Objectives
We investigated the effect of mindfulness meditation on self-location in novices. We mainly hypothesized that meditation exercises tend to redirect where individuals locate themselves toward the body area of attention during practice.
Method
Participants were randomly assigned to either a body scan meditation, a breathing meditation, or an active control condition and completed a brief practice (Study 1: n = 87; Study 2: n = 92; Study 3: n = 127). Participants in Study 1 also received a 1-week training before the practice. All measures were assessed by means of self-report measures using visual analog scales.
Results
Brief meditation practice significantly changed self-location. Body scan practice was associated with an increase in self-location to the upper-torso, the abdomen, and body limbs. The practice of breathing meditation increased self-location to the upper-torso and the abdomen. This change in self-location was associated with an increase in happiness only in the body scan meditation (Study 1). A decrease in ongoing thoughts during body scan meditation (i.e., narrative self) mediated the effect of practice on the reduction of self-location in the head (Study 2). Study 3 found that attention directed to targeted body areas during mindfulness meditation practice significantly mediated the effect of the practice on self-location in those same body areas.
Conclusions
These results support the hypothesis that a brief meditation practice modifies both narrative and minimal self in novices, and that self-location is related to the object of attention during the practice of meditation.
Preregistration
This study is not preregistered.
