Moving Beyond Mindfulness: Defining Equanimity as an Outcome Measure in Meditation and Contemplative Research

“However, if there is a failure in coping, habituation, or recovery (e.g., blunted or perseverative responses), long-term damage may occur—a phenomenon known as “allostatic load” (Karatsoreos & McEwen, 2011; McEwen & Seeman, 1999; McEwen, 1998, 2008; Sterling & Eyer, 1988).”

“We note that some intervention approaches train monitoring and acceptance practices concurrently; however, there is evidence to suggest that attentionmonitoring skills begin to improvemore immediately after practice, while acceptance may take longer to cultivate (Baer, Carmody, & Hunsinger, 2012; Desbordes et al., 201…”

“Mindfulness may alter the lifecycle of emotional reactions as well as the overall valence of emotional experience (Desbordes et al., 2014).”

“, acceptance) foster an equal attitude of compassion toward oneself and all others, and thus promote social connectivity (15).”

“…has been shown to be associated with positive outcomes in prior studies and may occur because acceptance reduces negative cognitions of unpleasant emotional and physiological states, which can serve to maintain or heighten physiological arousal (Desbordes et al., 2014; Feldman et al., 2016).”

“On one hand, mindfulness is translated simply as a state of clear awareness (Bodhi, 2011; Desbordes et al., 2015; Quaglia et al., 2014); on the other hand, acceptance training is considered a skillful means for learning mindfulness (Dreyfus, 2011) and is an active treatment element in mindfulness…”

“as it happens without getting caught up in or attached to the content of what’s happening (i.e., non-interference with pleasant and unpleasant sensory experience alike; Desbordes et al., 2015; Young, 2016).”

“In this sense, mindfulness meditation can in this way be understood as a step toward equanimity , that is, a dispositional tendency of evenness of mind towards all experiences, regardless of their emotional valence (Desbordes et al., 2015).”

“We use ‘acceptance’ as an umbrella term to describe an orientation of receptivity and noninterference with present-moment experiences (3,4), which contrasts with tendencies to suppress, avoid, alter, prolong, or fixate on certain stimuli.”

“A second proposed positive effect is an enhanced sense of equanimity (Desbordes et al., 2015), a non-judgmental metacognitive awareness of the broad spectrum of sensations and thoughts that may arise at any given point in time.”

“Developing measures and paradigms for studying the dimensions of mindfulness (Baer, 2011; Grossman, 2008), other aspects of meditative practice (Desbordes et al., 2014; Sahdra, Shaver, & Brown, 2010) and a broad range of real-life outcomes are all important for this effort.”

“…novices with relatively little additional teacher input beyond practice guidance (as was the case in the current study), challenges associated with longer practices, such as mind-wandering, led them to be less effective in general than shorter ones (cf. Desbordes et al. 2015; Frewen et al. 2016).”

“The main challenges of meditation research have been recently extensively discussed by Davidson and Kaszniak (2015) and also previously considered by others (e.g., Davidson, 2010; Desbordes and Negi, 2013; Tang et al., 2015).”

“First, equanimity with respect to unpleasant hedonic tone may be particularly important to help account for effects of mindfulness on mood and anxiety-related conditions (Desbordes et al. 2015; Hofmann et al. 2010).”

“The comparison was carried out using a likelihood ratio test (Dobson and Barnett 2008).”

“In addition, the development and incorporation of new neuropsychological metrics – such as “equanimity” outcomes – with resting state correlates will provide new tools for assessment (Desbordes et al., 2014).”

“Desbordes et al. (2015) describe it as an “even-minded state of dispositional tendency toward all experiences or objects, regardless of their origins or affective valence” (p. 357).”

“…two components are applied in conjunction, they support effective emotion regulation; however, whenmindfulness is applied without acceptance, it leads to the strengthening, and not reducing, negative emotional reactions, such as anxiety and stress (Barnes and Lynn, 2010; Desrosiers et al., 2014).”

“…has shown that in general mindfulness is related to a less negative andmore positive emotional tone (Eberth & Sedlmeier, 2012), neurological studies have evidenced that mindfulness may also dampen emotional reactions to positive stimuli (Brown, Goodman, & Inzlicht, 2012; Desbordes et al., 2015).”

“In modern Western psychology, the self is constructed as a definable knowable entity with particular characteristics, universal needs, and somewhat predictable developmental thrusts (Sedikides and Spencer, 2007; Chan, 2008; Donner, 2010).”

“It was previously proposed that certain outcomes of CPs (such as equanimity) are associated with more adaptive vagal cardiovascular reactivity (Desbordes et al., 2015).”

“Equanimity, which can be defined as an even-minded mental state or dispositional tendency toward all experiences or objects, regardless of their origin or their affective valence (pleasant, unpleasant, or neutral), is a key and central component of the meditation cycle and mindfulness, as with time, it transforms the…”

“However, this finding is in contrast to previously reported findings by Desbordes et al. (2012), where they showed greater amygdala activation to negative stimuli was increased after compassion training, albeit in an “attend” state rather than an active compassion state.”

“Less acknowledged, but essential to the goals of contemplative practice, is the development of motivational and emotional traits relevant to compassion (Desbordes et al., 2014; Halifax, 2012; Shaver, Lavy, Saron, & Mikulincer, 2007).”

“Equanimity can be defined as an even-minded mental state or dispositional tendency toward all experiences or objects, regardless of their origin or their affective valence (pleasant, unpleasant, or neutral; Desbordes et al., 2015).”

“All the participants in both groups had focused meditation as their main practice (>80% of the total time devoted).”

“While the key contributing practice factors for cessation have not yet been described directly, Desbordes et al. (2015) advanced equanimity as a viable outcome measure of meditative experience, and all of the practice categories in the deconstructive family (e.g., vipassana) advanced by Dahl et al.…”

“Equanimity can be defined as a state of neutrality towards all stimuli, whether they be heavily ‘colored’ by positive or negative valence (Desbordes et al., 2015), thus culminating in the intentional attitude of acceptance toward every sort of experience (pleasant/unpleasant, past/present/future)…”

“In order to detect changes resulting from meditation in more experienced practitioners, future research may benefit from the use of measures targeting those qualities that tend to motivate the practice of such practitioners, including such traits as equanimity, decentring, and self-transcendence (Desbordes et al., 201…”

“This may be attributable to the role of the parasympathetic nervous system in regulating HR but not SC (Diamond and Otter-Henderson, 2007) and it is possible the construct of mindfulness is particularly salient to concordance between subjective distress and physiological reactivity in which there…”

“…producing increased control over chronic pain, anxiety and depression (Kerr et al., 2013), curtailing negative functioning and enhancing positive outcomes in mental health, physical health, behavioural regulation and interpersonal relationships (Brown et al., 2007; Desbordes et al., 2015).”

“Mindfulness is a mental state that involves a deep sensory consciousness of present-moment experiences, without any revealing, responsive, and self-referential judgment of the inner experience.(11) The practice of mindfulness requires deliberate, sustained attention to sensory and cognitive processes along with an unc…”

“…may not evaluate and label these feelings as sexual given that their higher level of mindfulness may mean that they are noticing all physical sensations in the body with equanimity (Desbordes et al., 2015), defined as “an even-minded mental state or dispositional tendency toward all experiences.””

“…reality impartially, without bias or discrimination (this concept suffers from a dearth of relevant data; for a proposal to remedy this, see Desbordes et al. 2015); (b) nonattachment, that is, a release from mental fixations (examined previously as a mediator by Coffey and Hartman 2008;…”

“…and that it is this complimentary practice that facilitates compassion and garners further research in isolation This article builds on the work of Desbordes et al. (2015) by clearly differentiating ‘non-judgemental acceptance’ and ‘attention’ within current mindfulness understanding Although…”

“Even so, the results presented here are consistent with previous work (Lutz et al., 2008a, 2009; Desbordes et al., 2015) demonstrating that the continuous and methodical training of meditation as an attentional practice modulates the tone and activity of the autonomic nervous system and emotional…”

“Equanimity has been defined “as an even-minded mental state or dispositional tendency toward all experiences or objects, regardless of their origin or their affective valence (pleasant, unpleasant, or neutral)” [(14), p.”

“…is based on insight into the transient nature of mental representations, so a nonattached individual should be less likely to get stuck in self-referential processing when faced with adversity, taking a more self-compassionate and balanced attitude (Desbordes et al. 2015; Sahdra et al. 2010).”

“Flourishing in this case, similar to other comparable definitions (e.g., Diener et al., 2010; Huppert and So, 2013), is positive and reflects improvement, accomplishment, and self-fulfillment.”

“On the positive side, it is thought to cultivate a sense of “non-attachment” to worries and concerns (Sahdra et al., 2011), and equanimity to whatever occurs in experience (Desbordes et al., 2014).”

“This visually convergent pattern in the LPP responses is congruent with the construct of equanimity as recently explicated by Desbordes et al. (2015).”

“accepting attitude and developing equanimity towards one’s present-moment experiences when being mindful, one may generate the ability to detach from past positive and negative affective states and regulate them more flexibly (Desbordes et al., 2014).”

“Equanimity is becoming the subject of increasing interest in contemplative studies as a general outcome of mindfulness practices (Desbordes et al., 2015), as it appears to be a meaningful mechanism to understand the positive effects of mindfulness on well-being (e.g. Ekman et al., 2005; Juneau et…”

“In our commen- tary, we first offer some questions raised by the mindfulness-to-meaning theoretical account and then turn to some considerations of what specific mechanisms of mindfulness may be important for triggering and propagating positive growth and meaning-making processes.”

“In terms of the psychological realm, though, B/H are firstly implicated in numerous constructs pertaining to emotions, from Bradburn’s (1969) notion of ‘affect balance’, to constructs like ‘emotional equanimity’ (Desbordes et al., 2015) and ‘emotional equilibrium’ (Labouvie ‐ Vief et al., 2010).”

“For example, the role of equanimity, or an evenness of temper and general composure of emotion, should also be specifically examined (Desbordes et al. 2014).”

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“For example, mindfulness of breath has been shown to produce a generalized reduction in amygdala response to emotional stimuli that is maintained during non-meditative states (Desbordes et al., 2012).”

“This dual characterization of equanimity as both a volitional state or attitude and a more enduring, trait-like quality is in line with elucidations by Desbordes et al. (2015).”

“Further research should thus look beyond religious affiliation to include religious practices as well as variations within these religions, for example those that may exist between different Christian groups or Zen traditions within Buddhism [19].”

“…present moment with an orientation of openness, curiosity, compassion, acceptance/non-judgment, non-evaluation, and non-identification (summarized as awareness with acceptance; Bishop et al., 2006; Chambers et al., 2009; Desbordes et al., 2014; Grossman & Van Dam, 2011; Lindsay & Creswell, 2017).”