Five experienced practitioners of transcendental meditation spent appreciable parts of meditation sesions in sleep stages 2, 3, and 4. Time spent in each sleep stage varied both between sessions for a given subject and between subjects. In addition, we compare electroencephalogram records made during meditation with those made during naps taken at the same time of day. The range of states...
The present study was concerned with investigating the description, production, and utilization aspects of meditation.It was found that the meditative state of consciousness could be described by a concentration which, with practice, increasingly minimized the intrusion of distracting thoughts; and relative to a control group, when thoughts did occur, they tended to be categorized as...
According to Abhidhamma, a classical Asian phenomenology of consciousness, through meditation a set of "healthy" mental properties reciprocally inhibits an "unhealthy" set. In light of Abhidhamma and empirical findings, applications of meditation are suggested for inducing an optimal mode of responsiveness to environmental demands, and as a complementary adjunct to psychotherapy.
In 1959, Maharishi Mahesh Yogi introduced to America an exercise involving sitting quietly twice daily and passively attending to a special thought called a This exercise is called transcendental meditation (TM) and has since been taught to at least 600,000 persons. One possible reason for TM's popularity is Maharishi's claim that the technique is a natural and effective cure for mental...
Meditation may have clinical application in stress-related disorders or it may alleviate the adverse effects of normal daily stress, depending on the resiliency of demonstrated state effects. The significance of meditation as a stress intervention appropriate for daily life might prove major if these meditation state effects carry over and transform the meditator in a more permanent way,...
The authors surveyed the frequency of alcohol use in individuals identified as practitioners of Transcendental Meditation (N equals 126) and a matched control group (N equals 90). No control subjects reported discontinuation of beer and wine use; 40 percent of subjects who had meditated for more than 2 years reported discontinuation within the first 6 months. After 25-39 months of meditation,...
This paper presents the case of a 39-year-old woman who, several weeks following initiation into transcendental meditation (TM), experienced altered reality testing and behavior. We discuss the course of this episode, present evidence for a causal relationship between her practive of TM and altered behavior, and discuss the appropriate treatment of such phenomena.
Electroencephalograms (EEGs) and DC electrooculograms (EOGs) were recorded during Transcendental Meditation periods for 8 experienced Ss. The records, scored blind showed that all but 2 Ss spent considerable portions of their meditation periods in unambiguous physiological sleep.
For two and a half years the authors have taught Transcendental Meditation (TM) to psychiatric patients at the Institute of Living in Hartford, Connecticut. They have also presented programs to hospital staff to acquaint them with the technique and practice of TM. In this paper they describe briefly the instruction program given to patients at the institute and point out some of the benefits of...
Discusses the experience of learning autogenic training and progressive relaxation.On occasions when the author was able to reach a state of near absolute relaxation, he experimented with desensitization therapy, and tried to hold an image completely still.To the extent that this was successful, clarity and objectivity of perception occurred which supports the James-Lange theory of the...