The Effects of Mindfulness on the Prefrontal Cortex

In this episode, Wendy speaks with social psychologist and contemplative researcher David Creswell. David has been studying the effects of meditation on stress and resilience for over a decade, and has conducted some of the most rigorous studies to date investigating which aspects of mindfulness interventions bring benefit. This conversation covers many topics, including:

• integrating psychology and Buddhism since high school;
• understanding stress and resilience;
• acceptance and equanimity in mindfulness;
• bringing scientific rigor to the study of mindfulness through dismantling trials;
• effects of equanimity on the stress response and positive emotions;
• how contemplative skills spill over from the cushion into daily life;
• how practice changes the brain and why those changes matter;
• a risky study with a president's daughter;
• the promise of apps to deliver mindfulness;
• how acceptance differs from passive resignation;
• and viewing biology and psychology as two sides of the same coin.

Full show notes and resources