D

Can you imagine getting a major dental procedure without novocaine (一种麻醉药)? A scientist colleague of mine recently told me, rather than use it, he used a "focus in" meditation (冥想) technique to direct all of his attention to his mouth with as much calming equanimity as he could gather. Doing so transformed the pain for a few minutes.

A stream of scientific articles suggests that there are benefits in turning toward discomfort or negative emotions with acceptance. In addition, all of us can gain from finding ways to cope with stress and suffering-particularly when larger circumstances are beyond our control. As a researcher who has studied meditation for more than 20 years, I believe that the cultivation of equanimity can help.

It's important to first define the idea of turning toward discomfort. I'm not advocating for people to put themselves in dangerous positions. But when we push ourselves into challenging or embarrassing situations, much like trainers who push athletes just past their comfort zone to make gains, learning often happens.

My own research indicates that meditation provides an ideal way to practice turning toward discomfort-particularly when it trains up one's equanimity. In my laboratory at Carnegie Mellon University, we conducted several clinical trials on developing equanimity during mindfulness meditation training. This approach includes guided meditation exercises such as using a matter-of-fact voice to label uncomfortable feelings in the body or welcoming uncomfortable feelings by saying "yes" aloud each time a feeling is detected.

We hired 153 stressed adults and offered them a mindfulness meditation training program with or without training in equanimity. Our equanimity skills training group had significantly better outcomes on several measures. After just 14 days of training, for example, the participants who learned equanimity skills had significantly lower biological stress responses when asked to deliver a difficult speech and solve math problems in front of experts in white lab coats. This group also had significantly lower blood pressure and stress levels. In the days after training, people introduced to equanimity exercises also reported significantly higher positive emotions and well-being throughout the day and more meaningful social interactions than participants who received mindfulness training without the equanimity component. It was as though developing equanimity had transformed their emotional reactivity to stress, helping them better appreciate and enjoy daily life's many little positive experiences and making them more curious and open to connecting with others.

We are expanding on this work in several ways-including through the development of an app that offers equanimity training on demand and with trials involving participants with stress-related gastrointestinal (胃肠的) disorders. Meanwhile other scientists are further exploring equanimity's power. We are convinced we can each build our resilience (恢复力) on a personal level by cultivating greater acceptance of our experience-good or bad, painful or pleasant-in the present moment.