Abstract
Buddhist-derived meditation practices are currently being employed as a popular form of health promotion. While meditation programs draw inspiration from Buddhist textual sources for the benefits of meditation, these sources also acknowledge a wide range of other effects beyond health-related outcomes. The Varieties of Contemplative Experience study investigates meditation-related experiences that are typically underreported, particularly experiences that are described as challenging, difficult, distressing, functionally impairing, and/or requiring additional support. A mixed-methods approach featured qualitative interviews with Western Buddhist meditation practitioners and experts in Theravāda, Zen, and Tibetan traditions. Interview questions probed meditation experiences and influencing factors, including interpretations and management strategies. A follow-up survey provided quantitative assessments of causality, impairment and other demographic and practice-related variables. The content-driven thematic analysis of interviews yielded a taxonomy of 59 meditation-related experiences across 7 domains: cognitive, perceptual, affective, somatic, conative, sense of self, and social. Even in cases where the phenomenology was similar across participants, interpretations of and responses to the experiences differed considerably. The associated valence ranged from very positive to very negative, and the associated level of distress and functional impairment ranged from minimal and transient to severe and enduring. In order to determine what factors may influence the valence, impact, and response to any given experience, the study also identified 26 categories of influencing factors across 4 domains: practitioner-level factors, practice-level factors, relationships, and health behaviors. By identifying a broader range of experiences associated with meditation, along with the factors that contribute to the presence and management of experiences reported as challenging, difficult, distressing or functionally impairing, this study aims to increase our understanding of the effects of contemplative practices and to provide resources for mediators, clinicians, meditation researchers, and meditation teachers.
Highlights
Buddhist meditation practices, which traditionally have been part of an extensive religious path to awakening, are in the modern Western context a popular form of general health promotion that is simultaneously bound to and divorced from its religious roots
The purpose of the current study is to build upon the research summarized above by addressing the following questions: What is the range of meditation-related effects described by Buddhist practitioners in the West? What types of experiences do they report as unexpected, challenging, difficult, distressing, or functionally impairing? What are the hypothesized causes of those experiences? What interpretations are they given by others? What
Based upon qualitative interviews of Western Buddhist practitioners and experts, the Varieties of Contemplative Experience study developed a taxonomy of meditation-related experiences, with a special effort to capture under-reported experiences characterized as challenging, difficult, distressing, or impairing, and which may need specific kinds of support
Summary
Buddhist meditation practices, which traditionally have been part of an extensive religious path to awakening (bodhi), are in the modern Western context a popular form of general health promotion that is simultaneously bound to and divorced from its religious roots. Inspired by Buddhist claims for the possibility of freedom from “suffering” (dukkha), key Buddhist doctrines and practices have been re-presented within and adapted to psychological and biomedical frameworks [1] In this new context, Buddhist-derived meditation practices inform treatment programs such as “mindfulness-based interventions” (MBIs), which are being applied towards the alleviation of a wide range of ailments, including stress [2], addiction [3], chronic pain [4], mood disorders [5], psychiatric disorders [6], and medical conditions [7]. With more than 20 mindfulness phone apps [20], mindfulness is major contributor to the billion-dollar meditation industry [21] that serves more than 18 million meditators [22], with 1 million new meditators each year in the United States alone [23]
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