S-ART

Source: https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/human-neuroscience/articles/10.3389/fnhum.2012.00296/full

Biased Self-Processing: A Contemporary Model for Suffering

Suffering arises from a “reified” self-schema that systematically distorts reality.

The Core Mechanism: Affect-Biased Attention

The paper defines the “distorted or biased sense of self” through the lens of how we process emotional stimuli:

• Valence Distinctions: Unlike the mindfulness goal of impartiality and equipoise, a biased mind treats positive or negative stimuli differently than neutral material.

• Attentional Capture: Resources are captured by “biased” representations of the world, often rooted in real or imagined stimuli from the past or future rather than the momentary experience.

Term	Mechanism	Consequence
Facilitated Engagement (Hypervigilance)	Enhanced monitoring and orienting toward self-relevant or threatening stimuli.	Resources captured before full subjective awareness; artificially increased threat perception.
Avoidance	Reduction of elaborative or evaluative processing; deflation of threat value.	Automatic or strategic emotion regulation that prevents phenomenal clarity.
Disengagement Delays (“Mental Stickiness”)	Inability to withdraw or inhibit selection; resources stay dedicated to an object of engagement.	Inability to “let go” and re-orient; prevents capture of pertinent environmental information.

Systems of Self in the S-ART Framework

Self Type	Definition (Functional Aspect)	Core Processes
Enactive Experiential Self (EES)	Non-conscious sensory-affective-motor processing. The “physical self” or “proto-self” representing embodied enaction.	Sensorimotor coupling, Exteroception (5 senses), Proprioception, Kinesthesia, Interoception (visceral feedback), and repeated associative conditioning.
Experiential Phenomenological Self (EPS)	Agentic “self-as-subject.” The “minimal self” or “knower” acting as awareness in the present moment without reflection.	First person perspective (FPP), meta-awareness, top-down attentional control, vigilant monitoring, response readiness, and present-centered sensory-perceptual awareness.
Narrative Self (NS)	Evaluative “self-as-object.” Reflecting the autobiographical narrative reconstructed from the past or projected into the future.	Self-reflection, episodic memory formation, affective appraisal, self-identification, mental proliferation (rumination), and evaluative mentation.

Correspondence with the 5 Koshas (NOT from the paper!)

The Koshas describe a progression from the densest physical layer to the subtlest state of bliss.

S-ART System	Corresponding Kosha	Functional Overlap
Enactive Experiential Self (EES)	Annamaya & Pranamaya	Both describe the non-conscious “physical self” (Annamaya) and the “energy/vital self” (Pranamaya). They focus on interoceptive, kinesthetic, and sensorimotor coupling.
Narrative Self (NS)	Manomaya	This is the “mental sheath” composed of thoughts, emotions, and the “Me-self.” It is the layer of mental proliferation and autobiographical story-telling.
Experiential Phenomenological Self (EPS)	Vijnanamaya	This is the “wisdom/intellect sheath.” It represents the “knower” or agentic subject that possesses meta-awareness and top-down control over the lower layers.
Self-Transcendence (Goal of S-ART)	Anandamaya	The “bliss sheath.” In S-ART, this is the state where the reified self is deconstructed, leading to a “positive relationship between self and other” and a loss of separate identity.

Focused Attention (FA): Stabilizing the Mind

Open Monitoring (OM): Receptive Practice

Ethical Enhancement (EE): Breaking the Barriers

Summary of the 3 Meditative Processes

Practice Type	Core Goal	Primary Attentional Focus	Key Mechanisms / Tools
Focused Attention (FA)	Mental Stabilization	Concentrative: Sustained attention on a single mental or sensory object (e.g., breath).	Executive Set, Working Memory, Orienting, and Engagement.
Open Monitoring (OM)	Receptive Awareness	Ambient/Diffuse: Monitoring all modalities of experience without a focal point.	Mental Noting & Labeling (Arising, Passing, Absent), Decentering, and Ambient Attentional Networks.
Ethical Enhancement (EE)	Prosociality & Compassion	Relational: Sustained episodic memory recall involving shared experience and mentalizing.	Positive Reappraisal, Mentalizing, and Prosocial/Empathic Concern.

Practice Type	Cognitive Shift	Behavioral/Emotional Result	Impact on the “Self”
Focused Attention (FA)	Automatization: Transition from effortful to effortless control via motor learning.	Equanimity & Clarity: Reduced sympathetic arousal and cognitive elaboration.	Meta-awareness: Awareness itself becomes the object of attention.
Open Monitoring (OM)	Neutralization: Extinction and reconsolidation of maladaptive scripts/schemas.	Non-reactivity: Decreased allotment of resources toward any particular feeling or thought.	De-fusing: Thoughts are no longer fused with reality; move toward Non-dual Awareness.
Ethical Enhancement (EE)	Memory Reconsolidation: Replacing negative associations with adaptive/positive episodic memories.	Impartiality: Breaking down barriers between self, friends, and difficult persons.	Self-Transcendence: Shifting from self-focused needs to a boundless heart for all beings.

The Six Neurocognitive Mechanisms of S-ART

Mechanism	Functional Goal	Key Processes & Neurobiology
1. Intention & Motivation	Drives goal-directed behavior and acts as a feedback system for self-schema maintenance.	Motivation shifts from external (reward-based) to internally driven (equanimity-focused). Key regions: DLPFC (sustained motivation in working memory), Anterior PFC, and the Ventral Striatum/nAcc (dopamine/reward).
2. Attention Regulation	Provides volitional control over shifting and managing conscious awareness.	Components include alerting, orienting, engaging, sustaining, monitoring, disengaging, and re-engaging. Advanced practice yields effortless control and reduced resource allocation (e.g., smaller attentional blink).
3. Emotion Regulation	Enables the shifting of focus to modulate emotional activity and viscerosomatic responses.	Uses automatic (homeostatic/non-conscious) and controlled (antecedent or response-focused) strategies. Features the “Raincoat effect” (protection) and “Towel effect” (recovery). Key regions: OFC, VLPFC, and Insula.
4. Extinction & Reconsolidation	Transforms the reified Narrative Self (NS) into more adaptive trajectories.	Extinction involves novel learning to weaken old associations; Reconsolidation creates new, adaptive memory traces. Key regions: Hippocampus, Amygdala, and VMPFC (extinction recall).
5. Prosociality	Improves social cognition, empathy, and shared experience.	Cultivates interdependence and self-transcendence, dissolving distinctions between self and other. Key regions: TPJ (agency/ownership), pSTS (social perception), and AIC (empathy mapping).
6. Non-attachment & De-centering	Facilitates the realization of “no-self” and the impermanence of all objects.	Decentering provides a “space between perception and response”. Non-attachment is a “release from mental fixations” (grasping and aversion). Key regions: DMPFC, dACC, and PIC.

Pillar	Definition & Core Focus	Functional Goal	Supporting Mechanisms
Self-Awareness	Development of meta-awareness of the self.	To become aware of the conditions that cause or remove distortions and biases in internal/external experience.	Intention, Motivation, and Attention Regulation.
Self-Regulation	The ability to effectively manage or alter one’s responses and impulses.	To reduce habitual reactivity, “mental stickiness,” and facilitate a rapid return to physiological/emotional baseline.	Emotion Regulation, Extinction, and Reconsolidation.
Self-Transcendence	Development of a positive relationship between self and other that transcends self-focused needs.	To increase prosocial characteristics and dissolve the rigid, “reified” boundaries of the Narrative Self.	Prosociality, Non-attachment, and De-centering.

Correspondence Between S-ART and Sadhana Chatushtaya

Sadhana Chatushtaya Element	S-ART Functional Mechanism	Neurocognitive / Behavioral Alignment
1. Viveka (Discrimination)	Meta-awareness & Decentering	The ability to distinguish between the “knower” (EPS) and the “known” (thoughts/objects). Viveka is the root of Meta-awareness, allowing one to “see and know” mental patterns.
2. Vairagya (Dispassion/Detachment)	Non-attachment & Equanimity	Defined as a “release from mental fixations” (grasping and aversion). It manifests as Equanimity, which reduces the “stickiness” of affective responses.
3. Shat-Sampat (Six Virtues)	Attention & Emotion Regulation	The “six virtues” (e.g., Shama - mind control, Dama - sense control) map to Attention Regulation and Emotion Regulation. These develop the “supervisory gateway” (FPCN) to manage reactivity.
4. Mumukshutva (Longing for Liberation)	Intention & Motivation	The “purposive plan of action” and internal drive that initiates the practice. In S-ART, Intention provides the initial steps for extinguishing maladaptive habits.

Link to Dahl et al.

ART Pillar	Meditation Family (Dahl et al.)	Key Practices	Targeted Self-System
Self-Awareness	Attentional	Focused Attention, Breath Counting, Shamatha.	EPS (Experiential Phenomenological Self).
Self-Regulation	Constructive	Loving-kindness, Values Contemplation, Compassion.	EES (Experiential Enactive Self).
Self-Transcendence	Deconstructive	Vipassana, Self-inquiry, Nondual Insight (Mahamudra/Zen).	NS (Narrative Self).