The individual and sequential effect of focused attention and open monitoring meditation on mindfulness skills.

Practicing focused attention meditation before open-monitoring meditation helps novices acquire mindfulness skills more effectively than the reverse order. In a study of 33 Japanese undergraduate and graduate students new to meditation, those who completed four weeks of focused attention followed by four weeks of open-monitoring scored higher on most mindfulness skills than a wait-list control group. They also developed awareness, describing, acceptance, and observing skills earlier than participants who practiced the meditations in reverse order. However, the ability to stay aware in the present moment improved earlier in the reverse-order group. The findings suggest that the traditional sequence of focused attention before open-monitoring primarily affects how quickly skills develop rather than their final level.

Study at a glance

Abstract

Mindfulness meditation has two components: focused attention (FA) meditation and open-monitoring (OM) meditation. Based on traditional Buddhist principles, it is recommended that FA meditation be practiced prior to OM meditation. However, the influence of the order in which these meditations are practiced on the efficacy of interventions has not yet been empirically investigated. This study examined the effects of the order of FA and OM meditation on the level and process of acquiring mindfulness skills. Thirty-three Japanese undergraduate and graduate students who were meditation novices completed the intervention. Participants were assigned to three groups: the group practicing 4-week FA meditation prior to 4-week OM meditation (FA-OM group), the group practicing meditation in reverse order (OM-FA group), and the wait-list control group. Each meditation training session consisted of one 1-hour group session per week and a 15-min daily homework. All participants were assessed for trait mindfulness once a week. The results showed that the FA-OM group scored higher than the control group for most mindfulness skills. In addition, awareness, describing, acceptance, and observing skills increased earlier in the FA-OM group than in the OM-FA group. However, the skill of staying aware at the present moment increased earlier in the OM-FA group than in the FA-OM group. These results suggest that the order of practicing the two meditations primarily influences the process of acquiring mindfulness skills rather than the level of skills, and that it is reasonable to practice FA meditation prior to OM meditation to cultivate mindfulness skills for novices.