Years of meditation training may not be the only road to a Zen state, shows new research on integrative body-mind training (IBMT), a form of meditation developed in the 1990s which aims at producing the effects of traditional Chinese meditation in a relatively short time via live coaching in body relaxation, breath adjustment and mindfulness with musical accompaniment.
In a University of Oregon supported by China's National Natural Science Foundation and Ministry of Education, eighty Chinese college students were assigned to either an experimental group which received 20 minutes IBMT training for five days or a control group which received the same amount of relaxation training. Before and after training, all subjects were tested on attention and reaction to stressors. Bodily levels of cortisol were also measured at each juncture. At the study's conclusion, students who had learned IBMT showed greater attentional control, lower levels of anxiety, anger, depression and fatigue, as well as reduced cortisol release compared to students who had undergone relaxation training.
Researchers hope to expand the study using functional magnetic resonance imaging to examine changes in the brain following IBMT.
ABSTRACT: Short-term meditation training improves attention and self-regulation
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