The present study offers new insights into how brief mindfulness
meditation training and dispositional mindfulness
can impact stress reactivity to an acute stress challenge.
Compared to an active cognitive analytic control training,
we provide initial evidence that a brief mindfulness meditation
training program (75 min) buffers self-reported psychological
stress reactivity and increases cortisol reactivity
to the TSST. We postulate that this pattern reflects greater
engagement and active coping in the mindfulness meditation
trained group. We also provide initial evidence for
interactive effects of mindfulness meditation training
and pre-existing dispositional mindfulness, showing that
either mindfulness training or dispositional mindfulness
can be used as a stress-protective psychological resource.
This study is the first well-controlled test of the mindfulness
training stress buffering hypothesis, and expands our under-
standing of how mindfulness training interventions impact
stress reactivity. It will be important to test whether these
mindfulness-stress pathways affect susceptibility to