Findings suggest that the mental silence experience may be associated with a specific pattern of activity in both the central nervous system and autonomic nervous system which is more complex than simple reduction of arousal and yet different from the cognitive changes seen in association with mindfulness meditaton.
Thus, although Eastern and Western ideas of meditation may seem externally similar (as might meditation and relaxation) and may initially share a number of physiological similarities, the point of both physiological and philosophical divergence between the two paradigms may be with the onset of the mental silence experience.
Ramesh Manocha