Dr Patrick B. Williams, the study's first author, said:
The meditators in the study performed different types of meditation, including:"We are the first to show an association between wisdom, on the one hand, and mental and somatic practice, on the other. We're also the first to suggest that meditation's ability to reduce everyday anxiety might partially explain this relationship."
- Mindfulness
- Buddhist
- Vipassana
Dr Monika Ardelt, a wisdom researcher who was not involved with the project, said:
Professor Howard Nusbaum, one of the study's authors, said:"That meditation is associated with wisdom is good to confirm, but the finding that the practice of ballet is associated with increased wisdom is fascinating. I'm not going to rush out and sign up for ballet, but I think this study will lead to more research on this question."
The study was published in the journal PLOS ONE (Williams et al., 2016)."As we learn more about the kinds of experiences that are related to wisdom, we can gain insight into ways of studying the mechanisms that mediate wisdom. This also lets us shift from thinking about wisdom as something like a talent to thinking about it as something more like a skill. And if we think about wisdom as a skill, it is something we can always get better at, if we know how to practice."
Comment: See also: The proven health benefits of meditation