Sahaja Yoga meditation (SYM) may be helpful in mitigating the experience of hot flushes (HFs) in menopause via a number of possible pathways. First, like many other forms of meditation, SYM has been shown to reduce arousal in laboratory experiments. An interesting study on stress-induced HFs however, suggests that simple…
The observed relationship between Sahaja Yoga meditation (SYM) practices and mental health are not similarly as strong for measures of physical health. In many ways this might be expected since the intervention is primarily focused on a mental experience with the specific aim of reducing negative affect, thinking patterns and…
Neki (1975) describes the sahaja state as a mental health ideal in more detail, asserting that it combines the elements of illumination (the direct experience of reality, devoid of the filtering effect of the mind), equipoise (the absence of emotional turbulence) and its replacement with a sense of underlying joy…
The Jadad scoring system is a widely used method of rating randomised controlled trials for basic methodological rigour. The Jadad system is inadequately structured to meaningfully discern the methodological standards of meditation trials. This is because the unique issues associated with controlling for non-specific effects and sources of bias are…
In brief, when using magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) to research meditation, the signal of most relevance to meditation research is driven by a difference in the blood oxygenation levels in capillaries and veins compared to the arteries during a particular task (Russell, 2003). Deoxygenated blood is paramagnetic (attracted to a…
Christian mysticism Importantly, the experience of “thoughtless awareness” and its connection to higher states of consciousness is not exclusive to the East (although it is more systematically described in that culture than any other). There are isolated descriptions throughout the religious history of the West. For example in the anonymous…
Gyaneshwara A famous teenage saint from Maharasthra, Gyaneshawara (1275–1296) described the ascent of the kundalini energy in his commentary on the Bhagavad Gita, called the Gyaneshawari, the awakening of this energy is associated with a unique state of consciousness which includes the experience of mental silence: “…the imagination subsides, activity…
Trans-mind states are extensively described in ancient India, and are regarded as a characteristic aspect of the spiritually developed condition. Mahabharata In one of India’s most ancient texts, the Mahabhrata,(13.294.16) meditation is described as follows: He does not hear…smell…taste…see…or experience touch…his mind ceases to imagine…He desires nothing, and like a…
It seems obvious that the non-specific effect of any intervention is closely related to its credibility and plausibility as a therapeutic intervention i.e. its “face validity”. Now, some of the effects associated with meditation must be non-specific, i.e. comprising a mixture of placebo, therapeutic contact, spontaneous improvement, and so on,…
Despite the scientific establishment’s equivocal conclusions about the efficacy of meditation, positive perceptions are evident among the Western lay population because of the increasing popularity of the philosophy, metaphysics and folklore associated with the ancient and traditional Indian ideas of meditation. So it is important to develop an understanding of…
