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Author : Sucharit Katyal
Publisher : Frontiers Media SA
ISBN 13 : 2832529003
Total Pages : 226 pages
Book Rating : 4.8/5 (325 download)
Download or read book The varieties of contemplative experiences and practices written by Sucharit Katyal and published by Frontiers Media SA. This book was released on 2023-07-05 with total page 226 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Author : Thomas G. Plante Ph.D.
Publisher : Bloomsbury Publishing USA
ISBN 13 : 0313382573
Total Pages : 273 pages
Book Rating : 4.3/5 (133 download)
Download or read book Contemplative Practices in Action written by Thomas G. Plante Ph.D. and published by Bloomsbury Publishing USA. This book was released on 2010-07-15 with total page 273 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This groundbreaking primer illuminates contemplative methods that can improve mental and physical health. Contemplative practices, from meditation to Zen, are growing in popularity as methods to inspire physical and mental health. Contemplative Practices in Action: Spirituality, Meditation, and Health offers readers an introduction to these practices and the ways they can be used in the service of well being, wisdom, healing, and stress reduction. Bringing together various traditions from the East and West, this thought-provoking work summarizes the history of each practice, highlights classic and emerging research proving its power, and details how each practice is performed. Expert authors offer step-by-step approaches to practice methods including the 8-Point Program of Passage Meditation, Centering Prayer, mindful stress management, mantram meditation, energizing meditation, yoga, and Zen. Beneficial practices from Christian, Buddhist, Jewish, Hindu, and Islamic religions are also featured. Vignettes illustrate each of the practices, while the contributors explain how and why they are effective in facing challenges as varied as the loss of a partner or child, job loss, chronic pain or disease, or psychological disorders.
Author : Zoran Josipovic
Publisher : Frontiers Media SA
ISBN 13 : 2889199711
Total Pages : 168 pages
Book Rating : 4.8/5 (891 download)
Download or read book What Can Neuroscience Learn from Contemplative Practices? written by Zoran Josipovic and published by Frontiers Media SA. This book was released on 2016-09-22 with total page 168 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A recent wave of brain research has advanced our understanding of the neural mechanisms of conscious states, contents and functions. A host of questions remain to be explored, as shown by lively debates between models of higher vs. lower-order aspects of consciousness, as well as global vs. local models. (Baars 2007; Block, 2009; Dennett and Cohen, 2011; Lau and Rosenthal, 2011). Over some twenty-five centuries the contemplative traditions have also developed explicit descriptions and taxonomies of the mind, to interpret experiences that are often reported in contemplative practices (Radhakrishnan & Moore, 1967; Rinbochay & Naper, 1981). These traditional descriptions sometimes converge on current scientific debates, such as the question of conceptual vs. non-conceptual consciousness; reflexivity or “self-knowing” associated with consciousness; the sense of self and consciousness; and aspects of consciousness that are said to continue during sleep. These real or claimed aspects of consciousness have not been fully integrated into scientific models so far. This Research Topic in Consciousness Research aims to provide a forum for theoretical proposals, new empirical findings, integrative literature reviews, and methodological improvements inspired by meditation-based models. We include a broad array of topics, including but not limited to: replicable findings from a variety of systematic mental practices; changes in brain functioning and organization that can be attributed to such practices; their effects on adaptation and neural plasticity; measurable effects on perception, cognition, affect and self-referential processes. We include contributions that address the question of causal attribution. Many published studies are correlational in nature, because of the inherent difficulty of conducting longitudinal experiments based on a major lifestyle decision, such as the decision to commit to a mental practice over a period of years. We also feature clinical and case studies, integrative syntheses and significant opinion articles.
Author : Louis Komjathy
Publisher : John Wiley & Sons
ISBN 13 : 1119156726
Total Pages : 432 pages
Book Rating : 4.1/5 (191 download)
Download or read book Introducing Contemplative Studies written by Louis Komjathy and published by John Wiley & Sons. This book was released on 2017-11-08 with total page 432 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The first book-length introduction to an exciting new interdisciplinary field—written by an internationally recognized leader of the Contemplative Studies movement This is the first book-length introduction to a growing and influential interdisciplinary field focused on contemplative practice, contemplative experience, and contemplative pedagogy. Written by an internationally recognized leader in the area, Introducing Contemplative Studies seeks to provide readers with a deep and practical understanding of the nature and purpose of the field while encouraging them to find a place of their own in an increasingly widespread movement. At once comprehensive overview, critical reflection, and visionary proposal, the book explores the central approaches and issues in Contemplative Studies, tackles questions and problems that sometimes go unaddressed, and identifies promising new developments. The author also discusses contemplative pedagogy, an experiential approach to teaching and learning informed by and expressed as contemplative practice. This is a major introduction to a fast emerging interdisciplinary field that will be invaluable to those interested in the area. The only comprehensive introduction to the emerging, interdisciplinary field of Contemplative Studies Written by a distinguished leader in the Contemplative Studies movement who is founding Co-Chair of the Contemplative Studies Group of the American Academy of Religion Informed by ten years of research and practice, the book explores the field’s varied approaches and expressions Offers critical reviews of trends which will create discussions both within and outside the Contemplative Studies Liberally illustrated with both images and charts Introducing Contemplative Studies is a must-read for advanced undergraduates, graduate students, teachers and scholars in Contemplative Studies, as well as anyone who is curious about contemplative practice, meditation, contemplative experience, contemplative pedagogy, contemplative science, and, of course, the exciting field of Contemplative Studies generally.
Author : Daniel P. Barbezat
Publisher : John Wiley & Sons
ISBN 13 : 1118646924
Total Pages : 256 pages
Book Rating : 4.1/5 (186 download)
Download or read book Contemplative Practices in Higher Education written by Daniel P. Barbezat and published by John Wiley & Sons. This book was released on 2013-10-30 with total page 256 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Contemplative pedagogy is a way for instructors to: empower students to integrate their own experience into thetheoretical material they are being taught in order to deepen theirunderstanding; help students to develop sophisticated problem-solvingskills; support students’ sense of connection to and compassionfor others; and engender inquiries into students’ most profoundquestions. Contemplative practices are used in just about everydiscipline—from physics to economics to history—and arefound in every type of institution. Each year more and morefaculty, education reformers, and leaders of teaching and learningcenters seek out best practices in contemplative teaching, and nowcan find them here, brought to you by two of the foremost leadersand innovators on the subject. This book presents background information and ideas for thepractical application of contemplative practices across theacademic curriculum from the physical sciences to the humanitiesand arts. Examples of contemplative techniques included in the bookare mindfulness, meditation, yoga, deep listening, contemplativereading and writing, and pilgrimage, including site visits andfield trips.
Author : Judith Simmer-Brown
Publisher : State University of New York Press
ISBN 13 : 1438437897
Total Pages : 315 pages
Book Rating : 4.4/5 (384 download)
Download or read book Meditation and the Classroom written by Judith Simmer-Brown and published by State University of New York Press. This book was released on 2011-08-01 with total page 315 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Meditation and the Classroom inventively articulates how educators can use meditation to educate the whole student. Notably, a number of universities have initiated contemplative studies options and others have opened contemplative spaces. This represents an attempt to address the inner life. It is also a sign of a new era, one in which the United States is more spiritually diverse than ever before. Examples from university classrooms and statements by students indicate benefits include increased self-awareness, creativity, and compassion. The religious studies scholars who have contributed to this book often teach about meditation, but here they include reflections on how meditation has affected them and their teaching. Until recently, though, even many religious studies professors would find sharing meditation experiences, let alone teaching meditation techniques, a breach of disciplinary and academic protocols. The value of teaching meditation and teaching about meditation is discussed. Ethical issues such as pluralism, respect, qualifications, power and coercion, and avoiding actual or perceived proselytization are also examined. While methods for religious studies are emphasized, the book provides valuable guidance for all those interested in this endeavor.
Author : Louis Komjathy
Publisher : SUNY Press
ISBN 13 : 1438457057
Total Pages : 850 pages
Book Rating : 4.4/5 (384 download)
Download or read book Contemplative Literature written by Louis Komjathy and published by SUNY Press. This book was released on 2015-08-31 with total page 850 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: An anthology of primary texts on meditation and contemplative prayer from a wide range of religious traditions. This is the first theoretically informed and historically accurate comparative anthology of primary texts on meditation and contemplative prayer. Written by international experts on the respective texts and corresponding traditions, Contemplative Literature provides introductions to and primary sources on contemplative practice from various religious traditions. The contributors explore classical Daoist apophatic meditation, Quaker silent prayer, Jewish Kabbalah, Southern Buddhist meditation, Sufi contemplation, Eastern Orthodox prayer, Pure Land Buddhist visualization, Hindu classical Yoga, Dominican Catholic prayer, Daoist internal alchemy, and modern therapeutic meditation. Each introduction to a contemplative text discusses its historical context, the associated religious tradition and literature, the method of contemplative practice, and the texts legacy and influence. Volume editor Louis Komjathy opens the work with a thoughtful consideration of interpretive issues in the emerging interdisciplinary field of contemplative studies. Readers will gain not only a nuanced understanding of important works of contemplative literature, but also resources for understanding contemplative practice and contemplative experience from a comparative and cross-cultural perspective. We have not seen anything this bold and this global since Friedrich Heiler wrote his classic study on the typology of prayer over eighty years ago. Komjathy and his essayists have vastly expanded the scope, depth, and sophistication of this project here. In the process, they have struggled with all of the critical questions around religious pluralism, tradition, and religious authority, and have emboldened the comparative project itself. Contemplation and comparison, it turns out, go very well together. Jeffrey J. Kripal, author of Comparing Religions: Coming to Terms Teachers and scholars, undergraduate and graduate students, and general readers interested in contemplative practice will cherish a book like this. Im happy that Louis Komjathy has done this great work. It will undoubtedly be hailed as a milestone. Ruben L. F. Habito, author of Healing Breath: Zen for Christians and Buddhists in a Wounded World
Author : Padmasiri de Silva
Publisher : Springer
ISBN 13 : 331955929X
Total Pages : 144 pages
Book Rating : 4.3/5 (195 download)
Download or read book Emotions and The Body in Buddhist Contemplative Practice and Mindfulness-Based Therapy written by Padmasiri de Silva and published by Springer. This book was released on 2017-06-30 with total page 144 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book represents an outstanding contribution to the field of somatic psychology. It focuses on the relationship between body and emotions, and on the linkages between mindfulness-based emotion studies and neuroscience. The author discusses the awakening of somatic intelligence as a journey through pain and trauma management, the moral dimensions of somatic passions, and the art and practice of embodied mindfulness. Issues such as the emotions and the body in relation to Buddhist contemplative practice, against the background of the most recent findings of current neuroscience, are expanded in the book. A broad review of the Darwinian-Jamesian heritage on emotion studies is a unique contribution to the tradition of the somatogenic strands of emotions, and provides a contrasting focus to the ideogenic emotions in Sigmund Freud. This work provides an invaluable resource for students of psychology and philosophy, psychotherapists and meditation teachers, students, and for anyone with an interest in the field of somatic psychology.
Author : Miguel Farias
Publisher : Oxford University Press
ISBN 13 : 0192536370
Total Pages : 800 pages
Book Rating : 4.1/5 (925 download)
Download or read book The Oxford Handbook of Meditation written by Miguel Farias and published by Oxford University Press. This book was released on 2021-10-21 with total page 800 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Meditation techniques, including mindfulness, have become popular wellbeing practices and the scientific study of their effects has recently turned 50 years old. But how much do we know about them: what were they developed for and by whom? How similar or different are they, how effective can they be in changing our minds and biology, what are their social and ethical implications? The Oxford Handbook of Meditation is the most comprehensive volume published on meditation, written in accessible language by world-leading experts on the science and history of these techniques. It covers the development of meditation across the world and the varieties of its practices and experiences. It includes approaches from various disciplines, including psychology, neuroscience, history, anthropology, and sociology and it explores its potential for therapeutic and social change, as well as unusual or negative effects. Edited by practitioner-researchers, this book is the ultimate guide for all interested in meditation, including teachers, clinicians, therapists, researchers, or anyone who would like to learn more about this topic.
Author : Paul K. Moser
Publisher : Cambridge University Press
ISBN 13 : 1108626734
Total Pages : 355 pages
Book Rating : 4.1/5 (86 download)
Download or read book The Cambridge Companion to Religious Experience written by Paul K. Moser and published by Cambridge University Press. This book was released on 2020-07-16 with total page 355 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: For centuries, theologians and philosophers, among others, have examined the nature of religious experience. Students and scholars unfamiliar with the vast literature face a daunting task in grasping the main issues surrounding the topic of religious experience. The Cambridge Companion to Religious Experience offers an original introduction to its topic. Going beyond an introduction, it is a state-of-the-art overview of the topic, with critical analyses of and creative insights into its subject. Religious experience is discussed from various interdisciplinary perspectives, from religious perspectives inside and outside traditional monotheistic religions, and from various topical perspectives. Written by leading scholars in clear and accessible prose, this book is an ideal resource for undergraduate and graduate students, teachers, and scholars across many disciplines.
Author : Olen Gunnlaugson
Publisher : State University of New York Press
ISBN 13 : 1438452411
Total Pages : 426 pages
Book Rating : 4.4/5 (384 download)
Download or read book Contemplative Learning and Inquiry across Disciplines written by Olen Gunnlaugson and published by State University of New York Press. This book was released on 2014-07-16 with total page 426 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A wide-ranging consideration of the emerging field of contemplative education. Contemplative approaches to higher education have been gaining in popularity and application across a wide range of disciplines. Spurring conferences, a growing body of literature, and several academic programs or centers, these approaches promise to contribute significantly to higher education in the years to come. This volume provides an overview of the current landscape of contemplative instruction, pedagogy, philosophy, and curriculum from the perspectives of leading researchers and scholar-practitioners. Contributors come from a variety of disciplines, including education, management and leadership studies, humanities, social sciences, the arts, and information science. Drawing on diverse contexts, the essays reveal the applicability of contemplative studies as a watershed field, capable of informing, enriching, and sustaining the many disciplines and instructional contexts that comprise higher education. Chapters discuss the theoretical aspects of the field; the details, experiences, and challenges of contemplative approaches; and the hopes and concerns for the future of this field. Olen Gunnlaugson is Assistant Professor of Leadership and Organizational Development at Université Laval, Canada, and the coeditor (with Sean Esbjörn-Hargens and Jonathan Reams) of Integral Education: New Directions for Higher Learning, also published by SUNY Press. Edward W. Sarath is Professor of Music and Director of the Program in Creativity and Consciousness Studies at the University of Michigan and the author of Improvisation, Creativity, and Consciousness: Jazz as Integral Template for Music, Education, and Society, also published by SUNY Press. At Simon Fraser University, Canada, Charles Scott teaches Education and Heesoon Bai is Professor of Philosophy of Education. Bai is the coeditor (with Marcia McKenzie, Paul Hart, and Bob Jickling) of Fields of Green: Restorying Culture, Environment and Education.
Author : Rita D. Sherma
Publisher : Taylor & Francis
ISBN 13 : 1000195066
Total Pages : 215 pages
Book Rating : 4.0/5 (1 download)
Download or read book Contemplative Studies and Hinduism written by Rita D. Sherma and published by Taylor & Francis. This book was released on 2020-10-05 with total page 215 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book is one of the first wide-ranging academic surveys of the major types and categories of Hindu contemplative praxis. It explores diverse spiritual and religious practices within the Hindu traditions and Indic hermeneutical perspectives to understand the intricate culture of meditative communion and contemplation, devotion, spiritual formation, prayer, ritual, and worship. The volume extends and expands the conceptual reach of the fields of Contemplative Studies and Hindu Studies. The chapters in the volume cover themes in Hindu contemplative experience from various texts and traditions including classical Sāṃkhya and Patañjali Yoga, the Bhāgavata Purāṇa, the role of Sādhana in Advaita Vedānta, Śrīvidyā and the Śrīcakra, the body in Tantra, the semiotics and illocution of Gauḍīya Vaiṣṇava sādhana, mantra in Mīmāṃsā, Vaiṣṇava liturgy, as well as cross-cultural reflections and interreligious comparative contemplative praxis. The volume presents indigenous vocabulary and frameworks to examine categories and concerns particular to the Hindu contemplative traditions. It traces patterns that cut across Hindu traditions and systems and discusses contrasting methods of different theological/philosophical schools evincing a strong plurality in Hindu religious thought and practice. The volume provides intra-religious comparisons that reveal internal complexity, nuances, and a variety of contemplative states and transformative practices that exist under the rubric of Hindu practices of interiority and reflection. With key insights on forms and functions of the contemplative experience along with their theologies and philosophies, the volume suggests new hermeneutical directions that will advance the field of contemplative studies. This book will be useful to scholars and researchers of religious and theological studies, contemplative studies, Hindu studies, consciousness studies, yoga studies, Indian philosophy and religion, sociology of religion, philosophy of religion, comparative religion, and South Asian studies, as well as general readers interested in the topic.
Author : Lacie White
Publisher : Taylor & Francis
ISBN 13 : 1000578356
Total Pages : 154 pages
Book Rating : 4.0/5 (5 download)
Download or read book Palliative Care Nursing as Mindfulness written by Lacie White and published by Taylor & Francis. This book was released on 2022-05-25 with total page 154 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: As nurses, we hear about mindfulness all the time, but what does that actually mean in practice? In this book readers are invited into conversation to explore how mindfulness influences palliative care nurses’ approaches to caring for themselves and others through experiences of living-dying. Under the guise of stress reduction and self-care, the assumption often made is that mindfulness can smooth out difficult experiences. Instead, the objective of this inquiry is not to bypass the practice of caring in those spaces that are really hard, but to understand how nurses are working directly within them. Calling out from the shadows—and our bodies—the intensity of palliative care nursing practice arises. In this text, a dialogue unfolds of nurses caring in deeply meaningful practice environments while searching for ground that is perpetually shifting, uncertain, and fraught with suffering and strong emotion. Integrating literature across nursing, sociology, and contemplative scholarship, evocative stories from palliative care nurses lead in this conversation—their words in italics—showing how they are guided into action through connection with-in their bodies. At other times, stories show how nurses are taking pause and drawing on various somatic practices to unravel entanglements that touch on their own humanity. These stories also offer insight into how systemic forces, across educational and organizational institutions, are either enhancing or constraining the way nurses engage mindfulness as a relationally embodied ethic of care. This insightful volume is not a how-to guide, rather it is a timely resource exploring approaches for palliative care nurses to care for themselves and others with mindfulness and compassion. Those seeking nuanced perspectives, particularly in relation to embodying mindfulness through suffering and strong emotion, will be drawn to this text. Qualitative researchers studying emotionally sensitive topics may also find inspiration in the narrative, arts-based, and embodied methods that shape this inquiry.
Author : Johannes Bronkhorst
Publisher : Walter de Gruyter GmbH & Co KG
ISBN 13 : 3111374467
Total Pages : 229 pages
Book Rating : 4.1/5 (113 download)
Download or read book Extreme Religious Behaviours written by Johannes Bronkhorst and published by Walter de Gruyter GmbH & Co KG. This book was released on 2024-06-17 with total page 229 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Certain religious behaviours clearly reduce biological fitness. These behaviours include celibacy along with various forms of asceticism, and rituals that harm the performer. Such behaviours are found in widely different cultures. How is this possible? This book shows that these behaviours (as is religion in general) are by-products of features of the human mind whose evolutionary fitness is beyond doubt and explores those features. Which are those features? This book proposes a twofold answer. It draws attention to the layered nature of human consciousness, in which different manners of experience are superimposed on each other. This goes a long way toward accounting for the universal religious belief in some kind of transcendental world, a "higher" reality, different from "ordinary" reality. The layering of consciousness comes about in childhood and gains in prominence with the acquisition of a first language, which is the second feature highlighted in this book. Together, these features explain a variety of "normal" religious behaviours and beliefs, and account for the possibility of mystical experience. They also explain the occurrence of behaviours that do not augment evolutionary fitness.
Author : Purushottama Bilimoria
Publisher : Taylor & Francis
ISBN 13 : 1000918335
Total Pages : 180 pages
Book Rating : 4.0/5 (9 download)
Download or read book Contemplative Studies & Jainism written by Purushottama Bilimoria and published by Taylor & Francis. This book was released on 2023-08-01 with total page 180 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This volume is one of the first wide-ranging academic surveys of the major types and categories of Jain praxis. It covers a breadth of scholarly viewpoints that reflect both the variegation in terms of spiritual practices within the Jain traditions as well as the Jain hermeneutical perspectives, which are employed in understanding its rich diversity. The volume illustrates a complex and nuanced understanding of the multifaceted category of Jain religious thought and practice. It offers a rare intrareligious dialogue within Jain traditions and at the same time, significantly broadens and enriches the field of Contemplative Studies to include an ancient, ascetic, non-theistic tradition. Meditation, yoga, ritual, prayer are common to all Indic spiritual traditions. By investigating these diverse, yet overlapping, categories one might obtain a sophisticated understanding of religious traditions that originally emerged in South Asia. Essays in this book demonstrate how these forms of praxis in Jainism, and the philosophies that anchor those practices, are interrelated, and when brought into dialogue, help to foster new tools for understanding a complex and variegated tradition such as Jain Dharma. This book will be useful to scholars and researchers of religious and theological studies, contemplative studies, Jain studies, Hindu studies, consciousness studies, Yoga studies, Indian philosophy and religion, sociology of religion, philosophy of religion, comparative religion, and South Asian studies, as well as general readers interested in the topic.
Author : Kenneth Rose
Publisher : Bloomsbury Publishing
ISBN 13 : 147257169X
Total Pages : 224 pages
Book Rating : 4.4/5 (725 download)
Download or read book Yoga, Meditation, and Mysticism written by Kenneth Rose and published by Bloomsbury Publishing. This book was released on 2016-09-08 with total page 224 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Contemplative experience is central to Hindu yoga traditions, Buddhist meditation practices, and Catholic mystical theology, and, despite doctrinal differences, it expresses itself in suggestively similar meditative landmarks in each of these three meditative systems. In Yoga, Meditation and Mysticism, Kenneth Rose shifts the dominant focus of contemporary religious studies away from tradition-specific studies of individual religious traditions, communities, and practices to examine the 'contemplative universals' that arise globally in meditative experience. Through a comparative exploration of the itineraries detailed in the contemplative manuals of Theravada Buddhism, Patañjalian Yoga, and Catholic mystical theology, Rose identifies in each tradition a moment of sharply focused awareness that marks the threshold between immersion in mundane consciousness and contemplative insight. As concentration deepens, the meditator steps through this threshold onto a globally shared contemplative itinerary, which leads through a series of virtually identical stages to mental stillness and insight. Rose argues that these contemplative universals, familiar to experienced contemplatives in multiple traditions, point to a common spiritual, mental, and biological heritage. Pioneering the exploration of contemplative practice and experience with a comparative perspective that ranges over multiple religious traditions, religious studies, philosophy, neuroscience, and the cognitive science of religion, this book is a landmark contribution to the fields of contemplative practice and religious studies.
Author : Norman Farb
Publisher : Frontiers Media SA
ISBN 13 : 2889450945
Total Pages : 318 pages
Book Rating : 4.8/5 (894 download)
Download or read book Interoception, Contemplative Practice, and Health written by Norman Farb and published by Frontiers Media SA. This book was released on 2017-02-07 with total page 318 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: There is an emergent movement of scientists and scholars working on somatic awareness, interoception and embodiment. This work cuts across studies of neurophysiology, somatic anthropology, contemplative practice, and mind-body medicine. Key questions include: How is body awareness cultivated? What role does interoception play for emotion and cognition in healthy adults and children as well as in different psychopathologies? What are the neurophysiological effects of this cultivation in practices such as Yoga, mindfulness meditation, Tai Chi and other embodied contemplative practices? What categories from other traditions might be useful as we explore embodiment? Does the cultivation of body awareness within contemplative practice offer a tool for coping with suffering from conditions, such as pain, addiction, and dysregulated emotion? This emergent field of research into somatic awareness and associated interoceptive processes, however, faces many obstacles. The principle obstacle lies in our 400-year Cartesian tradition that views sensory perception as epiphenomenal to cognition. The segregation of perception and cognition has enabled a broad program of cognitive science research, but may have also prevented researchers from developing paradigms for understanding how interoceptive awareness of sensations from inside the body influences cognition. The cognitive representation of interoceptive signals may play an active role in facilitating therapeutic transformation, e.g. by altering context in which cognitive appraisals of well-being occur. This topic has ramifications into disparate research fields: What is the role of interoceptive awareness in conscious presence? How do we distinguish between adaptive and maladaptive somatic awareness? How do we best measure somatic awareness? What are the consequences of dysregulated somatic/interoceptive awareness on cognition, emotion, and behavior? The complexity of these questions calls for the creative integration of perspectives and findings from related but often disparate research areas including clinical research, neuroscience, cognitive psychology, anthropology, religious/contemplative studies and philosophy.
