Mapping modalities of self-awareness in mindfulness practice: a potential mechanism for clarifying habits of mind

To better understand the neurobiological mechanisms by which mindfulness‐based practices function in a psychotherapeutic context, this article details the definition, techniques, and purposes ascribed to mindfulness training as described by its Buddhist tradition of origin and by contemporary neuroc...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences 2014-01, Vol.1307 (1), p.28-42
Main Author: Vago, David R.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Attention
Awareness
bias
Buddhism
Cognition
Flexibility
habit
Habits
Humans
Learning
Marking
Mathematical models
meditation
Meditation - methods
Mind-Body Relations, Metaphysical
Mindfulness
Models, Neurological
Monitoring
Origins
self
Stress, Psychological
Switches
Time measurements
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Summary:To better understand the neurobiological mechanisms by which mindfulness‐based practices function in a psychotherapeutic context, this article details the definition, techniques, and purposes ascribed to mindfulness training as described by its Buddhist tradition of origin and by contemporary neurocognitive models. Included is theory of how maladaptive mental processes become habitual and automatic, both from the Buddhist and Western psychological perspective. Specific noting and labeling techniques in open monitoring meditation, described in the Theravada and Western contemporary traditions, are highlighted as providing unique access to multiple modalities of awareness. Potential explicit and implicit mechanisms are discussed by which such techniques can contribute to transforming maladaptive habits of mind and perceptual and cognitive biases, improving efficiency, facilitating integration, and providing the flexibility to switch between systems of self‐processing. Finally, a model is provided to describe the timing by which noting and labeling practices have the potential to influence different stages of low‐ and high‐level neural processing. Hypotheses are proposed concerning both levels of processing in relation to the extent of practice. Implications for the nature of subjective experience and self‐processing as it relates to one's habits of mind, behavior, and relation to the external world, are also described.
ISSN:0077-8923
1749-6632
DOI:10.1111/nyas.12270