Mind & Life Podcast

Quinn Conklin – Mind-Body Connection

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October 17, 2024

View or download a transcript of this episode

In this episode, Wendy speaks with contemplative researcher Quinn Conklin. Quinn’s research examines the interconnection of mind and body, and the effects of stress and meditation training on biomarkers of health and well-being. This conversation covers many topics, including:

Quinn Conklin, PhD
  • her interest in mind-body connection and how that led her into meditation research;
  • understanding meditation retreats;
  • advantages and challenges of studying meditation in a retreat context;
  • how personality can influence the effects of meditation;
  • telomeres and cell aging, and impacts of stress and meditation;
  • creating safety and support for practice (on retreat);
  • oxytocin and various theories of its function in social connection;
  • effects of meditation retreat on oxytocin;
  • allostasis and prediction;
  • studying community responses to COVID and how meditation provides support;
  • increasing diversity in contemplative science;
  • and making research findings accessible.

Quinn Conklin, PhD, is a health psychology researcher, science writer, and contemplative practitioner who uses these approaches to investigate the complexities of human experience and interconnection. Her research examines the psychobiological effects of stress and meditation training, with a focus on biomarkers of health and well-being. She is particularly interested in the biological, psychological, and relational consequences of trauma and adversity, and the use of contemplative practices to facilitate healing. Quinn is currently a consulting scientist at Columbia University, where she studies bidirectional relationships between mitochondrial biology and psychosocial processes, and at the University of California, Davis, where she co-leads the Contemplative Coping during COVID-19 (CCC) project. She completed her MA and PhD in experimental psychology at the University of California, Davis where she studied the psychobiological effects of intensive meditation retreats with Clifford Saron. She then trained as a Postdoctoral Scholar at the University of California, San Francisco with Elissa Epel. At UCSF, Quinn served as the Executive Director of the Stress Measurement Network—an NIH-funded interdisciplinary network of stress researchers with the aim of facilitating cutting edge stress research.

Resources

LinkedIn
Contemplative Coping during COVID-19 (CCC) Project