Ishikawa Haruyuki, Muta Toshizumi, Abe Tetsuri, Imajo Nozomi, Koshikawa Fusako
Faculty of Letters, Arts and Sciences, Waseda University, Tokyo, Japan.
PLoS One. 2025 May 7;20(5):e0322537. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0322537. eCollection 2025.
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.
专注注意力（FA）冥想和开放式监测（OM）冥想。基于传统佛教教义，建议在进行OM冥想之前先进行FA冥想。然而，这些冥想练习的顺序对干预效果的影响尚未得到实证研究。本研究考察了FA和OM冥想的顺序对获得正念技能的水平和过程的影响。33名日本本科和研究生冥想新手完成了干预。参与者被分为三组：先进行4周FA冥想再进行4周OM冥想的组（FA-OM组）、以相反顺序进行冥想的组（OM-FA组）和等待列表对照组。每次冥想训练课程包括每周一次1小时的小组课程和每天15分钟的家庭作业。所有参与者每周进行一次特质正念评估。结果表明，FA-OM组在大多数正念技能上的得分高于对照组。此外，FA-OM组的觉察、描述、接纳和观察技能比OM-FA组更早提高。然而，OM-FA组在当下保持觉察的技能比FA-OM组更早提高。这些结果表明，两种冥想练习的顺序主要影响获得正念技能的过程而非技能水平，并且对于新手而言，先进行FA冥想再进行OM冥想以培养正念技能是合理的。
