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While support continues to mount for the effectiveness of mindfulness training in improving psychological functioning, researchers are only beginning to examine its mechanisms of action. The present study employed multimodal assessment of the experience and regulation of emotion to examine the effects of a brief mindfulness intervention. Seventy undergraduate students at a small southern state university were randomly assigned to listen to a 15-min recording of either a mindfulness intervention or neutral recording followed by either a positive or negative emotion induction. At the completion of the intervention mindfulness participants demonstrated greater mindfulness than the control group as indicated by greater self-reported state mindfulness, greater Left > Right frontal brain asymmetry, and greater heart rate variability. Further, participants receiving the mindfulness intervention experienced greater emotional awareness, indicated by reporting higher positive affect regardless of emotion induction and higher negative affect when experiencing a negative emotion induction. Participants who experienced a negative emotion induction after the mindfulness intervention also reported feeling more overwhelmed and unable to improve their emotional state, suggesting that brief mindfulness intervention was successful in reducing emotional avoidance, but failed to improve the ability to regulate emotion sufficiently to withstand the demands of an aversive emotional experience. These results have significant clinical implications, as they suggest that individuals may feel more dysregulated when experiencing negative stimuli and/or mood in the beginning stages of mindfulness practice.

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Trait mindfulness has been associated with well‐being. A key component of trait mindfulness is intentional attention and awareness which is most commonly measured by the Mindful Attention and Awareness Scale (MAAS). This study investigated the relationship between the MAAS and cardiovascular (HF‐HRV, heart rate) reactivity to two laboratory stressors that evoked different patterns of change in heart rate (HR). One stressor (viewing a video of a surgery) evoked HR deceleration while the other stressor (mental arithmetic) evoked HR acceleration. Undergraduate students completed the MAAS and were then exposed to the two stressors while ECG (electrocardiography) was recorded. Findings support the reliability of the stressors to induce expected differential cardiovascular responses and explicate the role of parasympathetic activation. Further, a main effect for MAAS was observed indicating that across laboratory conditions, persons scoring higher on the MAAS had lower HF‐HRV relative to persons scoring lower on the MAAS. These findings suggest that higher levels of intentional attention and awareness in a laboratory context might promote parasympathetic withdrawal because these participants were more vigilant, experienced higher cognitive load, and detected more threat cues. Implications for the MAAS and cardiovascular responses to stress are discussed.