Spirituality and Transcendental meditation practitioners’ experiences in South Africa and Ghana
Tenneson Boatsi, Veronica M. Dwarika
Journal of Spirituality in Mental Health September 11, 2024 DOI: 10.1080/19349637.2024.2400056 (opens in new tab)
Study at a glance
AI-extracted from the abstract| Characteristics | Qualitative phenomenological study Peer reviewed |
|---|---|
| Sample size | 28 |
| Population | Transcendental Meditation practitioners in South Africa and Ghana |
| Intervention | Transcendental Meditation |
| Topics | Meditation |
| Key findings | Transcendental Meditation acts as a catalyst for spiritual growth for most practitioners, though two female participants reported it had nothing to do with their spirituality. |
Abstract
ABSTRACT Spirituality involves being in harmony with the cosmos or nature and a willingness to engage in good works for the sake of mankind; for instance, love for one another, care for the environment, and the production and protection of the common good for society. Spirituality could also be defined as the connectedness with nature or the cosmos, seeing beyond the circumstances of one’s limitation and the suffering one encounters (transcendence) and understanding one purpose and meaning of one existence. In an African context, spirituality is experienced by many people as being in touch with one’s spirit which is an indication of integration of the body with the spirit and without this spiritual aspect of the essence of oneself, it becomes natural to see and feel problem. When one is permanently established on the platform of the Transcendental Being, life is lived in eternal freedom and enjoyment of blissfulness throughout the day. In this vein, the self silently witnesses daily activity. This is the essence of TM practice where practitioners experience spiritual upliftment. Though much research has been done on TM globally, the spiritual lived experiences of the practitioners have not been adequately explored, especially in South Africa and Ghana. Therefore, the study sought to explore the spiritual lived experiences of TM practitioners in South Africa and Ghana. The study adopted the constructivist paradigm through the lens of phenomenology. In all, 28 participants took part in the study − 14 participants from South Africa and another 14 from Ghana. Open-ended questionnaires and semi-structured interviews were used to collect data for the study. Husserl’s transcendental phenomenological data analysis was used to analyze and synthesize the descriptions of the spiritual lived experiences of the TM practitioners. The results suggest that TM act as a catalyst for the spiritual growth of the participants from both countries and that they experienced spiritual upliftment with the practice of TM. However, two participants both females were of the view that TM has nothing to do with their spirituality. It is the recommendation of this study that people who seek a spiritual path to discover their purpose and meaning in life explore this technique although there are other paths toward spiritual enlightenment. For instance, Christian’s contemplations player and Sufism.
Comparable studies
Other qualitative studies on meditation, most cited first.
Citations in the library
Cites 12
- Mindfulness and self-compassion as predictors of psychological wellbeing in long-term meditators and matched nonmeditators The Journal of Positive Psychology April 11, 2012
- A Wait‐List Randomized Controlled Trial of Loving‐Kindness Meditation Programme for Self‐Criticism Clinical Psychology & Psychotherapy March 16, 2014
- A Psychology of Indigenous Healing in Southern Africa Journal of Psychology in Africa 2011
- Defining a complex intervention: The development of demarcation criteria for “meditation”. Psychology of Religion and Spirituality May 1, 2009
- Transcendental Meditation in the Treatment of Mental and Physical Conditions The Oxford Handbook of Meditation December 15, 2020
and 7 more in the library