Improve Doctors’ Empathy and Communication Skills with Loving-Kindness Meditation By John M. de Castro, Ph.D. “Medicine and meditation, etymologically, come from the same root: to consider, advise, reflect, to take appropriate measures,” – Ronald Epstein Stress is epidemic in the western workplace with almost two thirds of workers reporting high levels of […]
Brief Guided Meditations Improve Empathy By John M. de Castro, Ph.D. “Empathy is the understanding and sharing of someone else’s feelings. It’s not to be confused with compassion, which is a feeling of concern for others that we feel we need to act on. Empathy goes that step further; by putting yourself in the place […]
Improve Empathy, Compassion, and Prosocial Behaviors with Meditation By John M. de Castro, Ph.D. “From the philosophical and religious traditions from which mindfulness comes, it’s been long understood that practicing meditation, and cultivating mindfulness, in particular, can conduce to virtuous action.” – Daniel Berry Humans are social animals. This is a great […]
By John M. de Castro, Ph.D. In today’s Research News article “Loving-Kindness Meditation: Systematic Review of Neuroimaging Correlates in Long-Term Practitioners and Clinical Implications.” (See summary below or view the full text of the study at: https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC11870839/ ) Bashir and colleagues review and summarize the published research studies on changes in the brain resulting […]
Focused and Self-Compassion Meditation Have Different Effects on Attention, Well-Being and Classroom Performance By John M. de Castro, Ph.D. “There is no good or bad meditation — there is simply awareness or non-awareness. To begin with, we get distracted a lot. Over time, we get distracted less. Be gentle with your approach, be patient […]
Improve Empathy with Attention-Related Facets of Mindfulness By John M. de Castro, Ph.D. “mindfulness increases empathy and compassion for others and for oneself.” – Shauna Shapiro Humans are social animals. This is a great asset for the species as the effort of the individual is amplified by cooperation. In primitive times, this cooperation was […]
Meditation Experience is Associated with Increased Concern for and Impact on the Environment By John M. de Castro, Ph.D. “Mindfulness . . . promotes environmental sustainability. It helps individuals disengage from automatic thoughts and become more open to behavioral change and freedom to make different choices. Examples of mindful behaviors include bringing a […]
Meditation Strengthens Brain Attentional Networks By John M. de Castro, Ph.D. “meditation practice appears to positively impact attentional functions by improving resource allocation processes. As a result, attentional resources are allocated more fully during early processing phases which subsequently enhance further processing.” – Peter Malinowski The nervous system is a dynamic entity, […]
Mindfulness is Associated with Higher Levels of Empathy By John M. de Castro, Ph.D. “mindfulness is a practice of self–empathy. This kind of self-awareness allows us to develop empathic connections to others. As we experience the landscape of our inner life with more detail and richness, our ability to understand the inner lives of others […]
Increase Well-Being and Spirituality with Loving Kindness Meditation By John M. de Castro, Ph.D. “Loving-kindness refers to a state of unconditional kindness and compassion for all beings. . . Some studies suggest you can boost your empathy and feelings of connection and reduce your implicit bias, anger, depression and anxiety.” – Heart.org Meditation training […]