An analysis of recent meditation research
Roger Walsh, Shauna L. Shapiro
eScholarship 2003
Study at a glance
AI-extracted from the abstract| Characteristics | Review Peer reviewed |
|---|---|
| Topics | Meditation |
| Key findings | Argues that meditation research has produced numerous significant findings across psychological, physiological, and transpersonal domains, but contends the field must move beyond a predominantly reductionistic, biomedical model to include subjective and transpersonal domains and an integral perspective. Proposes future research directions based on this expanded paradigm. |
Abstract
An Analysis of Recent Meditation Research and Suggestions for Future Directions Shauna L. Shapiro, Ph.D. University of Arizona Roger Walsh, M.D., Ph.D. Department of Psychiatry and Human Behavior University of California Irvine College of Medicine ABSTRACT: Meditation offers a rich and complex field of study. Over the past 40 years, several hundred research studies have dem- onstrated numerous significant findings including changes in psy- chological, physiological, and transpersonal realms. This paper at- tempts to summarize these findings, and to review more recent medi- tation research. We then suggest directions for future research, em- phasizing the necessity to continue to expand the paradigm from which meditation research is conducted, from a predominantly re- ductionistic, biomedical model to one which includes subjective and transpersonal domains and an integral perspective. Meditation has been practiced in many fomis in many cul- tures over many centuries. Historically, it has been practiced for at least three thousand years since the dawn of Indian yoga and is a central discipline at the contemplative core of each of the world’s great religions. It is most often associated with the Indian traditions of yoga and Buddhism, but has also been crucial to the Chinese Tao- ist and NeoConfucian traditions. The great monotheisms—Judaism, Christianity and Islam—have also offered a variety of meditative techniques, although they never obtained the popularity and central- ity accorded them in India. The Perennial Philosophy The importance accorded meditation by the perennial philosophy——the common core of wisdom and worldview that lies at the heart of each of the great religions—is based on three crucial as- sumptions; assumptions that speak to the most vital aspects of our nature and potential as human beings. Yet, with the exception of
Comparable studies
Other narrative reviews on meditation, most cited first.
| Study | Year | Design | Participants |
|---|---|---|---|
| Mindfulness training as a clinical intervention: A conceptual and empirical review. Clinical populations | 2003 | Review | |
| Mindfulness: Theoretical Foundations and Evidence for its Salutary Effects | 2007 | Review | |
| Mindfulness Interventions | 2016 | Review | |
| Mind the Hype: A Critical Evaluation and Prescriptive Agenda for Research on Mindfulness and Meditation | 2017 | Review | |
| Mindfulness and acceptance: expanding the cognitive-behavioral tradition | 2005 | Review |