Acquire a Wakeful Spirit: Investigations in the Eastern Christian Tradition of Contemplation

The aim of this research project is to fill a gap in mindfulness research that has primarily focused on Buddhist forms of meditation. In this project the Eastern Christian Spiritual Tradition (ECST) with its adjacent concepts to Buddhism and secular mindfulness studies was assessed. A population of Eastern Christian monks along with a matched pairs control group performed a combination of behavioral and self-report measures of attentional control and trait mindfulness. Further, the concept of meta-awareness is theorized as being a moderator variable connecting these meditative/spiritual practices to the constructs of interest and was measured through a recently developed behavioral task.