ] }, { "id": "l04p2-mbsr-and-mbct", "title": "MBSR and MBCT", "order": 1, "blurb": "NCCIH's descriptions of MBSR and MBCT, and what the PREVENT trial and NICE guideline NG222 say about MBCT", "studyGuideAnchor": "mbsr-and-mbct", "itemIds": [ "mm-l04-d-mbsr", "mm-l04-d-mbct", "mm-l04-f-mbct-origin", "mm-l04-f-prevent-trial", "mm-l04-f-ng222", "mm-l04-cmp-mbct-vs-mbsr", "mm-l04-p-prevent-design", "mm-l04-q-prevent-finding", "mm-l04-q-ng222-sessions", "ot-mm-l04-mbct-origin" ] }, { "id": "l04p3-institutions-and-apps", "title": "Hospitals, schools, workplaces, the military and apps", "order": 2, "blurb": "The MYRIAD school trial, NICE workplace guidance, and the app era in brief: TIME in 2014, Headspace and Calm", "studyGuideAnchor": "hospitals-schools-workplaces-the-military-and-apps", "itemIds": [ "mm-l04-f-myriad-trial", "mm-l04-f-ng212-workplace", "mm-l04-f-app-era", "mm-l04-q-myriad-comparison", "mm-l04-q-ng212-offer", "mm-l04-q-time-year", "mm-l04-tf-myriad-superior", "mm-l04-tf-ng212-substitute" ] }, { "id": "l04p4-breath-in-early-texts", "title": "Mindfulness of breathing in the early texts", "order": 3, "blurb": "The Anapanasati Sutta (MN 118): its opening scene, sixteen steps in four groups, and where else the texts teach it", "studyGuideAnchor": "mindfulness-of-breathing-in-the-early-texts", "itemIds": [ "mm-l04-d-anapanasati", "mm-l04-f-inside-mn118", "mm-l04-f-breath-elsewhere", "mm-l04-proc-sixteen-steps", "mm-l04-q-last-four-steps", "mm-l04-q-mn10-body-parts", "mm-l04-tf-cross-legged-rule", "ot-mm-l04-anapanasati-name", "ot-mm-l04-mn118-setting", "ot-mm-l04-mindfulness-before-breathing" ] } ], "objectives": [ { "id": "obj-l04-o1", "statement": "Explain what sati meant in the early texts and where the bare-attention reading came from, and what scholars such as Sharf and Bodhi argue.", "demonstrationIds": [ "d-l04-o1" ] }, { "id": "obj-l04-o2", "statement": "Describe MBSR and MBCT, tell them apart, and say what trials and guidelines report about mindfulness programs in schools and workplaces.", "demonstrationIds": [ "d-l04-o2" ] }, { "id": "obj-l04-o3", "statement": "Describe how the early texts set out mindfulness of breathing: its discourse and opening scene, its sixteen steps in four groups, and where else it is taught.", "demonstrationIds": [ "d-l04-o3" ] } ], "demonstrations": [ { "id": "d-l04-o1", "label": "Who reads sati this way?", "itemIds": [ "mm-l04-d-sati", "ot-mm-l04-sati-first-meaning", "mm-l04-q-bare-attention-origin", "ot-mm-l04-sharf-argument", "mm-l04-q-secular-scholar" ], "requiredCorrect": 5 }, { "id": "d-l04-o2", "label": "Weigh the claim", "itemIds": [ "mm-l04-cmp-mbct-vs-mbsr", "mm-l04-q-prevent-finding", "mm-l04-q-ng222-sessions", "mm-l04-tf-myriad-superior", "mm-l04-tf-ng212-substitute" ], "requiredCorrect": 5 }, { "id": "d-l04-o3", "label": "Read the breathing discourse", "itemIds": [ "mm-l04-d-anapanasati", "mm-l04-tf-cross-legged-rule", "mm-l04-proc-sixteen-steps", "mm-l04-q-last-four-steps", "mm-l04-q-mn10-body-parts" ], "requiredCorrect": 5 } ], "objectiveTests": [ { "id": "test-l04-o1", "objectiveId": "obj-l04-o1", "title": "Sati, the formula and bare attention", "mcqIds": [ "mm-l04-q-formula-count", "mm-l04-q-bare-attention-origin", "mm-l04-q-secular-scholar", "ot-mm-l04-sati-first-meaning", "ot-mm-l04-sharf-argument" ] }, { "id": "test-l04-o2", "objectiveId": "obj-l04-o2", "title": "MBSR, MBCT and what the studies report", "mcqIds": [ "mm-l04-q-prevent-finding", "mm-l04-q-myriad-comparison", "mm-l04-q-ng212-offer", "mm-l04-q-ng222-sessions", "ot-mm-l04-mbct-origin" ] }, { "id": "test-l04-o3", "objectiveId": "obj-l04-o3", "title": "Mindfulness of breathing in the early texts", "mcqIds": [ "mm-l04-q-last-four-steps", "mm-l04-q-mn10-body-parts", "ot-mm-l04-anapanasati-name", "ot-mm-l04-mn118-setting", "ot-mm-l04-mindfulness-before-breathing" ] } ] }, { "id": "l05-sitting-practice", "title": "Sitting Meditation", "order": 5, "studyGuidePath": "/packs/mindfulness-meditation/guides/l05-sitting-practice.md", "parts": [ { "id": "l05p1-posture-and-anchors", "title": "Posture and anchors as teachers describe them", "order": 0, "blurb": "Posture, seats and eyes as centers describe them, anchors, and Gunaratana on watching the breath without controlling it.", "studyGuideAnchor": "posture-and-anchors-as-teachers-describe-them", "itemIds": [ "mm-l05-f-posture-aim", "mm-l05-f-eyes-differ", "mm-l05-f-why-breath-object", "mm-l05-d-anchor", "mm-l05-q-lotus-stable", "mm-l05-q-teacher-breath-object", "mm-l05-tf-eyes-closed", "mm-l05-tf-no-control", "ot-mm-l05-useful-object-qualities" ] }, { "id": "l05p2-zen-sitting", "title": "Zen sitting: zazen, shikantaza and the two schools", "order": 1, "blurb": "Zazen, shikantaza, kinhin and sesshin, and how Britannica describes the Soto and Rinzai schools.", "studyGuideAnchor": "zen-sitting-zazen-shikantaza-and-the-two-schools", "itemIds": [ "mm-l05-f-zen-zazen", "mm-l05-f-soto-rinzai", "mm-l05-d-shikantaza", "mm-l05-d-sesshin", "mm-l05-cmp-soto-brought-by-dogen", "mm-l05-q-dokusan-interview", "ot-mm-l05-shikantaza-meaning" ] }, { "id": "l05p3-five-hindrances", "title": "When the mind rebels: the five hindrances", "order": 2, "blurb": "The five hindrances with their Pali names, and the water similes the Buddha used for each.", "studyGuideAnchor": "when-the-mind-rebels-the-five-hindrances", "itemIds": [ "mm-l05-f-five-hindrances", "mm-l05-f-water-similes", "mm-l05-d-nivarana", "mm-l05-c-hindrances-fifth", "mm-l05-p-ill-will-boiling-water", "mm-l05-p-dullness-moss-water", "mm-l05-q-sloth-torpor-pali" ] }, { "id": "l05p4-retreats-and-teachers", "title": "Retreats and teachers", "order": 3, "blurb": "Goenka course rules, and what organizers say about strain, medical care and who a retreat may not suit.", "studyGuideAnchor": "retreats-and-teachers", "itemIds": [ "mm-l05-f-goenka-course", "mm-l05-f-ims-suitability-care", "mm-l05-f-strain-discomfort", "mm-l05-d-noble-silence", "mm-l05-q-goenka-course-rules", "mm-l05-q-zss-first-step", "mm-l05-tf-ims-retreat-caution" ] } ], "objectives": [ { "id": "obj-l05-o1", "statement": "Describe how teachers frame posture, the breath as an anchor, Zen sitting, the five hindrances and retreats, including organizers' suitability statements.", "demonstrationIds": [ "d-l05-o1" ] } ], "demonstrations": [ { "id": "d-l05-o1", "label": "Which teaching is this?", "itemIds": [ "mm-l05-tf-eyes-closed", "mm-l05-q-lotus-stable", "mm-l05-tf-no-control", "ot-mm-l05-shikantaza-meaning", "mm-l05-c-hindrances-fifth", "mm-l05-tf-ims-retreat-caution" ], "requiredCorrect": 6 } ], "objectiveTests": [ { "id": "test-l05-o1", "objectiveId": "obj-l05-o1", "title": "Sitting meditation as teachers describe it", "mcqIds": [ "mm-l05-q-lotus-stable", "mm-l05-q-sloth-torpor-pali", "mm-l05-q-goenka-course-rules", "ot-mm-l05-useful-object-qualities", "ot-mm-l05-shikantaza-meaning" ] } ] }, { "id": "l06-mindfulness-in-practice", "title": "Mindfulness in Practice", "order": 6, "studyGuidePath": "/packs/mindfulness-meditation/guides/l06-mindfulness-in-practice.md", "parts": [ { "id": "l06p1-formal-and-informal-practice", "title": "Formal and informal practice, mindful movement and walking", "order": 0, "blurb": "Formal and informal practice, the practices MBSR teaches, meditative movement, and formal walking meditation.", "studyGuideAnchor": "formal-and-informal-practice-mindful-movement-and-walking", "itemIds": [ "mm-l06-f-formal-informal", "mm-l06-f-walking-meditation", "mm-l06-d-qigong", "mm-l06-cmp-formal-or-informal", "mm-l06-q-mbsr-three-practices", "mm-l06-q-walking-anchor", "mm-l06-p-meditative-movement", "ot-mm-l06-walking-short-path", "ot-mm-l06-mbsr-early-weeks", "ot-mm-l06-tai-chi-form-of-qigong" ] }, { "id": "l06p2-basic-exercises", "title": "Basic exercises at a glance: breath counting, body scan, mindful eating", "order": 1, "blurb": "Eight basic exercises, from mindfulness of breathing to mindful eating, told apart by short descriptions.", "studyGuideAnchor": "basic-exercises-at-a-glance-breath-counting-body-scan-mindful-eating", "itemIds": [ "mm-l06-f-breath-number-word-clay", "mm-l06-f-scan-label-open-eat", "mm-l06-k-mindfulness-breathing", "mm-l06-k-breath-counting", "mm-l06-k-mantra-repetition", "mm-l06-k-body-scan", "mm-l06-k-noting", "mm-l06-k-kasina", "mm-l06-k-mindful-eating", "ot-mm-l06-not-literally-choiceless", "ot-mm-l06-open-awareness-description", "ot-mm-l06-kasina-purpose", "ot-mm-l06-body-scan-opens-mbsr", "ot-mm-l06-zen-just-sitting" ] }, { "id": "l06p3-rain", "title": "RAIN: staying with a difficult moment", "order": 2, "blurb": "RAIN as Michele McDonald's four steps and Tara Brach's fuller version, and how it can be used.", "studyGuideAnchor": "rain-staying-with-a-difficult-moment", "itemIds": [ "mm-l06-d-rain", "mm-l06-f-rain-credit-use", "mm-l06-f-rain-two-versions", "mm-l06-proc-mcdonald-rain", "mm-l06-p-brach-fifth-step", "mm-l06-q-rain-credit", "ot-mm-l06-brach-investigate-wording", "ot-mm-l06-brach-fourth-step", "ot-mm-l06-rain-versions-compared", "ot-mm-l06-rain-what-it-is" ] } ], "objectives": [ { "id": "obj-l06-o1", "statement": "Tell formal from informal mindfulness practice, and describe the formal practices MBSR teaches, including mindful movement and walking.", "demonstrationIds": [ "d-l06-o1" ] }, { "id": "obj-l06-o2", "statement": "Identify the basic attention exercises, from mindfulness of breathing to mindful eating, from a short description.", "demonstrationIds": [ "d-l06-o2" ] }, { "id": "obj-l06-o3", "statement": "Set out RAIN as its teachers describe it, and say whose version is meant.", "demonstrationIds": [ "d-l06-o3" ] } ], "demonstrations": [ { "id": "d-l06-o1", "label": "Formal or informal?", "itemIds": [ "mm-l06-cmp-formal-or-informal", "mm-l06-q-mbsr-three-practices", "mm-l06-q-walking-anchor", "mm-l06-p-meditative-movement" ], "requiredCorrect": 4 }, { "id": "d-l06-o2", "label": "Name the exercise", "itemIds": [ "mm-l06-k-mindfulness-breathing", "mm-l06-k-breath-counting", "mm-l06-k-mantra-repetition", "mm-l06-k-body-scan", "mm-l06-k-noting", "mm-l06-k-mindful-eating" ], "requiredCorrect": 6 }, { "id": "d-l06-o3", "label": "Whose RAIN is this?", "itemIds": [ "mm-l06-d-rain", "mm-l06-q-rain-credit", "mm-l06-proc-mcdonald-rain", "mm-l06-p-brach-fifth-step" ], "requiredCorrect": 4 } ], "objectiveTests": [ { "id": "test-l06-o1", "objectiveId": "obj-l06-o1", "title": "Formal and informal practice, MBSR and walking", "mcqIds": [ "mm-l06-q-mbsr-three-practices", "mm-l06-q-walking-anchor", "ot-mm-l06-walking-short-path", "ot-mm-l06-mbsr-early-weeks", "ot-mm-l06-tai-chi-form-of-qigong" ] }, { "id": "test-l06-o2", "objectiveId": "obj-l06-o2", "title": "Telling the basic exercises apart", "mcqIds": [ "ot-mm-l06-not-literally-choiceless", "ot-mm-l06-open-awareness-description", "ot-mm-l06-kasina-purpose", "ot-mm-l06-body-scan-opens-mbsr", "ot-mm-l06-zen-just-sitting" ] }, { "id": "test-l06-o3", "objectiveId": "obj-l06-o3", "title": "RAIN and whose version is meant", "mcqIds": [ "mm-l06-q-rain-credit", "ot-mm-l06-brach-investigate-wording", "ot-mm-l06-brach-fourth-step", "ot-mm-l06-rain-versions-compared", "ot-mm-l06-rain-what-it-is" ] } ] }, { "id": "l07-how-meditation-might-work", "title": "How Meditation Might Work", "order": 7, "studyGuidePath": "/packs/mindfulness-meditation/guides/l07-how-meditation-might-work.md", "parts": [ { "id": "l07p1-how-might-it-work", "title": "How might it work? Stress, attention and the default mode network", "order": 0, "blurb": "Proposed mechanisms, the stress response's two routes, and what default mode network studies do and do not show.", "studyGuideAnchor": "how-might-it-work-stress-attention-and-the-default-mode-network", "itemIds": [ "mm-l07-f-four-components", "mm-l07-f-two-stress-routes", "mm-l07-f-brain-studies-care", "mm-l07-d-decentering", "mm-l07-proc-slower-stress-route", "mm-l07-q-main-limitation", "mm-l07-tf-nccih-brain-studies", "ot-mm-l07-kind-of-paper", "ot-mm-l07-one-of-the-four", "ot-mm-l07-stress-two-routes", "ot-mm-l07-what-replication-asks" ] }, { "id": "l07p2-claim-and-author", "title": "The claim and the author", "order": 1, "blurb": "Who Robert Wright is, what he says his claim is and is not, and the steps of his argument from interviews.", "studyGuideAnchor": "the-claim-and-the-author", "itemIds": [ "mm-l07-f-robert-wright", "mm-l07-f-claim-and-scope", "mm-l07-f-calm-then-distance", "mm-l07-d-naturalistic-buddhism", "mm-l07-p-critical-distance", "mm-l07-q-why-people-suffer", "mm-l07-q-agnostic-about" ] }, { "id": "l07p3-practice-and-objections", "title": "From argument to practice, and the objections", "order": 2, "blurb": "How Wright ties mindfulness to his argument, which parts rest on psychology or practice, and the objections.", "studyGuideAnchor": "from-argument-to-practice-and-the-objections", "itemIds": [ "mm-l07-f-mindfulness-and-selection", "mm-l07-f-two-kinds-of-support", "mm-l07-f-objections-and-replies", "mm-l07-p-speculation-reply", "mm-l07-q-two-kinds-of-argument", "mm-l07-q-partly-confusion", "mm-l07-tf-rebellion-and-compassion", "ot-mm-l07-therapy-toward-not-self" ] } ], "objectives": [ { "id": "obj-l07-o1", "statement": "Describe proposed mechanisms such as decentering and the body's stress routes, and the limits that brain-study authors state.", "demonstrationIds": [ "d-l07-o1" ] }, { "id": "obj-l07-o2", "statement": "Identify Robert Wright's stated positions as public sources report them, how they tie to practice, and the main objections and his replies.", "demonstrationIds": [ "d-l07-o2" ] } ], "demonstrations": [ { "id": "d-l07-o1", "label": "Test the headline", "itemIds": [ "mm-l07-d-decentering", "mm-l07-proc-slower-stress-route", "mm-l07-q-main-limitation", "mm-l07-tf-nccih-brain-studies" ], "requiredCorrect": 4 }, { "id": "d-l07-o2", "label": "Reply to the objection", "itemIds": [ "mm-l07-q-agnostic-about", "mm-l07-p-critical-distance", "mm-l07-p-speculation-reply", "mm-l07-q-partly-confusion", "mm-l07-q-two-kinds-of-argument" ], "requiredCorrect": 5 } ], "objectiveTests": [ { "id": "test-l07-o1", "objectiveId": "obj-l07-o1", "title": "Check: how meditation might work", "mcqIds": [ "mm-l07-q-main-limitation", "ot-mm-l07-kind-of-paper", "ot-mm-l07-one-of-the-four", "ot-mm-l07-stress-two-routes", "ot-mm-l07-what-replication-asks" ] }, { "id": "test-l07-o2", "objectiveId": "obj-l07-o2", "title": "Check: the argument and its objections", "mcqIds": [ "mm-l07-q-why-people-suffer", "mm-l07-q-agnostic-about", "mm-l07-q-two-kinds-of-argument", "mm-l07-q-partly-confusion", "ot-mm-l07-therapy-toward-not-self" ] } ] }, { "id": "l08-what-the-evidence-shows", "title": "What the Evidence Shows", "order": 8, "studyGuidePath": "/packs/mindfulness-meditation/guides/l08-what-the-evidence-shows.md", "parts": [ { "id": "l08p1-what-trials-show", "title": "What trials show, and how strong", "order": 0, "blurb": "A graded 2014 review, why the evidence is called preliminary, and a combined trial of brain structure.", "studyGuideAnchor": "what-trials-show-and-how-strong", "itemIds": [ "mm-l08-f-how-trials-test-meditation", "mm-l08-f-goyal-grades-2014", "mm-l08-f-why-preliminary", "mm-l08-f-brain-structure-test", "mm-l08-q-moderate-rates-what", "mm-l08-q-significant-share-caution", "mm-l08-q-mbsr-brain-headline", "mm-l08-tf-double-blind-impossible", "mm-l08-tf-programs-beat-active", "ot-mm-l08-research-too-optimistic" ] }, { "id": "l08p2-adverse-effects", "title": "When meditation is hard: adverse effects", "order": 1, "blurb": "How often adverse effects are reported and why figures differ, who was studied, and where guidance sits.", "studyGuideAnchor": "when-meditation-is-hard-adverse-effects", "itemIds": [ "mm-l08-f-adverse-figures-differ", "mm-l08-f-who-was-studied", "mm-l08-f-guidance-qualified-help", "mm-l08-q-figures-depend-on", "mm-l08-q-risk-management-limited", "mm-l08-q-gathered-guidelines", "mm-l08-tf-selected-sample-prevalence", "mm-l08-tf-nccih-tips-care" ] }, { "id": "l08p3-critiques", "title": "The critiques of the mindfulness movement", "order": 2, "blurb": "The McMindfulness critique, two defenses of mindfulness, and whose argument is whose.", "studyGuideAnchor": "the-critiques-of-the-mindfulness-movement", "itemIds": [ "mm-l08-f-mcmindfulness-critique", "mm-l08-f-defenses-of-mindfulness", "mm-l08-p-purser-loy-burden", "mm-l08-q-ethics-framework-author", "mm-l08-q-unwittingly-faults", "mm-l08-tf-never-a-vehicle", "mm-l08-tf-empirical-studies-reform", "ot-mm-l08-right-from-wrong", "ot-mm-l08-wise-right-mindfulness", "ot-mm-l08-revolution-rhetoric" ] } ], "objectives": [ { "id": "obj-l08-o1", "statement": "Summarize what trials and reviews show and do not show about meditation and mindfulness, how strong the evidence is, and what is known about adverse effects.", "demonstrationIds": [ "d-l08-o1" ] }, { "id": "obj-l08-o2", "statement": "Identify the main critiques of the mindfulness movement and the replies made to them.", "demonstrationIds": [ "d-l08-o2" ] } ], "demonstrations": [ { "id": "d-l08-o1", "label": "Test the headline", "itemIds": [ "mm-l08-q-moderate-rates-what", "mm-l08-q-significant-share-caution", "mm-l08-q-mbsr-brain-headline", "mm-l08-q-figures-depend-on", "mm-l08-tf-selected-sample-prevalence", "mm-l08-tf-nccih-tips-care" ], "requiredCorrect": 6 }, { "id": "d-l08-o2", "label": "Critiques and replies", "itemIds": [ "mm-l08-p-purser-loy-burden", "mm-l08-q-ethics-framework-author", "mm-l08-q-unwittingly-faults", "mm-l08-tf-empirical-studies-reform" ], "requiredCorrect": 4 } ], "objectiveTests": [ { "id": "test-l08-o1", "objectiveId": "obj-l08-o1", "title": "Trials, limits and adverse effects", "mcqIds": [ "mm-l08-q-moderate-rates-what", "mm-l08-q-significant-share-caution", "mm-l08-q-mbsr-brain-headline", "mm-l08-q-figures-depend-on", "ot-mm-l08-research-too-optimistic" ] }, { "id": "test-l08-o2", "objectiveId": "obj-l08-o2", "title": "Critiques and replies", "mcqIds": [ "mm-l08-q-ethics-framework-author", "mm-l08-q-unwittingly-faults", "ot-mm-l08-right-from-wrong", "ot-mm-l08-wise-right-mindfulness", "ot-mm-l08-revolution-rhetoric" ] } ] } ], "items": [ { "id": "mm-l00-f-meditation-broad-word", "shape": "fact", "tags": [ "meditation" ], "source": { "label": "NCCIH β€” Meditation and Mindfulness: Effectiveness and Safety", "url": "https://www.nccih.nih.gov/health/meditation-and-mindfulness-effectiveness-and-safety" }, "title": "Meditation Is a Broad Word", "body": "**Meditation** is a broad word. The National Center for Complementary and Integrative Health (NCCIH) uses it for a variety of practices that focus on mind and body integration, and its examples hold attention on a sensation such as breathing, a sound, a visual image or a mantra (a repeated word or phrase). A 2008 paper by Lutz and colleagues defines it as a family of attentional and emotional regulation training methods. They call describing it as a mere relaxation technique overly generic, and say that failing to tell its types apart would be like using the one word sport for every sport.", "illustration": { "imagePrompt": "A small group of adults sitting on cushions in a quiet, bright room with their eyes lowered and their hands resting in their laps.", "imageSearchTerm": "group meditation class", "alt": "A small group of adults meditating together in a studio", "kind": "photo", "credit": "Pexels Β· Yan Krukau Β· Pexels License", "creditUrl": "https://www.pexels.com/photo/photo-of-women-doing-yoga-8436768/", "subject": "Three young women in grey and beige activewear sit cross-legged on grey mats on a wooden studio floor in front of a mirrored wall, hands resting on their knees in chin mudra, the two on the right with eyes closed and the one on the left gazing softly ahead; the mirror shows only indistinct reversed ", "url": "https://cdn.recurxive.com/packs/mindfulness-meditation/images/mm-l00-f-meditation-broad-word.webp" }, "uid": "6zzspl13dfrp" }, { "id": "mm-l00-f-relaxation-and-breath", "shape": "fact", "tags": [ "relaxation", "breathwork" ], "source": { "label": "NCCIH β€” Relaxation Techniques: What You Need To Know", "url": "https://www.nccih.nih.gov/health/relaxation-techniques-what-you-need-to-know" }, "title": "Relaxation Techniques and the Breath", "body": "**Relaxation techniques** are practices that help bring about the relaxation response: slower breathing, lower blood pressure and a reduced heart rate, which NCCIH calls the opposite of the stress response. NCCIH's list includes guided imagery, self-hypnosis and breathing exercises, so relaxation techniques and breathwork overlap. In a 2023 paper, researchers draw a line between two uses of the breath: mindfulness programs typically ask for observation of the breath as an object of awareness, while breathwork asks for voluntary regulation of how a person breathes.", "illustration": { "imagePrompt": "A calm photo of a person with one hand resting on the belly, breathing slowly. No readable text, brands or logos.", "imageSearchTerm": "hand on belly breathing", "alt": "A person resting a hand on their belly while breathing slowly", "kind": "photo", "credit": "Pexels Β· Vlada Karpovich Β· Pexels License", "creditUrl": "https://www.pexels.com/photo/a-woman-in-black-leggings-sitting-near-the-glass-windows-while-meditating-4534858/", "subject": "Young woman in a beige sports top and black leggings, eyes closed, sitting cross-legged on a wooden windowsill with one hand on her upper chest and the other on her belly; a street with parked cars shows through the window behind her and a small vase of dried flowers sits at the right.", "url": "https://cdn.recurxive.com/packs/mindfulness-meditation/images/mm-l00-f-relaxation-and-breath.9aab6605.webp" }, "uid": "5dw18n6ljqc" }, { "id": "mm-l00-d-mindfulness", "shape": "definition", "tags": [ "mindfulness", "meditation" ], "source": { "label": "NCCIH β€” Meditation and Mindfulness: Effectiveness and Safety", "url": "https://www.nccih.nih.gov/health/meditation-and-mindfulness-effectiveness-and-safety" }, "term": { "modality": "text", "value": "Mindfulness", "short": "Mindfulness" }, "definition": { "modality": "text", "value": "One form of meditation, on NCCIH's view: staying aware of the present moment while setting judgment aside", "short": "One form of meditation (NCCIH)" }, "uid": "jmr0xacshvp" }, { "id": "mm-l00-cmp-watch-or-change-breath", "shape": "comparison", "tags": [ "breathwork", "mindfulness" ], "source": { "label": "Fincham and colleagues β€” Effect of breathwork on stress and mental health (2023)", "url": "https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC9828383/" }, "prompt": "A teacher asks the class to notice each breath as it comes and goes, without changing it. Which word does that go with?", "correct": { "caption": "Mindfulness" }, "incorrect": { "caption": "Breathwork" }, "explanation": "Watching the breath sits with mindfulness, while changing it on purpose is breathwork, a separate subject. In a 2023 paper, researchers draw this line: mindfulness programs typically ask for observation of the breath, breathwork for voluntary regulation of how a person breathes.", "uid": "1r1tkhp1rur1jl" }, { "id": "mm-l00-tf-meditation-relaxation-technique", "shape": "trueFalse", "tags": [ "meditation", "relaxation" ], "source": { "label": "Lutz, Slagter, Dunne and Davidson β€” Attention regulation and monitoring in meditation (2008)", "url": "https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC2693206/" }, "statement": "Meditation is just a relaxation technique.", "isTrue": false, "why": "A 2008 paper calls the description of meditation as a mere relaxation technique overly generic. Its authors say that failing to tell the types of meditation apart would be like using the one word sport for every sport.", "uid": "1smtu6l1xmzo6n" }, { "id": "mm-l00-q-lutz-definition", "shape": "mcq", "tags": [ "meditation" ], "source": { "label": "Lutz, Slagter, Dunne and Davidson β€” Attention regulation and monitoring in meditation (2008)", "url": "https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC2693206/" }, "prompt": { "modality": "text", "value": "In a 2008 paper, meditation is defined as a family of which kind of methods?" }, "options": [ { "modality": "text", "value": "Physical and emotional relaxation training", "short": "Body and emotion relaxation" }, { "modality": "text", "value": "Attentional and emotional regulation training", "short": "Attention and emotion training" }, { "modality": "text", "value": "Memory and reasoning improvement training", "short": "Memory and reasoning training" }, { "modality": "text", "value": "Strength and flexibility conditioning", "short": "Strength and flexibility" } ], "correctIndex": 1, "explanation": "The 2008 paper defines meditation as a family of attentional and emotional regulation training methods. Relaxation, memory and strength training are different kinds of training from the one it names.", "uid": "1bs0zrsb9jw44" }, { "id": "mm-l00-p-relaxation-techniques", "shape": "pair", "tags": [ "relaxation" ], "source": { "label": "NCCIH β€” Relaxation Techniques: What You Need To Know", "url": "https://www.nccih.nih.gov/health/relaxation-techniques-what-you-need-to-know" }, "sideA": { "modality": "text", "value": "Relaxation techniques" }, "sideB": { "modality": "text", "value": "Practices that help bring about the relaxation response", "short": "Help bring about the relaxation response" }, "uid": "pusbdu10i20am" }, { "id": "mm-l00-f-attention-styles-mantra", "shape": "fact", "tags": [ "attention-styles", "mantra" ], "source": { "label": "Lutz, Slagter, Dunne and Davidson β€” Attention regulation and monitoring in meditation (2008)", "url": "https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC2693206/" }, "title": "Two Attention Styles and the Mantra", "body": "A 2008 paper by Lutz and colleagues sorts widely used practices into two **attention styles**, or ways of directing attention in meditation. In focused attention, the meditator voluntarily holds attention on a chosen object; in open monitoring, the meditator watches whatever arises in experience, moment by moment and without reacting. The paper reports both styles, with variation, in Zen, Vipassana and Tibetan Buddhism and in mindfulness-based stress reduction (MBSR). A mantra is a repeated word or phrase used as the focus of attention.", "illustration": { "imagePrompt": "Rows of round black cushions on a wooden floor in a Zen meditation hall, with soft daylight from the windows.", "imageSearchTerm": "Zen meditation hall cushions", "alt": "Round meditation cushions on the floor of a Japanese-style hall", "kind": "photo", "credit": "Unsplash Β· Olegs Jonins Β· Unsplash License", "creditUrl": "https://unsplash.com/photos/japanese-room-with-cushions-on-the-floor-YG65N1UBWRA", "subject": "A dim Japanese-style hall with tall paper-lattice shoji screens and a teal carpet, with more than a dozen round brown floor cushions scattered in loose rows and no people, text or logos.", "url": "https://cdn.recurxive.com/packs/mindfulness-meditation/images/mm-l00-f-attention-styles-mantra.webp" }, "uid": "ti6mhn1gn9bg5" }, { "id": "mm-l00-d-focused-attention", "shape": "definition", "tags": [ "attention-styles" ], "source": { "label": "Lutz, Slagter, Dunne and Davidson β€” Attention regulation and monitoring in meditation (2008)", "url": "https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC2693206/" }, "term": { "modality": "text", "value": "Focused attention", "short": "Focused attention" }, "definition": { "modality": "text", "value": "A style of meditation: voluntarily holding attention on a chosen object", "short": "Holding attention on a chosen object" }, "uid": "2ugvdj1w9vtkn" }, { "id": "mm-l00-d-open-monitoring", "shape": "definition", "tags": [ "open-monitoring", "attention-styles" ], "source": { "label": "Lutz, Slagter, Dunne and Davidson β€” Attention regulation and monitoring in meditation (2008)", "url": "https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC2693206/" }, "term": { "modality": "text", "value": "Open monitoring", "short": "Open monitoring" }, "definition": { "modality": "text", "value": "A style of meditation: watching whatever arises in experience, moment by moment and without reacting, mainly to recognize patterns of emotion and thought", "short": "Watching whatever arises, not reacting" }, "uid": "gghe251qxxur9" }, { "id": "mm-l00-p-mantra", "shape": "pair", "tags": [ "mantra" ], "source": { "label": "NCCIH β€” Meditation and Mindfulness: Effectiveness and Safety", "url": "https://www.nccih.nih.gov/health/meditation-and-mindfulness-effectiveness-and-safety" }, "sideA": { "modality": "text", "value": "Mantra" }, "sideB": { "modality": "text", "value": "A repeated word or phrase used as the focus of attention", "short": "A repeated word or phrase as the focus" }, "uid": "yipx6nl72qdf" }, { "id": "mm-l00-tf-styles-one-tradition", "shape": "trueFalse", "tags": [ "attention-styles", "traditions" ], "source": { "label": "Lutz, Slagter, Dunne and Davidson β€” Attention regulation and monitoring in meditation (2008)", "url": "https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC2693206/" }, "statement": "A 2008 paper reports that Zen, Vipassana and Tibetan Buddhism each use only one of the two attention styles.", "isTrue": false, "why": "The paper reports both focused attention and open monitoring, with variation, in Zen, Vipassana and Tibetan Buddhism and in mindfulness-based stress reduction, so neither style belongs to a single tradition.", "uid": "bda7x1faffef" }, { "id": "ot-mm-l00-mindfulness-and-meditation", "shape": "mcq", "tags": [ "mindfulness", "meditation" ], "prompt": { "modality": "text", "value": "On NCCIH's view, how are the words meditation and mindfulness related?" }, "options": [ { "modality": "text", "value": "Meditation is the wider word and mindfulness falls inside it" }, { "modality": "text", "value": "Mindfulness is the wider word and meditation falls inside it" }, { "modality": "text", "value": "Meditation and mindfulness are two names for one practice" }, { "modality": "text", "value": "Meditation and mindfulness are separate kinds of practice" } ], "correctIndex": 0, "explanation": "NCCIH counts mindfulness as one form of meditation, so meditation is the wider word and mindfulness falls inside it. Reversing the two is the tempting error.", "source": { "label": "NCCIH β€” Meditation and Mindfulness: Effectiveness and Safety", "url": "https://www.nccih.nih.gov/health/meditation-and-mindfulness-effectiveness-and-safety" }, "uid": "7ghr3sb0hvxa" }, { "id": "ot-mm-l00-relaxation-response-changes", "shape": "mcq", "tags": [ "relaxation" ], "prompt": { "modality": "text", "value": "Relaxation techniques help bring about the relaxation response. Which set of changes does that response mean?" }, "options": [ { "modality": "text", "value": "Faster breathing, higher blood pressure, higher heart rate" }, { "modality": "text", "value": "Slower breathing, higher blood pressure, lower heart rate" }, { "modality": "text", "value": "Slower breathing, lower blood pressure, lower heart rate" }, { "modality": "text", "value": "Faster breathing, lower blood pressure, higher heart rate" } ], "correctIndex": 2, "explanation": "The relaxation response means slower breathing, lower blood pressure and a reduced heart rate. The other options each change at least one of the three the wrong way.", "source": { "label": "NCCIH β€” Relaxation Techniques: What You Need To Know", "url": "https://www.nccih.nih.gov/health/relaxation-techniques-what-you-need-to-know" }, "uid": "aa69x91ma0clp" }, { "id": "ot-mm-l00-relaxation-breathwork-overlap", "shape": "mcq", "tags": [ "relaxation", "breathwork" ], "prompt": { "modality": "text", "value": "Slow diaphragmatic breaths are a breathing exercise that changes the breath on purpose. Which description fits that exercise?" }, "options": [ { "modality": "text", "value": "Breathwork, but not a relaxation technique" }, { "modality": "text", "value": "A relaxation technique, but not breathwork" }, { "modality": "text", "value": "Breathwork, and also a relaxation technique" }, { "modality": "text", "value": "Mindfulness, because it attends to the breath" } ], "correctIndex": 2, "explanation": "Changing the breath on purpose is breathwork, and NCCIH's relaxation list includes breathing exercises such as slow diaphragmatic breaths, so here the two overlap. Mindfulness programs typically watch the breath rather than change it.", "source": { "label": "NCCIH β€” Relaxation Techniques: What You Need To Know", "url": "https://www.nccih.nih.gov/health/relaxation-techniques-what-you-need-to-know" }, "uid": "1tdfqmf1hls2mb" }, { "id": "ot-mm-l00-mind-body-integration", "shape": "mcq", "tags": [ "meditation" ], "prompt": { "modality": "text", "value": "On its June 2022 meditation page, NCCIH uses the word meditation for a variety of practices that focus on what?" }, "options": [ { "modality": "text", "value": "Stress relief and calm" }, { "modality": "text", "value": "Mind and body integration" }, { "modality": "text", "value": "Control of the breath" }, { "modality": "text", "value": "An empty, quiet mind" } ], "correctIndex": 1, "explanation": "NCCIH uses meditation for \"a variety of practices that focus on mind and body integration\", many of which began in Eastern traditions. Taken side by side, NCCIH's two pages define meditation by a kind of practice and relaxation techniques by an intended outcome.", "source": { "label": "NCCIH β€” Meditation and Mindfulness: Effectiveness and Safety", "url": "https://www.nccih.nih.gov/health/meditation-and-mindfulness-effectiveness-and-safety" }, "uid": "a7hlf0ekc7kw" }, { "id": "ot-mm-l00-focused-attention-does", "shape": "mcq", "tags": [ "attention-styles" ], "prompt": { "modality": "text", "value": "In focused attention, what does the meditator do with attention?" }, "options": [ { "modality": "text", "value": "Aims it at nothing so the mind stays blank" }, { "modality": "text", "value": "Switches it between several objects in turn" }, { "modality": "text", "value": "Holds it on an object the meditator chooses" }, { "modality": "text", "value": "Spreads it evenly over the whole body at once" } ], "correctIndex": 2, "explanation": "In focused attention, the meditator voluntarily holds attention on a chosen object. Aiming attention at nothing, switching it between objects or spreading it over the body is not holding it on one chosen object.", "source": { "label": "Lutz, Slagter, Dunne and Davidson β€” Attention regulation and monitoring in meditation (2008)", "url": "https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC2693206/" }, "uid": "b11pkuuif88u" }, { "id": "ot-mm-l00-open-monitoring-reaction", "shape": "mcq", "tags": [ "open-monitoring", "attention-styles" ], "prompt": { "modality": "text", "value": "In open monitoring, how does the meditator treat whatever arises in experience?" }, "options": [ { "modality": "text", "value": "Watches it moment by moment without reacting" }, { "modality": "text", "value": "Pushes away anything that feels unpleasant" }, { "modality": "text", "value": "Argues with each thought until it stops" }, { "modality": "text", "value": "Rates each part as good or bad as it comes" } ], "correctIndex": 0, "explanation": "In open monitoring, the meditator watches whatever arises in experience, moment by moment and without reacting. Pushing away, arguing with or rating what arises are all ways of reacting.", "source": { "label": "Lutz, Slagter, Dunne and Davidson β€” Attention regulation and monitoring in meditation (2008)", "url": "https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC2693206/" }, "uid": "14sp9chnbnidv" }, { "id": "ot-mm-l00-open-monitoring-purpose", "shape": "mcq", "tags": [ "open-monitoring" ], "prompt": { "modality": "text", "value": "What is open monitoring mainly for?" }, "options": [ { "modality": "text", "value": "Reaching a state of deep physical relaxation" }, { "modality": "text", "value": "Emptying the mind of every thought and feeling" }, { "modality": "text", "value": "Ignoring emotions in order to stay calm" }, { "modality": "text", "value": "Recognizing patterns of emotion and thought" } ], "correctIndex": 3, "explanation": "Open monitoring is defined as watching mainly to recognize patterns of emotion and thought. The other options name aims that the definition does not give.", "source": { "label": "Lutz, Slagter, Dunne and Davidson β€” Attention regulation and monitoring in meditation (2008)", "url": "https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC2693206/" }, "uid": "1ojl60w14a20gw" }, { "id": "ot-mm-l00-mantra-not-a-style", "shape": "mcq", "tags": [ "mantra", "attention-styles" ], "prompt": { "modality": "text", "value": "Focused attention and open monitoring describe how attention is held. What does the word mantra describe?" }, "options": [ { "modality": "text", "value": "Something attention can rest on" }, { "modality": "text", "value": "A third way attention is held" }, { "modality": "text", "value": "Another name for focused attention" }, { "modality": "text", "value": "Another name for open monitoring" } ], "correctIndex": 0, "explanation": "A mantra, a repeated word or phrase, is something attention can rest on: NCCIH names it among the things meditation can hold attention on. Focused attention and open monitoring are styles, ways of holding attention, and a mantra is not a third one.", "source": { "label": "NCCIH β€” Meditation and Mindfulness: Effectiveness and Safety", "url": "https://www.nccih.nih.gov/health/meditation-and-mindfulness-effectiveness-and-safety" }, "uid": "4apeo517s6jct" }, { "id": "ot-mm-l00-styles-in-mbsr", "shape": "mcq", "tags": [ "attention-styles", "mbsr" ], "prompt": { "modality": "text", "value": "What does a 2008 paper report about the attention styles used in mindfulness-based stress reduction (MBSR)?" }, "options": [ { "modality": "text", "value": "Only focused attention" }, { "modality": "text", "value": "Only open monitoring" }, { "modality": "text", "value": "Neither style" }, { "modality": "text", "value": "Both styles" } ], "correctIndex": 3, "explanation": "The 2008 paper reports both focused attention and open monitoring, with variation, in Zen, Vipassana and Tibetan Buddhism, and links both styles to MBSR. So MBSR uses both, and neither style belongs to a single tradition or program.", "source": { "label": "Lutz, Slagter, Dunne and Davidson β€” Attention regulation and monitoring in meditation", "url": "https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC2693206/" }, "uid": "5y67wasnzdy2" }, { "id": "mm-l01-f-thoughts-and-mindfulness-myths", "shape": "fact", "tags": [ "myths", "mindfulness", "wandering-mind" ], "source": { "label": "University of Rochester β€” Mindfulness 101", "url": "https://www.rochester.edu/mindful/resources/" }, "title": "Four myths about thoughts and mindfulness", "body": "Meditation does not mean emptying the mind: it is not about stopping every thought, and in mindfulness every thought becomes an object of observation. A wandering mind is expected rather than a failure: in focused-attention practice attention strays from its object at first, and Rochester's program calls the act of returning the practice. NCCIH treats mindfulness as **one form of meditation**, so the two are not the same thing. Nor did mindfulness begin with Kabat-Zinn, who writes that it has long been regarded as central to Buddhist meditation.", "uid": "ou875guu7gio" }, { "id": "mm-l01-f-innate-ability", "shape": "fact", "tags": [ "mindfulness", "myths" ], "source": { "label": "Mindful β€” What Is Mindfulness?", "url": "https://www.mindful.org/what-is-mindfulness/" }, "title": "Mindfulness as an innate ability", "body": "Mindful calls mindfulness an **innate ability**, which meditation cultivates and brief pauses in daily life can build too. On that view, meditation is one way to cultivate mindfulness, not another name for it, so the two words are not the same thing.", "illustration": { "imagePrompt": "A quiet everyday moment: a person holding a cup of tea, pausing by a window. No readable text, brands or logos.", "imageSearchTerm": "pause with tea by window", "alt": "A person pausing with a cup of tea by a window", "kind": "photo", "credit": "Pexels Β· Danielle Reese Β· Pexels License", "creditUrl": "https://www.pexels.com/photo/woman-wearing-black-long-sleeve-shirt-holding-cup-2496048/", "subject": "A dark-haired woman in profile in a black sweater, sitting beside a rain-speckled window and looking out, holding a white teacup and saucer with a red-rose pattern.", "url": "https://cdn.recurxive.com/packs/mindfulness-meditation/images/mm-l01-f-innate-ability.a65070ea.webp" }, "factVariant": "image-heavy", "uid": "pthfee1wdropq" }, { "id": "mm-l01-f-relaxation-belief-posture-risk", "shape": "fact", "tags": [ "myths", "posture", "safety" ], "source": { "label": "Mindful Dartmouth Initiative β€” Common Myths and FAQs", "url": "https://sites.dartmouth.edu/mindfulness/contact-us/" }, "title": "Relaxation, belief, posture and risk", "body": "Relaxation is often a by-product of mindfulness rather than its aim, and its approaches are considered **mental training**, not relaxation techniques. Mindfulness as taught in education, healthcare and workplaces is secular and needs no belief, though it has religious and contemplative roots. Meditation does not require sitting cross-legged: a chair, a loose cross-legged seat or kneeling are all fine if the position is stable. It is not known to be risk-free: NCCIH's page, last updated in June 2022, says meditation is usually considered to have few risks, but few studies have looked for harm.", "illustration": { "imagePrompt": "An adult sitting upright on a chair with both feet on the floor, hands resting on the thighs, eyes lowered, in a quiet room.", "imageSearchTerm": "person meditating on chair", "alt": "A woman sitting upright in a wicker armchair with her eyes closed", "kind": "photo", "credit": "Pexels Β· Engin Akyurt Β· Pexels License", "creditUrl": "https://www.pexels.com/photo/woman-in-black-top-sitting-on-brown-armchair-3331574/", "subject": "A woman with a closely cropped haircut sitting upright in a dark wicker armchair on a sunlit porch with a white balustrade behind her, eyes closed, hands resting on the chair arms, calm and unhurried.", "url": "https://cdn.recurxive.com/packs/mindfulness-meditation/images/mm-l01-f-relaxation-belief-posture-risk.webp" }, "uid": "1sj8iw3yt7wwp" }, { "id": "mm-l01-q-thoughts-and-wandering", "shape": "mcq", "tags": [ "wandering-mind", "myths" ], "source": { "label": "University of Rochester β€” Mindfulness 101", "url": "https://www.rochester.edu/mindful/resources/" }, "prompt": { "modality": "text", "value": "A beginner's thoughts keep arising and attention keeps leaving the chosen object. Which view is correct?" }, "options": [ { "modality": "text", "value": "Emptying the mind is the aim; wandering is a failure", "short": "The aim; wandering is a failure" }, { "modality": "text", "value": "Emptying the mind is the aim; wandering is expected", "short": "The aim; wandering is expected" }, { "modality": "text", "value": "Emptying the mind is not the aim; wandering is expected", "short": "Not the aim; wandering expected" }, { "modality": "text", "value": "Emptying the mind is not the aim; wandering is a failure", "short": "Not the aim; wandering a failure" } ], "correctIndex": 2, "explanation": "The Rochester and Dartmouth programs both say meditation is not about stopping every thought, and attention is expected to stray from the object at first; Rochester calls the act of returning the practice. Calling the straying a failure is the myth, even for someone who rejects the empty-mind idea.", "uid": "1rdj3enogv0bt" }, { "id": "mm-l01-tf-form-of-meditation-buddhist-roots", "shape": "trueFalse", "tags": [ "mindfulness", "myths" ], "source": { "label": "Jon Kabat-Zinn β€” Mindfulness-based interventions in context: Past, present, and future", "url": "https://jonkabat-zinn.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/01/JonKabat-Zinn_MindfulnessBased-InterventionsContext.pdf" }, "statement": "Mindfulness is treated as one form of meditation, and it did not begin with Kabat-Zinn: it has long been regarded as central to Buddhist meditation.", "isTrue": true, "why": "Mindfulness is treated as one form of meditation rather than a synonym for it, and Kabat-Zinn writes that it has long been regarded as central to Buddhist meditation.", "uid": "2uyph21nbpt66" }, { "id": "mm-l01-tf-secular-relaxation-by-product", "shape": "trueFalse", "tags": [ "myths", "mindfulness" ], "source": { "label": "University of Rochester β€” Mindfulness 101", "url": "https://www.rochester.edu/mindful/resources/" }, "statement": "Mindfulness as taught in healthcare is secular and needs no belief, though it has religious and contemplative roots.", "isTrue": true, "why": "The version taught in education, healthcare and workplaces is described as secular, with no religious belief needed, though mindfulness has religious and contemplative roots.", "uid": "1y21oagyzxn6c" }, { "id": "mm-l01-tf-seat-cross-legged", "shape": "trueFalse", "tags": [ "posture", "myths" ], "source": { "label": "Mindful β€” How to Meditate", "url": "https://www.mindful.org/how-to-meditate/" }, "statement": "Meditation requires sitting cross-legged on the floor.", "isTrue": false, "why": "A chair, a loose cross-legged seat or kneeling are all fine if the position is stable, so sitting cross-legged on the floor is not required.", "uid": "oy198c18r8hle" }, { "id": "mm-l01-q-meditation-and-risk", "shape": "mcq", "tags": [ "safety", "myths" ], "source": { "label": "NCCIH β€” Meditation and Mindfulness: Effectiveness and Safety", "url": "https://www.nccih.nih.gov/health/meditation-and-mindfulness-effectiveness-and-safety" }, "prompt": { "modality": "text", "value": "What does NCCIH's page, last updated in June 2022, say about the safety of meditation and mindfulness?" }, "options": [ { "modality": "text", "value": "Usually few risks; few studies have looked for harm", "short": "Usually few risks; understudied" }, { "modality": "text", "value": "Usually few risks; many studies have found no harm", "short": "Usually few risks; well studied" }, { "modality": "text", "value": "Usually few risks; it can replace regular medical care", "short": "Usually few risks; replaces care" }, { "modality": "text", "value": "Usually many risks; many studies have found harm", "short": "Usually many risks; harm found" } ], "correctIndex": 0, "explanation": "NCCIH says they are usually considered to have few risks, but few studies have looked for harm, so \"it isn't possible to make definite statements about safety\"; claiming harm is ruled out overstates what is known. It also cautions against treating them as a substitute for regular medical care.", "uid": "3cz1anlfu46" }, { "id": "mm-l01-f-two-styles-of-attention", "shape": "fact", "tags": [ "attention-styles", "open-monitoring" ], "source": { "label": "Lutz, Slagter, Dunne and Davidson β€” Attention regulation and monitoring in meditation", "url": "https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC2693206/" }, "title": "Two styles of attention", "body": "In a 2008 scheme, Lutz, Slagter, Dunne and Davidson group widely used meditation practices into two styles. In **focused attention**, the meditator voluntarily holds attention on a chosen object, often a breath sensation; in open monitoring, the meditator watches whatever arises in experience, moment by moment and without reacting. The scheme describes the two as often combined, within one session or across a practitioner's training. A 2014 review says focused attention narrows attentional focus while open monitoring broadens it.", "uid": "k16l111tpzyh5" }, { "id": "mm-l01-f-three-families-proposal", "shape": "fact", "tags": [ "practice-families", "nondual" ], "source": { "label": "Dahl, Lutz and Davidson β€” Reconstructing and deconstructing the self", "url": "https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC4595910/" }, "title": "Three families, offered as a proposal", "body": "Dahl, Lutz and Davidson's 2015 scheme adds a deconstructive family, built on self-inquiry, to the attentional and constructive ones. The deconstructive family includes **non-dual practices**, such as shikantaza in Zen, which aim at a mode of experience in which self/other and subject/object structures are no longer dominant. Imagery-based practice, such as the Tibetan development stage, sits in the constructive family. The authors present the scheme as a proposal, say many practices mix families, place each by its primary mechanism, and call both added families thinly researched.", "uid": "r6sx6j72yi4l" }, { "id": "mm-l01-d-attentional-family", "shape": "definition", "tags": [ "practice-families", "attention-styles" ], "source": { "label": "Dahl, Lutz and Davidson β€” Reconstructing and deconstructing the self", "url": "https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC4595910/" }, "term": { "modality": "text", "value": "Attentional family" }, "definition": { "modality": "text", "value": "In the 2015 scheme, the family holding focused attention and open monitoring; its main mechanism is attention regulation and meta-awareness.", "short": "Family holding both attention styles" }, "uid": "6gy9nbin2xu7" }, { "id": "mm-l01-d-constructive-family", "shape": "definition", "tags": [ "practice-families", "loving-kindness" ], "source": { "label": "Dahl, Lutz and Davidson β€” Reconstructing and deconstructing the self", "url": "https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC4595910/" }, "term": { "modality": "text", "value": "Constructive family" }, "definition": { "modality": "text", "value": "Practices built on perspective taking and reappraisal; examples include loving-kindness and compassion practices.", "short": "Perspective taking and reappraisal" }, "uid": "1a4lvk7huz4pz" }, { "id": "mm-l01-cmp-imagery-family", "shape": "comparison", "tags": [ "practice-families", "tibetan-buddhism" ], "source": { "label": "Dahl, Lutz and Davidson β€” Reconstructing and deconstructing the self", "url": "https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC4595910/" }, "prompt": "In the 2015 scheme of three families, where does imagery-based practice, such as the Tibetan development stage, sit?", "correct": { "caption": "The constructive family" }, "incorrect": { "caption": "The deconstructive family" }, "explanation": "In Table 1 of the 2015 scheme, imagery-based practice such as the Tibetan development stage sits under the constructive family's perception orientation. That family is built on perspective taking and reappraisal.", "uid": "lv70tyaxjxm8" }, { "id": "mm-l01-p-self-inquiry-family", "shape": "pair", "tags": [ "practice-families" ], "source": { "label": "Dahl, Lutz and Davidson β€” Reconstructing and deconstructing the self", "url": "https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC4595910/" }, "sideA": { "modality": "text", "value": "Self-inquiry" }, "sideB": { "modality": "text", "value": "Deconstructive family" }, "uid": "1qchck6r71qk" }, { "id": "mm-l01-q-non-dual-family", "shape": "mcq", "tags": [ "practice-families", "nondual" ], "source": { "label": "Dahl, Lutz and Davidson β€” Reconstructing and deconstructing the self", "url": "https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC4595910/" }, "prompt": { "modality": "text", "value": "A practice aims at an experience in which self/other and subject/object structures are no longer dominant. Where does the 2015 scheme place it?" }, "options": [ { "modality": "text", "value": "The constructive family" }, { "modality": "text", "value": "The deconstructive family" }, { "modality": "text", "value": "The attentional family" }, { "modality": "text", "value": "Its own non-dual family" } ], "correctIndex": 1, "explanation": "The 2015 scheme files non-dual practices, which aim at experience where self/other and subject/object structures are no longer dominant, under the deconstructive family. The attentional family holds focused attention and open monitoring instead.", "uid": "1y023tr1onn2p9" }, { "id": "mm-l01-tf-mixed-practices-placement", "shape": "trueFalse", "tags": [ "practice-families" ], "source": { "label": "Dahl, Lutz and Davidson β€” Reconstructing and deconstructing the self", "url": "https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC4595910/" }, "statement": "In the 2015 scheme, a practice that mixes families is placed by the tradition it comes from.", "isTrue": false, "why": "The scheme's authors say many practices mix families and that a practice's placement follows its primary mechanism.", "uid": "3j5a5i1hs4wec" }, { "id": "mm-l01-f-loving-kindness-research", "shape": "fact", "tags": [ "loving-kindness", "compassion", "evidence-strength" ], "source": { "label": "Hofmann, Grossman and Hinton β€” Loving-kindness and compassion meditation: potential for psychological interventions", "url": "https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC3176989/" }, "title": "Loving-kindness meditation and its research", "body": "**Loving-kindness meditation** is built on metta, the Pali word for kindness, and a 2011 review describes it as cultivating unconditional kindness toward all people. The review adds that loving-kindness and compassion meditation are combined in many Buddhist practices and in most of the psychology studies, and either can be practiced sitting, lying or walking. It called the effect of one trial small, noted that the trial's loving-kindness meditation departed from traditional practice, and described the whole literature as small and its findings as very preliminary.", "illustration": { "imagePrompt": "A small group of adults sitting in a circle on cushions in a quiet meditation room, eyes lowered, in soft daylight.", "imageSearchTerm": "people meditating circle cushions", "alt": "Adults sitting together in a circle in a sunlit room", "kind": "photo", "credit": "Pexels Β· Pavel Danilyuk Β· Pexels License", "creditUrl": "https://www.pexels.com/photo/group-of-people-in-a-room-meditating-7596873/", "subject": "Six adults seated cross-legged in a circle on a wooden floor in a bright round studio with city-view windows, five facing a woman in the middle who holds her hands together beside a small tea set; some sit on low cushions or small benches.", "url": "https://cdn.recurxive.com/packs/mindfulness-meditation/images/mm-l01-f-loving-kindness-research.webp" }, "uid": "9nqb4411abqi0" }, { "id": "mm-l01-f-empathy-versus-compassion", "shape": "fact", "tags": [ "compassion" ], "source": { "label": "Singer and Klimecki β€” Empathy and compassion", "url": "https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/25247366/" }, "title": "Empathy versus compassion, defined", "body": "One research group defines **empathy** as the capacity to share another person's feelings, positive or negative, while still knowing the feeling belongs to the other. Without that self-other distinction, the state is emotion contagion. The same group uses compassion for the emotion felt as concern for another's suffering, with a desire to enhance that person's welfare, marked by warmth and the wish to help.", "illustration": { "imagePrompt": "A close photo of one person resting a comforting hand on another person's shoulder. No readable text, brands or logos.", "imageSearchTerm": "comforting hand on shoulder", "alt": "One person resting a comforting hand on another person's shoulder", "kind": "photo", "credit": "Pexels Β· Young Hwan Choi Β· Pexels License", "creditUrl": "https://www.pexels.com/photo/comforting-hand-on-shoulder-emotional-support-29060673/", "subject": "A hand wearing a ring resting gently on the shoulder of a person in a tan linen jacket whose head is turned down and away, in front of a dark red brick wall.", "url": "https://cdn.recurxive.com/packs/mindfulness-meditation/images/mm-l01-f-empathy-versus-compassion.64ef1bec.webp" }, "uid": "1fftpy21sf7taa" }, { "id": "mm-l01-f-imagery-yoga-nidra-nsdr", "shape": "fact", "tags": [ "yoga-nidra", "guided-imagery", "relaxation" ], "source": { "label": "Ghai, Odyniec and Ghai β€” Effects of Yoga Nidra on Stress, Anxiety, and Depression: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis", "url": "https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC12917937/" }, "title": "Guided imagery, yoga nidra and NSDR", "body": "**Guided imagery** is picturing objects, scenes or events associated with relaxation or calm. Yoga nidra, or yogic sleep, is a guided practice, typically instructor-led and typically done lying down. NSDR (non-sleep deep rest), an umbrella term coined by Andrew Huberman, is similar to yoga nidra. A 2025 meta-analysis of 73 studies found benefits of yoga nidra for stress, anxiety and depression, but its authors warned that low methodological quality and varied delivery mean the moderate-to-large effects are likely overstated, and that improper guidance could potentially retraumatize people.", "illustration": { "imagePrompt": "Several adults lying on yoga mats with their eyes closed in a calm, dimly lit studio.", "imageSearchTerm": "relaxation class lying on mats", "alt": "Adults lying still on mats with their eyes closed", "kind": "photo", "credit": "Pexels Β· Yan Krukau Β· Pexels License", "creditUrl": "https://www.pexels.com/photo/elderly-women-lying-on-yoga-mats-8436545/", "subject": "Overhead view of two older women with silver hair lying on their backs on plain grey yoga mats on a cork floor, eyes closed and arms relaxed at their sides, while an instructor in a white tee and black trousers sits cross-legged on another mat at the left edge, torso and hands only.", "url": "https://cdn.recurxive.com/packs/mindfulness-meditation/images/mm-l01-f-imagery-yoga-nidra-nsdr.webp" }, "uid": "id144v5asnw1" }, { "id": "mm-l01-d-karuna", "shape": "definition", "tags": [ "compassion", "loving-kindness" ], "source": { "label": "Hofmann, Grossman and Hinton β€” Loving-kindness and compassion meditation: potential for psychological interventions", "url": "https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC3176989/" }, "term": { "modality": "text", "value": "Karuna" }, "definition": { "modality": "text", "value": "Deep, genuine sympathy for people facing misfortune, joined to a sincere wish that their suffering ease; compassion meditation cultivates it.", "short": "Sympathy and a wish suffering would ease" }, "uid": "1j5aofd1vk72qz" }, { "id": "mm-l01-cmp-compassion-not-empathy", "shape": "comparison", "tags": [ "compassion" ], "source": { "label": "Singer and Klimecki β€” Empathy and compassion", "url": "https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cub.2014.06.054" }, "prompt": "In one research group's definitions, which describes compassion rather than empathy?", "correct": { "caption": "Warm concern for another's suffering, with a wish to help" }, "incorrect": { "caption": "Sharing another person's feeling while knowing it is theirs" }, "explanation": "The group defines compassion as concern for another's suffering with a desire to enhance that person's welfare, marked by warmth and the wish to help. Empathy is sharing the other person's feeling while knowing it belongs to them.", "uid": "s0pvz41vwknxy" }, { "id": "mm-l01-p-kindness-practice-name", "shape": "pair", "tags": [ "practice-families", "loving-kindness" ], "source": { "label": "Dahl, Lutz and Davidson β€” Reconstructing and deconstructing the self", "url": "https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC4595910/" }, "sideA": { "modality": "text", "value": "Loving-kindness meditation" }, "sideB": { "modality": "text", "value": "Constructive family (2015 scheme)" }, "uid": "1lod78a1i4swxw" }, { "id": "mm-l01-q-lying-down-and-imagery", "shape": "mcq", "tags": [ "yoga-nidra", "guided-imagery" ], "source": { "label": "Huberman Lab β€” NSDR, Meditation and Breathwork", "url": "https://www.hubermanlab.com/topics/nsdr-meditation-and-breathwork" }, "prompt": { "modality": "text", "value": "One practice, typically instructor-led and done lying down, is named on Huberman Lab's site as similar to NSDR. Another pictures scenes associated with calm. Which names fit, in that order?" }, "options": [ { "modality": "text", "value": "Guided imagery, then yoga nidra" }, { "modality": "text", "value": "Yoga nidra, then loving-kindness" }, { "modality": "text", "value": "Loving-kindness, then yoga nidra" }, { "modality": "text", "value": "Yoga nidra, then guided imagery" } ], "correctIndex": 3, "explanation": "Yoga nidra is a guided practice, typically led by an instructor and typically done lying down, and Huberman Lab's site names it as similar to NSDR. Guided imagery is picturing objects, scenes or events associated with relaxation or calm; reversing the order gives each the other's description.", "uid": "36iahmffx7tu" }, { "id": "ot-mm-l01-thoughts-observed", "shape": "mcq", "tags": [ "myths", "mindfulness" ], "prompt": { "modality": "text", "value": "In mindfulness, as one research group describes it, what does every thought become?" }, "options": [ { "modality": "text", "value": "Something to push away" }, { "modality": "text", "value": "An object of observation" }, { "modality": "text", "value": "A sign the session failed" }, { "modality": "text", "value": "A problem to work out" } ], "correctIndex": 1, "explanation": "Bishop and colleagues say mindfulness is not thought suppression: every thought becomes an object of observation. Pushing thoughts away is exactly the suppression it is not, and observing a thought is not trying to solve it.", "source": { "label": "Bishop and colleagues β€” Mindfulness: A proposed operational definition", "url": "https://doi.org/10.1093/clipsy.bph077" }, "uid": "f7ik5g6xe2xg" }, { "id": "ot-mm-l01-universal-dharma-dimension", "shape": "mcq", "tags": [ "myths", "mbsr" ], "prompt": { "modality": "text", "value": "MBSR was designed to be free of the religious and ideological factors tied to mindfulness's Buddhist origins. What is it said to remain faithful to?" }, "options": [ { "modality": "text", "value": "A universal dharma dimension" }, { "modality": "text", "value": "The conventions of academic medicine" }, { "modality": "text", "value": "Stopping every thought" }, { "modality": "text", "value": "Relaxation as the program's main aim" } ], "correctIndex": 0, "explanation": "Kabat-Zinn says MBSR remains faithful to what he calls its universal dharma dimension, though it was designed to be free of religious and ideological factors. In Buddhism, dharma is the Buddha's doctrine, the universal truth common to all individuals at all times.", "source": { "label": "Jon Kabat-Zinn β€” Mindfulness-based interventions in context: Past, present, and future", "url": "https://jonkabat-zinn.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/01/JonKabat-Zinn_MindfulnessBased-InterventionsContext.pdf" }, "uid": "n4azo3i56tjl" }, { "id": "ot-mm-l01-innate-ability", "shape": "mcq", "tags": [ "myths", "mindfulness" ], "prompt": { "modality": "text", "value": "Mindful calls mindfulness an innate ability. How does meditation relate to it?" }, "options": [ { "modality": "text", "value": "Cultivates it, and only long retreats can build it" }, { "modality": "text", "value": "Cultivates it, and nothing else can build it" }, { "modality": "text", "value": "Cultivates it, and brief daily pauses can too" }, { "modality": "text", "value": "Cultivates it, and only a certified teacher can build it" } ], "correctIndex": 2, "explanation": "Mindful calls mindfulness an innate ability that meditation cultivates and brief pauses in daily life can build too. So meditation is one way to build it, not the only way, and as an innate ability it is not something meditation creates.", "source": { "label": "Mindful β€” What Is Mindfulness?", "url": "https://www.mindful.org/what-is-mindfulness/" }, "uid": "n56qo2a8e8eu" }, { "id": "ot-mm-l01-styles-often-combined", "shape": "mcq", "tags": [ "attention-styles", "open-monitoring" ], "prompt": { "modality": "text", "value": "In the 2008 scheme, can one meditator use both focused attention and open monitoring?" }, "options": [ { "modality": "text", "value": "No, each meditator keeps to one" }, { "modality": "text", "value": "No, each tradition keeps to one" }, { "modality": "text", "value": "Yes, but never within one session" }, { "modality": "text", "value": "Yes, and they are often combined" } ], "correctIndex": 3, "explanation": "The 2008 scheme describes the two styles as often combined, within one session or across a practitioner's training. So one meditator can use both, even within a single session.", "source": { "label": "Lutz, Slagter, Dunne and Davidson β€” Attention regulation and monitoring in meditation", "url": "https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC2693206/" }, "uid": "nvx30bh4dz6l" }, { "id": "ot-mm-l01-attention-family", "shape": "mcq", "tags": [ "practice-families", "attention-styles" ], "prompt": { "modality": "text", "value": "A practice trains a person to hold attention on a breath sensation and to notice when attention wanders. Where does the 2015 scheme place it?" }, "options": [ { "modality": "text", "value": "The constructive family" }, { "modality": "text", "value": "The deconstructive family" }, { "modality": "text", "value": "The attentional family" }, { "modality": "text", "value": "Its own focused-attention family" } ], "correctIndex": 2, "explanation": "The 2015 scheme's attentional family holds both focused attention, such as holding attention on a breath sensation, and open monitoring. Its main mechanism is attention regulation and meta-awareness. The scheme has no separate focused-attention family.", "source": { "label": "Dahl, Lutz and Davidson β€” Reconstructing and deconstructing the self", "url": "https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC4595910/" }, "uid": "wrfca111x99lp" }, { "id": "ot-mm-l01-loving-kindness-literature", "shape": "mcq", "tags": [ "loving-kindness", "evidence-strength" ], "prompt": { "modality": "text", "value": "How did a 2011 review describe the whole literature on loving-kindness meditation?" }, "options": [ { "modality": "text", "value": "Small; findings very preliminary" }, { "modality": "text", "value": "Small; findings well established" }, { "modality": "text", "value": "Large; findings very preliminary" }, { "modality": "text", "value": "Large; findings well established" } ], "correctIndex": 0, "explanation": "The review described the whole literature as small and its findings as very preliminary, and called the effect of one trial small.", "source": { "label": "Hofmann, Grossman and Hinton β€” Loving-kindness and compassion meditation: potential for psychological interventions", "url": "https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC3176989/" }, "uid": "1sgzxo7dopt01" }, { "id": "ot-mm-l01-empathy-without-distinction", "shape": "mcq", "tags": [ "compassion" ], "prompt": { "modality": "text", "value": "In one research group's definition, empathy means sharing another person's feelings while knowing they belong to the other. What is the state called without that self-other distinction?" }, "options": [ { "modality": "text", "value": "Perspective taking" }, { "modality": "text", "value": "Emotion contagion" }, { "modality": "text", "value": "Loving-kindness" }, { "modality": "text", "value": "Compassion for others" } ], "correctIndex": 1, "explanation": "Without the self-other distinction, the group calls the state emotion contagion. Compassion is the separate emotion of warm concern for another's suffering with a wish to help.", "source": { "label": "Singer and Klimecki β€” Empathy and compassion", "url": "https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/25247366/" }, "uid": "2f50y7mos41" }, { "id": "mm-l02-f-three-uses", "shape": "fact", "tags": [ "uses-of-mindfulness", "mindfulness" ], "source": { "label": "Davidson and Kaszniak β€” Conceptual and methodological issues in research on mindfulness and meditation", "url": "https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC4627495/" }, "title": "Three Uses of the Word Mindfulness", "body": "A 2015 paper by Davidson and Kaszniak sorts the research uses of the word mindfulness into **state, trait and procedure**. State studies focus on what happens during the actual practice of a particular form of meditation. Putative trait effects of practice are the effects assumed to endure, probed by measures taken outside formal meditation. Studies sometimes use the word for a procedure or set of instructions, and many different practices are filed under it.", "uid": "8ils4hh61cgn" }, { "id": "mm-l02-f-defined-author-by-author", "shape": "fact", "tags": [ "uses-of-mindfulness", "mindfulness" ], "source": { "label": "Jon Kabat-Zinn β€” Mindfulness-based interventions in context: Past, present, and future", "url": "https://jonkabat-zinn.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/01/JonKabat-Zinn_MindfulnessBased-InterventionsContext.pdf" }, "title": "Mindfulness Defined, Author by Author", "body": "Kabat-Zinn's 2003 operational working definition describes mindfulness as the awareness that arises from \"paying attention on purpose, in the present moment, and nonjudgmentally\" to experience as it unfolds. Bishop and colleagues (2004), writing from consensus meetings, propose **two components**: steering attention so that it stays on what is happening now, and an orientation of curiosity, openness and acceptance toward that experience. Buddhist and contemporary contexts define the word differently.", "uid": "qykhwr1v482f3" }, { "id": "mm-l02-d-trait-mindfulness", "shape": "definition", "tags": [ "uses-of-mindfulness", "mindfulness" ], "source": { "label": "Davidson and Kaszniak β€” Conceptual and methodological issues in research on mindfulness and meditation", "url": "https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC4627495/" }, "term": { "modality": "text", "value": "Trait mindfulness" }, "definition": { "modality": "text", "value": "Mindfulness measured as a trait, using questionnaires; Davidson and Kaszniak call the questionnaires' construct validity problematic", "short": "Questionnaires; validity problematic" }, "uid": "21aodm1ith5g0" }, { "id": "mm-l02-q-three-studies-sorted", "shape": "mcq", "tags": [ "uses-of-mindfulness" ], "source": { "label": "Davidson and Kaszniak β€” Conceptual and methodological issues in research on mindfulness and meditation", "url": "https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC4627495/" }, "prompt": { "modality": "text", "value": "One study gives people a questionnaire, a second tests a set of instructions, and a third records what happens in a meditation session. In that order, how does each use the word mindfulness?" }, "options": [ { "modality": "text", "value": "State, trait, procedure" }, { "modality": "text", "value": "Procedure, state, trait" }, { "modality": "text", "value": "Trait, procedure, state" }, { "modality": "text", "value": "Trait, state, procedure" } ], "correctIndex": 2, "explanation": "A questionnaire measures mindfulness as a trait, a set of instructions is the procedure use, and what happens during practice is the state use. Reading the studies in the order state, trait, procedure is the tempting slip.", "uid": "f9qoem9fk6jk" }, { "id": "mm-l02-c-effects-that-endure", "shape": "cloze", "tags": [ "uses-of-mindfulness" ], "source": { "label": "Davidson and Kaszniak β€” Conceptual and methodological issues in research on mindfulness and meditation", "url": "https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC4627495/" }, "template": "A study of the effects of practice that are assumed to endure, probed by measures taken outside formal meditation, uses the word mindfulness in its ___ sense.", "answer": "trait", "distractors": [ "state", "procedure", "Buddhist" ], "explanation": "Effects of practice assumed to endure, probed by measures taken outside formal meditation, are the trait use. State studies look at what happens during practice, and the procedure use names a set of instructions.", "uid": "1vt6u531e3cl6t" }, { "id": "mm-l02-q-bishop-second-component", "shape": "mcq", "tags": [ "mindfulness", "uses-of-mindfulness" ], "source": { "label": "Bishop and colleagues β€” Mindfulness: A proposed operational definition", "url": "https://doi.org/10.1093/clipsy.bph077" }, "prompt": { "modality": "text", "value": "Bishop and colleagues (2004) paired steering attention to what is happening now with which orientation toward that experience?" }, "options": [ { "modality": "text", "value": "Calm, stillness and relaxation" }, { "modality": "text", "value": "Effort, discipline and persistence", "short": "Effort, discipline, persistence" }, { "modality": "text", "value": "Detachment, distance and neutrality", "short": "Detachment, distance, neutrality" }, { "modality": "text", "value": "Curiosity, openness and acceptance", "short": "Curiosity, openness, acceptance" } ], "correctIndex": 3, "explanation": "Curiosity, openness and acceptance are the orientation component of the proposal; the other component is steering attention so that it stays on what is happening now. Calm and relaxation are not part of it.", "uid": "g3x1rr2qixzf" }, { "id": "mm-l02-tf-kz-ends-with-curiosity", "shape": "trueFalse", "tags": [ "mindfulness", "uses-of-mindfulness" ], "source": { "label": "Jon Kabat-Zinn β€” Mindfulness-based interventions in context: Past, present, and future", "url": "https://jonkabat-zinn.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/01/JonKabat-Zinn_MindfulnessBased-InterventionsContext.pdf" }, "statement": "Kabat-Zinn's 2003 working definition describes paying attention on purpose, in the present moment, and with curiosity.", "isTrue": false, "why": "His wording ends with nonjudgmentally. Curiosity, openness and acceptance belong to the orientation component in the 2004 proposal by Bishop and colleagues.", "uid": "ofzj0ne3h6h1" }, { "id": "mm-l02-f-four-interval-cycle", "shape": "fact", "tags": [ "wandering-mind", "mindfulness" ], "source": { "label": "Hasenkamp and colleagues β€” Mind wandering and attention during focused meditation", "url": "https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/21782031/" }, "title": "A Four-Interval Wandering Cycle", "body": "In a 2012 brain-imaging study, fourteen meditation practitioners did breath-focused meditation during fMRI scanning and pressed a button on noticing that the mind had strayed. Hasenkamp and colleagues propose that focused-attention meditation runs in a **cycle of four intervals**, in this order: mind wandering, awareness of mind wandering, shifting of attention and sustained attention. The cycle is a process in the mind during practice, not an instruction. The study's abstract lists mind wandering first, while the follow-up paper's figure starts at focus.", "uid": "1kep2hs17xz1c0" }, { "id": "mm-l02-f-minds-wander-daily", "shape": "fact", "tags": [ "wandering-mind", "mindfulness" ], "source": { "label": "Killingsworth and Gilbert β€” A Wandering Mind Is an Unhappy Mind", "url": "https://www.imm.uzh.ch/news/schatzkammer/Science_2010.330.932.pdf" }, "title": "How Often Minds Wander", "body": "In a 2010 study published in Science, an iPhone web app contacted 2,250 adults at random moments, a method called **experience sampling**. Minds were wandering in 46.9% of the samples, a share of individual reports rather than of people. Participants reported lower happiness when their minds wandered, and what they were thinking predicted happiness better than what they were doing. The authors say time-lag analyses strongly suggested that wandering preceded unhappiness.", "illustration": { "imagePrompt": "A commuter seated by a train window, gazing outside with a calm, thoughtful expression.", "imageSearchTerm": "commuter gazing out train window", "alt": "A man looking out of a train window", "kind": "photo", "credit": "Pexels Β· Phong Vo Β· Pexels License", "creditUrl": "https://www.pexels.com/photo/man-on-metro-train-19291436/", "subject": "A man in glasses and beige clothes with a cross-body bag leans on a rail inside a metro train carriage with yellow bench seats and overhead hand straps, his face turned in profile toward the window as he looks out.", "url": "https://cdn.recurxive.com/packs/mindfulness-meditation/images/mm-l02-f-minds-wander-daily.webp" }, "uid": "9fs2vevarpje" }, { "id": "mm-l02-d-mind-wandering", "shape": "definition", "tags": [ "wandering-mind", "mindfulness" ], "source": { "label": "Hasenkamp and Barsalou β€” Effects of meditation experience on functional connectivity of distributed brain networks", "url": "https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC3290768/" }, "term": { "modality": "text", "value": "Mind wandering" }, "definition": { "modality": "text", "value": "The mind being entirely off the breath and caught up in a chain of thought, as the Hasenkamp follow-up paper treats it", "short": "Entirely off the breath, lost in thought" }, "uid": "1c3skyw1sm81w0" }, { "id": "mm-l02-d-default-mode-network", "shape": "definition", "tags": [ "default-mode-network", "wandering-mind" ], "source": { "label": "Raichle β€” The brain's default mode network", "url": "https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/25938726/" }, "term": { "modality": "text", "value": "Default mode network" }, "definition": { "modality": "text", "value": "Brain areas that Raichle's review describes as consistently less active during attention-demanding tasks than during quiet rest" }, "uid": "60j7tuejpz5g" }, { "id": "mm-l02-proc-wandering-cycle", "shape": "procedure", "tags": [ "wandering-mind", "mindfulness" ], "source": { "label": "Hasenkamp and colleagues β€” Mind wandering and attention during focused meditation", "url": "https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/21782031/" }, "goal": "The cycle of four intervals that one fMRI study proposes for focused-attention meditation, in the order its abstract lists them", "steps": [ "Mind wandering", "Awareness of mind wandering", "Shifting of attention", "Sustained attention" ], "notes": "A process in the mind during practice, not an instruction. The study's abstract lists mind wandering first, while the follow-up paper's figure starts at focus.", "uid": "11zmmlw57jn8a" }, { "id": "mm-l02-c-default-mode-areas", "shape": "cloze", "tags": [ "default-mode-network", "wandering-mind" ], "source": { "label": "Raichle β€” The brain's default mode network", "url": "https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/25938726/" }, "template": "In Raichle's review, brain areas consistently less active during attention-demanding tasks than during quiet rest make up the ___ network.", "answer": "default mode", "distractors": [ "salience", "executive", "dorsal attention" ], "explanation": "Raichle's review describes the default mode network in these terms. The salience network is thought to detect relevant stimuli, and the executive network to control attention.", "uid": "zg67c31x7oyvf" }, { "id": "mm-l02-q-share-of-samples", "shape": "mcq", "tags": [ "wandering-mind", "mindfulness" ], "source": { "label": "Killingsworth and Gilbert β€” A Wandering Mind Is an Unhappy Mind", "url": "https://www.imm.uzh.ch/news/schatzkammer/Science_2010.330.932.pdf" }, "prompt": { "modality": "text", "value": "In a 2010 iPhone study of 2,250 adults, minds were wandering in what share of the samples?" }, "options": [ { "modality": "text", "value": "31.7%" }, { "modality": "text", "value": "46.9%" }, { "modality": "text", "value": "53.2%" }, { "modality": "text", "value": "62.4%" } ], "correctIndex": 1, "explanation": "Minds were wandering in 46.9% of the samples, which are individual reports, not 46.9% of the people in the study.", "uid": "1jh0j3q1hgad4s" }, { "id": "mm-l02-tf-thinking-beats-doing", "shape": "trueFalse", "tags": [ "wandering-mind", "mindfulness" ], "source": { "label": "Killingsworth and Gilbert β€” A Wandering Mind Is an Unhappy Mind", "url": "https://www.imm.uzh.ch/news/schatzkammer/Science_2010.330.932.pdf" }, "statement": "In the 2010 iPhone study, what people were thinking predicted their happiness better than what they were doing.", "isTrue": true, "why": "Participants reported lower happiness when their minds wandered, and thought content predicted happiness better than activity. The authors say time-lag analyses strongly suggested that wandering preceded unhappiness.", "uid": "yf6igtlz5gxv" }, { "id": "mm-l02-f-open-monitoring-basics", "shape": "fact", "tags": [ "open-monitoring", "attention-styles" ], "source": { "label": "Lutz, Slagter, Dunne and Davidson β€” Attention regulation and monitoring in meditation", "url": "https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC2693206/" }, "title": "Open Monitoring, Without Reacting", "body": "In a 2008 paper, Lutz and colleagues describe **open monitoring** as non-reactive monitoring of whatever occurs in experience, with no strong line between selecting an object and dropping it. It has no explicit object, and its practices usually start with a spell of focused attention to settle the mind. Lutz and colleagues chose the term open monitoring over mindfulness because mindfulness has received multiple meanings. Dahl and colleagues say open monitoring and deconstructive practice differ in aim: stabilizing meta-awareness versus gaining insight into experience.", "uid": "1y34ifpz9djpz" }, { "id": "mm-l02-f-labeling-and-two-kinds", "shape": "fact", "tags": [ "open-monitoring", "attention-styles" ], "source": { "label": "Lutz, Slagter, Dunne and Davidson β€” Attention regulation and monitoring in meditation", "url": "https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC2693206/" }, "title": "Labeling and Two Kinds of Monitoring", "body": "**Labeling** means putting a name to what is happening in experience, such as naming a feeling as distress. Lutz and colleagues list it as a beginner's form of metacognitive monitoring and place it in Vipassana traditions, where it supports open monitoring. Dahl and colleagues split open monitoring into an object-oriented kind, which turns attention to whatever thoughts, perceptions or sensations arise, and an awareness-oriented kind, which steadily recognizes the knowing quality of awareness itself.", "uid": "1mjbm2agyieqo" }, { "id": "mm-l02-d-meta-awareness", "shape": "definition", "tags": [ "meta-awareness", "open-monitoring" ], "source": { "label": "Dahl, Lutz and Davidson β€” Reconstructing and deconstructing the self: cognitive mechanisms in meditation practice", "url": "https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC4595910/" }, "term": { "modality": "text", "value": "Meta-awareness" }, "definition": { "modality": "text", "value": "Heightened awareness of the processes of consciousness, including thinking, feeling and perceiving, in Dahl and colleagues' glossary", "short": "Heightened awareness of how consciousness works" }, "uid": "h42x2sclydzg" }, { "id": "mm-l02-cmp-attention-to-whatever-arises", "shape": "comparison", "tags": [ "open-monitoring", "attention-styles" ], "source": { "label": "Dahl, Lutz and Davidson β€” Reconstructing and deconstructing the self: cognitive mechanisms in meditation practice", "url": "https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC4595910/" }, "prompt": "A practitioner turns attention to each thought, perception or sensation as it arises. Which kind of open monitoring is this?", "correct": { "caption": "Object-oriented open monitoring" }, "incorrect": { "caption": "Awareness-oriented open monitoring" }, "explanation": "Turning attention to whatever thoughts, perceptions or sensations arise is the object-oriented kind. The awareness-oriented kind instead steadily recognizes the knowing quality of awareness itself.", "uid": "doc58d2w02nj" }, { "id": "mm-l02-cmp-aim-of-open-monitoring", "shape": "comparison", "tags": [ "open-monitoring", "meta-awareness" ], "source": { "label": "Dahl, Lutz and Davidson β€” Reconstructing and deconstructing the self: cognitive mechanisms in meditation practice", "url": "https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC4595910/" }, "prompt": "Which aim belongs to open monitoring, rather than to deconstructive practice?", "correct": { "caption": "Stabilizing meta-awareness" }, "incorrect": { "caption": "Gaining insight into experience" }, "explanation": "The aim of open monitoring is stabilizing meta-awareness. Gaining insight into experience is the aim of deconstructive practice instead.", "uid": "1yjj599d52lxd" }, { "id": "mm-l02-c-labeling-tradition", "shape": "cloze", "tags": [ "open-monitoring", "attention-styles" ], "source": { "label": "Lutz, Slagter, Dunne and Davidson β€” Attention regulation and monitoring in meditation", "url": "https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC2693206/" }, "template": "In a 2008 paper, labeling is placed in ___ traditions, where it supports open monitoring.", "answer": "Vipassana", "distractors": [ "Zen", "Tibetan", "Daoist" ], "explanation": "The authors place labeling in Vipassana traditions, where it supports open monitoring, with naming a feeling as distress as their example.", "uid": "7j23s6ce9ny6" }, { "id": "mm-l02-q-why-open-monitoring-term", "shape": "mcq", "tags": [ "open-monitoring", "mindfulness" ], "source": { "label": "Lutz, Slagter, Dunne and Davidson β€” Attention regulation and monitoring in meditation", "url": "https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC2693206/" }, "prompt": { "modality": "text", "value": "What reason did a 2008 paper give for choosing the term open monitoring over mindfulness?" }, "options": [ { "modality": "text", "value": "Mindfulness has received multiple meanings", "short": "Has received multiple meanings" }, { "modality": "text", "value": "Mindfulness requires religious belief", "short": "Requires religious belief" }, { "modality": "text", "value": "Mindfulness is mainly a relaxation technique", "short": "Mainly a relaxation technique" }, { "modality": "text", "value": "Mindfulness refers only to sitting practice", "short": "Refers only to sitting" } ], "correctIndex": 0, "explanation": "The stated reason is that mindfulness has received multiple meanings. The paper does not say mindfulness requires religious belief, relaxation, or sitting practice only.", "uid": "1izlb5omj39l8" }, { "id": "ot-mm-l02-cycle-is-a-process", "shape": "mcq", "tags": [ "wandering-mind", "mindfulness" ], "prompt": { "modality": "text", "value": "What kind of thing is the four-interval cycle that one fMRI study proposes for focused-attention meditation?" }, "options": [ { "modality": "text", "value": "A set of steps for beginners to follow" }, { "modality": "text", "value": "A schedule of training sessions" }, { "modality": "text", "value": "A process in the mind during practice" }, { "modality": "text", "value": "A test of how long attention can last" } ], "correctIndex": 2, "explanation": "The cycle is a process in the mind during practice, not an instruction: each interval triggers the next, from wandering to awareness, then shifting and sustained attention.", "source": { "label": "Hasenkamp and colleagues β€” Mind wandering and attention during focused meditation", "url": "https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/21782031/" }, "uid": "bbb81s1wns728" }, { "id": "mm-l03-f-buddhist-roads-differ", "shape": "fact", "tags": [ "traditions", "myths" ], "source": { "label": "Spirit Rock Meditation Center β€” Our Buddhist Lineage", "url": "https://www.spiritrock.org/about/our-buddhist-lineage" }, "title": "Buddhist Meditation Is Not One Thing", "body": "Buddhist meditation is not all the same: the traditions' own descriptions differ in method and aim. Burmese monks and lay people organized after the British conquest of 1885 to protect Buddhism, and two lay-focused monks started the **Vipassana movement**, says Spirit Rock. Zen grew from Chan, which divided into Rinzai's koan Zen and Soto's silent illumination. Tibetan Buddhism's first monastery, Samye, dates to the reign of Emperor Trisong Detsen, and a study of Sera Jey monks calls concentrative and analytical meditation its two main types.", "uid": "4e5eb2l3or5y" }, { "id": "mm-l03-f-mantra-prayer-programs", "shape": "fact", "tags": [ "traditions", "transcendental-meditation", "christian-contemplative" ], "source": { "label": "Maharishi Foundation USA β€” Transcendental Meditation (tm.org)", "url": "https://www.tm.org/en-us/homepage" }, "title": "Transcendental Meditation, Centering Prayer, Secular Programs", "body": "Maharishi Mahesh Yogi began teaching **Transcendental Meditation** in the 1950s, says the TM organization, which as of October 2026 describes the practice as 20 minutes twice a day, eyes closed, taught one-to-one by a certified teacher. Centering prayer was developed in the 1970s by three Trappist monks at St. Joseph's Abbey in Spencer, Massachusetts. Secular mindfulness-based programs draw on Buddhism but are offered without it, and Jon Kabat-Zinn proposed an eight-week hospital course of this kind.", "illustration": { "imagePrompt": "Photograph of St. Joseph's Abbey, the Trappist monastery in Spencer, Massachusetts. No readable text, brands or logos.", "imageSearchTerm": "St. Joseph's Abbey Spencer Massachusetts", "alt": "St. Joseph's Abbey, the Trappist monastery in Spencer, Massachusetts", "kind": "photo", "credit": "Wikimedia Commons Β· John Phelan Β· CC BY-SA 3.0", "creditUrl": "https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:St_Josephs_Abbey,_Spencer_MA.jpg", "subject": "A large fieldstone abbey church and monastery building with a pointed square bell tower, a small green spire and arched lancet windows, set on a mown lawn with trees under a cloudy sky.", "url": "https://cdn.recurxive.com/packs/mindfulness-meditation/images/mm-l03-f-mantra-prayer-programs.0e548e87.webp" }, "uid": "1kdivhm13ibfem" }, { "id": "mm-l03-k-vipassana-movement", "shape": "concept", "tags": [ "vipassana", "traditions" ], "source": { "label": "Spirit Rock Meditation Center β€” Our Buddhist Lineage", "url": "https://www.spiritrock.org/about/our-buddhist-lineage" }, "conceptKind": "thing", "name": "Vipassana movement", "clues": [ "After the British conquest of 1885, Burmese monks and lay people organized to protect Buddhism, and two lay-focused monks started it, says Spirit Rock", "It has two streams: sweeping attention through the body and continuous mental noting", "Its American mainstream rests on Mahasi's systematization, Fronsdal wrote in 1998" ], "uid": "1j7av751kc6fo3" }, { "id": "mm-l03-k-zen", "shape": "concept", "tags": [ "zen", "traditions" ], "source": { "label": "Sotoshu β€” Soto Zen: An Introduction to Zazen", "url": "https://www.sotozen.com/eng/library/leaflet/sotozen/pdf/soto_zen.pdf" }, "conceptKind": "thing", "name": "Zen", "clues": [ "It grew from Chan, its parent school in Song-dynasty China", "That parent school divided into Rinzai, with its koans, and Soto, with silent illumination", "It was the last Buddhist school to reach Japan, first through Eisai (1141 to 1215), says the Soto school's own leaflet", "After the 1870s persecution of Buddhism in Japan, Rinzai masters at Engakuji in Kamakura opened the monastery's doors to laypeople, says Sharf" ], "uid": "12yhqv41y5evl0" }, { "id": "mm-l03-k-tibetan-buddhism", "shape": "concept", "tags": [ "tibetan-buddhism", "traditions" ], "source": { "label": "Wikipedia β€” Tibetan Buddhism (schools, Dzogchen, Mahamudra, Dalai Lama and the Gelug school); Samye and Trisong Detsen: Tsultrim, tibet.net", "url": "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tibetan_Buddhism" }, "conceptKind": "thing", "name": "Tibetan Buddhism", "clues": [ "Its first monastery, Samye, dates to the reign of Emperor Trisong Detsen", "Samye was built under the guidance of the Indian abbot Shantarakshita and the master Padmasambhava, says the Tibetan exile government's site", "Emperor Trisong Detsen's edict declared Buddhism a state religion", "A study of Sera Jey monks calls concentrative meditation and analytical meditation its two main types" ], "uid": "1egdxyncfrfzd" }, { "id": "mm-l03-k-transcendental-meditation", "shape": "concept", "tags": [ "transcendental-meditation", "traditions" ], "source": { "label": "Maharishi Foundation USA β€” Transcendental Meditation (tm.org)", "url": "https://www.tm.org/en-us/homepage" }, "conceptKind": "thing", "name": "Transcendental Meditation", "clues": [ "Teaching of it began in the 1950s, says its organization; sources disagree on the exact year", "As of October 2026, its organization describes the practice as 20 minutes twice a day, eyes closed", "Its organization says it is taught one-to-one by a certified teacher", "A personal mantra, a repeated word or phrase, is given at an interview, reports an encyclopedia entry" ], "uid": "3pxy2o1iondji" }, { "id": "mm-l03-k-centering-prayer", "shape": "concept", "tags": [ "christian-contemplative", "traditions" ], "source": { "label": "Contemplative Outreach β€” History of Centering Prayer", "url": "https://www.contemplativeoutreach.org/history-of-centering-prayer" }, "conceptKind": "thing", "name": "Centering prayer", "clues": [ "Three Trappist monks at St. Joseph's Abbey in Spencer, Massachusetts developed it in the 1970s", "It draws on the anonymous fourteenth-century Cloud of Unknowing, lectio divina and John Cassian", "Its name echoes Thomas Merton" ], "uid": "b70in111rbwb1" }, { "id": "mm-l03-k-secular-programs", "shape": "concept", "tags": [ "traditions", "mindfulness" ], "source": { "label": "Kabat-Zinn β€” Some reflections on the origins of MBSR (2011)", "url": "https://association-mindfulness.org/docs/Kabat_Zinn_Version_anglaise.pdf" }, "conceptKind": "thing", "name": "Secular programs", "clues": [ "It draws on Buddhism but is offered without it", "Jon Kabat-Zinn proposed an eight-week hospital course of this kind, in \"Buddhist meditation without the Buddhism\", together with yoga", "UMass Memorial says its own story began with Kabat-Zinn's Stress Reduction Clinic", "Its earliest papers cited both Theravada and Zen roots" ], "uid": "tqpdrw1mrki42" }, { "id": "mm-l03-f-teachers-japan-india", "shape": "fact", "tags": [ "teachers", "zen", "transcendental-meditation" ], "source": { "label": "Sharf β€” Suzuki, D. T. (Encyclopedia of Religion)", "url": "https://web.archive.org/web/20180713111915/http://buddhiststudies.berkeley.edu:80/people/faculty/sharf/documents/Sharf%20Suzuki%20in%20Encyclopedia%20of%20Religion%20.pdf" }, "title": "Two Suzukis and Maharishi", "body": "D. T. Suzuki (1870 to 1966) was a lay scholar who trained under Imakita Kosen and then Shaku Soen at Engakuji, a Rinzai monastery in Kamakura. Shunryu Suzuki (1904 to 1971), a Soto priest from Rinsoin temple in Yaizu, Japan, was abbot of the San Francisco Zen Center from 1962 to 1971. Maharishi Mahesh Yogi studied with Swami Brahmananda Saraswati, called Guru Dev, and his movement was first called the **Spiritual Regeneration Movement**.", "illustration": { "imagePrompt": "A photograph of Engakuji, a Zen monastery in Kamakura, Japan, showing its main gate and wooded grounds.", "imageSearchTerm": "Engakuji temple Kamakura Japan", "alt": "Engakuji, a Rinzai Zen monastery in Kamakura, Japan", "kind": "photo", "credit": "Wikimedia Commons Β· DimiTalen Β· CC0", "creditUrl": "https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Stairs_to_Sanmon,_Engaku-ji.jpg", "subject": "Engakuji's Sanmon main gate in Kamakura: a two-storey wooden gate with a green roof at the top of a broad stone stairway among tall cedars and budding cherry trees, two visitors walking up from behind.", "url": "https://cdn.recurxive.com/packs/mindfulness-meditation/images/mm-l03-f-teachers-japan-india.webp" }, "uid": "3t89xz9mbnsv" }, { "id": "mm-l03-f-hippie-trail-to-barre", "shape": "fact", "tags": [ "teachers", "vipassana", "retreats" ], "source": { "label": "Braun, Tricycle β€” S. N. Goenka, Pioneer of Secular Meditation Movement, Dies at 90", "url": "https://tricycle.org/article/s-n-goenka-pioneer-secular-meditation-movement-dies-90/" }, "title": "From the Hippie Trail to Barre", "body": "S. N. Goenka, born in Burma to a family of Indian descent, was a layman whose free courses drew Westerners on the **hippie trail** in the 1970s. Some of them, including Joseph Goldstein and Sharon Salzberg, became teachers, and Salzberg was among the teachers who bought the former Catholic seminary in Barre that became the Insight Meditation Society (IMS). Fronsdal calls the Naropa Institute summer courses of Jack Kornfield and Goldstein arguably the most significant event in bringing vipassana to America. Kornfield is a founding teacher of IMS and Spirit Rock.", "illustration": { "imagePrompt": "A photograph of the Insight Meditation Society's retreat center buildings in Barre, Massachusetts.", "imageSearchTerm": "Insight Meditation Society Barre Massachusetts", "alt": "The Insight Meditation Society retreat center in Barre, Massachusetts", "kind": "photo", "credit": "Charles K. Stevenson Β· CC BY-SA 3.0", "creditUrl": "https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Insight_Meditation_Society%27s_retreat_center_amidst_blossoms.jpg", "subject": "Pink crabapple blossoms fill the foreground; behind them, softly blurred, is a red-brick building with a white-columned portico and pediment, with evergreens and a stone wall.", "url": "https://cdn.recurxive.com/packs/mindfulness-meditation/images/mm-l03-f-hippie-trail-to-barre.webp" }, "uid": "gm2tatvso88z" }, { "id": "mm-l03-k-dt-suzuki", "shape": "concept", "tags": [ "teachers", "zen" ], "source": { "label": "Sharf β€” Suzuki, D. T. (Encyclopedia of Religion)", "url": "https://web.archive.org/web/20180713111915/http://buddhiststudies.berkeley.edu:80/people/faculty/sharf/documents/Sharf%20Suzuki%20in%20Encyclopedia%20of%20Religion%20.pdf" }, "conceptKind": "person", "name": "D. T. Suzuki", "clues": [ "A lay scholar, 1870 to 1966, who received no Dharma transmission, says Sharf", "He trained under Imakita Kosen and then Shaku Soen at Engakuji, a Rinzai monastery in Kamakura" ], "uid": "67qng1lvjtzx" }, { "id": "mm-l03-k-shunryu-suzuki", "shape": "concept", "tags": [ "teachers", "zen" ], "source": { "label": "Chadwick, Cuke.com β€” Notes on the Corporate History of the San Francisco Zen Center", "url": "https://cuke.com/Cucumber-Project/other/history-sfzc-corporate.htm" }, "conceptKind": "person", "name": "Shunryu Suzuki", "clues": [ "A Soto priest from Rinsoin temple in Yaizu, Japan", "He was abbot of the San Francisco Zen Center from 1962 to 1971 and named Richard Baker his successor", "Some of his talks, edited by Trudy Dixon with an introduction by Baker, became Zen Mind, Beginner's Mind" ], "uid": "s81bhhekepc9" }, { "id": "mm-l03-k-maharishi-mahesh-yogi", "shape": "concept", "tags": [ "teachers", "transcendental-meditation" ], "source": { "label": "Encyclopedia.com (Gale) β€” Maharishi Mahesh Yogi", "url": "https://www.encyclopedia.com/people/philosophy-and-religion/other-religious-beliefs-biographies/maharishi-mahesh-yogi" }, "conceptKind": "person", "name": "Maharishi Mahesh Yogi", "clues": [ "He first traveled to the United States on January 29, 1959, according to Gale's encyclopedia entry", "He studied with Swami Brahmananda Saraswati, called Guru Dev", "His movement was first called the Spiritual Regeneration Movement" ], "uid": "1gqgor8l63egq" }, { "id": "mm-l03-k-sn-goenka", "shape": "concept", "tags": [ "teachers", "vipassana" ], "source": { "label": "dhamma.org β€” S. N. Goenka (biography)", "url": "https://www.dhamma.org/en/about/goenka" }, "conceptKind": "person", "name": "S. N. Goenka", "clues": [ "A layman born in Burma to a family of Indian descent", "He taught full time in India after about fourteen years of training", "His free courses drew Westerners on the hippie trail in the 1970s", "As of October 2026, dhamma.org describes his courses as breath first and then sensations throughout the body from about the fourth day" ], "uid": "11685r411hm4qs" }, { "id": "mm-l03-k-jack-kornfield", "shape": "concept", "tags": [ "teachers", "vipassana" ], "source": { "label": "Spirit Rock Meditation Center β€” Jack Kornfield (teacher profile)", "url": "https://www.spiritrock.org/teachers/jack-kornfield" }, "conceptKind": "person", "name": "Jack Kornfield", "clues": [ "He trained as a monk in Thailand, India and Burma", "He holds a doctorate in clinical psychology", "Ajahn Chah was his root teacher", "A 1998 account reports his aim as teaching insight practice without ritual, robes or chanting" ], "uid": "qllgks17s3mig" }, { "id": "mm-l03-k-sharon-salzberg", "shape": "concept", "tags": [ "teachers", "vipassana" ], "source": { "label": "Sharon Salzberg β€” About Sharon Salzberg", "url": "https://www.sharonsalzberg.com/about/" }, "conceptKind": "person", "name": "Sharon Salzberg", "clues": [ "By her own account, she met Buddhism in a SUNY Buffalo course", "In her account, she attended her first intensive course at Bodh Gaya by January 1971", "Her 1995 book Lovingkindness takes loving-kindness as its primary theme" ], "uid": "vovnmuoskpq6" }, { "id": "mm-l03-f-parliament-and-suzuki", "shape": "fact", "tags": [ "timeline", "zen" ], "source": { "label": "Chicago History Museum β€” Commemorating 130 Years of the Parliament of the World's Religions", "url": "https://www.chicagohistory.org/parliament-of-the-worlds-religions/" }, "title": "Chicago 1893: The Parliament of Religions", "body": "The **World's Parliament of Religions** met in Chicago from September 11 to 27, 1893. Its speakers included Swami Vivekananda for Hinduism, Anagarika Dharmapala for Buddhism and Soyen Shaku, a Zen Buddhist from Japan, says the Chicago History Museum. D. T. Suzuki translated Soyen's speech into English, and in 1927 Suzuki published the first of three volumes of Essays in Zen Buddhism.", "illustration": { "imagePrompt": "An archival photograph of delegates seated on the platform of the World's Parliament of Religions in Chicago in 1893.", "imageSearchTerm": "Parliament of Religions Chicago 1893", "alt": "Delegates at the World's Parliament of Religions in Chicago, 1893", "kind": "photo", "credit": "Unknown author Β· Public domain", "creditUrl": "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Parliament_of_the_World%27s_Religions", "subject": "Black-and-white panorama of the 1893 Parliament of the World's Religions: delegates in many styles of religious dress seated on a platform behind two lecterns, a speakers' chalkboard and statues behind them, audience below.", "url": "https://cdn.recurxive.com/packs/mindfulness-meditation/images/mm-l03-f-parliament-and-suzuki.webp" }, "uid": "10i4ll4d0qhee" }, { "id": "mm-l03-f-arrivals-and-books", "shape": "fact", "tags": [ "timeline", "transcendental-meditation" ], "source": { "label": "Chadwick, Cuke.com β€” Notes on the Corporate History of the San Francisco Zen Center", "url": "https://cuke.com/Cucumber-Project/other/history-sfzc-corporate.htm" }, "title": "Arrivals in 1959, Books by 1990", "body": "In 1959 Shunryu Suzuki arrived in San Francisco to serve the Japanese-American temple **Sokoji**, and Maharishi Mahesh Yogi first traveled to the United States. Americans who sat with Shunryu Suzuki formed the San Francisco Zen Center, separate from the temple. The Beatles began a stay at Maharishi's ashram in Rishikesh in February 1968, and the Associated Press says Transcendental Meditation took off after they attended his lecture in Wales and agreed to stay at his India compound. Benson's The Relaxation Response was published in 1975, and Kabat-Zinn's Full Catastrophe Living in 1990.", "illustration": { "imagePrompt": "A photograph of the Sokoji Soto Zen temple building in San Francisco's Japantown.", "imageSearchTerm": "Sokoji Zen temple San Francisco", "alt": "1881 Bush Street, San Francisco, the former home of Sokoji", "kind": "photo", "credit": "Wikimedia Commons Β· Billiamwhatcott Β· CC BY-SA 4.0", "creditUrl": "https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Bush_Street_Temple_(Soto_Mission).jpg", "subject": "The twin-domed, Moorish-style former synagogue building at 1881 Bush Street, San Francisco (the number is visible by the left door), photographed in daylight in 2019; Sokoji's building when Suzuki arrived in 1959.", "url": "https://cdn.recurxive.com/packs/mindfulness-meditation/images/mm-l03-f-arrivals-and-books.webp" }, "uid": "lyzp8yo6pe4u" }, { "id": "mm-l03-n-parliament-1893", "shape": "numeric", "tags": [ "timeline", "traditions" ], "source": { "label": "Chicago History Museum β€” Commemorating 130 Years of the Parliament of the World's Religions", "url": "https://www.chicagohistory.org/parliament-of-the-worlds-religions/" }, "prompt": { "modality": "text", "value": "In what year did the World's Parliament of Religions meet in Chicago?" }, "value": 1893, "unit": "year", "tolerance": 0, "uid": "o01uff4p3dy7" }, { "id": "mm-l03-n-essays-1927", "shape": "numeric", "tags": [ "timeline", "zen" ], "source": { "label": "Matsugaoka Bunko β€” D. T. Suzuki and the Matsugaoka Bunko (chronology)", "url": "https://www.matsugaoka-bunko.com/en/history/index" }, "prompt": { "modality": "text", "value": "In what year was the first volume of D. T. Suzuki's Essays in Zen Buddhism published?" }, "value": 1927, "unit": "year", "tolerance": 0, "uid": "le3jyl1dsk131" }, { "id": "mm-l03-n-shunryu-1959", "shape": "numeric", "tags": [ "timeline", "zen" ], "source": { "label": "Chadwick, Cuke.com β€” Notes on the Corporate History of the San Francisco Zen Center", "url": "https://cuke.com/Cucumber-Project/other/history-sfzc-corporate.htm" }, "prompt": { "modality": "text", "value": "In what year did Shunryu Suzuki arrive in San Francisco?" }, "value": 1959, "unit": "year", "tolerance": 0, "uid": "1d9k7km14cjhbo" }, { "id": "mm-l03-n-beatles-1968", "shape": "numeric", "tags": [ "timeline", "transcendental-meditation" ], "source": { "label": "Agence France-Presse β€” Beatles' Indian hideaway comes together, 50 years on", "url": "https://www.arabnews.com/travel/beatles-indian-hideaway-comes-together-50-years-on-1355611" }, "prompt": { "modality": "text", "value": "In what year did the Beatles begin a stay at Maharishi's ashram in Rishikesh?" }, "value": 1968, "unit": "year", "tolerance": 0, "uid": "1447fnrhqcirv" }, { "id": "mm-l03-n-relaxation-1975", "shape": "numeric", "tags": [ "timeline", "relaxation" ], "source": { "label": "Kirkus Reviews β€” The Relaxation Response (review record)", "url": "https://www.kirkusreviews.com/book-reviews/a/robert-ed-bly-3/the-relaxation-response" }, "prompt": { "modality": "text", "value": "In what year was Herbert Benson's The Relaxation Response published?" }, "value": 1975, "unit": "year", "tolerance": 0, "uid": "847w2j1or9d51" }, { "id": "mm-l03-n-full-catastrophe-1990", "shape": "numeric", "tags": [ "timeline", "mbsr" ], "source": { "label": "Internet Archive β€” Full catastrophe living (catalogue record)", "url": "https://archive.org/details/fullcatastrophel00kaba" }, "prompt": { "modality": "text", "value": "In what year was Kabat-Zinn's Full Catastrophe Living published?" }, "value": 1990, "unit": "year", "tolerance": 0, "uid": "x0pm4zdcbwdt" }, { "id": "ot-mm-l03-soto-approach", "shape": "mcq", "tags": [ "zen", "traditions" ], "prompt": { "modality": "text", "value": "Which approach is associated with the Soto school of Zen?" }, "options": [ { "modality": "text", "value": "Koan work" }, { "modality": "text", "value": "Silent illumination" }, { "modality": "text", "value": "Continuous mental noting" }, { "modality": "text", "value": "Analytical meditation" } ], "correctIndex": 1, "explanation": "Soto is tied to silent illumination, while koan work belongs to Rinzai. Continuous mental noting is the Mahasi method of the Vipassana movement.", "source": { "label": "Sotoshu β€” Soto Zen: An Introduction to Zazen", "url": "https://www.sotozen.com/eng/library/leaflet/sotozen/pdf/soto_zen.pdf" }, "uid": "822lacotet5u" }, { "id": "ot-mm-l03-emptiness-meditation", "shape": "mcq", "tags": [ "tibetan-buddhism", "attention-styles" ], "prompt": { "modality": "text", "value": "A monk in a Tibetan monastery examines emptiness as a Dharma concept. Which main type of meditation is this?" }, "options": [ { "modality": "text", "value": "Concentrative meditation" }, { "modality": "text", "value": "Guided imagery" }, { "modality": "text", "value": "Loving-kindness practice" }, { "modality": "text", "value": "Analytical meditation" } ], "correctIndex": 3, "explanation": "Analytical meditation examines a Dharma concept such as emptiness or compassion. Concentrative meditation instead sustains attention on a single object.", "source": { "label": "Neri et al. β€” Report from a Tibetan Monastery (Frontiers in Psychology, 2024)", "url": "https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC11098278/" }, "uid": "15t9f2980c6ax" }, { "id": "ot-mm-l03-sokoji-teacher", "shape": "mcq", "tags": [ "teachers", "zen" ], "prompt": { "modality": "text", "value": "Which teacher arrived in San Francisco to serve the Japanese-American temple Sokoji?" }, "options": [ { "modality": "text", "value": "Shunryu Suzuki" }, { "modality": "text", "value": "D. T. Suzuki" }, { "modality": "text", "value": "S. N. Goenka" }, { "modality": "text", "value": "Jack Kornfield" } ], "correctIndex": 0, "explanation": "Shunryu Suzuki, a Soto priest, came to serve Sokoji, and Americans who sat with him formed the San Francisco Zen Center. D. T. Suzuki was a lay scholar who trained at Engakuji in Kamakura.", "source": { "label": "Chadwick, Cuke.com β€” Notes on the Corporate History of the San Francisco Zen Center", "url": "https://cuke.com/Cucumber-Project/other/history-sfzc-corporate.htm" }, "uid": "1ntphhe1uczdtg" }, { "id": "ot-mm-l03-naropa-courses", "shape": "mcq", "tags": [ "teachers", "vipassana" ], "prompt": { "modality": "text", "value": "Which place hosted summer courses that Fronsdal calls arguably the most significant event in bringing vipassana to America?" }, "options": [ { "modality": "text", "value": "The Barre Center for Buddhist Studies" }, { "modality": "text", "value": "The Dhamma Dena center" }, { "modality": "text", "value": "The Naropa Institute" }, { "modality": "text", "value": "Plum Village" } ], "correctIndex": 2, "explanation": "Fronsdal's view concerns the summer courses Kornfield and Goldstein taught at the Naropa Institute. The Barre Center, Dhamma Dena and Plum Village are other places in the story, not the site of those courses.", "source": { "label": "Fronsdal β€” Insight Meditation in the United States (1998)", "url": "https://www.insightmeditationcenter.org/books-articles/insight-meditation-in-the-united-states-life-liberty-and-the-pursuit-of-happiness/" }, "uid": "p0yes1e4qc9u" }, { "id": "ot-mm-l03-between-1959-and-1975", "shape": "mcq", "tags": [ "timeline" ], "prompt": { "modality": "text", "value": "Which event came between Maharishi Mahesh Yogi's first visit to the United States and the publication of The Relaxation Response?" }, "options": [ { "modality": "text", "value": "The World's Parliament of Religions" }, { "modality": "text", "value": "The Beatles' stay at an ashram in Rishikesh" }, { "modality": "text", "value": "The first volume of Essays in Zen Buddhism" }, { "modality": "text", "value": "The publication of Full Catastrophe Living" } ], "correctIndex": 1, "explanation": "The Beatles' stay began in 1968, after Maharishi first traveled to the United States in 1959 and before The Relaxation Response appeared in 1975. The Parliament and the Essays came earlier, and Full Catastrophe Living came later.", "source": { "label": "Agence France-Presse β€” Beatles' Indian hideaway comes together, 50 years on", "url": "https://www.arabnews.com/travel/beatles-indian-hideaway-comes-together-50-years-on-1355611" }, "uid": "1k62dkw12c6vuo" }, { "id": "mm-l04-d-sati", "shape": "definition", "tags": [ "sati", "mindfulness" ], "source": { "label": "Robert H. Sharf β€” Is mindfulness Buddhist? (and why it matters)", "url": "https://escholarship.org/uc/item/7264r9wq" }, "term": { "modality": "text", "value": "Sati", "short": "Sati" }, "definition": { "modality": "text", "value": "The Pali word that English translates as mindfulness; it originally meant memory, and the early texts also use it for a watchful awareness", "short": "Pali: memory; watchful awareness" }, "uid": "17cqvalgcrfnx" }, { "id": "mm-l04-d-reductionism", "shape": "definition", "tags": [ "mindfulness" ], "source": { "label": "Bhikkhu Bodhi β€” What does mindfulness really mean? A canonical perspective", "url": "https://doi.org/10.1080/14639947.2011.564813" }, "term": { "modality": "text", "value": "Reductionism", "short": "Reductionism" }, "definition": { "modality": "text", "value": "Shrinking a broad idea into a narrow one, which Bodhi cautioned against while concluding that secular uses of mindfulness are acceptable", "short": "Shrinking a broad idea into a narrow one" }, "uid": "100ztxj1laq4zj" }, { "id": "mm-l04-f-lucid-awareness", "shape": "fact", "tags": [ "sati", "mindfulness" ], "source": { "label": "Bhikkhu Bodhi β€” What does mindfulness really mean? A canonical perspective", "url": "https://doi.org/10.1080/14639947.2011.564813" }, "title": "Bodhi on a New Meaning for Sati", "body": "Bodhi proposed in 2011 that the Buddha gave the old word sati a new meaning, best captured as **lucid awareness**. In the same account, sampajanna, which means clear comprehension, is set beside sati.", "illustration": { "imagePrompt": "Photograph of Bhikkhu Bodhi, the American Theravada Buddhist monk and translator. No readable text, brands or logos.", "imageSearchTerm": "Bhikkhu Bodhi", "alt": "Bhikkhu Bodhi, the American Theravada monk and translator", "kind": "photo", "subjectType": "person", "credit": "Wikimedia Commons Β· Venbodhi Β· CC BY-SA 4.0", "creditUrl": "https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Ven._Bhikkhu_Bodhi.jpg", "subject": "Close portrait of a smiling bald older man in brown and maroon monastic robes, facing the camera in front of a green hedge and a stone garden lantern, face fully visible.", "url": "https://cdn.recurxive.com/packs/mindfulness-meditation/images/mm-l04-f-lucid-awareness.2b4502f3.webp" }, "factVariant": "image-heavy", "uid": "1n7qr1i142kyq0" }, { "id": "mm-l04-f-mn10-formula", "shape": "fact", "tags": [ "early-texts", "sati" ], "source": { "label": "SuttaCentral (Bhikkhu Sujato, translator) β€” The Discourse on Mindfulness Meditation (MN 10)", "url": "https://suttacentral.net/mn10/en/sujato" }, "title": "The Formula in MN 10", "body": "In Sujato's translation, MN 10, the Satipatthana Sutta, states a formula once for each of the four establishments of mindfulness. The formula says the practitioner is **keen, aware and mindful**, free of covetousness and displeasure for the world. It is not repeated after every exercise; a different refrain repeats there, that the practitioner observes internally, externally and both.", "illustration": { "imagePrompt": "Archive photograph of a palm-leaf or paper manuscript of Pali Buddhist texts. No modern readable text, brands or logos.", "imageSearchTerm": "Pali canon manuscript", "alt": "A manuscript of extracts from the Pali canon, with handwritten text between two painted scenes", "kind": "photo", "subjectType": "artifact", "credit": "Wikimedia Commons Β· Chester Beatty Library Β· Public domain", "creditUrl": "https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Fragment_of_the_%22Extracts_from_the_Pali_canon_(Tipitaka)_and_Qualities_of_the_Buddha_(Mahabuddhaguna)%22_(CBL_Thi_1341).jpg", "subject": "A wide photograph on a black ground of one opened spread of a Southeast Asian manuscript: a center panel of dark-ink Khmer-style script, framed by patterned borders, with a painted scene on each side (a crowned figure beside a tree and a lotus pond on the left, a tiered-roof pavilion with a kneeling", "url": "https://cdn.recurxive.com/packs/mindfulness-meditation/images/mm-l04-f-mn10-formula.64fc984b.webp" }, "uid": "1ycv2vw139pzoi" }, { "id": "mm-l04-f-bare-attention-origin", "shape": "fact", "tags": [ "bare-attention", "mindfulness" ], "source": { "label": "Robert H. Sharf β€” Is mindfulness Buddhist? (and why it matters)", "url": "https://escholarship.org/uc/item/7264r9wq" }, "title": "Bare Attention's Burmese Roots", "body": "In Sharf's 2015 account, the popular reading of mindfulness as **bare attention** traces to the Burmese meditation revival of the twentieth century. That revival drew on teachers in the lineages of Ledi Sayadaw and Mingun Sayadaw, and Mingun's disciple Mahasi Sayadaw designed a method for laypeople. Sharf argued that the reading sits uneasily with older Theravada teaching, though similar present-centered innovations appeared in medieval Chan, a school of Chinese Buddhism, and in Tibetan Dzogchen.", "illustration": { "imagePrompt": "An archive portrait photograph of Mahasi Sayadaw, the Burmese meditation teacher, seated in monastic robes.", "imageSearchTerm": "Mahasi Sayadaw Burmese monk portrait", "alt": "Archive portrait of Mahasi Sayadaw, the Burmese meditation teacher", "kind": "photo", "subjectType": "person", "credit": "Unknown author Β· Public domain", "creditUrl": "https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Mahasi_Sayadaw.jpg", "subject": "Vintage studio portrait of a seated, shaven-headed Burmese monk in a brown robe, holding a large white talipot fan on his lap, against a flat green background.", "url": "https://cdn.recurxive.com/packs/mindfulness-meditation/images/mm-l04-f-bare-attention-origin.webp" }, "uid": "1r1jvad1qbw2q3" }, { "id": "mm-l04-q-formula-count", "shape": "mcq", "tags": [ "early-texts", "sati" ], "source": { "label": "SuttaCentral (Bhikkhu Sujato, translator) β€” The Discourse on Mindfulness Meditation (MN 10)", "url": "https://suttacentral.net/mn10/en/sujato" }, "prompt": { "modality": "text", "value": "In Sujato's translation of MN 10, how often is the formula \"keen, aware and mindful\" stated?" }, "options": [ { "modality": "text", "value": "After every one of the sutta's exercises", "short": "After every exercise" }, { "modality": "text", "value": "Once only, at the very start of the sutta", "short": "Once, at the start of the sutta" }, { "modality": "text", "value": "Once for each of the four establishments", "short": "Once per establishment" }, { "modality": "text", "value": "Twice, at the start and at the end of it", "short": "Twice, at the start and end" } ], "correctIndex": 2, "explanation": "The formula appears once for each of the four establishments of mindfulness. It does not follow every exercise; what repeats after each exercise is a different refrain, that the practitioner observes internally, externally and both.", "uid": "1wsi22hj9kdsl" }, { "id": "mm-l04-q-bare-attention-origin", "shape": "mcq", "tags": [ "bare-attention", "mindfulness" ], "source": { "label": "Robert H. Sharf β€” Is mindfulness Buddhist? (and why it matters)", "url": "https://escholarship.org/uc/item/7264r9wq" }, "prompt": { "modality": "text", "value": "In a 2015 account, the popular reading of mindfulness as bare attention traces to which of these?" }, "options": [ { "modality": "text", "value": "The Burmese meditation revival" }, { "modality": "text", "value": "The medieval Chan Buddhist school", "short": "Medieval Chan Buddhism" }, { "modality": "text", "value": "The Tibetan Dzogchen teachings" }, { "modality": "text", "value": "The older Theravada teachings" } ], "correctIndex": 0, "explanation": "Sharf's 2015 account traces the reading to the twentieth-century Burmese meditation revival. It is the more recent reading, so older Theravada teaching is not its source, and medieval Chan and Tibetan Dzogchen are only where he finds similar innovations.", "uid": "q48keq56wcou" }, { "id": "mm-l04-q-secular-scholar", "shape": "mcq", "tags": [ "mindfulness" ], "source": { "label": "Bhikkhu Bodhi β€” What does mindfulness really mean? A canonical perspective", "url": "https://doi.org/10.1080/14639947.2011.564813" }, "prompt": { "modality": "text", "value": "Which scholar concluded that secular uses of mindfulness are acceptable, while cautioning against reductionism?" }, "options": [ { "modality": "text", "value": "Sharf" }, { "modality": "text", "value": "Bodhi" }, { "modality": "text", "value": "Gethin" }, { "modality": "text", "value": "Sujato" } ], "correctIndex": 1, "explanation": "Bodhi concluded that secular uses of mindfulness are acceptable, while cautioning against reductionism, which means shrinking a broad idea into a narrow one. Sharf, Gethin and Sujato are each named for other claims, not this one.", "uid": "1pmge0n1524t4z" }, { "id": "mm-l04-d-mbsr", "shape": "definition", "tags": [ "mbsr", "mindfulness" ], "source": { "label": "NCCIH β€” Meditation and Mindfulness: Effectiveness and Safety", "url": "https://www.nccih.nih.gov/health/meditation-and-mindfulness-effectiveness-and-safety" }, "term": { "modality": "text", "value": "MBSR", "short": "MBSR" }, "definition": { "modality": "text", "value": "A program that teaches mindful meditation alongside discussion sessions and other strategies", "short": "Meditation plus discussion sessions" }, "uid": "q1etrb182udtv" }, { "id": "mm-l04-d-mbct", "shape": "definition", "tags": [ "mbct", "mindfulness" ], "source": { "label": "NCCIH β€” Meditation and Mindfulness: Effectiveness and Safety", "url": "https://www.nccih.nih.gov/health/meditation-and-mindfulness-effectiveness-and-safety" }, "term": { "modality": "text", "value": "MBCT", "short": "MBCT" }, "definition": { "modality": "text", "value": "A program that combines mindfulness practices with parts of cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT)", "short": "Mindfulness plus parts of CBT" }, "uid": "36jf5n1cx1otr" }, { "id": "mm-l04-f-mbct-origin", "shape": "fact", "tags": [ "mbct", "mbsr" ], "source": { "label": "Center for Mindfulness, UMass Memorial Health β€” MBCT Program", "url": "https://www.ummhealth.org/services-treatments/center-mindfulness/mindfulness-programs/mbct" }, "title": "Where MBCT came from", "body": "Two organizations, the Center for Mindfulness and Oxford Mindfulness, say **mindfulness-based cognitive therapy (MBCT)** was developed by Zindel Segal, John Teasdale and Mark Williams. MBCT grew out of MBSR, the Center says, and Oxford says it was inspired by the MBSR work of Jon Kabat-Zinn.", "uid": "1epxzcz1544udj" }, { "id": "mm-l04-f-prevent-trial", "shape": "fact", "tags": [ "trials", "mbct" ], "source": { "label": "NIHR Evidence β€” Mindfulness therapy and continuing antidepressants (NIHR Signal)", "url": "https://evidence.nihr.ac.uk/alert/mindfulness-therapy-may-provide-an-alternative-to-continuing-antidepressants-in-preventing-recurrence-of-depression/" }, "title": "The PREVENT Trial of MBCT", "body": "The **PREVENT trial** randomized 424 people with three or more earlier episodes of depression, who were taking antidepressants. Randomized means assigned by chance: one group received MBCT with support to taper (gradually reduce) their medication, and the other continued antidepressants. Relapse or recurrence, the return of depression, was 44 and 47 percent in the two groups. The trial found no evidence that MBCT was better, and costs were similar.", "uid": "1k8nm261u3hkbc" }, { "id": "mm-l04-f-ng222", "shape": "fact", "tags": [ "mbct", "evidence-strength" ], "source": { "label": "NICE β€” Depression in adults: treatment and management (NG222), Recommendations", "url": "https://www.nice.org.uk/guidance/ng222/chapter/Recommendations" }, "title": "NICE Guideline NG222 and MBCT", "body": "**NICE guideline NG222** was published on 29 June 2022. It lists group mindfulness and meditation, using a program such as MBCT, among several options for less severe depression, and notes that this option may be difficult for people with intense or highly distressing thoughts. For people at higher risk of relapse whose symptoms have lifted on antidepressants alone, it says to consider continuing antidepressants, or group CBT or MBCT for people who do not wish to continue them, or both. It adds that relapse-prevention courses usually have 8 sessions over 2 to 3 months.", "uid": "1lgr4911xj4f3p" }, { "id": "mm-l04-cmp-mbct-vs-mbsr", "shape": "comparison", "tags": [ "mbct", "mbsr" ], "source": { "label": "NCCIH β€” Meditation and Mindfulness: Effectiveness and Safety", "url": "https://www.nccih.nih.gov/health/meditation-and-mindfulness-effectiveness-and-safety" }, "prompt": "Which describes MBCT rather than MBSR?", "correct": { "caption": "Mindfulness practices combined with parts of cognitive behavioral therapy" }, "incorrect": { "caption": "Mindful meditation taught alongside discussion sessions and other strategies" }, "explanation": "MBCT combines mindfulness practices with parts of cognitive behavioral therapy, a type of psychological therapy. The other caption describes MBSR, which pairs mindful meditation with discussion sessions and other strategies.", "uid": "1dzmkblmmlffn" }, { "id": "mm-l04-p-prevent-design", "shape": "pair", "tags": [ "trials", "mbct" ], "source": { "label": "NIHR Evidence β€” Mindfulness therapy and continuing antidepressants (NIHR Signal)", "url": "https://evidence.nihr.ac.uk/alert/mindfulness-therapy-may-provide-an-alternative-to-continuing-antidepressants-in-preventing-recurrence-of-depression/" }, "sideA": { "modality": "text", "value": "PREVENT trial" }, "sideB": { "modality": "text", "value": "MBCT with taper support versus continued antidepressants" }, "uid": "1puzyym1etm7hw" }, { "id": "mm-l04-q-prevent-finding", "shape": "mcq", "tags": [ "trials", "mbct" ], "source": { "label": "NIHR Evidence β€” Mindfulness therapy and continuing antidepressants (NIHR Signal)", "url": "https://evidence.nihr.ac.uk/alert/mindfulness-therapy-may-provide-an-alternative-to-continuing-antidepressants-in-preventing-recurrence-of-depression/" }, "prompt": { "modality": "text", "value": "In the PREVENT trial, MBCT with support to taper medication was compared with continued antidepressants. What did the authors report?" }, "options": [ { "modality": "text", "value": "MBCT proved better, at much lower cost", "short": "Better; much lower cost" }, { "modality": "text", "value": "No evidence MBCT was better; higher costs", "short": "No evidence; higher costs" }, { "modality": "text", "value": "MBCT proved better; costs were similar", "short": "Better; similar costs" }, { "modality": "text", "value": "No evidence MBCT was better; similar costs", "short": "No evidence; similar costs" } ], "correctIndex": 3, "explanation": "The authors found no evidence that MBCT was better, and costs were similar; relapse or recurrence was 44 and 47 percent in the two groups. The other choices claim a proven benefit or a difference in cost that the trial did not report.", "uid": "1p6mtspku5dwj" }, { "id": "mm-l04-q-ng222-sessions", "shape": "mcq", "tags": [ "mbct", "evidence-strength" ], "source": { "label": "NICE β€” Depression in adults: treatment and management (NG222), Recommendations", "url": "https://www.nice.org.uk/guidance/ng222/chapter/Recommendations" }, "prompt": { "modality": "text", "value": "NICE guideline NG222 says relapse-prevention courses usually have how many sessions?" }, "options": [ { "modality": "text", "value": "10 sessions over 3 to 4 months" }, { "modality": "text", "value": "8 sessions over 2 to 3 months" }, { "modality": "text", "value": "6 sessions over 1 to 2 months" }, { "modality": "text", "value": "12 sessions over 4 to 5 months" } ], "correctIndex": 1, "explanation": "NG222 says relapse-prevention courses usually have 8 sessions over 2 to 3 months. The other choices give a different number of sessions or a different span.", "uid": "bjgfg61ag5q8s" }, { "id": "mm-l04-f-myriad-trial", "shape": "fact", "tags": [ "schools", "trials" ], "source": { "label": "Kuyken and colleagues β€” MYRIAD cluster randomised controlled trial of school-based mindfulness training", "url": "https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC9340028/" }, "title": "The MYRIAD School Trial", "body": "The **MYRIAD trial** (2022) analyzed 84 schools and 8,376 students aged 11 to 14. It compared a 10-lesson school mindfulness program with usual social-emotional teaching. It found no evidence that the mindfulness program was superior on risk of depression, social-emotional-behavioral functioning or well-being at one year.", "illustration": { "imagePrompt": "Secondary school students aged about 11 to 14 sitting at desks in a classroom.", "imageSearchTerm": "secondary school students classroom", "alt": "Students of about 11 to 13 in a classroom", "kind": "photo", "credit": "Unsplash Β· Taylor Flowe Β· Unsplash License", "creditUrl": "https://unsplash.com/photos/boy-in-black-hoodie-sitting-on-chair-4nKOEAQaTgA", "subject": "A boy of roughly 11 to 13 in a navy hoodie seen from behind at a desk, with other students at desks around him and a blurred teacher standing at a blank whiteboard in a classroom with blue walls.", "url": "https://cdn.recurxive.com/packs/mindfulness-meditation/images/mm-l04-f-myriad-trial.fe81fa6e.webp" }, "factVariant": "image-heavy", "uid": "1os1hhxroxpth" }, { "id": "mm-l04-f-ng212-workplace", "shape": "fact", "tags": [ "workplace", "evidence-strength" ], "source": { "label": "NICE β€” Mental wellbeing at work (NG212), Recommendations", "url": "https://www.nice.org.uk/guidance/ng212/chapter/Recommendations" }, "title": "NICE Guidance for Workplaces", "body": "**NICE guideline NG212**, published in March 2022, says to offer all employees, or help them access, mindfulness, yoga or meditation on an ongoing basis. The NG212 committee said the evidence had limitations and that long-term evidence is lacking. It also said that individual-level interventions, aimed at people one by one, are not a substitute for organizational-level approaches, aimed at the workplace itself.", "illustration": { "imagePrompt": "Coworkers taking part in a yoga or meditation session together in an office. No readable text, brands or logos.", "imageSearchTerm": "office yoga class", "alt": "Coworkers in a group yoga session at their office", "kind": "photo", "subjectType": "scene" }, "uid": "1eu8t5j1kb4pfv" }, { "id": "mm-l04-f-app-era", "shape": "fact", "tags": [ "apps", "timeline" ], "source": { "label": "Soho House (Headspace, how I launched); Entrepreneur (Calm); TIME (Kate Pickert) β€” The Mindful Revolution", "url": "https://time.com/1556/the-mindful-revolution/" }, "title": "The App Era in Brief", "body": "Headspace started in 2010 as an events series, as its founder tells it; that year marks the events series, not the app. Alex Tew and Michael Acton Smith bought Calm.com in 2012, the start of the venture that became Calm. TIME ran **The Mindful Revolution** online on 23 January 2014.", "illustration": { "imagePrompt": "A smartphone with a blank or dark screen and wireless earbuds resting on a round meditation cushion. No readable text, brands or logos.", "imageSearchTerm": "phone earbuds meditation cushion", "alt": "A woman lying on a blue yoga mat with earphones in and a phone with a dark screen resting on her stomach", "kind": "photo", "credit": "Pexels Β· https://kaboompics.com/ Β· Pexels License", "creditUrl": "https://www.pexels.com/photo/peaceful-woman-in-earphones-resting-in-shavasana-pose-at-home-4498217/", "subject": "Top-down view of a woman lying on a blue yoga mat on a light wood floor, eyes closed, white wired earphones in, the cable running to a phone with a black screen on her stomach, with a purple dumbbell in the top-left corner.", "url": "https://cdn.recurxive.com/packs/mindfulness-meditation/images/mm-l04-f-app-era.3b9fb739.webp" }, "uid": "14gaw39h6ydtb" }, { "id": "mm-l04-q-myriad-comparison", "shape": "mcq", "tags": [ "schools", "trials" ], "source": { "label": "Kuyken and colleagues β€” MYRIAD cluster randomised controlled trial of school-based mindfulness training", "url": "https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC9340028/" }, "prompt": { "modality": "text", "value": "In the MYRIAD trial, the 10-lesson school mindfulness program was compared with what?" }, "options": [ { "modality": "text", "value": "A waitlist group that received no lessons", "short": "A waitlist with no lessons" }, { "modality": "text", "value": "A shorter version of the same program", "short": "A shorter program version" }, { "modality": "text", "value": "A group given usual social-emotional teaching", "short": "Usual social-emotional teaching" }, { "modality": "text", "value": "A school course in cognitive behavioral therapy", "short": "A school CBT course" } ], "correctIndex": 2, "explanation": "The MYRIAD trial compared the 10-lesson school mindfulness program with usual social-emotional teaching. A waitlist, a shorter version of the program or a CBT course is not the comparison the trial reports.", "uid": "iexqka1ixqgd2" }, { "id": "mm-l04-q-ng212-offer", "shape": "mcq", "tags": [ "workplace", "evidence-strength" ], "source": { "label": "NICE β€” Mental wellbeing at work (NG212), Recommendations", "url": "https://www.nice.org.uk/guidance/ng212/chapter/Recommendations" }, "prompt": { "modality": "text", "value": "NICE guideline NG212 (March 2022) says to offer mindfulness, yoga or meditation to whom, and how?" }, "options": [ { "modality": "text", "value": "To all employees, on an ongoing basis", "short": "All employees, ongoing" }, { "modality": "text", "value": "To all employees, as a one-off session", "short": "All employees, one-off" }, { "modality": "text", "value": "To managers only, on an ongoing basis", "short": "Managers only, ongoing" }, { "modality": "text", "value": "To staff in crisis, as a one-off session", "short": "Staff in crisis, one-off" } ], "correctIndex": 0, "explanation": "NG212 says to offer all employees, or help them access, mindfulness, yoga or meditation on an ongoing basis. The other choices narrow the audience or make the offer a one-off.", "uid": "ahmavv1k8wr43" }, { "id": "mm-l04-q-time-year", "shape": "mcq", "tags": [ "apps", "timeline" ], "source": { "label": "TIME (Kate Pickert) β€” The Mindful Revolution", "url": "https://time.com/1556/the-mindful-revolution/" }, "prompt": { "modality": "text", "value": "In which year did TIME run The Mindful Revolution online?" }, "options": [ { "modality": "text", "value": "2010" }, { "modality": "text", "value": "2014" }, { "modality": "text", "value": "2012" }, { "modality": "text", "value": "2016" } ], "correctIndex": 1, "explanation": "TIME ran The Mindful Revolution online on 23 January 2014. The other years are not when TIME ran the article.", "uid": "s502wyptpn0a" }, { "id": "mm-l04-tf-myriad-superior", "shape": "trueFalse", "tags": [ "schools", "evidence-strength" ], "source": { "label": "Kuyken and colleagues β€” MYRIAD cluster randomised controlled trial of school-based mindfulness training", "url": "https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC9340028/" }, "statement": "The MYRIAD trial found that its 10-lesson school mindfulness program was superior on risk of depression, functioning and well-being at one year.", "isTrue": false, "why": "The trial found no evidence that the program was superior on risk of depression, social-emotional-behavioral functioning or well-being at one year.", "uid": "1oj0h6t1k20h6r" }, { "id": "mm-l04-tf-ng212-substitute", "shape": "trueFalse", "tags": [ "workplace", "evidence-strength" ], "source": { "label": "NICE β€” Mental wellbeing at work (NG212), Rationale and impact", "url": "https://www.nice.org.uk/guidance/ng212/chapter/Rationale-and-impact" }, "statement": "The NG212 committee said that individual-level interventions, aimed at people one by one, are not a substitute for organizational-level approaches.", "isTrue": true, "why": "The committee said individual-level interventions are not a substitute for organizational-level approaches, aimed at the workplace itself. It also said the evidence had limitations and that long-term evidence is lacking.", "uid": "rs3xsz1cwolsl" }, { "id": "mm-l04-d-anapanasati", "shape": "definition", "tags": [ "early-texts", "mindfulness" ], "source": { "label": "SuttaCentral (Bhikkhu Sujato, translator) β€” Anapanassatisutta (MN 118), Mindfulness of Breathing", "url": "https://suttacentral.net/mn118/en/sujato" }, "term": { "modality": "text", "value": "Anapanasati", "short": "Anapanasati" }, "definition": { "modality": "text", "value": "Breath mindfulness: from anapana, the breath inhaled and exhaled, joined with sati; MN 118 is the discourse devoted to it", "short": "Breath mindfulness" }, "uid": "1c1wi08a5lezw" }, { "id": "mm-l04-f-inside-mn118", "shape": "fact", "tags": [ "early-texts", "mindfulness" ], "source": { "label": "SuttaCentral (Bhikkhu Sujato, translator) β€” Anapanassatisutta (MN 118), Mindfulness of Breathing", "url": "https://suttacentral.net/mn118/en/sujato" }, "title": "Inside MN 118", "body": "MN 118 introduces the practice with a scene: a **mendicant**, who lives on alms, has gone to a forest, a tree root or an empty hut. There the mendicant sits cross-legged with the body straight, brings mindfulness to the present, then breathes in and out mindfully. The sutta does not state this scene as a rule; Sujato reads it as mindfulness brought to breathing as an activity, not concentration on the breath as an object. The sutta lists sixteen ways of breathing, in four groups of four; Sujato observes the first twelve focus on serenity (samatha), the last four on insight (vipassana).", "illustration": { "imagePrompt": "A monk in robes sitting cross-legged on the ground beneath a large tree in a quiet forest.", "imageSearchTerm": "monk meditating under tree forest", "alt": "A monk meditating beneath a willow beside a stream", "kind": "photo", "credit": "Pexels Β· cottonbro studio Β· Pexels License", "creditUrl": "https://www.pexels.com/photo/man-in-red-long-sleeve-dress-concentrating-while-sitting-on-tree-branch-5386375/", "subject": "A shaven-headed monk in maroon robes with a yellow inner collar sits upright with crossed legs on a tree trunk under a willow canopy beside a shallow stream, eyes closed, hands resting together in his lap.", "url": "https://cdn.recurxive.com/packs/mindfulness-meditation/images/mm-l04-f-inside-mn118.webp" }, "uid": "13jowfp1j4dtpr" }, { "id": "mm-l04-f-breath-elsewhere", "shape": "fact", "tags": [ "early-texts", "mindfulness" ], "source": { "label": "SuttaCentral (Bhikkhu Sujato, translator) β€” The Discourse on Mindfulness Meditation (MN 10)", "url": "https://suttacentral.net/mn10/en/sujato" }, "title": "The Breath Elsewhere in the Early Texts", "body": "MN 118 is not the only place the early texts teach the breath. In MN 10, the Satipatthana Sutta, mindfulness of breathing is the first of the body exercises. The **body section** of MN 10 has six parts: mindfulness of breathing, postures, situational awareness, the body's repulsive parts, its elements and charnel-ground contemplations. A charnel ground is a place where the dead are left.", "uid": "qv6vumgm9srs" }, { "id": "mm-l04-proc-sixteen-steps", "shape": "procedure", "tags": [ "early-texts", "mindfulness" ], "source": { "label": "SuttaCentral (Bhikkhu Sujato, translator) β€” Anapanassatisutta (MN 118), Mindfulness of Breathing", "url": "https://suttacentral.net/mn118/en/sujato" }, "goal": "The four groups of the sixteen ways of breathing in and out listed in MN 118, in the order the sutta takes them", "steps": [ "The group on the body", "The group on feelings", "The group on the mind", "The group on principles" ], "uid": "1gx32yf4h5l8j" }, { "id": "mm-l04-q-last-four-steps", "shape": "mcq", "tags": [ "early-texts", "mindfulness" ], "source": { "label": "SuttaCentral (Bhikkhu Sujato, translator) β€” Anapanassatisutta (MN 118), Mindfulness of Breathing", "url": "https://suttacentral.net/mn118/en/sujato" }, "prompt": { "modality": "text", "value": "One translator observes that the last four of MN 118's sixteen steps turn to which focus?" }, "options": [ { "modality": "text", "value": "Concentration (samadhi)" }, { "modality": "text", "value": "Memory (smrti)" }, { "modality": "text", "value": "Serenity (samatha)" }, { "modality": "text", "value": "Insight (vipassana)" } ], "correctIndex": 3, "explanation": "Sujato observes that the first twelve of the sixteen steps focus on serenity (samatha) and the last four turn to insight (vipassana). Serenity is the focus of the earlier steps, and concentration and memory are not what the last four turn to.", "uid": "1ufb185f99ihl" }, { "id": "mm-l04-q-mn10-body-parts", "shape": "mcq", "tags": [ "early-texts", "mindfulness" ], "source": { "label": "SuttaCentral (Bhikkhu Sujato, translator) β€” The Discourse on Mindfulness Meditation (MN 10)", "url": "https://suttacentral.net/mn10/en/sujato" }, "prompt": { "modality": "text", "value": "Which of these is one of the six parts of the body section of MN 10?" }, "options": [ { "modality": "text", "value": "Mindfulness of feelings" }, { "modality": "text", "value": "Mindfulness of the mind" }, { "modality": "text", "value": "Being mindful of breathing" }, { "modality": "text", "value": "Mindfulness of principles" } ], "correctIndex": 2, "explanation": "The body section of MN 10 has six parts: mindfulness of breathing, postures, situational awareness, the body's repulsive parts, its elements and charnel-ground contemplations. Feelings, the mind and principles are the other three establishments of mindfulness, not parts of the body section.", "uid": "dby08p1xso5kd" }, { "id": "mm-l04-tf-cross-legged-rule", "shape": "trueFalse", "tags": [ "early-texts", "posture" ], "source": { "label": "SuttaCentral (Bhikkhu Sujato, translator) β€” Anapanassatisutta (MN 118), Mindfulness of Breathing", "url": "https://suttacentral.net/mn118/en/sujato" }, "statement": "MN 118 gives sitting cross-legged as a rule.", "isTrue": false, "why": "The cross-legged posture appears in the scene that introduces the practice, in which a mendicant has gone to a forest, a tree root or an empty hut. The sutta describes that scene; it does not state sitting cross-legged as a rule.", "uid": "15j5u3o18vcliq" }, { "id": "ot-mm-l04-sati-first-meaning", "shape": "mcq", "tags": [ "sati", "mindfulness" ], "prompt": { "modality": "text", "value": "Sati in Pali, and smrti in Sanskrit, originally meant what?" }, "options": [ { "modality": "text", "value": "Memory or remembering" }, { "modality": "text", "value": "Lucid awareness" }, { "modality": "text", "value": "Clear comprehension" }, { "modality": "text", "value": "Loving concern for others" } ], "correctIndex": 0, "explanation": "Sati and smrti originally meant memory, to remember. Lucid awareness is the new meaning Bodhi proposes the Buddha gave the word, and clear comprehension is sampajanna, a different word.", "source": { "label": "Robert H. Sharf β€” Is mindfulness Buddhist? (and why it matters)", "url": "https://escholarship.org/uc/item/7264r9wq" }, "uid": "1adqfijhtqk1r" }, { "id": "ot-mm-l04-sharf-argument", "shape": "mcq", "tags": [ "bare-attention", "mindfulness" ], "prompt": { "modality": "text", "value": "One scholar's 2015 account argues what about the popular bare-attention reading of mindfulness?" }, "options": [ { "modality": "text", "value": "It is the oldest reading of sati in the early texts" }, { "modality": "text", "value": "It matches older Theravada teaching closely" }, { "modality": "text", "value": "It sits uneasily with older Theravada teaching" }, { "modality": "text", "value": "It has no parallel in any other Buddhist school" } ], "correctIndex": 2, "explanation": "Sharf argued that the reading sits uneasily with older Theravada teaching. It is the more recent reading, and he adds that similar present-centered innovations appeared in medieval Chan and Tibetan Dzogchen.", "source": { "label": "Robert H. Sharf β€” Is mindfulness Buddhist? (and why it matters)", "url": "https://doi.org/10.1177/1363461514557561" }, "uid": "bew17y1kjcqcw" }, { "id": "ot-mm-l04-mbct-origin", "shape": "mcq", "tags": [ "mbct", "mbsr" ], "prompt": { "modality": "text", "value": "Who developed MBCT, and how does it relate to MBSR?" }, "options": [ { "modality": "text", "value": "Jon Kabat-Zinn alone; it grew out of MBSR" }, { "modality": "text", "value": "Segal, Teasdale and Williams; it grew out of MBSR" }, { "modality": "text", "value": "Segal, Teasdale and Williams; MBSR grew out of it" }, { "modality": "text", "value": "Jon Kabat-Zinn alone; MBSR grew out of it" } ], "correctIndex": 1, "explanation": "The Center for Mindfulness and Oxford Mindfulness both say Zindel Segal, John Teasdale and Mark Williams developed MBCT, and the Center says it grew out of MBSR. Oxford says Kabat-Zinn's MBSR work inspired it; he is not named among its developers.", "source": { "label": "Center for Mindfulness, UMass Memorial Health β€” MBCT Program", "url": "https://www.ummhealth.org/services-treatments/center-mindfulness/mindfulness-programs/mbct" }, "uid": "nzr9kfy0l5q3" }, { "id": "ot-mm-l04-anapanasati-name", "shape": "mcq", "tags": [ "early-texts", "mindfulness" ], "prompt": { "modality": "text", "value": "What does the Pali name Anapanasati refer to?" }, "options": [ { "modality": "text", "value": "Breath concentration" }, { "modality": "text", "value": "Breath control" }, { "modality": "text", "value": "Breath counting" }, { "modality": "text", "value": "Breath mindfulness" } ], "correctIndex": 3, "explanation": "Anapana is the breath inhaled and exhaled, and joined with sati it names breath mindfulness. The name does not refer to breath concentration, control or counting.", "source": { "label": "SuttaCentral (Bhikkhu Sujato, translator) β€” Anapanassatisutta (MN 118), Mindfulness of Breathing", "url": "https://suttacentral.net/mn118/en/sujato" }, "uid": "186gnxg1r5pkoa" }, { "id": "ot-mm-l04-mn118-setting", "shape": "mcq", "tags": [ "early-texts", "mindfulness" ], "prompt": { "modality": "text", "value": "In the scene that introduces the practice in MN 118, where has the mendicant gone before sitting down?" }, "options": [ { "modality": "text", "value": "A cave, a mountain peak or a riverbank" }, { "modality": "text", "value": "A forest, the root of a tree or an empty hut" }, { "modality": "text", "value": "A temple hall, a library or the town square" }, { "modality": "text", "value": "A garden, a rooftop or a crowded market" } ], "correctIndex": 1, "explanation": "The scene has a mendicant who has gone to a forest, the root of a tree or an empty hut. It comes before any technique, and the other places do not appear in it.", "source": { "label": "SuttaCentral (Bhikkhu Sujato, translator) β€” Anapanassatisutta (MN 118), Mindfulness of Breathing", "url": "https://suttacentral.net/mn118/en/sujato" }, "uid": "i9ps7a15wnes8" }, { "id": "ot-mm-l04-mindfulness-before-breathing", "shape": "mcq", "tags": [ "early-texts", "mindfulness" ], "prompt": { "modality": "text", "value": "In the scene that introduces the practice in MN 118, a mendicant sits cross-legged with the body straight. What does the mendicant do next, before breathing in and out?" }, "options": [ { "modality": "text", "value": "Chants a mantra to settle the mind" }, { "modality": "text", "value": "Slows the breath to relax the body" }, { "modality": "text", "value": "Brings mindfulness to the present" }, { "modality": "text", "value": "Counts ten breaths to steady the mind" } ], "correctIndex": 2, "explanation": "The scene runs in order: the mendicant sits cross-legged with the body straight, brings mindfulness to the present, then breathes in and out mindfully. No slowing of the breath, mantra or count comes into the scene.", "source": { "label": "SuttaCentral (Bhikkhu Sujato, translator) β€” Anapanassatisutta (MN 118), Mindfulness of Breathing", "url": "https://suttacentral.net/mn118/en/sujato" }, "uid": "78vg3k9yxh8q" }, { "id": "mm-l05-f-posture-aim", "shape": "fact", "tags": [ "posture", "safety" ], "source": { "label": "Insight Meditation Center β€” Postures for Meditation", "url": "https://www.insightmeditationcenter.org/postures-for-meditation/" }, "title": "The Mind Matters More Than the Legs", "body": "The Insight Meditation Center's posture guide gives the aim of sitting as an upright, alert and relaxed body. It lists floor options (Burmese, half lotus, full lotus), kneeling with a bench, a chair and lying down, and says what matters most is what is done with the mind rather than the legs. It calls **full lotus** the most stable posture but warns that, unless it is easy for the sitter, the knees can easily be injured by forcing it. In pages read on October 24, 2026, the Goenka organization and the Insight Meditation Society said chairs are provided for people who cannot sit on the floor.", "illustration": { "imagePrompt": "A person sitting upright on a cushion on a wooden floor in a quiet room, seen from the side, shoulders relaxed.", "imageSearchTerm": "person sitting upright meditation cushion", "alt": "A person sitting cross-legged on a cushion on a wooden floor", "kind": "photo", "credit": "Pexels Β· Cup of Couple Β· Pexels License", "creditUrl": "https://www.pexels.com/photo/man-in-white-long-sleeve-shirt-and-brown-pants-sitting-on-pillow-doing-yoga-6633933/", "subject": "An overhead view of a person, head out of frame, sitting cross-legged in a half-lotus style pose on a small orange-and-maroon striped meditation cushion on a light wooden floor, hands resting palm-up on the knees, wearing a red wooden-bead mala.", "url": "https://cdn.recurxive.com/packs/mindfulness-meditation/images/mm-l05-f-posture-aim.webp" }, "uid": "1p7jsywls4s58" }, { "id": "mm-l05-f-eyes-differ", "shape": "fact", "tags": [ "posture" ], "source": { "label": "Insight Meditation Center β€” Introduction to Mindfulness Meditation", "url": "https://www.insightmeditationcenter.org/introduction-to-mindfulness-meditation/" }, "title": "Where the Eyes Rest", "body": "In pages read on October 24, 2026, instructions for the eyes differed from center to center. The Insight Meditation Center's instruction for mindfulness of breathing has them gently closed, the Soto school's page has them slightly open and cast down at about 45 degrees, and Myoshin-ji, a Rinzai temple, has them half open with the gaze on the floor about two meters ahead. These are **default instructions** rather than exclusive practices.", "illustration": { "imagePrompt": "A close photo of a seated meditator whose eyes are half open, gaze resting on the floor ahead. No readable text, brands or logos.", "imageSearchTerm": "meditation lowered gaze eyes", "alt": "A woman meditating on a grassy slope with her eyes closed and her palms together", "kind": "photo", "credit": "Unsplash Β· Benjamin Child Β· Unsplash License", "creditUrl": "https://unsplash.com/photos/woman-in-black-tank-top-and-black-pants-sitting-on-green-grass-field-during-daytime-rOn57CBgyMo", "subject": "A woman in black sits cross-legged on a grassy slope, eyes closed and palms pressed together at her chest, with blurred trees and a pale sky behind; no text or logos.", "url": "https://cdn.recurxive.com/packs/mindfulness-meditation/images/mm-l05-f-eyes-differ.3918c127.webp" }, "uid": "1vejo7l10upy7p" }, { "id": "mm-l05-f-why-breath-object", "shape": "fact", "tags": [ "anchors", "teachers" ], "source": { "label": "Bhante Henepola Gunaratana β€” Breathing Meditation (Mindfulness in Plain English)", "url": "https://tricycle.org/magazine/bhante-gunaratana-breathing/" }, "title": "Why the Breath Makes a Useful Object", "body": "Bhante Henepola Gunaratana, writing on mindfulness of breathing, says a useful **meditation object** should promote mindfulness and be portable, easily available and cheap, and that breathing qualifies because it is non-conceptual, happens in the present and moves in cycles. He notes that breathing is normally involuntary, although one act of will can slow or speed it. He tells meditators to make no attempt to control the breath and adds that this is not a yoga-style breathing exercise. His advice keeps the breath an object of attention rather than something to steer.", "illustration": { "imagePrompt": "Archive photograph of the Buddhist monk Bhante Henepola Gunaratana, seated, in monastic robes.", "imageSearchTerm": "Bhante Henepola Gunaratana", "alt": "Bhante Henepola Gunaratana, Buddhist monk and author of Mindfulness in Plain English", "kind": "photo", "subjectType": "person", "credit": "GumRumGum Β· CC BY-SA 4.0", "creditUrl": "https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Bhante_Henepola_Gunaratana.png", "subject": "A very elderly bald monk with rimless glasses, in red robes, sitting cross-legged on a cushioned armchair in a plain room with a singing bowl at the left edge.", "url": "https://cdn.recurxive.com/packs/mindfulness-meditation/images/mm-l05-f-why-breath-object.webp" }, "uid": "1jwkuumxrz0hm" }, { "id": "mm-l05-d-anchor", "shape": "definition", "tags": [ "anchors" ], "source": { "label": "Insight Meditation Center β€” Introduction to Mindfulness Meditation", "url": "https://www.insightmeditationcenter.org/introduction-to-mindfulness-meditation/" }, "term": { "modality": "text", "value": "anchor" }, "definition": { "modality": "text", "value": "What attention returns to when the mind wanders, such as the sensations of breathing or a sound in the room", "short": "What attention returns to" }, "uid": "1c8zy8k1xxvyvq" }, { "id": "mm-l05-q-lotus-stable", "shape": "mcq", "tags": [ "posture", "safety" ], "source": { "label": "Insight Meditation Center β€” Postures for Meditation", "url": "https://www.insightmeditationcenter.org/postures-for-meditation/" }, "prompt": { "modality": "text", "value": "Which posture does the Insight Meditation Center's guide call the most stable, while warning that, unless it is easy for you, forcing it can easily injure the knees?" }, "options": [ { "modality": "text", "value": "Half lotus" }, { "modality": "text", "value": "Burmese" }, { "modality": "text", "value": "Full lotus" }, { "modality": "text", "value": "Kneeling with a bench" } ], "correctIndex": 2, "explanation": "The Insight Meditation Center's guide calls full lotus the most stable posture and warns that, unless it is easy for the sitter, forcing it can easily injure the knees. Half lotus is a different posture, and that guide does not call it the most stable.", "uid": "1okher01uhzcns" }, { "id": "mm-l05-q-teacher-breath-object", "shape": "mcq", "tags": [ "anchors", "teachers" ], "source": { "label": "Bhante Henepola Gunaratana β€” Breathing Meditation (Mindfulness in Plain English)", "url": "https://tricycle.org/magazine/bhante-gunaratana-breathing/" }, "prompt": { "modality": "text", "value": "Which of these is NOT a reason Gunaratana gives for breathing qualifying as a meditation object?" }, "options": [ { "modality": "text", "value": "It is easily controlled" }, { "modality": "text", "value": "It is non-conceptual" }, { "modality": "text", "value": "It happens in the present" }, { "modality": "text", "value": "It moves in cycles" } ], "correctIndex": 0, "explanation": "His reasons are that breathing is non-conceptual, happens in the present and moves in cycles. Being easily controlled is not among them; he tells meditators to make no attempt to control the breath.", "uid": "19txi79phk8nz" }, { "id": "mm-l05-tf-eyes-closed", "shape": "trueFalse", "tags": [ "posture" ], "source": { "label": "Insight Meditation Center β€” Introduction to Mindfulness Meditation", "url": "https://www.insightmeditationcenter.org/introduction-to-mindfulness-meditation/" }, "statement": "In pages read on October 24, 2026, the Insight Meditation Center's instruction for mindfulness of breathing has the eyes slightly open and cast down at about 45 degrees.", "isTrue": false, "why": "That instruction has the eyes gently closed. Slightly open eyes cast down at about 45 degrees are what the Soto school's page describes.", "uid": "1w84kp8eqmi9k" }, { "id": "mm-l05-tf-no-control", "shape": "trueFalse", "tags": [ "anchors", "teachers" ], "source": { "label": "Bhante Henepola Gunaratana β€” Breathing Meditation (Mindfulness in Plain English)", "url": "https://tricycle.org/magazine/bhante-gunaratana-breathing/" }, "statement": "Gunaratana tells meditators to make no attempt to control the breath.", "isTrue": true, "why": "He adds that this is not a yoga-style breathing exercise. Watching the breath belongs to mindfulness, while changing it on purpose is breathwork, a separate subject.", "uid": "d4tw44qz50xa" }, { "id": "mm-l05-f-zen-zazen", "shape": "fact", "tags": [ "zen" ], "source": { "label": "Encyclopaedia Britannica β€” Zen", "url": "https://www.britannica.com/topic/Zen" }, "title": "Zen Takes Its Name from Meditation", "body": "Zen takes its name from the Sanskrit dhyana, meaning meditation (Chan in Chinese). **Zazen** is the seated meditation of Zen.", "illustration": { "imagePrompt": "Practitioners seated in rows facing the wall of a Zen meditation hall, on black cushions, seen from behind.", "imageSearchTerm": "zazen zendo meditation", "alt": "Monks seated in meditation in a temple hall", "kind": "photo", "credit": "Unsplash Β· hidefumi ohmichi Β· Unsplash License", "creditUrl": "https://unsplash.com/photos/a-group-of-people-sitting-on-top-of-a-floor-T8QAJRQtDDo", "subject": "Three monks with shaven heads and dark robes sit in a row on the tatami floor of a dim wooden hall, backs to the camera, with two empty round black cushions between them, wood-lattice shoji screens behind them and open doors onto a green garden beyond a veranda rail.", "url": "https://cdn.recurxive.com/packs/mindfulness-meditation/images/mm-l05-f-zen-zazen.9f6d4b42.webp" }, "factVariant": "image-heavy", "uid": "1gldtio1t6a8ty" }, { "id": "mm-l05-f-soto-rinzai", "shape": "fact", "tags": [ "schools", "zen" ], "source": { "label": "Encyclopaedia Britannica β€” Soto", "url": "https://www.britannica.com/topic/Soto" }, "title": "Soto and Rinzai", "body": "In an archived copy from September 7, 2025, Britannica calls **Soto** the largest Zen sect in Japan, following quiet sitting (zazen); Dogen brought it to Japan from China. In an archived copy from October 7, 2025, its entry on Rinzai calls it one of two major Zen sects in Japan, with methods that include shouts or blows, exchanges of question and answer, and work on koans. The usual contrast is object-free sitting in Soto versus koan study in Rinzai, though Britannica says each of the three Japanese lineages exaggerated its distinctive features.", "illustration": { "imagePrompt": "Photograph of Eihei-ji, the head temple of Soto Zen, in Fukui, Japan. No readable text, brands or logos.", "imageSearchTerm": "Eihei-ji", "alt": "Eihei-ji, the head temple of the Soto school of Zen, in Fukui, Japan", "kind": "photo", "subjectType": "place", "credit": "Wikimedia Commons Β· 663highland Β· CC BY 2.5", "creditUrl": "https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Eiheiji08bs3200.jpg", "subject": "A moss-edged stone stairway rising between huge cedar trunks to an ornate temple gate with a curved gabled roof, gold trim and two golden crest medallions behind a low wooden fence, with ochre-walled temple buildings on the right; no people, text or logos.", "url": "https://cdn.recurxive.com/packs/mindfulness-meditation/images/mm-l05-f-soto-rinzai.7bc05d38.webp" }, "uid": "7b4w5q1jkleca" }, { "id": "mm-l05-d-shikantaza", "shape": "definition", "tags": [ "zen" ], "source": { "label": "Center for Soto Zen Studies (Sotoshu) β€” Shikantaza (Just Sitting)", "url": "https://www.sotozen.com/eng/library/key_terms/pdf/key_terms01.pdf" }, "term": { "modality": "text", "value": "shikantaza" }, "definition": { "modality": "text", "value": "Just sitting: to be solely concerned about just sitting, the practice at the center of Soto Zen doctrine", "short": "Just sitting" }, "uid": "xe6lpa189xpf2" }, { "id": "mm-l05-d-sesshin", "shape": "definition", "tags": [ "zen", "retreats" ], "source": { "label": "Zen Studies Society β€” Sesshin", "url": "https://zenstudies.org/dai-bosatsu-zendo/sesshin/" }, "term": { "modality": "text", "value": "sesshin" }, "definition": { "modality": "text", "value": "An intensive multi-day Zen retreat; the Zen Studies Society describes week-long ones of silence, zazen, chanting, formal talks and private interviews", "short": "An intensive multi-day Zen retreat" }, "uid": "17oya1l12g8x8d" }, { "id": "mm-l05-cmp-soto-brought-by-dogen", "shape": "comparison", "tags": [ "schools", "zen" ], "source": { "label": "Encyclopaedia Britannica β€” Soto", "url": "https://www.britannica.com/topic/Soto" }, "prompt": "Who brought the Soto school of Zen to Japan from China?", "correct": { "caption": "Dogen" }, "incorrect": { "caption": "Eisai" }, "explanation": "Britannica says Soto came from China, where it was Ts'ao-tung, and was brought to Japan by Dogen and popularized by Keizan. Eisai is associated with bringing Rinzai Zen.", "uid": "10mfn7s75n214" }, { "id": "mm-l05-q-dokusan-interview", "shape": "mcq", "tags": [ "zen", "retreats" ], "source": { "label": "Zen Studies Society β€” Sesshin", "url": "https://zenstudies.org/dai-bosatsu-zendo/sesshin/" }, "prompt": { "modality": "text", "value": "Which Zen term names a private interview with the teacher?" }, "options": [ { "modality": "text", "value": "Kinhin" }, { "modality": "text", "value": "Dokusan" }, { "modality": "text", "value": "Shikantaza" }, { "modality": "text", "value": "Sesshin" } ], "correctIndex": 1, "explanation": "Dokusan is a private interview with the teacher, offered at Zen centers, including during sesshin. Kinhin is walking between periods of zazen, shikantaza is just sitting and sesshin is the intensive retreat itself.", "uid": "9apfnr19ex2ud" }, { "id": "mm-l05-f-five-hindrances", "shape": "fact", "tags": [ "hindrances", "early-texts" ], "source": { "label": "SuttaCentral (Bhikkhu Sujato) β€” The Discourse on Mindfulness Meditation (MN 10)", "url": "https://suttacentral.net/mn10/en/sujato" }, "title": "The Five Hindrances", "body": "The Satipatthana Sutta (MN 10), in Bhikkhu Sujato's translation, lists the **five hindrances**: sensual desire (kamacchanda), ill will (byapada), dullness and drowsiness (thinamiddha), restlessness and remorse (uddhaccakukkucca) and doubt (vicikiccha). For each, it says the practitioner understands whether it is present or absent, how it arises, how it is given up and how it does not arise again. English names vary by translator: an Insight Meditation Center handout has sloth and torpor where this translation has dullness and drowsiness.", "uid": "17khnxuwteqae" }, { "id": "mm-l05-f-water-similes", "shape": "fact", "tags": [ "hindrances", "early-texts" ], "source": { "label": "SuttaCentral (Bhikkhu Sujato) β€” With Sangarava (SN 46.55)", "url": "https://suttacentral.net/sn46.55/en/sujato" }, "title": "Water Similes for the Hindrances", "body": "In SN 46.55, repeated in AN 5.193, the Buddha answers Sangarava the brahmin, who asked why hymns he had long rehearsed sometimes fail to come to mind. His **water similes** say that when the heart is overcome by a hindrance, a person cannot truly see what is good, just as clear eyes cannot see their reflection in a bowl of water. The water is mixed with dye for sensual desire, heated and boiling for ill will, covered in moss and aquatic plants for dullness and drowsiness, stirred by wind for restlessness and remorse, and cloudy, murky and hidden in darkness for doubt.", "illustration": { "imagePrompt": "A calm photo of a plain bowl filled with clear, still water. No readable text, brands or logos.", "imageSearchTerm": "ceramic bowl of water", "alt": "A blue-and-white porcelain bowl of water covered over with floating lily pads and leaves", "kind": "photo", "subjectType": "scene", "credit": "Pexels Β· Jan Dvorak Β· Pexels License", "creditUrl": "https://www.pexels.com/photo/leaves-in-a-fountain-24709633/", "subject": "A large round blue-and-white porcelain bowl, seen from above and cropped at the left edge, standing on pale stone paving; its dark water is covered with floating round lily pads, twigs and fallen leaves, with no text or logo.", "url": "https://cdn.recurxive.com/packs/mindfulness-meditation/images/mm-l05-f-water-similes.5031e0b4.webp" }, "uid": "4ck2hrauv4vn" }, { "id": "mm-l05-d-nivarana", "shape": "definition", "tags": [ "hindrances" ], "source": { "label": "SuttaCentral (Bhikkhu Sujato) β€” The Discourse on Mindfulness Meditation (MN 10)", "url": "https://suttacentral.net/mn10/en/sujato" }, "term": { "modality": "text", "value": "nivarana" }, "definition": { "modality": "text", "value": "Hindrance: the Pali category for the five obstacles listed in the Satipatthana Sutta (MN 10)", "short": "Pali for hindrance" }, "uid": "1ri3m04hx21ws" }, { "id": "mm-l05-c-hindrances-fifth", "shape": "cloze", "tags": [ "hindrances" ], "source": { "label": "SuttaCentral (Bhikkhu Sujato) β€” The Discourse on Mindfulness Meditation (MN 10)", "url": "https://suttacentral.net/mn10/en/sujato" }, "template": "In Bhikkhu Sujato's translation of the Satipatthana Sutta, the five hindrances are sensual desire, ill will, dullness and drowsiness, restlessness and remorse, and ___.", "answer": "doubt", "distractors": [ "pride", "envy", "fear" ], "explanation": "Doubt (vicikiccha) is the fifth hindrance in that translation. Pride, envy and fear are not among the five the Sutta lists.", "uid": "1n8kglffev8r" }, { "id": "mm-l05-p-ill-will-boiling-water", "shape": "pair", "tags": [ "hindrances" ], "source": { "label": "SuttaCentral (Bhikkhu Sujato) β€” With Sangarava (SN 46.55)", "url": "https://suttacentral.net/sn46.55/en/sujato" }, "sideA": { "modality": "text", "value": "Ill will (byapada)" }, "sideB": { "modality": "text", "value": "Water heated and boiling" }, "uid": "1sus2c51gkffk1" }, { "id": "mm-l05-p-dullness-moss-water", "shape": "pair", "tags": [ "hindrances" ], "source": { "label": "SuttaCentral (Bhikkhu Sujato) β€” With Sangarava (SN 46.55)", "url": "https://suttacentral.net/sn46.55/en/sujato" }, "sideA": { "modality": "text", "value": "Dullness and drowsiness (thinamiddha)" }, "sideB": { "modality": "text", "value": "Water covered in moss and aquatic plants" }, "uid": "119klhr4v5r4h" }, { "id": "mm-l05-q-sloth-torpor-pali", "shape": "mcq", "tags": [ "hindrances" ], "source": { "label": "Insight Meditation Center β€” The Five Hindrances (handout)", "url": "https://www.insightmeditationcenter.org/wp-content/uploads/articles/FiveHindrancesQuotes-1.pdf" }, "prompt": { "modality": "text", "value": "Which Pali name appears as sloth and torpor in one English rendering and as dullness and drowsiness in Bhikkhu Sujato's translation?" }, "options": [ { "modality": "text", "value": "Kamacchanda" }, { "modality": "text", "value": "Uddhaccakukkucca" }, { "modality": "text", "value": "Vicikiccha" }, { "modality": "text", "value": "Thinamiddha" } ], "correctIndex": 3, "explanation": "Thinamiddha is the hindrance that one handout renders as sloth and torpor and the Sutta translation as dullness and drowsiness. Kamacchanda is sensual desire, uddhaccakukkucca restlessness and remorse, and vicikiccha doubt.", "uid": "vzt171bc17md" }, { "id": "mm-l05-f-goenka-course", "shape": "fact", "tags": [ "retreats", "safety" ], "source": { "label": "Vipassana Meditation as taught by S. N. Goenka β€” The Code of Discipline", "url": "https://www.dhamma.org/en/about/code" }, "title": "The Goenka Ten-Day Course", "body": "As of pages read on October 24, 2026, the Goenka ten-day course spanned twelve days with arrival and departure, and students kept Noble Silence, deposited phones and devices, and did not read or write. The Goenka organization also said its course does not replace medical or psychiatric treatment, and that old symptoms may resurface during or after a course even when mental health is stable. It said it does not recommend the course for people with **significant mental health issues**.", "illustration": { "imagePrompt": "Archive portrait photograph of S. N. Goenka, the Vipassana meditation teacher. No readable text, brands or logos.", "imageSearchTerm": "S. N. Goenka", "alt": "S. N. Goenka, the teacher of the ten-day Vipassana course", "kind": "photo", "subjectType": "person" }, "uid": "5drwh0p77q0e" }, { "id": "mm-l05-f-ims-suitability-care", "shape": "fact", "tags": [ "retreats", "safety" ], "source": { "label": "Insight Meditation Society β€” FAQs About Retreats", "url": "https://www.dharma.org/retreats/faqs/" }, "title": "Insight Meditation Society (IMS) on Suitability and Care", "body": "In FAQs read on October 24, 2026, IMS said that after recent considerable trauma, significant depression or anxiety, or strong post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), a silent retreat may not be appropriate at this time, and that a therapist can help weigh the length or the timing. It also said it is **unable and unqualified** to provide medical or psychological care, and asked people seeing a mental health professional to tell that professional they plan to attend a silent retreat and, if the professional has any concerns about their attendance, to follow the professional's recommendations.", "uid": "jcxtxi24nmk4" }, { "id": "mm-l05-f-strain-discomfort", "shape": "fact", "tags": [ "retreats", "safety" ], "source": { "label": "Insight Meditation Society β€” FAQs About Retreats; Zen Studies Society β€” Sesshin", "url": "https://zenstudies.org/dai-bosatsu-zendo/sesshin/" }, "title": "Sesshin Can Cause Discomfort and Pain", "body": "In pages read on October 24, 2026, the Zen Studies Society said sesshin's length and intensity can cause **discomfort and pain** even for experienced, physically fit participants, and suggested an introductory weekend first for people without an established sitting practice.", "illustration": { "imagePrompt": "Photograph of Dai Bosatsu Zendo, the Zen Studies Society's monastery in the Catskill Mountains of New York. No readable text, brands or logos.", "imageSearchTerm": "Dai Bosatsu Zendo", "alt": "Dai Bosatsu Zendo, the Zen Studies Society's monastery in the Catskill Mountains of New York", "kind": "photo", "subjectType": "place", "credit": "Wikimedia Commons Β· Michael Dougan Β· CC BY 2.0", "creditUrl": "https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Dai_Bosatsu_Zendo_Kongo-Ji.jpg", "subject": "A Japanese-style monastery hall with white plaster walls, dark timber and dark tiled roofs seen across a wooded hillside in peak autumn colour, with a wooden bell tower holding a large dark bell in the left foreground and a mossy stone wall and fallen leaves below; no people, text or logos.", "url": "https://cdn.recurxive.com/packs/mindfulness-meditation/images/mm-l05-f-strain-discomfort.b7b95185.webp" }, "uid": "fm7omk1b8a8" }, { "id": "mm-l05-d-noble-silence", "shape": "definition", "tags": [ "retreats" ], "source": { "label": "Vipassana Meditation as taught by S. N. Goenka β€” The Code of Discipline", "url": "https://www.dhamma.org/en/about/code" }, "term": { "modality": "text", "value": "Noble Silence" }, "definition": { "modality": "text", "value": "Silence of body, speech and mind, kept by students at a Goenka course", "short": "Silence of body, speech and mind" }, "uid": "1am0lcb1fvn4v3" }, { "id": "mm-l05-q-goenka-course-rules", "shape": "mcq", "tags": [ "retreats" ], "source": { "label": "Vipassana Meditation as taught by S. N. Goenka β€” The Code of Discipline", "url": "https://www.dhamma.org/en/about/code" }, "prompt": { "modality": "text", "value": "As of pages read on October 24, 2026, which of these did students at a Goenka ten-day course do?" }, "options": [ { "modality": "text", "value": "Wrote in a daily journal" }, { "modality": "text", "value": "Spoke freely during meals" }, { "modality": "text", "value": "Deposited phones and devices" }, { "modality": "text", "value": "Kept their phones for calls" } ], "correctIndex": 2, "explanation": "Students deposited phones and devices, kept Noble Silence and did not read or write. Keeping phones, speaking freely at meals or writing in a journal goes against each of those rules.", "uid": "1yyjwosrappv6" }, { "id": "mm-l05-q-zss-first-step", "shape": "mcq", "tags": [ "retreats", "safety" ], "source": { "label": "Zen Studies Society β€” Sesshin", "url": "https://zenstudies.org/dai-bosatsu-zendo/sesshin/" }, "prompt": { "modality": "text", "value": "In pages read on October 24, 2026, what did the Zen Studies Society suggest first for people without an established sitting practice?" }, "options": [ { "modality": "text", "value": "An introductory weekend" }, { "modality": "text", "value": "An introductory week" }, { "modality": "text", "value": "An introductory month" }, { "modality": "text", "value": "An introductory day" } ], "correctIndex": 0, "explanation": "The society suggested an introductory weekend first, not a day, a week or a month. It also said sesshin's length and intensity can cause discomfort and pain even for experienced, physically fit participants.", "uid": "1scednw15zgymm" }, { "id": "mm-l05-tf-ims-retreat-caution", "shape": "trueFalse", "tags": [ "retreats", "safety" ], "source": { "label": "Insight Meditation Society β€” FAQs About Retreats", "url": "https://www.dharma.org/retreats/faqs/" }, "statement": "In FAQs read on October 24, 2026, the Insight Meditation Society (IMS) said that after recent considerable trauma, significant depression or anxiety, or strong PTSD, a silent retreat may not be appropriate at this time.", "isTrue": true, "why": "IMS's wording is hedged: it says a silent retreat may not be appropriate for the person at this time in their life. IMS also said practice can be strenuous and calls for a degree of physical and psychological steadiness.", "uid": "56o5561t9c1w4" }, { "id": "ot-mm-l05-useful-object-qualities", "shape": "mcq", "tags": [ "anchors", "teachers" ], "prompt": { "modality": "text", "value": "One teacher, writing on mindfulness of breathing, says a useful meditation object should promote mindfulness. What else should it be?" }, "options": [ { "modality": "text", "value": "Portable, easily available and cheap" }, { "modality": "text", "value": "Pleasant, calming and easy to control" }, { "modality": "text", "value": "Sacred, rare and chosen by a teacher" }, { "modality": "text", "value": "Still, silent and free of change" } ], "correctIndex": 0, "explanation": "Gunaratana says a useful object should promote mindfulness and be portable, easily available and cheap, and breathing qualifies. Easy to control is no part of it: he tells meditators to make no attempt to control the breath.", "source": { "label": "Bhante Henepola Gunaratana β€” Breathing Meditation (Mindfulness in Plain English)", "url": "https://tricycle.org/magazine/bhante-gunaratana-breathing/" }, "uid": "a0njr14qt13h" }, { "id": "ot-mm-l05-shikantaza-meaning", "shape": "mcq", "tags": [ "zen" ], "prompt": { "modality": "text", "value": "In Zen, which description fits shikantaza?" }, "options": [ { "modality": "text", "value": "Walking between periods of zazen" }, { "modality": "text", "value": "A private interview with the teacher" }, { "modality": "text", "value": "An intensive multi-day Zen retreat" }, { "modality": "text", "value": "The central Soto form of zazen" } ], "correctIndex": 3, "explanation": "Shikantaza, or just sitting, is the central Soto form of zazen. The other three describe kinhin, dokusan and sesshin.", "source": { "label": "Center for Soto Zen Studies (Sotoshu) β€” Shikantaza (Just Sitting)", "url": "https://www.sotozen.com/eng/library/key_terms/pdf/key_terms01.pdf" }, "uid": "jwx7sp93hntz" }, { "id": "mm-l06-f-formal-informal", "shape": "fact", "tags": [ "informal-practice", "mbsr" ], "source": { "label": "Birtwell et al., Mindfulness (2019) β€” An Exploration of Formal and Informal Mindfulness Practice", "url": "https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC6320743/" }, "title": "Formal and informal practice", "body": "Mindfulness practice is often split into **formal and informal practice**, and the difference lies in how the practice fits into the day. Formal practice is time set aside for the body scan, sitting meditation or mindful movement, the three formal practices that a 2017 framework paper says mindfulness-based programs such as MBSR typically teach. Informal practice is mindful awareness woven into routines such as eating or washing dishes. A 2019 article in the journal Mindfulness says that no widely agreed definitions of formal and informal practice exist.", "illustration": { "imagePrompt": "A person washing dishes at a kitchen sink in soft daylight, hands in the water, unhurried.", "imageSearchTerm": "washing dishes at kitchen sink", "alt": "Hands washing a bowl at a kitchen sink", "kind": "photo", "credit": "Pexels Β· RDNE Stock project Β· Pexels License", "creditUrl": "https://www.pexels.com/photo/a-person-cleaning-a-yellow-bowl-using-a-sponge-5591636/", "subject": "Two hands holding a yellow patterned bowl and a green scrub sponge under a running tap over a steel double sink, with faucet, soap dish and counter in view and the person in a white top, no face shown.", "url": "https://cdn.recurxive.com/packs/mindfulness-meditation/images/mm-l06-f-formal-informal.webp" }, "uid": "kh2yff1u3ueib" }, { "id": "mm-l06-f-walking-meditation", "shape": "fact", "tags": [ "walking", "mbsr" ], "source": { "label": "Insight Meditation Center β€” Walking Meditation Instruction", "url": "https://www.insightmeditationcenter.org/walking-meditation-instruction/" }, "title": "MBSR's early weeks and walking meditation", "body": "On 24 October 2026, the Center for Mindfulness's page on its MBSR course said that the early weeks covered mindful eating, the body scan, mindful movement, sitting meditation and walking meditation. At the Insight Meditation Center, **formal walking meditation** is going back and forth on a short path. The stepping feet serve as the anchor, as the breath does in sitting, and quiet labels such as stepping are offered as aids. In Plum Village's description, steps are matched to breath, for example two or three steps per in-breath and three or four per out-breath, depending on natural rhythm.", "illustration": { "imagePrompt": "A person walking slowly along a short straight garden path, eyes lowered toward their feet.", "imageSearchTerm": "walking meditation garden path", "alt": "A person walking across a stone footbridge in a garden", "kind": "photo", "credit": "Pexels Β· Owen Mao Β· Pexels License", "creditUrl": "https://www.pexels.com/photo/man-walking-on-footbridge-among-green-trees-in-park-18803436/", "subject": "A man in a pale shirt and dark trousers mid-stride across a short stone arch footbridge beside a pond, willow branches hanging over him, in a landscaped park garden.", "url": "https://cdn.recurxive.com/packs/mindfulness-meditation/images/mm-l06-f-walking-meditation.webp" }, "uid": "1xjd02lisa233" }, { "id": "mm-l06-d-qigong", "shape": "definition", "tags": [ "practice-families", "yoga" ], "source": { "label": "NCCIH β€” Qigong: What You Need To Know", "url": "https://www.nccih.nih.gov/health/qigong-what-you-need-to-know" }, "term": { "modality": "text", "value": "Qigong", "short": "Qigong" }, "definition": { "modality": "text", "value": "Chinese practice regulating mind, breath, movement and posture; NCCIH (2022) counts tai chi done for health as a form of it", "short": "Regulating mind, breath, movement" }, "uid": "113vbag1v8dayu" }, { "id": "mm-l06-cmp-formal-or-informal", "shape": "comparison", "tags": [ "informal-practice", "mindfulness" ], "source": { "label": "Birtwell et al., Mindfulness (2019) β€” An Exploration of Formal and Informal Mindfulness Practice", "url": "https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC6320743/" }, "prompt": "Which is an example of informal practice rather than formal practice?", "correct": { "caption": "Mindful awareness woven into eating or washing dishes" }, "incorrect": { "caption": "Time set aside for the body scan or sitting meditation" }, "explanation": "Informal practice is mindful awareness woven into routines such as eating or washing dishes. Formal practice is time set aside, as for the body scan or sitting meditation. The difference lies in how the practice fits into the day.", "uid": "ddkmdg9d8600" }, { "id": "mm-l06-q-mbsr-three-practices", "shape": "mcq", "tags": [ "mbsr", "mindfulness" ], "source": { "label": "Crane et al., Psychological Medicine (2017) β€” What defines mindfulness-based programs?", "url": "https://doi.org/10.1017/S0033291716003317" }, "prompt": { "modality": "text", "value": "A 2017 framework paper says programs such as MBSR typically teach three formal practices. Which set does it list?" }, "options": [ { "modality": "text", "value": "Body scan, mindful movement and mindful eating", "short": "Scan, movement, eating" }, { "modality": "text", "value": "Body scan, mindful movement and sitting meditation", "short": "Scan, movement, sitting" }, { "modality": "text", "value": "Sitting meditation, walking meditation and mindful eating", "short": "Sitting, walking, eating" }, { "modality": "text", "value": "Body scan, sitting meditation and walking meditation", "short": "Scan, sitting, walking" } ], "correctIndex": 1, "explanation": "The 2017 paper lists the body scan, mindful movement and sitting meditation. Each of the other sets replaces at least one of those three with a practice the paper does not list there.", "uid": "1upi2zo1owbbo2" }, { "id": "mm-l06-q-walking-anchor", "shape": "mcq", "tags": [ "walking", "anchors" ], "source": { "label": "Insight Meditation Center β€” Walking Meditation Instruction", "url": "https://www.insightmeditationcenter.org/walking-meditation-instruction/" }, "prompt": { "modality": "text", "value": "At the Insight Meditation Center, what serves as the anchor in formal walking meditation, as the breath does in sitting?" }, "options": [ { "modality": "text", "value": "The quiet labels" }, { "modality": "text", "value": "The swing of the arms" }, { "modality": "text", "value": "The stepping feet" }, { "modality": "text", "value": "The turn at the path's end" } ], "correctIndex": 2, "explanation": "The stepping feet serve as the anchor, the thing attention returns to when the mind wanders. Quiet labels such as stepping, or lifting and placing when slower, are offered as aids, not as the anchor.", "uid": "16ben091f062ab" }, { "id": "mm-l06-p-meditative-movement", "shape": "pair", "tags": [ "practice-families", "yoga" ], "source": { "label": "NCCIH β€” Yoga: Effectiveness and Safety", "url": "https://www.nccih.nih.gov/health/yoga-effectiveness-and-safety" }, "sideA": { "modality": "text", "value": "Tai chi, qigong and yoga" }, "sideB": { "modality": "text", "value": "Sometimes called meditative movement practices" }, "uid": "r1dchk12ax718" }, { "id": "mm-l06-f-breath-number-word-clay", "shape": "fact", "tags": [ "breath-counting", "mantra", "mindfulness" ], "source": { "label": "Thanissaro Bhikkhu (translator), Access to Insight β€” Anapanasati Sutta: Mindfulness of Breathing (MN 118)", "url": "https://accesstoinsight.org/tipitaka/mn/mn.118.than.html" }, "title": "Breath, number, word and clay", "body": "Mindfulness of breathing keeps attention on the breath and is taught in the Anapanasati Sutta (Majjhima Nikaya 118) of the Pali canon. Breath counting is counting breaths up to ten, then starting over at one, and the count also starts over whenever the mind drifts. Mantra repetition is saying a chosen word, phrase or run of syllables over and over, silently or aloud, with or without a religious meaning. A **kasina** is a device standing for a quality, such as an element or a color, used to support concentration; in the Visuddhimagga, the earth kasina is a prepared circle of clay.", "uid": "1jwph3h1niiws7" }, { "id": "mm-l06-f-scan-label-open-eat", "shape": "fact", "tags": [ "body-scan", "mindful-eating", "open-monitoring" ], "source": { "label": "Analayo, Mindfulness (2020) β€” Buddhist Antecedents to the Body Scan Meditation", "url": "https://www.buddhismuskunde.uni-hamburg.de/pdf/5-personen/analayo/buddhistantecedentsbodyscan.pdf" }, "title": "Body scan, noting, open awareness and eating", "body": "The body scan sweeps attention systematically through the body, from the feet to the head. **Noting** is silently labeling experience as it arises, as in the Mahasi Sayadaw method. Open awareness drops focus on any one object and takes in whatever arises, and is also called choiceless awareness; as of 24 October 2026, an NHS handout says Zen calls it \"just sitting\". Mindful eating is attention to the senses while eating, and the raisin exercise attends to seeing, touching, smelling, tasting and swallowing.", "illustration": { "imagePrompt": "A single raisin held between two fingers, seen close up.", "imageSearchTerm": "raisin held between fingers", "alt": "A raisin in close-up, the object of the raisin exercise", "kind": "photo", "credit": "Pexels Β· Marek Ruczaj Β· Pexels License", "creditUrl": "https://www.pexels.com/photo/close-up-of-dried-raisins-on-light-background-35166629/", "subject": "a single raisin in close-up on a light wooden surface, more raisins blurred around it", "url": "https://cdn.recurxive.com/packs/mindfulness-meditation/images/mm-l06-f-scan-label-open-eat.webp" }, "uid": "a3522tubx6rf" }, { "id": "mm-l06-k-mindfulness-breathing", "shape": "concept", "tags": [ "early-texts", "mindfulness" ], "source": { "label": "Thanissaro Bhikkhu (translator), Access to Insight β€” Anapanasati Sutta: Mindfulness of Breathing (MN 118)", "url": "https://accesstoinsight.org/tipitaka/mn/mn.118.than.html" }, "conceptKind": "thing", "name": "Mindfulness of breathing", "clues": [ "In a 2012 fMRI study by Hasenkamp and colleagues, participants focused on breath sensations at the nostrils and upper lip", "It is taught in Majjhima Nikaya 118 of the Pali canon" ], "uid": "xptd66qkkp3g" }, { "id": "mm-l06-k-breath-counting", "shape": "concept", "tags": [ "breath-counting", "zen" ], "source": { "label": "Myoshin-ji Temple β€” How to Do Zazen", "url": "https://www.myoshinji.or.jp/english/zen/how.html" }, "conceptKind": "thing", "name": "Breath counting", "clues": [ "Numbers up to ten are tallied, then the tally starts over at one", "The tally also starts over whenever the mind drifts", "As of 24 October 2026, a temple of the Rinzai school of Zen calls one version of it the usual method for beginners" ], "uid": "1ln1feg1uugtrw" }, { "id": "mm-l06-k-mantra-repetition", "shape": "concept", "tags": [ "mantra", "transcendental-meditation" ], "source": { "label": "Alvarez-Perez et al., IJERPH (2022) β€” Effectiveness of Mantra-Based Meditation on Mental Health", "url": "https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC8949812/" }, "conceptKind": "thing", "name": "Mantra repetition", "clues": [ "A chosen word, phrase or run of syllables is said over and over", "It may be silent or aloud, with or without a religious meaning", "Transcendental Meditation is one of its most common forms" ], "uid": "18r83heifdinw" }, { "id": "mm-l06-k-body-scan", "shape": "concept", "tags": [ "body-scan", "mbsr" ], "source": { "label": "Analayo, Mindfulness (2020) β€” Buddhist Antecedents to the Body Scan Meditation", "url": "https://www.buddhismuskunde.uni-hamburg.de/pdf/5-personen/analayo/buddhistantecedentsbodyscan.pdf" }, "conceptKind": "thing", "name": "Body scan", "clues": [ "Attention sweeps systematically through the body, from the feet to the head", "In the MBSR version, it begins with the toes of the left foot and works upward", "As one scholar traces it, its background runs through Myanmar vipassana teachers to one reading of the third stage of the early texts' breathing instructions" ], "uid": "19l2l26mu5vbw" }, { "id": "mm-l06-k-noting", "shape": "concept", "tags": [ "vipassana", "mindfulness" ], "source": { "label": "Analayo, Insight Journal (2015) β€” The Dynamics of Theravada Insight Meditation", "url": "https://www.buddhistinquiry.org/article/the-dynamics-of-theravada-insight-meditation/" }, "conceptKind": "thing", "name": "Noting", "clues": [ "Experience is silently labeled as it arises", "Labels include the rising and falling of the abdomen, sitting, touching and lifting a foot", "It belongs to the Mahasi Sayadaw method", "It is taught without first developing formal tranquility" ], "uid": "1vh0rkv6peyt5" }, { "id": "mm-l06-k-kasina", "shape": "concept", "tags": [ "practice-families", "meditation" ], "source": { "label": "Gunaratana, Access to Insight β€” The Jhanas in Theravada Buddhist Meditation", "url": "https://accesstoinsight.org/lib/authors/gunaratana/wheel351.html" }, "conceptKind": "thing", "name": "Kasina", "clues": [ "A device standing for a quality, such as an element or a color", "Ten kinds are listed: earth, water, fire, air, four colors, light and limited space", "In the Visuddhimagga, the earth kind is a prepared circle of clay, gazed at until it is seen equally with eyes open or shut" ], "uid": "19np3qn18xbx17" }, { "id": "mm-l06-k-mindful-eating", "shape": "concept", "tags": [ "mindful-eating", "mindfulness" ], "source": { "label": "Greater Good Science Center, UC Berkeley β€” Raisin Meditation", "url": "https://ggia.berkeley.edu/practice/raisin_meditation" }, "conceptKind": "thing", "name": "Mindful eating", "clues": [ "Attention goes to the senses while taking food", "As of 24 October 2026, Harvard's Nutrition Source says it discourages judging oneself over food", "A raisin exercise attends to seeing, touching, smelling, tasting and swallowing", "Kabat-Zinn's 2003 paper names the raisin exercise among the first exercises of the MBSR clinic" ], "uid": "ndrzui5uofsw" }, { "id": "mm-l06-d-rain", "shape": "definition", "tags": [ "rain", "mindfulness" ], "source": { "label": "Bakken Center, University of Minnesota β€” CSH Mindfulness Newsletter, Issue 27: RAIN", "url": "https://csh.umn.edu/news/csh-mindfulness-newsletter-issue-27-rain-mindfulness-practice-for-being-lifes-difficulties" }, "term": { "modality": "text", "value": "RAIN", "short": "RAIN" }, "definition": { "modality": "text", "value": "A word built from the first letters of its steps, naming a practice for being with difficult emotions and thoughts", "short": "Acronym: being with difficult emotions" }, "uid": "1xff9lclb14nw" }, { "id": "mm-l06-f-rain-credit-use", "shape": "fact", "tags": [ "rain", "teachers" ], "source": { "label": "Tara Brach's website β€” Blog: Two Versions of Acronym RAIN", "url": "https://www.tarabrach.com/blog-two-versions-of-acronym-rain/" }, "title": "Who credits RAIN, and how it is used", "body": "A post on Tara Brach's website credits the acronym **RAIN** to Michele McDonald, whom it calls a senior Buddhist teacher. The University of Minnesota's Bakken Center describes it as a practice McDonald developed over some twenty years. In a newsletter issue, the Bakken Center says RAIN can serve in a formal sitting, meaning time set aside for practice, or as in-the-moment reflective inquiry when strong emotions arise.", "uid": "1nmeuxe117hpnw" }, { "id": "mm-l06-f-rain-two-versions", "shape": "fact", "tags": [ "rain", "teachers" ], "source": { "label": "Tara Brach's website β€” Blog: Two Versions of Acronym RAIN", "url": "https://www.tarabrach.com/blog-two-versions-of-acronym-rain/" }, "title": "Two versions of RAIN", "body": "As Tara Brach's post sets it out, McDonald's original RAIN has four steps: Recognize what is happening; Allow life to be just as it is; Investigate with kindness; and **Non-Identification**. The Bakken Center words the same four steps as Recognition, Acceptance, Interest and Non-Identification. Brach's own version is Recognize; Allow; Investigate with gentle attention; Nurture; and a fifth step, After the RAIN, realizing freedom from narrow identity. So McDonald's original ends with Non-Identification, while Brach's has Nurture as its fourth step and adds a fifth after it.", "illustration": { "imagePrompt": "Archive portrait photograph of Tara Brach, the American meditation teacher. No readable text, brands or logos.", "imageSearchTerm": "Tara Brach", "alt": "Tara Brach, the American meditation teacher", "kind": "photo", "subjectType": "person" }, "uid": "m8s9rdp5urf" }, { "id": "mm-l06-proc-mcdonald-rain", "shape": "procedure", "tags": [ "rain", "mindfulness" ], "source": { "label": "Tara Brach's website β€” Blog: Two Versions of Acronym RAIN", "url": "https://www.tarabrach.com/blog-two-versions-of-acronym-rain/" }, "goal": "The four steps of the original RAIN, as Tara Brach's page sets them out", "steps": [ "Recognize what is happening", "Allow life to be just as it is", "Investigate with kindness", "Non-Identification" ], "notes": "The order follows the letters of RAIN. It is a convention, not a stated cause-and-effect sequence.", "uid": "nl7cnr1x68rsz" }, { "id": "mm-l06-p-brach-fifth-step", "shape": "pair", "tags": [ "rain", "teachers" ], "source": { "label": "Tara Brach's website β€” Blog: Two Versions of Acronym RAIN", "url": "https://www.tarabrach.com/blog-two-versions-of-acronym-rain/" }, "sideA": { "modality": "text", "value": "Brach's fifth step" }, "sideB": { "modality": "text", "value": "After the RAIN, realizing freedom from narrow identity" }, "uid": "b7ynew937ktc" }, { "id": "mm-l06-q-rain-credit", "shape": "mcq", "tags": [ "rain", "teachers" ], "source": { "label": "Tara Brach's website β€” Blog: Two Versions of Acronym RAIN", "url": "https://www.tarabrach.com/blog-two-versions-of-acronym-rain/" }, "prompt": { "modality": "text", "value": "A post on Tara Brach's website credits the RAIN acronym to which senior Buddhist teacher?" }, "options": [ { "modality": "text", "value": "Michele McDonald" }, { "modality": "text", "value": "Joseph Goldstein" }, { "modality": "text", "value": "Sharon Salzberg" }, { "modality": "text", "value": "Ruth Denison" } ], "correctIndex": 0, "explanation": "The post on Tara Brach's website credits the acronym to Michele McDonald. The other three are also vipassana teachers, but the post does not credit RAIN to any of them.", "uid": "u3l64y5mfh2o" }, { "id": "ot-mm-l06-walking-short-path", "shape": "mcq", "tags": [ "walking" ], "prompt": { "modality": "text", "value": "At the Insight Meditation Center, what is formal walking meditation?" }, "options": [ { "modality": "text", "value": "Walking a long route, never turning back" }, { "modality": "text", "value": "Walking fast to raise the heart rate" }, { "modality": "text", "value": "Attending to each step on the way to work" }, { "modality": "text", "value": "Going back and forth on a short path" } ], "correctIndex": 3, "explanation": "At the Insight Meditation Center, formal walking meditation is going back and forth on a short path. Attending to each step on the way to work is awareness woven into a routine, which makes it informal practice.", "source": { "label": "Insight Meditation Center β€” Walking Meditation Instruction", "url": "https://www.insightmeditationcenter.org/walking-meditation-instruction/" }, "uid": "q8w6p0iy2mjc" }, { "id": "ot-mm-l06-mbsr-early-weeks", "shape": "mcq", "tags": [ "mbsr", "walking" ], "prompt": { "modality": "text", "value": "On 24 October 2026, the Center for Mindfulness's page on its MBSR course listed which of these among the early weeks?" }, "options": [ { "modality": "text", "value": "Loving-kindness meditation" }, { "modality": "text", "value": "Walking meditation" }, { "modality": "text", "value": "Guided imagery" }, { "modality": "text", "value": "Yoga nidra" } ], "correctIndex": 1, "explanation": "The page listed mindful eating, the body scan, mindful movement, sitting meditation and walking meditation for the early weeks. Loving-kindness meditation, guided imagery and yoga nidra were not on that list.", "source": { "label": "Center for Mindfulness, UMass Memorial Health β€” MBSR Program", "url": "https://www.ummhealth.org/services-treatments/center-mindfulness/mindfulness-programs/mbsr" }, "uid": "bkg800uo5k18" }, { "id": "ot-mm-l06-tai-chi-form-of-qigong", "shape": "mcq", "tags": [ "practice-families", "yoga" ], "prompt": { "modality": "text", "value": "As of 2022, how does NCCIH relate tai chi done for health to qigong?" }, "options": [ { "modality": "text", "value": "Qigong is a form of tai chi done for health" }, { "modality": "text", "value": "Tai chi done for health is a form of qigong" }, { "modality": "text", "value": "The two are separate, unrelated practices" }, { "modality": "text", "value": "Tai chi is a form of yoga, not of qigong" } ], "correctIndex": 1, "explanation": "NCCIH describes qigong as a Chinese practice regulating mind, breath, movement and posture, and counts tai chi done for health as a form of it. Calling qigong a form of tai chi turns the relation around.", "source": { "label": "NCCIH β€” Qigong: What You Need To Know", "url": "https://www.nccih.nih.gov/health/qigong-what-you-need-to-know" }, "uid": "1mme8ag1l5kzhc" }, { "id": "ot-mm-l06-not-literally-choiceless", "shape": "mcq", "tags": [ "open-monitoring" ], "prompt": { "modality": "text", "value": "Open awareness is also called choiceless awareness. Why is it not literally choiceless, as a monastic teacher notes?" }, "options": [ { "modality": "text", "value": "One still chooses a single object to hold" }, { "modality": "text", "value": "One still chooses which thoughts to push away" }, { "modality": "text", "value": "One still chooses to stay with the present" }, { "modality": "text", "value": "One still chooses a word to repeat silently" } ], "correctIndex": 2, "explanation": "A monastic teacher notes that choiceless awareness is not literally choiceless, since one chooses to stay with the present. Choosing thoughts to push away would be suppression, which is not the choice the teacher describes.", "source": { "label": "Ajahn Viradhammo, Abhayagiri β€” Choiceless Awareness (Reflections no. 493)", "url": "https://www.abhayagiri.org/reflections/493-choiceless-awareness" }, "uid": "bzepnousnh74" }, { "id": "ot-mm-l06-open-awareness-description", "shape": "mcq", "tags": [ "open-monitoring" ], "prompt": { "modality": "text", "value": "What does open awareness, one of the basic exercises, do with attention?" }, "options": [ { "modality": "text", "value": "Drops focus on any one object, taking in whatever arises" }, { "modality": "text", "value": "Holds it on one chosen object, such as the breath" }, { "modality": "text", "value": "Sweeps it through the body, from the feet to the face" }, { "modality": "text", "value": "Rests it on a chosen word repeated over and over" } ], "correctIndex": 0, "explanation": "Open awareness drops focus on any one object and takes in whatever arises; it is also called choiceless awareness. Holding one chosen object, such as the breath, is focused attention instead.", "source": { "label": "NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde β€” Choiceless Awareness (Week 5 MBSR handout)", "url": "https://www.rightdecisions.scot.nhs.uk/health-improvement-staff-mindfulness-programme/mbsr/mbsr-handouts/week-5/2-choiceless-awareness" }, "uid": "ck7bif14c11xp" }, { "id": "ot-mm-l06-kasina-purpose", "shape": "mcq", "tags": [ "practice-families", "meditation" ], "prompt": { "modality": "text", "value": "A kasina is a device standing for a quality, such as an element or a color. How does the meditator use it?" }, "options": [ { "modality": "text", "value": "As a way of counting the breaths" }, { "modality": "text", "value": "As a support for concentration" }, { "modality": "text", "value": "As a label for passing experience" }, { "modality": "text", "value": "As a timer for each sitting" } ], "correctIndex": 1, "explanation": "A kasina stands for a quality, such as an element or a color, and the meditator uses it to support concentration; the earth kasina is a prepared circle of clay. Counting breaths and labeling experience are other exercises: breath counting and noting.", "source": { "label": "Gunaratana, Access to Insight β€” The Jhanas in Theravada Buddhist Meditation", "url": "https://accesstoinsight.org/lib/authors/gunaratana/wheel351.html" }, "uid": "uc1mzr72uqmp" }, { "id": "ot-mm-l06-body-scan-opens-mbsr", "shape": "mcq", "tags": [ "body-scan", "mbsr" ], "prompt": { "modality": "text", "value": "Where does the body scan come in the standard MBSR curriculum, as Analayo describes it?" }, "options": [ { "modality": "text", "value": "It is kept for the final week" }, { "modality": "text", "value": "It comes after sitting meditation" }, { "modality": "text", "value": "The curriculum opens with it" }, { "modality": "text", "value": "The curriculum leaves it out" } ], "correctIndex": 2, "explanation": "Analayo writes that the standard MBSR curriculum begins with a body scan, whose MBSR version starts at the toes of the left foot and works upward. So it comes first, not in the final week, and it is not left out.", "source": { "label": "Analayo, Mindfulness (2020) β€” Buddhist Antecedents to the Body Scan Meditation", "url": "https://www.buddhismuskunde.uni-hamburg.de/pdf/5-personen/analayo/buddhistantecedentsbodyscan.pdf" }, "uid": "12x253h16yozq5" }, { "id": "ot-mm-l06-zen-just-sitting", "shape": "mcq", "tags": [ "open-monitoring", "zen" ], "prompt": { "modality": "text", "value": "As of 24 October 2026, what does an NHS handout say Zen calls open awareness?" }, "options": [ { "modality": "text", "value": "Going straight" }, { "modality": "text", "value": "Koan study" }, { "modality": "text", "value": "Breath counting" }, { "modality": "text", "value": "Just sitting" } ], "correctIndex": 3, "explanation": "As of 24 October 2026, an NHS handout says Zen calls open awareness \"just sitting\". Going straight, koan study and breath counting are not the names it gives.", "source": { "label": "NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde β€” Choiceless Awareness (Week 5 MBSR handout)", "url": "https://www.rightdecisions.scot.nhs.uk/health-improvement-staff-mindfulness-programme/mbsr/mbsr-handouts/week-5/2-choiceless-awareness" }, "uid": "ah2hpwo014dm" }, { "id": "ot-mm-l06-brach-investigate-wording", "shape": "mcq", "tags": [ "rain", "teachers" ], "prompt": { "modality": "text", "value": "How does Tara Brach's own version of RAIN word the I step, as her post sets it out?" }, "options": [ { "modality": "text", "value": "Investigate with gentle attention" }, { "modality": "text", "value": "Investigate with kindness" }, { "modality": "text", "value": "Investigate with an open heart" }, { "modality": "text", "value": "Inquire with patient curiosity" } ], "correctIndex": 0, "explanation": "In Brach's own version, the I step is Investigate with gentle attention. Investigate with kindness is the wording of the original version, as the same post sets it out.", "source": { "label": "Tara Brach's website β€” Blog: Two Versions of Acronym RAIN", "url": "https://www.tarabrach.com/blog-two-versions-of-acronym-rain/" }, "uid": "1t87o3pltyf0d" }, { "id": "ot-mm-l06-brach-fourth-step", "shape": "mcq", "tags": [ "rain", "teachers" ], "prompt": { "modality": "text", "value": "Which step comes fourth in Brach's own version of RAIN?" }, "options": [ { "modality": "text", "value": "Non-Identification" }, { "modality": "text", "value": "Non-Judgment" }, { "modality": "text", "value": "Noting" }, { "modality": "text", "value": "Nurture" } ], "correctIndex": 3, "explanation": "Brach's own version has Nurture as its fourth step. Non-Identification is the fourth step of the original version, and the fourth step is where the two versions diverge.", "source": { "label": "Tara Brach's website β€” Blog: Two Versions of Acronym RAIN", "url": "https://www.tarabrach.com/blog-two-versions-of-acronym-rain/" }, "uid": "1hybb84tleyum" }, { "id": "ot-mm-l06-rain-versions-compared", "shape": "mcq", "tags": [ "rain", "teachers" ], "prompt": { "modality": "text", "value": "Which statement fits the two versions of RAIN that the post on Tara Brach's website sets out?" }, "options": [ { "modality": "text", "value": "McDonald's original has five steps; Brach's has four" }, { "modality": "text", "value": "Both versions have four steps and differ only in wording" }, { "modality": "text", "value": "Brach's has five steps; McDonald's original has four" }, { "modality": "text", "value": "Both versions have five steps and end with Nurture" } ], "correctIndex": 2, "explanation": "Brach's version has five steps, the fifth coming after the four that spell RAIN. McDonald's original has four steps.", "source": { "label": "Tara Brach's website β€” Blog: Two Versions of Acronym RAIN", "url": "https://www.tarabrach.com/blog-two-versions-of-acronym-rain/" }, "uid": "1me269s18k89ss" }, { "id": "ot-mm-l06-rain-what-it-is", "shape": "mcq", "tags": [ "rain", "mindfulness" ], "prompt": { "modality": "text", "value": "RAIN names a practice for being with which of these?" }, "options": [ { "modality": "text", "value": "Everyday sounds and sensations" }, { "modality": "text", "value": "Pleasant moods and quiet states" }, { "modality": "text", "value": "Routine tasks such as washing dishes" }, { "modality": "text", "value": "Difficult emotions and thoughts" } ], "correctIndex": 3, "explanation": "RAIN is an acronym for a practice for being with difficult emotions and thoughts. Routines such as washing dishes are where informal practice is woven in, which is a different topic.", "source": { "label": "Bakken Center, University of Minnesota β€” CSH Mindfulness Newsletter, Issue 27: RAIN", "url": "https://csh.umn.edu/news/csh-mindfulness-newsletter-issue-27-rain-mindfulness-practice-for-being-lifes-difficulties" }, "uid": "12ykchylhemj8" }, { "id": "mm-l07-f-four-components", "shape": "fact", "tags": [ "mechanisms", "mindfulness" ], "source": { "label": "HΓΆlzel et al. β€” How Does Mindfulness Meditation Work? Proposing Mechanisms of Action From a Conceptual and Neural Perspective", "url": "https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/26168376/" }, "title": "Four Proposed Components", "body": "In a 2011 theoretical review, HΓΆlzel and colleagues proposed that mindfulness meditation works through **four components** acting together: attention regulation, body awareness, emotion regulation (including reappraisal, and exposure, extinction and reconsolidation) and a change in perspective on the self. The paper is a proposal assembled from earlier self-report, experimental and neuroimaging studies, not a new experiment. So the four components are a proposed account, not an established mechanism.", "uid": "1xvs7dz1cbniql" }, { "id": "mm-l07-f-two-stress-routes", "shape": "fact", "tags": [ "stress-response", "mechanisms" ], "source": { "label": "OpenStax (Kirby et al.) β€” Neural Mechanisms and Circuitry of the Stress Response", "url": "https://openstax.org/books/introduction-behavioral-neuroscience/pages/12-2-neural-mechanisms-and-circuitry-of-the-stress-response" }, "title": "Two Parallel Stress Routes", "body": "In an open neuroscience textbook's account, the stress response runs from the amygdala along **two parallel routes**, not one chain. A fast sympathetic route ends in the release of epinephrine, also called adrenaline. A slower route runs through the hypothalamus and the HPA (hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal) axis and ends in cortisol: the hypothalamus releases corticotropin-releasing hormone (CRH), CRH makes the anterior pituitary release adrenocorticotropic hormone (ACTH), and ACTH makes the adrenal cortex release cortisol.", "uid": "19wyaala08jp9" }, { "id": "mm-l07-f-brain-studies-care", "shape": "fact", "tags": [ "default-mode-network", "evidence-strength" ], "source": { "label": "Brewer et al. β€” Meditation experience is associated with differences in default mode network activity and connectivity", "url": "https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC3250176/" }, "title": "Brain Studies Are Hard to Read", "body": "On a page last updated in June 2022, NCCIH says brain studies of mindfulness are **difficult to interpret** and their practical implications unclear. In a 2011 comparison of 12 experienced meditators with matched volunteers, the default mode network's main nodes were relatively deactivated in the experienced group in each of three kinds of meditation. Its authors named the moderately small sample as the main limitation and said the results need replication before firm conclusions are drawn. A plain reading is that these group comparisons do not show that meditation switches the network off.", "uid": "3jva5v167k0yl" }, { "id": "mm-l07-d-decentering", "shape": "definition", "tags": [ "mechanisms", "mindfulness" ], "source": { "label": "Bernstein et al. β€” Decentering and Related Constructs: A Critical Review and Metacognitive Processes Model", "url": "https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC5103165/" }, "term": { "modality": "text", "value": "decentering" }, "definition": { "modality": "text", "value": "A proposed mechanism: the capacity to shift from within one's subjective experience to a viewpoint on that experience", "short": "Shifting to a viewpoint on experience" }, "uid": "1lvrkuqynh68m" }, { "id": "mm-l07-proc-slower-stress-route", "shape": "procedure", "tags": [ "stress-response", "mechanisms" ], "source": { "label": "OpenStax (Kirby et al.) β€” Neural Mechanisms and Circuitry of the Stress Response", "url": "https://openstax.org/books/introduction-behavioral-neuroscience/pages/12-2-neural-mechanisms-and-circuitry-of-the-stress-response" }, "goal": "The slower stress route, from the amygdala to cortisol", "steps": [ "The amygdala activates the hypothalamus", "The hypothalamus releases CRH", "CRH makes the anterior pituitary release ACTH", "ACTH makes the adrenal cortex release cortisol" ], "notes": "Each hormone is the signal that makes the next gland release its own hormone, so the chain cannot run in another order.", "uid": "7phgcmjmx0fq" }, { "id": "mm-l07-q-main-limitation", "shape": "mcq", "tags": [ "default-mode-network", "evidence-strength" ], "source": { "label": "Brewer et al. β€” Meditation experience is associated with differences in default mode network activity and connectivity", "url": "https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC3250176/" }, "prompt": { "modality": "text", "value": "A headline says a 2011 brain study proves that meditation switches off the default mode network. Which limitation did the study's authors name as the main one?" }, "options": [ { "modality": "text", "value": "A missing comparison group" }, { "modality": "text", "value": "A single kind of meditation" }, { "modality": "text", "value": "A moderately small sample" }, { "modality": "text", "value": "A group of beginners" } ], "correctIndex": 2, "explanation": "The authors named the moderately small sample as the main limitation and said the results need replication, so the headline goes too far. The study did have matched volunteers for comparison, tested three kinds of meditation and used experienced meditators.", "uid": "doypxub1qzi2" }, { "id": "mm-l07-tf-nccih-brain-studies", "shape": "trueFalse", "tags": [ "evidence-strength", "mindfulness" ], "source": { "label": "NCCIH β€” Meditation and Mindfulness: Effectiveness and Safety", "url": "https://www.nccih.nih.gov/health/meditation-and-mindfulness-effectiveness-and-safety" }, "statement": "On a page last updated in June 2022, NCCIH says brain studies of mindfulness are difficult to interpret, but their practical implications are clear.", "isTrue": false, "why": "NCCIH gives both as cautions: brain studies of mindfulness are difficult to interpret and their practical implications unclear, not clear.", "uid": "1iz3gu6xv2qgg" }, { "id": "mm-l07-f-robert-wright", "shape": "fact", "tags": [ "wright", "vipassana" ], "source": { "label": "NPR Fresh Air β€” Can Buddhist Practices Help Us Overcome The Biological Pull Of Dissatisfaction?", "url": "https://www.npr.org/transcripts/541610511" }, "title": "Who Robert Wright Is", "body": "Robert Wright is the author of **Why Buddhism Is True**, published by Simon & Schuster in 2017. In August 2017, NPR described him as a visiting professor of science and religion at Union Theological Seminary who also wrote The Moral Animal and The Evolution of God. He taught an online course through Coursera and Princeton, Buddhism and Modern Psychology. In a Lion's Roar interview published in September 2017, he said his own practice is insight (Vipassana) meditation.", "illustration": { "imagePrompt": "Photograph of Robert Wright, the American journalist and author of Why Buddhism Is True. No readable text, brands or logos.", "imageSearchTerm": "Robert Wright journalist", "alt": "Robert Wright, the American journalist and author", "kind": "photo", "subjectType": "person" }, "uid": "j254f51w2j16x" }, { "id": "mm-l07-f-claim-and-scope", "shape": "fact", "tags": [ "wright", "meditation" ], "source": { "label": "Philosophy Bites β€” Robert Wright on Why Buddhism is True", "url": "https://philosophybites.com/podcast/robert-wright-on-why-buddhism-is-true/" }, "title": "The Claim Behind the Title", "body": "In interviews about Why Buddhism Is True, its author says the claim he defends is that people suffer, and make others suffer, because they do not see the world clearly: they hold illusions about themselves, other people and the world. His phrase **diagnosis and prescription** means Buddhism's account of the human predicament, with its practices as the remedy. He limits the claim to the naturalistic parts of Buddhism and says he is agnostic about rebirth and karma, which means he does not claim to know either way.", "uid": "1dti13jjgt4vr" }, { "id": "mm-l07-f-calm-then-distance", "shape": "fact", "tags": [ "wright", "mindfulness" ], "source": { "label": "NPR Fresh Air β€” Can Buddhist Practices Help Us Overcome The Biological Pull Of Dissatisfaction?", "url": "https://www.npr.org/transcripts/541610511" }, "title": "Calm First, Then Critical Distance", "body": "In interviews about Why Buddhism Is True, its author gives several steps of the argument. One is that mindfulness first calms the mind, often by attending to the breath, and then lets a person observe feelings such as anxiety from a different vantage point, giving what he calls **critical distance**. Another is that Buddhism posits a convergence of truth, well-being and goodness: seeing more clearly should make a person happier and better.", "uid": "12frja0b2j1wq" }, { "id": "mm-l07-d-naturalistic-buddhism", "shape": "definition", "tags": [ "wright", "meditation" ], "source": { "label": "Secular Buddhist Network β€” An interview with Robert Wright on evolutionary psychology and a naturalistic approach to Buddhism", "url": "https://secularbuddhistnetwork.org/an-interview-with-robert-wright-on-evolutionary-psychology-and-a-naturalistic-approach-to-buddhism/" }, "term": { "modality": "text", "value": "naturalistic Buddhism" }, "definition": { "modality": "text", "value": "In Wright's interviews, the parts of Buddhism that can be evaluated from the standpoint of modern psychology and philosophy, not rebirth or karma" }, "uid": "8lsf4m4jj7yi" }, { "id": "mm-l07-p-critical-distance", "shape": "pair", "tags": [ "wright", "mindfulness" ], "source": { "label": "NPR Fresh Air β€” Can Buddhist Practices Help Us Overcome The Biological Pull Of Dissatisfaction?", "url": "https://www.npr.org/transcripts/541610511" }, "sideA": { "modality": "text", "value": "Wright's critical distance" }, "sideB": { "modality": "text", "value": "Observing feelings such as anxiety from another vantage point" }, "uid": "1x9rp3h1ag8mof" }, { "id": "mm-l07-q-why-people-suffer", "shape": "mcq", "tags": [ "wright", "meditation" ], "source": { "label": "Philosophy Bites β€” Robert Wright on Why Buddhism is True", "url": "https://philosophybites.com/podcast/robert-wright-on-why-buddhism-is-true/" }, "prompt": { "modality": "text", "value": "In interviews, why does the author of Why Buddhism Is True say people suffer and make others suffer?" }, "options": [ { "modality": "text", "value": "They hold illusions" }, { "modality": "text", "value": "They lack compassion" }, { "modality": "text", "value": "They lack religious faith" }, { "modality": "text", "value": "They fear death" } ], "correctIndex": 0, "explanation": "He says people suffer, and make others suffer, because they do not see the world clearly: they hold illusions about themselves, other people and the world. A lack of compassion, a lack of religious faith and fear of death are not the claim he states.", "uid": "f3jbsmeevd86" }, { "id": "mm-l07-q-agnostic-about", "shape": "mcq", "tags": [ "wright", "meditation" ], "source": { "label": "Secular Buddhist Network β€” An interview with Robert Wright on evolutionary psychology and a naturalistic approach to Buddhism", "url": "https://secularbuddhistnetwork.org/an-interview-with-robert-wright-on-evolutionary-psychology-and-a-naturalistic-approach-to-buddhism/" }, "prompt": { "modality": "text", "value": "In interviews, how does the author of Why Buddhism Is True describe his own position on rebirth and karma?" }, "options": [ { "modality": "text", "value": "He builds his claim on both" }, { "modality": "text", "value": "He says psychology confirms both" }, { "modality": "text", "value": "He says both are false" }, { "modality": "text", "value": "He is agnostic about both" } ], "correctIndex": 3, "explanation": "He limits his claim to the naturalistic parts of Buddhism and says he is agnostic about rebirth and karma, meaning he does not claim to know either way. So he neither builds on them, nor says psychology confirms them, nor says they are false.", "uid": "12g5aon11hcfkl" }, { "id": "mm-l07-f-mindfulness-and-selection", "shape": "fact", "tags": [ "wright", "mindfulness" ], "source": { "label": "NPR Fresh Air β€” Can Buddhist Practices Help Us Overcome The Biological Pull Of Dissatisfaction?", "url": "https://www.npr.org/transcripts/541610511" }, "title": "Mindfulness: Almost a Rebellion", "body": "In an August 2017 NPR interview, the author of Why Buddhism Is True called mindfulness meditation \"almost a **rebellion against natural selection**\" and its agenda. He also says love and compassion are legacies of natural selection worth keeping, and that even therapeutic practice can be a step toward deeper exploration, because not identifying with one's anxiety is an incremental move toward not-self, the idea that the self in some sense does not exist.", "uid": "1oycyly1erejac" }, { "id": "mm-l07-f-two-kinds-of-support", "shape": "fact", "tags": [ "wright", "meditation" ], "source": { "label": "Garrison Institute β€” Is Buddhism True? (interview with Robert Wright)", "url": "https://www.garrisoninstitute.org/science/why-buddhism-is-true/" }, "title": "Two Kinds of Support", "body": "In a 2017 interview, the author of Why Buddhism Is True was asked about two kinds of argument in his book: the **intellectual arguments**, which rest on psychology, and the experiential arguments, which rest on his own meditation. He said he did not want to rely too much on his own experiences, and that he used them to supplement the argument. He hoped the basic argument could be assessed by someone who has never meditated.", "uid": "cto8n51vivkxf" }, { "id": "mm-l07-f-objections-and-replies", "shape": "fact", "tags": [ "objections", "wright" ], "source": { "label": "Secular Buddhist Network β€” An interview with Robert Wright on evolutionary psychology and a naturalistic approach to Buddhism", "url": "https://secularbuddhistnetwork.org/an-interview-with-robert-wright-on-evolutionary-psychology-and-a-naturalistic-approach-to-buddhism/" }, "title": "Objections and Replies", "body": "Objectors call **evolutionary psychology** speculative: Philosophy Now's 2019 reviewer called its theories largely untestable directly, a point Wright's 2020 interview does not answer. To Evan Thompson's doubts about its role and his stress on cultural factors, Wright replied there that it is central to his book. Others call naturalized Buddhism selective: a reviewer reports Thompson objecting to naturalizing nirvana as a brain-correlated psychological state. Wright called treating his book as the main example of the view that naturalistic Buddhism is the real Buddhism partly confusion.", "uid": "sskosl18m74kn" }, { "id": "mm-l07-p-speculation-reply", "shape": "pair", "tags": [ "objections", "wright" ], "source": { "label": "Secular Buddhist Network β€” An interview with Robert Wright on evolutionary psychology and a naturalistic approach to Buddhism", "url": "https://secularbuddhistnetwork.org/an-interview-with-robert-wright-on-evolutionary-psychology-and-a-naturalistic-approach-to-buddhism/" }, "sideA": { "modality": "text", "value": "Thompson's doubt about the role of evolutionary psychology" }, "sideB": { "modality": "text", "value": "Wright's reply: it is central to his book" }, "uid": "z1ahc81c4ymvq" }, { "id": "mm-l07-q-two-kinds-of-argument", "shape": "mcq", "tags": [ "wright", "meditation" ], "source": { "label": "Garrison Institute β€” Is Buddhism True? (interview with Robert Wright)", "url": "https://www.garrisoninstitute.org/science/why-buddhism-is-true/" }, "prompt": { "modality": "text", "value": "In a 2017 interview, the author of Why Buddhism Is True was asked about two kinds of argument in his book. Which statement about them is accurate?" }, "options": [ { "modality": "text", "value": "Intellectual: his own meditation; experiential: psychology", "short": "Intellectual means meditation" }, { "modality": "text", "value": "Intellectual: psychology; experiential: his own meditation", "short": "Intellectual means psychology" }, { "modality": "text", "value": "Both kinds rest on psychology, not on meditation", "short": "Both rest on psychology" }, { "modality": "text", "value": "Both kinds rest on his meditation, not on psychology", "short": "Both rest on meditation" } ], "correctIndex": 1, "explanation": "The intellectual arguments are the ones that rest on psychology, and the experiential arguments are the ones that rest on his own meditation. Reversing the pairing, or putting both kinds on one basis, misstates it.", "uid": "a97hps5to7py" }, { "id": "mm-l07-q-partly-confusion", "shape": "mcq", "tags": [ "objections", "wright" ], "source": { "label": "Secular Buddhist Network β€” An interview with Robert Wright on evolutionary psychology and a naturalistic approach to Buddhism", "url": "https://secularbuddhistnetwork.org/an-interview-with-robert-wright-on-evolutionary-psychology-and-a-naturalistic-approach-to-buddhism/" }, "prompt": { "modality": "text", "value": "In a 2020 interview, the author of Why Buddhism Is True said it was partly confusion to treat his book as the main example of a view. Which view?" }, "options": [ { "modality": "text", "value": "That rebirth and karma are the heart of Buddhism", "short": "Rebirth and karma are central" }, { "modality": "text", "value": "That psychology can replace Buddhist practice", "short": "Psychology replaces practice" }, { "modality": "text", "value": "That naturalistic Buddhism is the real Buddhism", "short": "Naturalistic is real Buddhism" }, { "modality": "text", "value": "That evolution explains all of religion", "short": "Evolution explains religion" } ], "correctIndex": 2, "explanation": "He named the view that naturalistic Buddhism is the real Buddhism, and said it was partly confusion to treat his book as its main example. The other options are views he did not name.", "uid": "qen7ifdelrzp" }, { "id": "mm-l07-tf-rebellion-and-compassion", "shape": "trueFalse", "tags": [ "wright", "mindfulness" ], "source": { "label": "NPR Fresh Air β€” Can Buddhist Practices Help Us Overcome The Biological Pull Of Dissatisfaction?", "url": "https://www.npr.org/transcripts/541610511" }, "statement": "The author of Why Buddhism Is True calls mindfulness meditation \"almost a rebellion against natural selection\" and its agenda, and also says love and compassion are legacies of natural selection worth keeping.", "isTrue": true, "why": "In an August 2017 NPR interview he called mindfulness meditation \"almost a rebellion against natural selection\" and its agenda; he also says love and compassion are legacies of natural selection worth keeping.", "uid": "1alcyj91x47vkr" }, { "id": "ot-mm-l07-kind-of-paper", "shape": "mcq", "tags": [ "mechanisms", "mindfulness" ], "prompt": { "modality": "text", "value": "A 2011 paper on how mindfulness meditation works names four components. Which description of that paper is accurate?" }, "options": [ { "modality": "text", "value": "A proposal assembled from earlier studies" }, { "modality": "text", "value": "A randomized trial of a mindfulness program" }, { "modality": "text", "value": "A brain-scan experiment on experienced meditators" }, { "modality": "text", "value": "A survey of what meditation teachers report" } ], "correctIndex": 0, "explanation": "The 2011 paper was a theoretical review: a proposal assembled from earlier self-report, experimental and neuroimaging studies, not a new experiment. The four components are a proposed account, not an established mechanism.", "source": { "label": "HΓΆlzel et al. β€” How Does Mindfulness Meditation Work? Proposing Mechanisms of Action From a Conceptual and Neural Perspective", "url": "https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/26168376/" }, "uid": "w1sgwe1qcvf3k" }, { "id": "ot-mm-l07-one-of-the-four", "shape": "mcq", "tags": [ "mechanisms", "mindfulness" ], "prompt": { "modality": "text", "value": "Which of these is one of the four components in the 2011 paper on how mindfulness meditation works?" }, "options": [ { "modality": "text", "value": "A change in muscle tension" }, { "modality": "text", "value": "A change in the quality of sleep" }, { "modality": "text", "value": "A change in one's sense of belonging" }, { "modality": "text", "value": "A change in perspective on the self" } ], "correctIndex": 3, "explanation": "The proposal names attention regulation, body awareness, emotion regulation and a change in perspective on the self. Muscle tension, the quality of sleep and a sense of belonging are not among them.", "source": { "label": "HΓΆlzel et al. β€” How Does Mindfulness Meditation Work? Proposing Mechanisms of Action From a Conceptual and Neural Perspective", "url": "https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/26168376/" }, "uid": "q410hvugent9" }, { "id": "ot-mm-l07-stress-two-routes", "shape": "mcq", "tags": [ "stress-response", "mechanisms" ], "prompt": { "modality": "text", "value": "In an open neuroscience textbook's account, how is the body's stress response organized?" }, "options": [ { "modality": "text", "value": "One chain from the amygdala to cortisol" }, { "modality": "text", "value": "Two parallel routes from the amygdala" }, { "modality": "text", "value": "Two routes that run one after the other" }, { "modality": "text", "value": "A single fast route to epinephrine" } ], "correctIndex": 1, "explanation": "From the amygdala, a fast sympathetic route ending in epinephrine and a slower HPA route ending in cortisol run side by side, so the stress response is not one chain.", "source": { "label": "OpenStax (Kirby et al.) β€” Neural Mechanisms and Circuitry of the Stress Response", "url": "https://openstax.org/books/introduction-behavioral-neuroscience/pages/12-2-neural-mechanisms-and-circuitry-of-the-stress-response" }, "uid": "1egvh0o1ei94m8" }, { "id": "ot-mm-l07-what-replication-asks", "shape": "mcq", "tags": [ "default-mode-network", "research-methods" ], "prompt": { "modality": "text", "value": "The authors of a 2011 default mode network study wrote that the results \"warrant replication before definitive conclusions may be drawn\". What does that ask for?" }, "options": [ { "modality": "text", "value": "That the volunteers be matched more closely" }, { "modality": "text", "value": "That the scanner be checked for errors" }, { "modality": "text", "value": "That the findings be repeated to see if they hold" }, { "modality": "text", "value": "That the findings be published in a second journal" } ], "correctIndex": 2, "explanation": "Here replication means the findings need to be repeated before firm conclusions are drawn. Matching volunteers, checking a scanner and choosing a journal are different matters.", "source": { "label": "Brewer et al. β€” Meditation experience is associated with differences in default mode network activity and connectivity", "url": "https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC3250176/" }, "uid": "sm5e4kc7ju2w" }, { "id": "ot-mm-l07-therapy-toward-not-self", "shape": "mcq", "tags": [ "wright", "mindfulness" ], "prompt": { "modality": "text", "value": "The author of Why Buddhism Is True argues that even therapeutic practice can be a step toward deeper exploration. What reason does he give?" }, "options": [ { "modality": "text", "value": "Easing anxiety shows the self is solid and real" }, { "modality": "text", "value": "Not identifying with anxiety moves toward not-self" }, { "modality": "text", "value": "Feeling calmer is the whole aim of Buddhist practice" }, { "modality": "text", "value": "Facing anxiety strengthens the conscious CEO self" } ], "correctIndex": 1, "explanation": "Wright says not identifying with one's anxiety is an incremental move toward not-self, the idea that the self in some sense does not exist. That points away from a solid or stronger self, not toward one.", "source": { "label": "Garrison Institute β€” Is Buddhism True? (interview with Robert Wright)", "url": "https://www.garrisoninstitute.org/science/why-buddhism-is-true/" }, "uid": "2end47ikzk7f" }, { "id": "mm-l08-f-how-trials-test-meditation", "shape": "fact", "tags": [ "research-methods", "trials" ], "title": "How Trials Test Meditation", "body": "In a **randomized controlled trial**, chance, not the researchers or the participants, decides who gets the meditation program and who joins the control group, the group it is compared with. A waitlist control gets the program later; an active control gets another intervention in its place.", "source": { "label": "National Cancer Institute β€” NCI Dictionary of Cancer Terms", "url": "https://www.cancer.gov/publications/dictionaries/cancer-terms/def/randomized-clinical-trial" }, "uid": "e73a3m1lse4pc" }, { "id": "mm-l08-f-goyal-grades-2014", "shape": "fact", "tags": [ "evidence-strength", "trials" ], "source": { "label": "Goyal et al., JAMA Internal Medicine β€” Meditation Programs for Psychological Stress and Well-being", "url": "https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC4142584/" }, "title": "How a 2014 Review Graded the Evidence", "body": "A 2014 meta-analysis of 47 randomized controlled trials of meditation programs with active controls graded the evidence outcome by outcome. It found **moderate evidence** that mindfulness programs improve anxiety, depression and pain, and low evidence for stress or distress and for mental-health quality of life. It also found low evidence of no effect or insufficient evidence of any effect for other outcomes, including sleep and weight, and no evidence that programs beat any active treatment. A grade rates how strong the evidence is, not the effect size.", "uid": "x1v37j129pv8l" }, { "id": "mm-l08-f-why-preliminary", "shape": "fact", "tags": [ "evidence-strength", "research-methods" ], "source": { "label": "NCCIH β€” Meditation and Mindfulness: Effectiveness and Safety", "url": "https://www.nccih.nih.gov/health/meditation-and-mindfulness-effectiveness-and-safety" }, "title": "Why the Evidence Is Called Preliminary", "body": "NCCIH (June 2022) says much research on the health benefits of meditation and mindfulness has been **preliminary** or not scientifically rigorous, and may have been interpreted too optimistically. A 2015 paper noted that double-blind placebo designs are impossible for meditation and that waitlist controls are likely to carry differential demand characteristics. A 2016 study of 124 published trials found 87 percent of abstracts positive, about 1.6 times that expected from an assumed effect size of 0.55, and its authors said the share of significant results may overstate real-world results.", "uid": "jm34rjaji50d" }, { "id": "mm-l08-f-brain-structure-test", "shape": "fact", "tags": [ "trials", "evidence-strength" ], "source": { "label": "Kral et al., Science Advances β€” Absence of structural brain changes from mindfulness-based stress reduction: Two combined randomized controlled trials", "url": "https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC9122316/" }, "title": "Testing the Brain-Structure Claims", "body": "In 2022, two randomized controlled trials were combined: 218 meditation-naive adults, with 70 on a waitlist, 75 in an 8-week mindfulness-based stress reduction (MBSR) course and 73 in a matched active control. They found no structural brain change after 8-week MBSR against either control, so they **failed to replicate** prior findings. The paper noted that earlier studies had no active controls or randomization, used circular analysis (a statistical weakness) and had 20 or fewer people per group. It also noted that this trial tested short-term training, not years of practice.", "uid": "wsv6ws1now0jo" }, { "id": "mm-l08-q-moderate-rates-what", "shape": "mcq", "tags": [ "evidence-strength", "trials" ], "source": { "label": "Goyal et al., JAMA Internal Medicine β€” Meditation Programs for Psychological Stress and Well-being", "url": "https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC4142584/" }, "prompt": { "modality": "text", "value": "A headline says mindfulness programs improve anxiety, depression and pain, citing a 2014 review of 47 randomized controlled trials that gave this a grade of 'moderate'. What does that grade describe?" }, "options": [ { "modality": "text", "value": "How large the effect is" }, { "modality": "text", "value": "How common the effect is" }, { "modality": "text", "value": "How strong the evidence is" }, { "modality": "text", "value": "How long the effect lasts" } ], "correctIndex": 2, "explanation": "The review graded each outcome on risk of bias, precision, directness and consistency. A grade rates how strong the evidence is, not the effect size, so 'moderate' does not say how large the effect is.", "uid": "11f5phc1f6lf1w" }, { "id": "mm-l08-q-significant-share-caution", "shape": "mcq", "tags": [ "evidence-strength", "trials" ], "source": { "label": "Coronado-Montoya et al., PLOS ONE β€” Reporting of Positive Results in Randomized Controlled Trials of Mindfulness-Based Mental Health Interventions", "url": "https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC4825994/" }, "prompt": { "modality": "text", "value": "A 2016 study of 124 published trials of mindfulness-based therapy found most abstracts reported a positive outcome. What did its authors say about the share of significant results?" }, "options": [ { "modality": "text", "value": "It may overstate what would occur in practice", "short": "May overstate real-life results" }, { "modality": "text", "value": "It may understate what would occur in practice", "short": "May understate real-life results" }, { "modality": "text", "value": "It reflects what would occur in practice", "short": "Reflects real-life results" }, { "modality": "text", "value": "It is lower than the share expected", "short": "Lower than the expected share" } ], "correctIndex": 0, "explanation": "The authors said the share of significant results may overstate what would occur in practice, not understate it or reflect it.", "uid": "1ikp0hg1n0k9im" }, { "id": "mm-l08-q-mbsr-brain-headline", "shape": "mcq", "tags": [ "trials", "mbsr" ], "source": { "label": "Kral et al., Science Advances β€” Absence of structural brain changes from mindfulness-based stress reduction: Two combined randomized controlled trials", "url": "https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC9122316/" }, "prompt": { "modality": "text", "value": "A headline says 8 weeks of MBSR changes the brain's structure. What did two combined randomized controlled trials of 218 meditation-naive adults (2022) find?" }, "options": [ { "modality": "text", "value": "Change against the waitlist, not the active control", "short": "Change vs waitlist, not active" }, { "modality": "text", "value": "No change against either control", "short": "No change versus either control" }, { "modality": "text", "value": "Change against the active control, not the waitlist", "short": "Change vs active, not waitlist" }, { "modality": "text", "value": "Change against both controls" } ], "correctIndex": 1, "explanation": "There was no structural brain change after 8-week MBSR against the waitlist or against the matched active control, which is why the combined trials are described as failing to replicate earlier findings.", "uid": "slr2mvmzbxvz" }, { "id": "mm-l08-tf-double-blind-impossible", "shape": "trueFalse", "tags": [ "research-methods", "trials" ], "source": { "label": "Davidson and Kaszniak, American Psychologist β€” Conceptual and methodological issues in research on mindfulness and meditation", "url": "https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC4627495/" }, "statement": "A 2015 paper noted that double-blind placebo designs are impossible for meditation and that waitlist controls are free of differential demand characteristics.", "isTrue": false, "why": "The paper by Davidson and Kaszniak says waitlist controls are likely to carry differential demand characteristics, which are cues in an experiment that may influence or bias participants' behavior. Only the double-blind point is right.", "uid": "1mgg6q37wc7md" }, { "id": "mm-l08-tf-programs-beat-active", "shape": "trueFalse", "tags": [ "trials", "evidence-strength" ], "source": { "label": "Goyal et al., JAMA Internal Medicine β€” Meditation Programs for Psychological Stress and Well-being", "url": "https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC4142584/" }, "statement": "A 2014 review of 47 randomized controlled trials found no evidence that meditation programs beat any active treatment.", "isTrue": true, "why": "Its comparison trials averaged 37 people per group, and none seemed powered to show equivalence, meaning large enough to show that programs and active treatments worked about equally well.", "uid": "p334he1vd9qsa" }, { "id": "ot-mm-l08-research-too-optimistic", "shape": "mcq", "tags": [ "evidence-strength", "research-methods" ], "prompt": { "modality": "text", "value": "As of its June 2022 update, how does NCCIH describe much of the research on the health benefits of meditation and mindfulness?" }, "options": [ { "modality": "text", "value": "Preliminary, and maybe read too optimistically" }, { "modality": "text", "value": "Preliminary, and maybe read too cautiously" }, { "modality": "text", "value": "Rigorous, and maybe read too optimistically" }, { "modality": "text", "value": "Rigorous, and maybe read too cautiously" } ], "correctIndex": 0, "explanation": "NCCIH says much of this research has been preliminary (early-stage) or not scientifically rigorous, and may have been interpreted too optimistically, not too cautiously.", "source": { "label": "NCCIH β€” Meditation and Mindfulness: Effectiveness and Safety", "url": "https://www.nccih.nih.gov/health/meditation-and-mindfulness-effectiveness-and-safety" }, "uid": "r8hgi1f8p3y0" }, { "id": "mm-l08-f-adverse-figures-differ", "shape": "fact", "tags": [ "adverse-effects", "evidence-strength" ], "source": { "label": "Farias et al., Acta Psychiatrica Scandinavica β€” Adverse events in meditation practices and meditation-based therapies: a systematic review", "url": "https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/32820538/" }, "title": "Why Adverse-Effect Figures Differ", "body": "How often **adverse effects** of meditation are reported depends on how a study defines them, so published figures differ widely. A 2020 systematic review of 83 studies (6,703 participants) found 55 reporting at least one adverse event, with a pooled prevalence of 8.3 percent, from 3.7 percent in experimental to 33.2 percent in observational studies. Anxiety, depression and cognitive anomalies were the most common, and could occur without a mental-health history. As of June 2022, NCCIH describes the roughly 8 percent figure from that review as similar to the rate for psychological therapies.", "uid": "14absswacvuou" }, { "id": "mm-l08-f-who-was-studied", "shape": "fact", "tags": [ "adverse-effects", "safety" ], "source": { "label": "Lindahl et al., PLOS ONE β€” The varieties of contemplative experience: A mixed-methods study of meditation-related challenges in Western Buddhists", "url": "https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC5443484/" }, "title": "Who Was Studied, What Was Assessed", "body": "A 2017 study interviewed 60 Western Buddhist practitioners and 32 experts, selected for having challenging experiences, so it gives **no prevalence**: it describes a range of experiences, not how common they are. In 2018, Van Dam and colleagues said fewer than 25 percent of meditation trials actively assess adverse events. They also said more than 20 case reports or observational studies, often without a control group, describe experiences serious or distressing enough to warrant further treatment or medical attention.", "uid": "1o3p3pwnfvgh4" }, { "id": "mm-l08-f-guidance-qualified-help", "shape": "fact", "tags": [ "safety", "adverse-effects" ], "source": { "label": "Van Dam et al., Perspectives on Psychological Science β€” Mind the Hype", "url": "https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC5758421/" }, "title": "Guidance and Qualified Help", "body": "A 2018 paper said MBCT implementation resources listed flashbacks among the risks for people with trauma histories, that UMass and Oxford had published **exclusion criteria** including current suicidality, and that management had been largely limited to exclusion and informed consent. As of 24 October 2026, a Brown University lab's meditation safety toolbox collects guidelines from several centers on informed consent, screening, monitoring and management. NCCIH's tips (June 2022) say not to use meditation to replace conventional care or to postpone seeing a provider about a medical problem.", "illustration": { "imagePrompt": "A person in conversation with a counselor in a quiet, softly lit office. No readable text, brands or logos.", "imageSearchTerm": "talking with a counselor", "alt": "A person talking with a counselor in a quiet office", "kind": "photo", "credit": "Pexels Β· Vitaly Gariev Β· Pexels License", "creditUrl": "https://www.pexels.com/photo/professional-counseling-session-in-modern-office-36729385/", "subject": "A therapist with glasses, a white blazer and a notepad, seated on a pale blue sofa and listening to a client in a plaid shirt who faces away from the camera, in a white-brick room with a plant and window light.", "url": "https://cdn.recurxive.com/packs/mindfulness-meditation/images/mm-l08-f-guidance-qualified-help.05254375.webp" }, "uid": "1s9zlyh12vi11" }, { "id": "mm-l08-q-figures-depend-on", "shape": "mcq", "tags": [ "adverse-effects", "research-methods" ], "source": { "label": "Britton et al., Clinical Psychological Science β€” Defining and measuring meditation-related adverse effects in mindfulness-based programs", "url": "https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC8845498/" }, "prompt": { "modality": "text", "value": "Published figures for how often adverse effects of meditation are reported differ widely. What do those frequencies depend on?" }, "options": [ { "modality": "text", "value": "How long people had practiced" }, { "modality": "text", "value": "Which tradition was practiced" }, { "modality": "text", "value": "How many people left the study" }, { "modality": "text", "value": "How each study defines them" } ], "correctIndex": 3, "explanation": "How often adverse effects are reported depends on how a study defines them, which is why published figures differ widely. Practice length, tradition and dropout are not named as the reason.", "uid": "634r7c1iqgtgk" }, { "id": "mm-l08-q-risk-management-limited", "shape": "mcq", "tags": [ "safety", "mbct" ], "source": { "label": "Van Dam et al., Perspectives on Psychological Science β€” Mind the Hype", "url": "https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC5758421/" }, "prompt": { "modality": "text", "value": "A 2018 paper said management of risks such as flashbacks for people with trauma histories had been largely limited to what?" }, "options": [ { "modality": "text", "value": "Exclusion and informed consent" }, { "modality": "text", "value": "Ongoing monitoring and therapy" }, { "modality": "text", "value": "Referral to a doctor afterward" }, { "modality": "text", "value": "Shorter sessions and rest breaks" } ], "correctIndex": 0, "explanation": "The paper described management as largely limited to exclusion, such as published criteria that include current suicidality, and informed consent. That leaves ongoing monitoring and therapy out as the usual approach.", "uid": "1ul46su1kasdlu" }, { "id": "mm-l08-q-gathered-guidelines", "shape": "mcq", "tags": [ "safety", "teachers" ], "source": { "label": "Clinical and Affective Neuroscience Laboratory, Brown University β€” Meditation Safety Toolbox", "url": "https://sites.brown.edu/britton/resources/meditation-safety-toolbox/" }, "prompt": { "modality": "text", "value": "As its page read on 24 October 2026, which resource gathered guidelines from several mindfulness centers?" }, "options": [ { "modality": "text", "value": "NCCIH's page of meditation safety tips" }, { "modality": "text", "value": "A systematic review of adverse events" }, { "modality": "text", "value": "A Brown University lab's toolbox" }, { "modality": "text", "value": "A trial comparing MBSR with a waitlist" } ], "correctIndex": 2, "explanation": "The Brown lab's toolbox collects documents, protocols and best-practice guidelines from the UMass Center for Mindfulness, the Bangor and Oxford mindfulness centers and other researchers. The other options are a page of tips, a research review and a trial, not a collection of guidelines.", "uid": "wsc605q5m72r" }, { "id": "mm-l08-tf-selected-sample-prevalence", "shape": "trueFalse", "tags": [ "adverse-effects", "evidence-strength" ], "source": { "label": "Lindahl et al., PLOS ONE β€” The varieties of contemplative experience: A mixed-methods study of meditation-related challenges in Western Buddhists", "url": "https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC5443484/" }, "statement": "A 2017 interview study of 60 Western Buddhist practitioners and 32 experts, selected for having challenging experiences, shows how common such experiences are.", "isTrue": false, "why": "Because participants were selected for having challenging experiences, the study gives no prevalence: it describes a range of experiences, not how common they are.", "uid": "bhyvxl12yyjkd" }, { "id": "mm-l08-tf-nccih-tips-care", "shape": "trueFalse", "tags": [ "safety" ], "source": { "label": "NCCIH β€” Meditation and Mindfulness: Effectiveness and Safety", "url": "https://www.nccih.nih.gov/health/meditation-and-mindfulness-effectiveness-and-safety" }, "statement": "NCCIH's tips, last updated June 2022, say not to use meditation to replace conventional care or to postpone seeing a provider about a medical problem.", "isTrue": true, "why": "These are NCCIH's own tips as last updated in June 2022: meditation is not a replacement for conventional care or a reason to delay seeing a provider.", "uid": "pmnohd1h7nfnt" }, { "id": "mm-l08-f-mcmindfulness-critique", "shape": "fact", "tags": [ "critiques", "workplace" ], "source": { "label": "Ron Purser and David Loy β€” Beyond McMindfulness", "url": "https://www.huffpost.com/entry/beyond-mcmindfulness_b_3519289" }, "title": "The McMindfulness Critique", "body": "A 2013 essay, Beyond McMindfulness, by Purser and Loy described mindfulness reduced to a stripped-down, secularized technique detached from its ethical context. They argued that corporate programs shift the burden of stress onto individual employees, and they distinguished right from wrong mindfulness in the Buddhist tradition. They also wrote that no empirical studies then supported claims that mindfulness training could reform dysfunctional companies. The critique is named for **McMindfulness**, a critical label for a compartmentalized, secularized, watered-down version of mindfulness.", "illustration": { "imagePrompt": "Archive portrait photograph of Ronald Purser, the management professor and Buddhist teacher. No readable text, brands or logos.", "imageSearchTerm": "Ronald Purser", "alt": "Ronald Purser, co-author of the 2013 essay Beyond McMindfulness", "kind": "photo", "subjectType": "person" }, "uid": "hfrvs51taq5p" }, { "id": "mm-l08-f-defenses-of-mindfulness", "shape": "fact", "tags": [ "critiques", "mbsr" ], "source": { "label": "Jon Kabat-Zinn, Mindfulness β€” Too Early to Tell", "url": "https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC5605584/" }, "illustration": { "imagePrompt": "A portrait photograph of Jon Kabat-Zinn, founder of mindfulness-based stress reduction, speaking at a public event.", "imageSearchTerm": "Jon Kabat-Zinn speaking portrait", "alt": "Jon Kabat-Zinn speaking", "kind": "photo", "subjectType": "person", "credit": "ExperienceLifeMag Β· CC BY 3.0", "creditUrl": "https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Jon_Kabat-Zinn_(2018).png", "subject": "Close-up portrait of an older man with swept-back gray hair and rimless glasses, smiling, in a dark crew-neck top, with blurred green foliage behind him.", "url": "https://cdn.recurxive.com/packs/mindfulness-meditation/images/mm-l08-f-defenses-of-mindfulness.webp" }, "title": "Two Defenses of Mindfulness", "body": "In 2017 Kabat-Zinn wrote, without naming McMindfulness, that mainstreaming mindfulness has always been anchored in the Buddha's ethical framework, though MBSR does not and should not teach it explicitly in clinics. Granting that critics may object that MBSR does not teach right mindfulness, he said it aims to teach wise or **right mindfulness** and was never meant as a vehicle for teaching Buddhism, openly or in stealth form. Writing as a Buddhist in 2019, Amod Lele agreed that revolution rhetoric about mindfulness is overblown but argued Purser unwittingly faults it for being too Buddhist.", "uid": "xbbjvb167a4t7" }, { "id": "mm-l08-p-purser-loy-burden", "shape": "pair", "tags": [ "critiques", "workplace" ], "source": { "label": "Ron Purser and David Loy β€” Beyond McMindfulness", "url": "https://www.huffpost.com/entry/beyond-mcmindfulness_b_3519289" }, "sideA": { "modality": "text", "value": "Purser and Loy (2013)" }, "sideB": { "modality": "text", "value": "Programs shift the burden of stress onto individual employees", "short": "Shift the burden of stress onto employees" }, "uid": "1hih88yri4ioa" }, { "id": "mm-l08-q-ethics-framework-author", "shape": "mcq", "tags": [ "critiques", "mbsr" ], "source": { "label": "Jon Kabat-Zinn, Mindfulness β€” Too Early to Tell", "url": "https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC5605584/" }, "prompt": { "modality": "text", "value": "Who wrote in 2017 that mainstreaming mindfulness has always been anchored in the ethical framework of the Buddha's teaching, though MBSR does not and should not teach it explicitly in clinics?" }, "options": [ { "modality": "text", "value": "Ronald Purser" }, { "modality": "text", "value": "Jon Kabat-Zinn" }, { "modality": "text", "value": "Thich Nhat Hanh" }, { "modality": "text", "value": "Amod Lele" } ], "correctIndex": 1, "explanation": "A 2017 paper by Kabat-Zinn makes this point. Purser is the critic and Lele answered him; neither wrote it.", "uid": "ea0ey119cj0l" }, { "id": "mm-l08-q-unwittingly-faults", "shape": "mcq", "tags": [ "critiques", "traditions" ], "source": { "label": "Amod Lele, Tricycle β€” In Defense of McMindfulness", "url": "https://tricycle.org/article/mcmindfulness-and-engaged-buddhism/" }, "prompt": { "modality": "text", "value": "In a 2019 reply, a writer argued that a critic of mindfulness unwittingly faults it for being what?" }, "options": [ { "modality": "text", "value": "Too commercial" }, { "modality": "text", "value": "Too secular" }, { "modality": "text", "value": "Too individualistic" }, { "modality": "text", "value": "Too Buddhist" } ], "correctIndex": 3, "explanation": "The writer, Amod Lele, argued that the critic unwittingly faults mindfulness for being too Buddhist. Too secular, too commercial and too individualistic are faults the critique names openly.", "uid": "wqewi813ydz6s" }, { "id": "mm-l08-tf-never-a-vehicle", "shape": "trueFalse", "tags": [ "critiques", "mbsr" ], "source": { "label": "Jon Kabat-Zinn, Mindfulness β€” Too Early to Tell", "url": "https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC5605584/" }, "statement": "Kabat-Zinn wrote in 2017 that MBSR was never meant as a vehicle for teaching Buddhism, whether openly or in stealth form.", "isTrue": true, "why": "That is what his 2017 paper says. It acknowledges that critics may object that what MBSR teaches is not right mindfulness.", "uid": "n5lsj2bl4hhw" }, { "id": "mm-l08-tf-empirical-studies-reform", "shape": "trueFalse", "tags": [ "critiques", "workplace" ], "source": { "label": "Ron Purser and David Loy β€” Beyond McMindfulness", "url": "https://www.huffpost.com/entry/beyond-mcmindfulness_b_3519289" }, "statement": "The 2013 essay Beyond McMindfulness said that empirical studies already showed mindfulness training could reform dysfunctional companies.", "isTrue": false, "why": "The essay said the opposite: no empirical studies then supported claims that mindfulness training could reform dysfunctional companies.", "uid": "wceuzv1jtkyjj" }, { "id": "ot-mm-l08-right-from-wrong", "shape": "mcq", "tags": [ "critiques", "traditions" ], "prompt": { "modality": "text", "value": "Within the Buddhist tradition, the 2013 essay Beyond McMindfulness distinguished which pair?" }, "options": [ { "modality": "text", "value": "Formal and informal mindfulness" }, { "modality": "text", "value": "State and trait mindfulness" }, { "modality": "text", "value": "Right and wrong mindfulness" }, { "modality": "text", "value": "Focused and open mindfulness" } ], "correctIndex": 2, "explanation": "The essay distinguished right from wrong mindfulness in the Buddhist tradition. Formal and informal practice, state and trait mindfulness, and focused and open attention are other distinctions, not the one it drew.", "source": { "label": "Ron Purser and David Loy β€” Beyond McMindfulness", "url": "https://www.huffpost.com/entry/beyond-mcmindfulness_b_3519289" }, "uid": "1wdwekm1b1isia" }, { "id": "ot-mm-l08-wise-right-mindfulness", "shape": "mcq", "tags": [ "critiques", "mbsr" ], "prompt": { "modality": "text", "value": "A 2017 paper acknowledged that critics may object to what MBSR teaches. What did it say MBSR aims to teach?" }, "options": [ { "modality": "text", "value": "Basic concentration training" }, { "modality": "text", "value": "Secular or watered-down Buddhism" }, { "modality": "text", "value": "Deep relaxation techniques" }, { "modality": "text", "value": "Wise or right mindfulness" } ], "correctIndex": 3, "explanation": "The paper said MBSR aims to teach wise or right mindfulness. It also said MBSR was never meant as a vehicle for teaching Buddhism, so a secular or watered-down Buddhism is not what it claimed.", "source": { "label": "Jon Kabat-Zinn, Mindfulness β€” Too Early to Tell", "url": "https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC5605584/" }, "uid": "108x7zrqk4g4p" }, { "id": "ot-mm-l08-revolution-rhetoric", "shape": "mcq", "tags": [ "critiques", "traditions" ], "prompt": { "modality": "text", "value": "In 2019 a Buddhist writer agreed that something is overblown. What?" }, "options": [ { "modality": "text", "value": "Corporate demand for mindfulness" }, { "modality": "text", "value": "Revolution rhetoric about mindfulness" }, { "modality": "text", "value": "Teacher certification for mindfulness" }, { "modality": "text", "value": "Hospital use of mindfulness" } ], "correctIndex": 1, "explanation": "The writer agreed that revolution rhetoric about mindfulness is overblown. The other options are not things he is reported to call overblown.", "source": { "label": "Amod Lele, Tricycle β€” In Defense of McMindfulness", "url": "https://tricycle.org/article/mcmindfulness-and-engaged-buddhism/" }, "uid": "wq08zz10qbjpp" } ] }