Chanting is a universal practice with deep ethnocultural roots. More recently, chanting has become popular on online platforms and meditation apps which have extended chanting practices beyond their original cultural, sacred, and healing traditions. The aim of the current study was to determine if online chanting meditation promotes altered states of consciousness and psychosocial benefits when...
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...
This viewpoint explores the therapeutic potential of psychedelics in treating neuropsychiatric disorders, particularly through the modulation of brain entropy and the experience of ego dissolution. Psychedelics disrupt rigid neural patterns, facilitating enhanced connectivity and fostering profound emotional breakthroughs that may alleviate symptoms of disorders like depression, anxiety, PTSD,...
In his phenomenology after Ideas for a Pure Phenomenology and Phenomenological Philosophy, Husserl increasingly thematizes the problem of the immortality of the transcendental ego together with its infinite immanent flow. This creates the problem of the meaning of the experience of consciousness before birth and after death. The infinity of the immanent current is itself the constituted yield...
This chapter explores the profound effects that non-ordinary states, particularly those induced by psychedelics, have on the brain. It highlights how psychedelics influence neural pathways, rerouting them to foster personal growth and address conditions like addiction and depression. Key mechanisms, such as the suppression of the default mode network (DMN), increased brain connectivity, and...
This chapter provides an overview of what individuals may encounter during a psychedelic journey, emphasizing that each experience is unique and influenced by factors such as mindset, environment, dosage, and the type of psychedelic used. Common experiences include vivid visual effects, enhanced sensory perception, feelings of euphoria, ego dissolution, introspection, emotional release, and...
Experiencing oneness or nondual awareness has long been considered a core aspect of spirituality and an aim of meditation and spiritual practice. Oneness experience may lead to well-being and has various adaptive functions in everyday life. However, there has been a lack of comprehensive measures of oneness experiences that are grounded in the consensus-based reports of experienced meditation...
Abstract 5-MeO-DMT, a potent, short-acting psychedelic, induces profound shifts in cognition, affect, and self-awareness. Because language explicitly expresses these domains and voice implicitly conveys them, both may serve as potential ‘biomarkers’ of behavioural change. This study introduces a novel framework for analysing baseline language and vocal features, pre- to post-psychedelic...
Meditation, traditionally seen as a path to spiritual enlightenment, is commonly used in therapeutic contexts for its mental health benefits, such as reducing stress, anxiety, and depression. However, alongside these benefits, practitioners of diverse forms of meditation have repeatedly been reporting adverse effects (AEs) of meditation. While most of these AEs are transient, some of them are...
Abstract Altered states of consciousness (ASCs), induced e.g. during psychedelic-assisted therapy, show potential to treat prevalent mental health disorders like depression and posttraumatic stress disorder. However, access to such treatments is restricted by legal, medical, and financial barriers. Circular breathwork may present a non-pharmacological and hence more accessible alternative to...