Mindfulness Meditation: A Hellenic Perspective Through Quantitative and Qualitative Study

Abstract

Mindfulness facilitates accepting with kindness and non-judgmentally the reality of the present moment and acknowledge the pleasant or unpleasant feelings caused by the present situation or by automatic negative thoughts. Continued practice cultivates awareness, willingness, and a positive outlook on stressful events, thereby helping to fully experience moments with greater insight and wisdom while leading to a greater sense of Meaning in Life and a greater sense of control. We present and discuss our quantitative and qualitative study of an 8-session mindfulness workshop, which was organised to study the compatibility and impact of mindfulness meditation on Greek participants and their cultural and social context. It we conducted in two groups with different durations. One group had sessions every week, and a second group met fortnightly. The design was quasi-experimental. Results showed overall significant baseline differences with medium to large effect sizes across three of the five facets of the FFMQ and the General Mindfulness Questionnaire. Furthermore, the fortnightly group showed clearly better results than the weekly group with larger effect sizes and higher significance differences. Potential effects of the workshop on members’ behavior and well-being are discussed both qualitatively and quantitatively. The results showed overall satisfactory medium to large effect sizes and significant differences in three facets, ‘non-react’, ‘observe’ and ‘non-judge’ and the fortnightly session group clearly showed better outcomes than the weekly sessions group.