The perception of God can be as a transcendent entity that is infinite and outside of human beings, typical for religious traditions, or as an immanent entity that is outside and inside of human beings, typical for mystical traditions. These different perceptions of God may be associated with different neural correlates depending on which God we pray to. To elucidate the neural correlates of...
Sahaja Yoga Meditation draws on many religious traditions and uses a variety of techniques including Christian prayer to reach a state known as thoughtless awareness, or mental silence. While there are many studies on the neural correlates of meditation, few studies have focused on the neural correlates of praying. Thus, the aim of our research was to study the neural activity associated with...
To identify the neural correlates of the state of mental silence as experienced through Sahaja yoga meditation. Nineteen experienced meditators underwent functional magnetic resonance imaging during three short consecutive meditation periods, contrasted with a control relaxation condition. Relative to baseline, at the beginning of the meditation sessions there was a significant increase of...