Jon Kabat-Zinn
b. 1944 · USAMBSR
Secularised clinic pathway for attention training.
Darker cells mean a higher score for this topic on that metric.
Research82
Awareness88
Complexity68
Clinical weight62
Plasticity76
Live debate71
LessMore
Last reviewed Sources & creditsMedia creditsMethodology
Quick answers
Where should I start with Contemplative Practice?
Read Overview → Anatomy → Function, then use compare rails.
Is this page advice for Contemplative Practice?
Educational atlas — not a diagnosis, treatment plan, or medical advice.
What does the local lens add?
It names everyday desks for Cognition before English norms look universal.
Are the scores a ranking of Contemplative Practice?
No — editorial 0–100 browsing aids inside this atlas only.
How do I compare Contemplative Practice to neighbours?
Use related cards and best-of / quiz rails after the first three chapters.
Which chapter is densest?
Anatomy and Function carry mechanisms; skim Overview first.
Scientists and bridge figures — not a canon of spiritual authority.
Wikimedia portraits when licences allow.
People
Richard Davidson
b. 1951 · USAAffective neuroscience
Long programme on meditation and emotion circuits.
Amishi Jha
b. 1970 · USAAttention training
Attention and resilience under high demand.
Thupten Jinpa
b. 1958 · Tibet/CanadaScholar-translator
Bridge between Tibetan traditions and research dialogues.
William James
1842–1910 · USAReligious experience
Early psychological respect for varieties of practice.
Francisco Varela
1946–2001 · Chile/FranceNeurophenomenology
First-person methods meeting cognitive science.
Matthieu Ricard
b. 1946 · France/NepalMonk-scientist dialogue
Public face of contemplative–lab exchange — interpret claims carefully.
Sara Lazar
— · USAImaging studies
Widely cited morphometry work — replication debates continue.
Read traditions in their own voices alongside lab papers.
Sources & research
- Mindfulness-based interventions: an overviewDOIPubMed
- The effect of mindfulness-based therapy on anxiety and depressionDOIPubMed
- Meditation programs for psychological stress and well-beingCautious meta-analytic tone.DOIPubMed
- Religious and spiritual interventions in mental health careDOI
- The varieties of religious experience
- Adverse events in meditation practices and meditation-based therapiesDOIPubMed
Keep exploring
More in Cognition
🧩
Memory
How the brain encodes, stores and retrieves experience across systems.
Research 75 🎯Attention
Selecting what enters awareness — and what the brain must ignore.
Research 88 💬Language
Speech, comprehension and the cortical networks that make meaning.
Research 74 💓Emotion
Affective circuits linking body states, appraisal and social meaning.
Research 67 ⚖️Decision-Making
Value, risk and control — how choices emerge from competing signals.
Research 66 😴Sleep
Oscillations, stages and the nightly work of memory and repair.
Research 97 🔄Neuroplasticity
How experience rewires synapses, maps and recovery trajectories.
Research 50 ✨Consciousness
Awareness, reportability and the hard problem still facing science.
Research 89 📚Learning
How practice, prediction and reward reshape circuits over time.
Research 90 👁️Perception
Building a usable world from noisy sensors and prior expectations.
Research 77 🔥Pain
A protective percept built from nociception, context and prediction.
Research 74 ⏳Brain Aging
Lifelong change in structure, networks and cognitive reserve.
Research 57 ✨Belief, Expectation & Becoming
Where self-help, manifestation metaphors and religious hope meet expectancy, attention and prediction — and where they overclaim.
Research 78 🧭Executive Function
Working memory, inhibition and cognitive flexibility — the control system that steers thought and action toward goals.
Research 88 🤝Social Cognition
How brains read minds, faces and norms — theory of mind, empathy and the networks that make us social.
Research 85 🏃Motor Control
From intention to muscle — cortico-basal ganglia-cerebellar loops that select, time and correct movement.
Research 90