Episode 18: Getting The Dose Right: how much mindfullness?
Episode 18 of M3CS’s Contemplative Science Podcast saw Sarah Strohmaier come on to the show to talk about the concept of dosage in mindfulness - sharing results from experiments with novice and expert practitioners.
For the full podcast, check out the episode here.
In this episode, we cover...
Common assumptions about benefit and dose in mindfulness, medicine and exercise.
How we can clinically measure the subjective benefits of mindfulness practice.
The outcomes of experiments on varying dosages of mindfulness practice.
Sarah Strohmaier is a psychology lecturer and mindfulness researcher at Canterbury Christ Church University. Her research explores the definition and measurable outcomes of dosage in mindfulness practice.
Here are some of the key insights from the conversation...
Dosage in mindfulness is defined by a number of factors, not just quantity.
”In my research I refer to dose as not only the amount of practice... there's also the frequency, how much you're recommended to practice, if it's a group practice, if it's a self-help practice... there's all these different areas that also influence.”
Each person is different - the studies show both small and high doses are helpful!
“And it's not to say that longer mindfulness practices aren't helpful. There's lots of research saying that the high doses are really, really helpful. There's also individual differences there for what people want, and also what helps people to get started with, to continue with... I think it's great to have a variety of different things.”
Many people have misinformed preconceptions about mindfulness practice.
”There's a lot of assumptions as well with mindfulness, contemplative practices as well... that you need to have some sort of baseline skills to be able to do it... you need to be a certain calm person and you need to be able to sit cross-legged. I think sometimes there's these assumptions of what you need to be able to do in order to get the benefits, in order to to have something helpful coming from it.”
The best place to find Sarah Strohmaier is here.
See you next week!
