In a letter to the American Heart Journal, Kothari et al. (1973) described a remarkable feat in which an ECG was attached to a yogi before he entered an eight day meditative trance. Remarkably, on the second day of the yogi’s trance, the ECG recorded minimal heart activity indicating that…
In 2000 Pirrotta et al. published the results of a widely publicised survey of family physicians in Australia. Remarkably it reported that almost 80% of respondents had recommended meditation to patients at some time in the course of their practice, yet less than 35% had any formal training or education…
Probably the most thorough and up to date review of meditation research was published in 2007 by a team led by Ospina, specifically contracted by the US Department of Health and Human Services to assess the evidence base. They included both randomised and non-randomised trials. In their assessment of more…
Dr Ramesh Manocha carried out a randomised controlled trial to assess the impact Sahaja Yoga meditation (SYM) has on attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) symptoms. The results of this trial program indicate that SYM has potential as an adjunctive therapy for children with ADHD when offered via a family treatment…
Two cases are described in a report by Xu (1994). The first involved a 22 year-old man who sought treatment for lumbago and experienced the onset of adverse effects while undertaking self-teaching of the Wu Qin Xi form of Qigong. He experienced anxiety, physical pain, psychosis and suicidal thoughts. Some…
I propose that one of the main reasons for the paucity of convincing evidence with regard to meditation is because Western scientists have failed to apprehend the key idea that underlies the meditation tradition: meditation is traditionally defined in Eastern cultures as the experience of mental silence. Modern Western understandings…
Summarising the basic features of Sahaja Yoga meditation, it is: 1. Relatively simple to learn and practice. 2. Appears to have a specific, positive effect on health. 3. Can be made available on a low-cost/zero-cost model. 4. Can be taught via mass media vehicles such as radio, television, Internet. 5.…
A head-to-head comparison is where two different approaches to meditation are compared. They are easier to conduct then sham meditation comparisons since elaborate deception strategies are not required, they have inherent authenticity and ethical problems are much less likely. Head-to-head trials are important and valuable because they allow comparison of…
There are a large number of reviews on the topic of meditation in the peer reviewed journal literature. Their conclusions are remarkably diverse, ranging from overwhelmingly positive to considerably negative. These disparities are explainable by factors such as the methodological standards set by the reviewers, whether or not the researchers…
Meditation research to date has been plagued by conceptual and methodological problems. One of the most significant difficulties involves developing control strategies involving interventions which blinded participants might consider plausible, that have no specific therapeutic effects. Randomisation and management of other sources of bias is another area of concern; a…
