Maria Patrick

Background Meta-awareness—the capacity to become aware of the contents of ongoing experience—is considered a fundamental aspect of conscious cognition and a proposed mechanism underlying contemplative practices. However, little is known about how repeated contemplative practice shapes the longitudinal dynamics of meta-awareness and subjective experience. This pilot mixed-methods study investigated the effects of Chin Mudra, Slow Deep Breathing, and their combination on daily conscious experience over a 12-week intervention. Methods This pilot analysis presents preliminary findings from an ongoing 12-week longitudinal mixed-methods intervention study targeting 70 participants. At the time of analysis, 17 participants had contributed repeated daily assessments, yielding 330 observations from participants at different stages of the intervention (approximately 10–45 completed sessions), while one participant had completed all 60 intervention sessions. Participants received Chin Mudra, Slow Deep Breathing, or a combined intervention. Baseline assessments included validated psychological questionnaires assessing meta-awareness, decentering, self-transcendence, spirituality, mindfulness, and well-being, together with heart rate variability and a breath-focus task. Daily repeated measures included self-reported Mood, Meta-awareness, Focus, Daily Well-being, Non-reactivity, and brief first-person reflective diary entries documenting participants’ ongoing conscious experience. Longitudinal changes were examined using linear mixed-effects models with participant-specific random intercepts. Reflective diary entries underwent rapid thematic analysis. An embedded phenomenological case of the participant who completed all 60 intervention sessions was explored through a post-intervention phenomenological interview. Results Linear mixed-effects modelling demonstrated significant session-related improvements in Mood, Meta-awareness, Focus, Daily Well-being, and Non-reactivity (all p < .05). Significant Session × Intervention Group interactions were observed for Meta-awareness, Daily Well-being, and Non-reactivity, indicating differential trajectories across interventions, whereas Mood and Focus improved similarly across groups. Preliminary qualitative analysis of the reflective diaries identified four recurring experiential themes: enhanced attentional stability, increased meta-awareness and emotional regulation, improved self-efficacy and psychological well-being, and transfer of benefits into everyday life. The embedded phenomenological case illustrated a progressive shift from effortful attentional control toward greater awareness of ongoing mental processes, enhanced emotional regulation, increased self-efficacy, and integration of contemplative practice into everyday life, complementing the quantitative trends. Conclusions The convergence of longitudinal quantitative data, daily experiential reports, and an embedded phenomenological case suggests that repeated contemplative practice is associated with progressive changes in attentional regulation, meta-awareness, emotional regulation, and subjective well-being. These preliminary findings support the value of integrating first-person phenomenological accounts with longitudinal statistical modelling to investigate the dynamics of conscious experience.

Author Biography

Dr. Maria Fortuna Patrick, MD (Physiology), MBBS, PGDip (Philosophy), is an interdisciplinary researcher and Assistant Professor in the Department of Physiology at PSG Institute of Medical Sciences & Research, Coimbatore, India. Her research lies at the intersection of consciousness studies, contemplative science, phenomenology, and embodied approaches to human experience.

Her work investigates the relationship between subjective experience and measurable psychological processes, with particular interest in meta-awareness, self-transcendence, decentering, meaning-making, and well-being. She employs qualitative, quantitative, and mixed-methods approaches to examine how individuals experience and interpret changes in consciousness, psychological states, and adaptive responses to life events.

Her current research includes phenomenological investigations of altered experiential states during crises, ecological approaches to everyday consciousness using experience sampling methodologies, and empirical studies examining contemplative practices and their influence on awareness, cognition, and well-being. She is particularly interested in bridging first-person accounts of experience with third-person scientific investigation, integrating perspectives from neuroscience, psychology, philosophy of mind, and contemplative traditions.

Dr. Patrick has research exposure at the National Institute of Mental Health and Neuro Sciences (NIMHANS), Bengaluru, and has pursued advanced training in philosophy, strengthening her engagement with fundamental questions concerning consciousness, selfhood, and human experience. Her broader academic interests include phenomenology, social psychology, embodied cognition, and the experiential dimensions of mental health and human adaptation.

Awards and Presentations

Accepted international conference presentations include the phenomenological study “Consciousness in Transit: Ontological Disruption and Meaning-Making During the Doha Airspace Crisis” at the World Conference on Qualitative Research (WCQR 2027), Portugal. Her research focuses on consciousness, subjective experience, phenomenology, and meaning-making through interdisciplinary qualitative and mixed-methods approaches