AimRapid eye movement (REM) sleep, non-rapid eye movement (NREM) sleep, and sleep spindles are all implicated in the consolidation of procedural memories. Relative contributions of sleep stages and sleep spindles were previously shown to depend on individual differences in task processing. However, no studies to our knowledge have focused on individual differences in experience with Vipassana meditation as related to sleep. Vipassana meditation is a form of mental training that enhances proprioceptive and somatic awareness and alters attentional style. The goal (...) of this study was to examine a potential role for Vipassana meditation experience in sleep-dependent procedural memory consolidation.MethodsGroups of Vipassana meditation practitioners (N = 22) and matched meditation-naïve controls (N = 20) slept for a daytime nap in the laboratory. Before and after the nap they completed a procedural task on the Wii Fit balance platform.ResultsMeditators performed slightly better on the task before the nap, but the two groups improved similarly after sleep. The groups showed different patterns of sleep-dependent procedural memory consolidation: in meditators, task learning was positively correlated with density of slow occipital spindles, while in controls task improvement was positively associated with time in REM sleep. Sleep efficiency and sleep architecture did not differ between groups. Meditation practitioners, however, had a lower density of occipital slow sleep spindles tha... (shrink)

The Buddhist concept of nonattachment refers to a flexible engagement with experience without fixation on achieving specified outcomes. The primary focus of this study was to qualitatively examine how nonattachment and attachment are experienced in individuals identified as having very high and low levels of nonattachment. Specifically, we examined individuals’ descriptions of how their levels of nonattachment and attachment developed, and how nonattachment and attachment affect their lives, their relationships, and their understanding of personal development. Twenty-four in-depth interviews were conducted (...) with participants (18 women, six men) aged 19 to 61 (mean = 36.20, standard deviation = 11.00), drawn from a larger sample of 1191, who scored very high or very low on nonattachment. Thematic analysis revealed highly nonattached individuals were psychologically mature, and flexibly engaged with their experiences, allowing their life to flow with minimal self-obstruction. In contrast, highly attached individuals were quite fixed in their thinking and often placed unachievable expectations on themselves and others. Interestingly, transformative suffering was crucial in the development of nonattachment, whereas unresolved experiences of suffering contributed to the development of attachment. (shrink)