Abstract The use of meditation as a tool to improve human wellbeing is receiving considerable scientific interest. However, most existing research has focused on concentration-based practices. One powerful alternative is jhana meditation, which leads to states characterised by self-reinforcing bliss, potentially useful for a variety of clinical and scientific domains. However, our understanding...
Absence of consciousness can occur due to a concussion, anesthetization, intoxication, epileptic seizure, or other fainting/syncope episode caused by lack of blood flow to the brain. However, some meditation practitioners also report that it is possible to undergo a total absence of consciousness during meditation, lasting up to 7 days, and that these "cessations" can be consistently induced....
Meditation experience has previously been shown to improve performance on behavioral assessments of attention, but the neural bases of this improvement are unknown. Two prominent, strongly competing networks exist in the human cortex: a dorsal attention network, that is activated during focused attention, and a default mode network, that is suppressed during attentionally demanding tasks. Prior...