Moving beyond Mindfulness: Defining Equanimity as an Outcome Measure in Meditation and Contemplative Research

Abstract

In light of a growing interest in contemplative practices such as meditation, the emerging field of contemplative science has been challenged to describe and objectively measure how these practices affect health and well-being. While "mindfulness" itself has been proposed as a measurable outcome of contemplative practices, this concept encompasses multiple components, some of which, as we review here, may be better characterized as equanimity. Equanimity can be defined as an even-minded mental state or dispositional tendency toward all experiences or objects, regardless of their origin or their affective valence (pleasant, unpleasant, or neutral). In this article we propose that equanimity be used as an outcome measure in contemplative research. We first define and discuss the inter-relationship between mindfulness and equanimity from the perspectives of both classical Buddhism and modern psychology and present existing meditation techniques for cultivating equanimity. We then review psychological, physiological, and neuroimaging methods that have been used to assess equanimity, either directly or indirectly. In conclusion, we propose that equanimity captures potentially the most important psychological element in the improvement of well-being, and therefore should be a focus in future research studies.

Keywords: acceptance; emotion regulation; equanimity; meditation; mindfulness.

Figures

Figure 1. Generic representation of a typical physiological response to an emotional stimulus

Different parameters of affective style and chronometry are depicted. The magnitude of response corresponds to the height of the response at its peak. Duration is the time from the onset of response to the return to baseline. In this example, an equanimous response involves a rapid recovery function (solid line), in contrast to one that is either low in magnitude (“blunted,” dotted line) or prolonged (“perseverative”, dotted line).

Figure 2. Right dorsal amygdala blood oxygenation level-dependent (BOLD) contrast signal time series during reacting to negative self-beliefs and breath-focused attention in social phobics (SP) at both pre- and post mindfulness-based stress reduction (MBSR)

* p<0.05. Rate: negative emotion rating; React: reacting to the negative self-belief; Breath-Focus: instruction to focus attention on breath sensation. Reproduced from (Goldin & Gross, 2010).