The Spiral of Attention, Arousal, and Release: A Comparative Phenomenology of Jhāna Meditation and Speaking in Tongues.
Josh Brahinsky, Jonas Mago, Mark Miller, Shaila Catherine, Michael Lifshitz
American journal of human biology : the official journal of the Human Biology Council December 1, 2024 DOI: 10.1002/ajhb.24189 (opens in new tab)
Study at a glance
AI-extracted from the abstract| Characteristics | Qualitative study with phenomenological interviews Peer reviewed |
|---|---|
| Population | Experienced practitioners of Buddhist Jhāna meditation and Christian speaking in tongues in the USA |
| Intervention | Buddhist Jhāna meditation |
| Topics | Meditation Philosophy of mind |
| Keywords | Jhāna meditation High arousal contemplation Speaking in tongues |
| Citations | 5 |
| Key findings | Practitioners of both Jhāna meditation and speaking in tongues describe a dynamic relationship between focused attention, aroused joy, and a sense of release, suggesting a shared underlying mechanism of an attention-arousal-release spiral. |
Abstract
Buddhist Jhāna meditation and the Christian practice of speaking in tongues appear wildly distinct. These spiritual techniques differ in their ethical, theological, and historical frames and seem, from the outside, to produce markedly different states of consciousness-one a state of utter calm and the other of high emotional arousal. Yet, our phenomenological interviews with experienced practitioners in the USA found significant points of convergence. Practitioners in both traditions describe a dynamic relationship between focused attention, aroused joy, and a sense of letting go or release that they describe as crucial to their practice. This paper highlights these shared phenomenological features and theorizes possible underlying mechanisms. Analyzing our phenomenological data through the lens of various theories of brain function, including sensory gating and predictive processing, we propose that these practices both engage an autonomic field built through a spiral between attention, arousal, and release (AAR).
Comparable studies
Other qualitative studies on philosophy of mind, most cited first.
| Study | Year | Design | Participants |
|---|---|---|---|
| Qualitative thematic analysis of the phenomenology of near-death experiences Cardiac arrest survivors | 2018 | Qualitative study | n = 34 |
| Phenomenology and Sequelae of 3,4-Methylenedioxymethamphetamine Use Psychiatrists who had taken MDMA | 1992 | Qualitative study | n = 20 |
| A phenomenology of meditation-induced light experiences: traditional buddhist and neurobiological perspectives American Buddhist practitioners | 2014 | Qualitative study | |
| Evoking the ineffable: The phenomenology of extreme sports. Extreme sports participants across three continents, including BASE jumping, big wave... | 2017 | Qualitative study | n = 15 |
| Phenomenology and content of the inhaled N, N-dimethyltryptamine (N, N-DMT) experience. Naturalistic inhaled N,N-DMT experiences posted to the r/DMT Reddit community | 2022 | Qualitative analysis | n = 3,778 |
Citations in the library
Cited by 5
- Active inference, computational phenomenology, and advanced meditation: Toward the formalization of the experience of meditation. Neuroscience & Biobehavioral Reviews March 1, 2026
- Phenomenology, by comparison: from ethnographic variation to experiential structure Phenomenology and the Cognitive Sciences June 18, 2026
- Religion and the Brain - on Consciousness and Attention Preprints.org April 25, 2025
- Introduction: The Influences of Religion and Spirituality on Human Biology. American journal of human biology : the official journal of the Human Biology Council December 1, 2024
- Near-critical brain dynamics track effortlessness during meditation bioRxiv August 12, 2026
Cites 15
- Active interoceptive inference and the emotional brain Philosophical transactions of the Royal Society of London. Series B, Biological sciences October 11, 2016
- Buddha's Brain: Neuroplasticity and Meditation [In the Spotlight] IEEE Signal Processing Magazine 2008
- From many to (n)one: Meditation and the plasticity of the predictive mind. Neuroscience & Biobehavioral Reviews September 1, 2021
- A neurophenomenological approach to non-ordinary states of consciousness: hypnosis, meditation, and psychedelics Trends in Cognitive Sciences December 22, 2022
- A phenomenology of meditation-induced light experiences: traditional buddhist and neurobiological perspectives Frontiers in Psychology 2014
and 10 more in the library