Crossing Boundaries: Autoethnography of Subjective Experiences During Meditation
Anna-Katharina Kothe, Stefanie Vochatzer, Christian Oesterle, Steffen Philipp Ruf
The Qualitative Report June 7, 2023 DOI: 10.46743/2160-3715/2023.5510 (opens in new tab)
Study at a glance
AI-extracted from the abstract| Characteristics | Autoethnography Qualitative Peer reviewed |
|---|---|
| Intervention | Meditation |
| Topics | Meditation |
| Key findings | Argues that meditation experiences defy verbalization in qualitative research and that autoethnography is a better fit for such inexpressible experience because it immerses the reader. Proposes that both the meditation experience and the decision to adopt an autoethnographic paradigm constituted "wandering off the beaten track," crossing boundaries of what is usually done in society and social science. |
Abstract
In this autoethnographic quadrologue, the authors aim to show how meditation experiences defy verbalization in a qualitative research setting. This leads to the insight that an autoethnographic approach may be a much better fit for such an experience, where complex and inexpressible things can be found. This is especially the case since autoethnographic texts include and immerse the reader in the experience. Even though in the case of meditation this can hardly be achieved, this quadrologue aims at conveying some of the struggles and peculiarities of meditation practice. It focuses on the research process leading to the decision to employ an autoethnography paradigm. Thus, the focus of this article is the differentiation of autoethnography from other methodological approaches and the conscious decision in favour of this method, which is rather unusual in German-speaking countries. The authors develop the thesis that both the meditation experience and the decision to employ an autoethnographic paradigm led to the experience of “wandering off the beaten track” and crossing the boundaries of what is usually done in society and social science respectively.
Comparable studies
Other qualitative studies on meditation, most cited first.
Citations in the library
Cites 6
- Mindfulness: A proposed operational definition. Clinical Psychology Science and Practice 2004
- Long-term meditators self-induce high-amplitude gamma synchrony during mental practice Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences November 8, 2004
- The meeting of meditative disciplines and western psychology: A mutually enriching dialogue. American Psychologist 2006
- Attention regulation and monitoring in meditation. Trends in Cognitive Sciences April 1, 2008
- Meditation states and traits: EEG, ERP, and neuroimaging studies. Psychological Bulletin March 2006
and 1 more in the library