Brief Mind-Body Interventions: Effects on Mood and State Mindfulness

Objectives: Two studies examined whether brief mind-body interventions could improve mood and influence state mindfulness. Exploratory analyses investigated state mindfulness and state self-compassion as potential mechanisms of action. Method: Both studies randomly allocated participants to one of three conditions: mindfulness, progressive muscle relaxation (PMR), or active control. Study 1 was conducted online (n = 57), and Study 2 was lab-based (n = 98). Each study was a single-session experiment with short intervention exercises (18–20 min). Results: Negative affect decreased after the intervention (Study 1: p < 0.001, ηp2 = 0.24; Study 2: p = 0.01, ηp2 = 0.06). In Study 1, after recalling a painful or difficult situation, positive affect increased (p = 0.02, ηp2 = 0.09). In Study 2, where no mood manipulation occurred, a reduction in positive affect post intervention was found (p < 0.001, ηp2 = 0.19). In both studies, only the mind-body interventions led to increases in state mindfulness (all p < 0.01). Increases in state mindfulness were related to increases in positive affect in both studies (r = 0.27 to 0.40, all p ≤ 0.01). Increases in state self-compassion were also related to increases in positive affect in Study 1 (r = 0.57, p < 0.001). Conclusions: In both studies, changes in mood were not specific to the mind-body exercises; audiobook readings also had an effect. The improvements in state mindfulness and links to positive affect suggest state mindfulness may be a mechanism of action. Future research should interrogate these findings using theoretically based and adequately powered studies. Preregistration: This study is not preregistered.