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
