Research Reflections: Awakenings

Abstract

During the Fall 2021 and Spring 2022 semesters, our team of six research associates gathered once to twice a week and meditated before starting our qualitative duties. Our study, titled Interviewing Zen Buddhists on the Mindful Attention Awareness Scale Validity (Sabellano-Tsutsui et al., 2022), benefited from our practicing conscious awareness of our thought patterns and breathing. Our participants, Zen Buddhists of over 10 years, completed the Mindful Attention Awareness Scale—a scale aimed to measure mindfulness—while voicing aloud their thoughts on each item. Since they spoke about their experiences and awakenings in Zen mindfulness, we found it helpful practicing mindful awareness ourselves under a trained associate Zen teacher who is also a member on this research team. This personal practice allowed us to better understand and represent the nuances of mindful awareness. Our team found that meditating together helped us to better focus, be more productive, connect with participant interviews, build teamwork, enjoy our work, and realize our true selves.