World Journal of Advanced Research and Reviews
June 30, 2024
Oliver Lawrence, Kerem Kemal Soylemez, Joanne Lusher et al.
3 citations
Daily meditation improves sense of self by increasing kindness, compassion, and relationship quality, while reducing stress and enhancing awareness, mental clarity, and spirituality. In a qualitative study using Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis, six participants reported feeling more positive and calmer in daily living, with better self-perception and perspective of mind. Physical changes included greater bodily connection to breathing. Enhanced feelings of spirituality and consciousness beyond the self were also noted. These findings suggest meditation may benefit social health issues like poor relationship quality or social exclusion by boosting compassion and awareness, and can aid positive self-perception and identity.
World Journal of Advanced Research and Reviews
March 7, 2025
Kerem Kemal Soylemez, Emma Marie de Boo, Coral Yaron Shoklander et al.
2 citations
People who have never used psychedelics express mixed views about their use in mental health treatment, acknowledging potential benefits but also voicing concerns about safety and control. Interviews with eight participants recruited through snowball and convenience sampling revealed four themes: Imbalance within Control Dynamics, Therapeutic Efficacy, Across Generations and Borders, and Growing Awareness. Age and culture appear to shape these perceptions. While participants recognize that psychedelics could help treat mental health conditions, they remain apprehensive about their application in controlled settings.
World Journal of Advanced Research and Reviews
May 21, 2021
Miranda Ordilena Ferreira De, Almeida Marcílio De, Sousa Ilza Maria de Oliveira et al.
1 citation
The concentration of psychoactive alkaloids in ayahuasca tea—N,N-dimethyltryptamine (DMT), harmaline, harmine, and tetrahydroharmine—varies with the environment where the plants are grown and with how the plants are dried before brewing. Drying Psychotria viridis leaves at 43°C and Banisteriopsis caapi stems at 45°C in a forced-circulation oven best preserved alkaloid content. Neither fresh nor dried plant preparations showed cytotoxic effects on human keratinocyte cells in vitro.
World Journal of Advanced Research and Reviews
May 8, 2026
SNL Narathota, Karunaratne H.k.b.m.s.
Yogic practices described in the Haṭha Yoga Pradīpikā, such as Prāṇāyāma, Mudrā, Bandha, and Meditation, enhance attentional control, autonomic regulation, and neural integration. These practices parallel neuroscientific findings including vagal modulation through breathing, reduced default mode network activity, and increased gamma synchrony during meditation. Yogic descriptions of heightened intuition and expanded cognition show similarities with phenomena discussed in parapsychology, though these remain debated. Emerging models like predictive processing provide tentative explanations for such experiences. The review highlights significant conceptual overlaps across traditions, suggesting that improved attention and autonomic stability underlie altered states of consciousness, but methodological and epistemological differences require cautious interpretation and further interdisciplinary research.
World Journal of Advanced Research and Reviews
March 30, 2024
Yanín Machado, Mauricio Chinchilla, Robert Hesse et al.
Contemplative prayer (CP) may improve depression in bipolar disorder (BD) patients. In a small study, five BD patients and five normal subjects, all believing in God, were medication-free during depressive episodes. A stable frontal alpha asymmetry QEEG pattern was observed in all patients. After CP, the focal left frontal alpha increment disappeared, suggesting CP reorganizes brain network interactions in the prefrontal cortex that support cognition-emotion interplay. The authors conclude CP is a promising tool for treating depression.
World Journal of Advanced Research and Reviews
November 11, 2022
Calixto Machado, Andrew B. Newberg, Yanín Machado et al.
Continuous EEG monitoring (CEEG) revealed increased brain activity while individuals recalled near-death experiences (NDE) and spiritual contemplative experiences (SCE). The amplitude of the CEEG envelope increased during both types of recall, with a greater increase for SCE, particularly in the frontal lobes. Statistical increments in absolute power for alpha and gamma brainwave bands occurred during both NDE and SCE recall. The authors conclude that CEEG is a useful method for continuously assessing dynamic brain changes during these experiences.
World Journal of Advanced Research and Reviews
January 30, 2025
Yanín Machado, Mauricio Chinchilla, Calixto Machado et al.
Centering praying (CP) appears to help manage post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) in female sexual assault survivors. In a small randomized controlled trial, five women with PTSD due to sexual abuse or rape received CP treatment, while five matched controls did not. After treatment, patients showed significant improvement on the PTSD Checklist for DSM-5 and the Patient Health Questionnaire-9. Quantitative electroencephalography revealed a stable increase in theta activity (4–8 Hz) in the left parietal-temporal-occipital areas, which progressively decreased toward normal as treatment continued. The authors conclude that CP offers a distinct, accessible pathway for promoting emotional regulation and resilience rooted in spirituality.
World Journal of Advanced Research and Reviews
November 30, 2022
Calixto Machado, Andrew B. Newberg, Yanín Machado et al.
Memories of near-death experiences (NDE) and spiritual contemplative experiences (SCE) show similar brain activation patterns in delta, alpha, and gamma bands, along with frontal lobe activation, as measured by quantitative electroencephalography tomography. The Greyson Scale evaluation indicates a correlation between the attributes of NDE and SCE, such as cognitive timelessness, affective peace, transcendent oneness, and out-of-body sensations. SCE subjects exhibited statistically greater brain activation than NDE subjects. The study used QEEGt methodology, which incorporates MRI anatomical information to improve the precision of EEG source localization.