Self-inquiry at a distance: a qualitative study of spiritual emergence in a 7-day virtual retreat
The Journal of Spirituality in Mental Health May 18, 2025 DOI: 10.1080/19349637.2025.2504958 (opens in new tab) via Semantic Scholar
Summary
AI-generated from the abstractA 7-day online spiritual retreat combining self-inquiry, meditation, and breathwork can support transformative experiences, including inner peace and ego challenges. Analysis of 56 participants' feedback identified three main themes: inner peace, transformation process, and emotional and ego challenges. The findings introduce digital containment as a framework for supporting unitive states in virtual settings, show that emotional and somatic intensity are central to spiritual transformation even online, and reframe post-awakening uncertainty as a deepening of existential surrender rather than regression.
Study at a glance
| Characteristics | Qualitative study using grounded theory Peer reviewed |
|---|---|
| Sample size | 56 |
| Population | Participants in a 7-day online spiritual retreat |
| Interventions | meditation and breathwork |
| Duration | 7-day program |
| Keywords | Psychology Education |
| Key finding | Online spiritual retreats can support transformative experiences including inner peace, emotional challenges, and ontological uncertainty, with emotional and somatic intensity being central to transformation even in virtual settings. |
Abstract
ABSTRACT In this study, I investigate the transformative potential of online spiritual retreats by analyzing participant experiences from a 7-day virtual program integrating continuous self-inquiry, meditation, and breathwork. Fifty-six participants completed a post-retreat integration and feedback form designed to elicit reflective insights into their contemplative experiences. Using grounded theory techniques within an interpretivist framework, the analysis yielded three overarching categories: (1) inner peace, (2) transformation process, and; (3) emotional and ego challenges. The findings advance scholarly understanding of digital spirituality through three core contributions. First, the concept of digital containment is introduced as a structural and energetic matrix capable of supporting unitive states, ego dissolution, and sustained ontological insight. Second, the data challenge disembodied models of awakening by demonstrating that emotional catharsis and somatic intensity are not ancillary but central to spiritual transformation – even in virtual settings. Third, the study identifies ontological uncertainty as a generative post-awakening phase, reframing epistemic disorientation not as regression but as a deepening of existential surrender. Collectively, these contributions revise assumptions about the limitations of digitally mediated contemplative practice and expand the theoretical landscape of transpersonal psychology, spiritual emergence, and online retreat design.