The direct impact of negative thoughts and emotions on immunological function seems to be reasonably well documented and, since many Psychoneuroimmunology (PNI) phenomena seem to be mediated by negative affect, rather than situational “stress”, strategies that directly modify this factor may manifest greater benefits. While relaxation orientated meditation most likely…
A reduction of autonomic arousal leads to diversion of blood flow to the viscera and away from the skeletal muscle of the body. Accordingly this leads to increased blood flow to the surface of glabrous skin and thereby an increase in palmar skin temperature. Sahaja Yoga meditation practitioners appear to…
The mental silence experience clearly warrants further investigation. Needless to say, it would be ideal if this research was carried out by those without a financial, emotional or reputational stake in any such research. Experience however suggests that for the foreseeable future it will be meditation enthusiasts who will drive…
Xu (1994) described and discussed the adverse effects of Qigong, which has been described as both a therapeutic practice as well as the “Chinese equivalent of Indian meditation”. The clinical consequences of inappropriate use of this technique has been described as the “Qigong deviation syndrome”, which has become a diagnostic…
Goleman (1996) proposed that meditative styles might be classified into two types, Mindfulness and concentrative, depending on how attention is directed during meditation. Andresen (2000) meanwhile suggested that these two categories might be better understood as two poles on a continuum upon which most other meditative techniques can be positioned.…
As stated previously, the association between religiosity and mental health is not always positive. Larson’s (1992) review of studies exploring the relationship between religious commitment and mental health reported that while 72% described a positive relationship, 16% reported a negative relationship. This proportion is somewhat higher than would be expected…
As far as mindfulness meditation itself is concerned, the Sahaja Yoga Meditation (SYM) approach has some important similarities to mindfulness, in that it also emphasises awareness of the present moment and the idea of disengaging attentional processes from the flow of internal and external events (rather than reduction of physiological…
Since its inception, Sahaja Yoga has been propagated worldwide by a grassroots movement of volunteer practitioners. Its proponents claim that it is now practised in over 80 countries around the world. Instruction in the technique, in keeping with the founder’s philosophy, has been on a free-of-charge, non-commercial basis. For more…
It is difficult to make conclusions about meditation when the definition of the independent variable itself varies from study to study, if not from person to person. A homogeneous definition of meditation is essential for further progress in this field and yet, after almost 40 years of research the scientific…
The Western scientific and health community of scientists and clinicians has generated in excess of 3,000 peer-reviewed articles on or referring to meditation (as featured in the major bibliographic databases such as MEDLINE and PsycINFO). However, despite this impressive accumulation of publications, the number of randomised controlled trials of meditation…