Long-term Meditation Practice Research Articles

Immediate Effects of Cyclic Meditation on State Mindfulness in Normal Healthy Volunteers: A Controlled Study

Meditation is a profound inward attention as practiced in many traditions. Meditation techniques such as mindfulness meditation or transcendental meditation include specific postures, focused attention, or an open attitude toward distractions defined by National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine (NCCAM), USA. Regular practice enhances calmness and relaxation, improve psychological balance, cope with illness, or enhance overall health and well-being (NCCAM, 2010).Mindfulness meditation involves paying heightened awareness to the present-moment and non-judgmentally focusing on all that we possess to a greater or lesser extent. It is an intrinsic state that all humans can cultivate through a long-term practice of meditation, which enhances mindfulness skills and in turn these skills promote psychological well-being (Soler et al., 2014). There are twocomponent models of mindfulness, i.e., sustained attention in the present moment and the open, curious, and accepting attitude (Lutz, Slagter, Dunne, & Davidson, 2008). Recently, mindfulness has been proposed to remediate a range of clinical problems (e.g., depression, anxiety, stress) and to impact core aspects of social cognition (e.g., meta-cognition, self-referential thought, cognitive behavior, rather than physiological, paradigm for meditation. Following the guided meditation like focusing on sensation in the body, sound, thoughts and emotions (longer formal practices) or shorter formal practices (MBCT, Vipassana) and informal meditation practices (Cyclic Meditation, Transcendental Meditation or mindfulness in daily life activities), or both, there are definitive changes in higher mental functions of such practitioners (Crane et al., 2014). These practices certainly effect the mindfulness of individuals whether practiced long term or even a single session (Vinchurkar, Singh, & Vis wes waraiah, 2 014).One of the various forms of mindfulness is the practice of a unique technique called Cyclic Mediation (CM). CM is a moving meditation practice derived from an ancient Indian text, Mandukya Upanishad (Nagendra & Nagrathana, 1997). It was fundamentally designed for novice practitioners and combines the practice of yoga postures with guided meditation. CM is known to induce a quiet state of mind, which is compatible with the description of meditation (dhyana or effortless expansion), according to Sage Patanjali (Subramanya & Telles, 2009a). Although this moving meditation differs from the classic description of meditation, in which the practitioners remain seated, keeping as still as possible, the mental state in both practices (moving meditation and seated practices) is supposed to be comparable (Subramanya & Telles, 2009b). An essential part of the practice of CM is being aware of sensations arising in the body (Nagendra & Nagrathana, 1997) which emphasize the mindful component.Several studies have demonstrated the beneficial effects of Cyclic Meditation on behavioral and cognitive domains. In a previous study conducted on middle managers, CM program decreased occupational stress levels and baseline autonomic arousal in 26 asymptomatic, male, middle managers (Vempati & Telles, 2000). Studies conducted to determine the effects of CM practice reported a decreased oxygen consumption indicating physiological relaxation as in mindfulness (Sarang & Telles, 2006). Few other studies on immediate effects of CM concluded that it improves attention, cognition, enhances slow wave sleep and reduces anxiety (Patra & Telles, 2009; Sarang & Telles, 2006, 2007; Subramanya & Telles, 2009b). Mindful yoga practices (like CM) may generate the state of mindfulness, which, when evoked recurrently through repeated practice, may accrue into trait or dispositional mindfulness (Chambers, Gullone, & Allen, 2009; Garland et al., 2010). A recent study on the effective practice of mindfulness to explore the relationship of meditation on mindfulness skills and psychological health demonstrated a significant improvement in both the variables (Deepeshwar, Suhas, Naveen, & Nagendra, 2014). …

Influence of long-term Sahaja Yoga meditation practice on emotional processing in the brain: An ERP study

Despite growing interest in meditation as a tool for alternative therapy of stress-related and psychosomatic diseases, brain mechanisms of beneficial influences of meditation practice on health and quality of life are still unclear. We propose that the key point is a persistent change in emotional functioning, specifically the modulation of the early appraisal of motivational significance of events. The main aim was to study the effects of long-term meditation practice on event-related brain potentials (ERPs) during affective picture viewing. ERPs were recorded in 20 long-term Sahaja Yoga meditators and 20 control subjects without prior experience in meditation. The meditators’ mid-latency (140–400ms) ERPs were attenuated for both positive and negative pictures (i.e. there were no arousal-related increases in ERP positivity) and this effect was more prominent over the right hemisphere. However, we found no differences in the long latency (400–800ms) responses to emotional images, associated with meditation practice. In addition we found stronger ERP negativity in the time window 200–300ms for meditators compared to the controls, regardless of picture valence. We assume that long-term meditation practice enhances frontal top-down control over fast automatic salience detection, based on amygdala functions.

Effects of long-term meditation practice on attentional biases towards emotional faces: An eye-tracking study

Attentional biases towards affective stimuli reflect an individual balance of appetitive and aversive motivational systems. Vigilance in relation to threatening information reflects emotional imbalance, associated with affective and somatic problems. It is known that meditation practice significantly improves control of attention, which is considered to be a tool for adaptive emotional regulation. In this regard, the main aim of the present study was to evaluate the influence of meditation on attentional bias towards neutral and emotional facial expressions. Eyes were tracked while 21 healthy controls and 23 experienced meditators (all males) viewed displays consisting of four facial expressions (neutral, angry, fearful and happy) for 10 s. Measures of biases in initial orienting and maintenance of attention were assessed. No effects were found for initial orienting biases. Meditators spent significantly less time viewing angry and fearful faces than control subjects. Furthermore, meditators selectively attended to happy faces whereas control subjects showed attentional biases towards both angry and happy faces. In sum we can conclude that long-term meditation practice adaptively affects attentional biases towards motivationally significant stimuli and that these biases reflect positive mood and predominance of appetitive motivation.

Potential therapeutic effects of meditation for treating affective dysregulation.

Affective dysregulation is at the root of many psychopathologies, including stress induced disorders, anxiety disorders, and depression. The root of these disorders appears to be an attenuated, top-down cognitive control from the prefrontal cortices over the maladaptive subcortical emotional processing. A form of mental training, long-term meditation practice can trigger meditation-specific neuroplastic changes in the brain regions underlying cognitive control and affective regulation, suggesting that meditation can act as a kind of mental exercise to foster affective regulation and possibly a cost-effective intervention in mood disorders. Increasing research has suggested that the cultivation of awareness and acceptance along with a nonjudgmental attitude via meditation promotes adaptive affective regulation. This review examined the concepts of affective regulation and meditation and discussed behavioral and neural evidence of the potential clinical application of meditation. Lately, there has been a growing trend toward incorporating the “mindfulness” component into existing psychotherapeutic treatment. Promising results have been observed thus far. Future studies may consider exploring the possibility of integrating the element of “compassion” into current psychotherapeutic approaches.

Efficacy of Rajayoga Meditation on Positive Thinking: An Index for Self-Satisfaction and Happiness in Life

Psychological studies have shown that brief period of mindfulness meditation significantly improves critical cognitive skills. But, there are no studies which have assessed the effects of Brahma Kumaris Rajayoga Meditation (BKRM) practice on positive thinking and happiness in life. The present study was designed to test the hypothesis is BKRM enhances positive thinking and that essential to attain higher levels of self-satisfaction and happiness in life. This study is a cross sectional comparative study which was done between Rajayoga meditators and non-meditators. This study was conducted at BKRM Centres at Manipal and Udupi in Karnataka, India. Fifty subjects were selected for this study, which included those practising BKRM in their normal routine life (n=25) and non-meditators (n=25) who were aged 42.95+/15.29 years. Self-reported Oxford happiness questionnaire (OHQ) was administered to all subjects and their happiness scores and status were assessed and compared. Items related to self-satisfaction in life were selected from the OHQ and compared between meditators and non-meditators. Participants completed self-reported OHQ, from which data of happiness status and self-satisfaction in relation to meditation duration and frequency were analyzed by descriptive statistics and test of hypothesis. Mean happiness scores of BKRM were significantly higher (p<0.001) in meditators as compared to those in non-meditators. The number of meditators experiencing happiness status were significantly higher (p<0.05) in comparison with non-meditators. Additionally, meditators scored significantly higher on self-satisfaction items (p<0.001) as compared to non-meditators. There was no correlation between age and years of meditation practice with happiness score and self-satisfaction score. BKRM helps in significantly increasing self-satisfaction and happiness in life by enhancing positive thinking. Irrespective of age and years of short-term or long-term meditation practice, enhanced positive thinking increases self-satisfaction and happiness in life.

A theoretical model of efficacy of concentrative meditation for cognitive rehabilitation of dementia

The positive effects of various types of meditation on health have been one of the well documented evidences of past decade. However, the effects of meditation on one specific domain of human cognition-attention have been understudied. This becomes an especially important issue in cases of dementia, where attention deterioration is an important component in addition to the memory problems. Here we appraise some theories of attention deterioration in aging individuals. We next proceed to build a model of the effects of concentrative meditation practice on various domains of attention in aging individuals, backed up with the evidences from literature. For this we also present the results of our own studies conducted on the concentrative meditation of Vihangam Yoga to highlight the fact that with long-term meditation practice, attention can be improved in various domains. Finally we propose that the effects of meditation can be especially tried on minimal cognitive deficit patients to explore if it helps further deterioration in such patients. This line of study could have important implication for future treatments of attention related problems in dementia patients.

Mindfulness, by any other name…: trials and tribulations of sati in western psychology and science

The Buddhist construct of mindfulness is a central element of mindfulness-based interventions and derives from a systematic phenomenological programme developed over several millennia to investigate subjective experience. Enthusiasm for ‘mindfulness’ in Western psychological and other science has resulted in proliferation of definitions, operationalizations and self-report inventories that purport to measure mindful awareness as a trait. This paper addresses a number of seemingly intractable issues regarding current attempts to characterize mindfulness and also highlights a number of vulnerabilities in this domain that may lead to denaturing, distortion, dilution or reification of Buddhist constructs related to mindfulness. Enriching positivist Western psychological paradigms with a detailed and complex Buddhist phenomenology of the mind may require greater study and long-term direct practice of insight meditation than is currently common among psychologists and other scientists. Pursuit of such an approach would seem a necessary precondition for attempts to characterize and quantify mindfulness.

Increased default mode network connectivity associated with meditation

Areas associated with the default mode network (DMN) are substantially similar to those associated with meditation practice. However, no studies on DMN connectivity during resting states have been conducted on meditation practitioners. It was hypothesized that meditators would show heightened functional connectivity in areas of cortical midline activity. Thirty-five meditation practitioners and 33 healthy controls without meditation experience were included in this study. All subjects received 4.68-min resting state functional scanning runs. The posterior cingulate cortex and medial prefrontal cortex were chosen as seed regions for the DMN map. Meditation practitioners demonstrated greater functional connectivity within the DMN in the medial prefrontal cortex area (xyz=339−21) than did controls. These results suggest that the long-term practice of meditation may be associated with functional changes in regions related to internalized attention even when meditation is not being practiced.

A systematic review of neurobiological and clinical features of mindfulness meditations

Mindfulness meditation (MM) practices constitute an important group of meditative practices that have received growing attention. The aim of the present paper was to systematically review current evidence on the neurobiological changes and clinical benefits related to MM practice in psychiatric disorders, in physical illnesses and in healthy subjects. A literature search was undertaken using Medline, ISI Web of Knowledge, the Cochrane collaboration database and references of retrieved articles. Controlled and cross-sectional studies with controls published in English up to November 2008 were included. Electroencephalographic (EEG) studies have revealed a significant increase in alpha and theta activity during meditation. Neuroimaging studies showed that MM practice activates the prefrontal cortex (PFC) and the anterior cingulate cortex (ACC) and that long-term meditation practice is associated with an enhancement of cerebral areas related to attention. From a clinical viewpoint, Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) has shown efficacy for many psychiatric and physical conditions and also for healthy subjects, Mindfulness-Based Cognitive Therapy (MBCT) is mainly efficacious in reducing relapses of depression in patients with three or more episodes, Zen meditation significantly reduces blood pressure and Vipassana meditation shows efficacy in reducing alcohol and substance abuse in prisoners. However, given the low-quality designs of current studies it is difficult to establish whether clinical outcomes are due to specific or non-specific effects of MM. Despite encouraging findings, several limitations affect current studies. Suggestions are given for future research based on better designed methodology and for future directions of investigation.

Meditators and Non-Meditators: EEG Source Imaging During Resting

Many meditation exercises aim at increased awareness of ongoing experiences through sustained attention and at detachment, i.e., non-engaging observation of these ongoing experiences by the intent not to analyze, judge or expect anything. Long-term meditation practice is believed to generalize the ability of increased awareness and greater detachment into everyday life. We hypothesized that neuroplasticity effects of meditation (correlates of increased awareness and detachment) would be detectable in a no-task resting state. EEG recorded during resting was compared between Qigong meditators and controls. Using LORETA (low resolution electromagnetic tomography) to compute the intracerebral source locations, differences in brain activations between groups were found in the inhibitory delta EEG frequency band. In the meditators, appraisal systems were inhibited, while brain areas involved in the detection and integration of internal and external sensory information showed increased activation. This suggests that neuroplasticity effects of long-term meditation practice, subjectively described as increased awareness and greater detachment, are carried over into non-meditating states.

Psychological Functioning in a Sample of Long-Term Practitioners of Mindfulness Meditation

Although mindfulness meditation traditionally is viewed as a lifelong practice, much current knowledge about its effects is based on short-term practitioners who have participated in mindfulness-based treatment. In the current study, long-term meditators and demographically similar nonmeditators completed self-report measures of constructs expected to be related to the practice of mindfulness meditation. Extent of meditation experience was correlated in the expected directions with levels of mindfulness and with many other variables. Mean differences between meditators and nonmeditators were significant in most cases. Mediation analyses were consistent with the hypothesis that practicing meditation is associated with increased mindfulness in daily life, which is related to decreased rumination, decreased fear of emotion, and increased behavioral self-regulation. These mechanisms appear partially responsible for the relationships between mindfulness skills and psychological adjustment. Overall, the current study suggests that the long-term practice of mindfulness meditation may cultivate mindfulness skills and promote adaptive functioning.

Age effects on attentional blink performance in meditation

Here we explore whether mental training in the form of meditation can help to overcome age-related attentional decline. We compared performance on the attentional blink task between three populations: A group of long-term meditation practitioners within an older population, a control group of age-matched participants and a control group of young participants. Members of both control groups had never practiced meditation. Our results show that long-term meditation practice leads to a reduction of the attentional blink. Meditation practitioners taken from an older population showed a reduction in blink as compared to a control group taken from a younger population, whereas, the control group age-matched to the meditators’ group revealed a blink that was comparatively larger and broader. Our results support the hypothesis that meditation practice can: (i) alter the efficiency with which attentional resources are distributed and (ii) help to overcome age-related attentional deficits in the temporal domain.

Long-term meditation is associated with increased gray matter density in the brain stem

Extensive practice involving sustained attention can lead to changes in brain structure. Here, we report evidence of structural differences in the lower brainstem of participants engaged in the long-term practice of meditation. Using magnetic resonance imaging, we observed higher gray matter density in lower brain stem regions of experienced meditators compared with age-matched nonmeditators. Our findings show that long-term practitioners of meditation have structural differences in brainstem regions concerned with cardiorespiratory control. This could account for some of the cardiorespiratory parasympathetic effects and traits, as well as the cognitive, emotional, and immunoreactive impact reported in several studies of different meditation practices.

Sitting Practice: A Novel

Back to table of contents Previous article Next article Book ReviewFull AccessSitting Practice: A NovelNancy Glimm L.C.S.W.Nancy Glimm L.C.S.W.Search for more papers by this authorPublished Online:13 Jan 2015https://doi.org/10.1176/ps.2008.59.12.1479aAboutSectionsPDF/EPUB ToolsAdd to favoritesDownload CitationsTrack Citations ShareShare onFacebookTwitterLinked InEmail Reading Sitting Practice for the writing alone is a pleasurable and valuable experience. The characters are well described, familiar, and full of life. The author is an accomplished writer, having published two novels and two collections of short stories. She has won numerous literary prizes. Caroline Adderson works with themes of tragedy, crisis, relationships, and family of origin. She explores the ways a budding meditation practice can mediate these life events by looking at the impact of Buddhist teachings on individuals in the midst of a severe life crisis. The book has been published by a division of Shambhala Publications, Inc., one of the major publishers of Buddhist writing in the United States. This novel attempts to describe the impact of meditation practice on one character and how this in turn affects all those around him. Adderson attempts to integrate a literary narrative with a sense of truthfulness. This is not an easy task. Those who have a serious and long-term meditation practice know that it is very difficult to describe the changes that practice has on one's cognition. In meditation, describing the impact of behavioral change is more possible. The author tries to do both.The delightful, but promiscuous, Ross provides food services for movie crews. He is popular and successful in his career. He has many love relationships and is teased in his apartment building for the numbers of women seen coming and going. Ross is the type of man who never makes enemies with ex-lovers. His main offense is snoring, due to a blockage in his sinus passages. He finally decides to have the surgery to correct the problem. He fears he will die, and his self-centeredness is fully revealed. Ross has his surgery to unblock his sinuses and in the process meets nurse IIiana. She is unlike any of Ross' previous women, many of them actresses from the movie crews he feeds. The two fall in love. Ross also has a sister named Bonnie, who is even more self-focused. Bonnie becomes suicidal whenever her love life is off kilter, so she is frequently suicidal. She has a beloved son, Bryce. Ross is a devoted uncle to Bryce. Ross's good nature is abundantly clear with his nephew.The story unfolds from here. The novel is interesting on many levels. It is well written, and that is a pleasure in itself. The clinician will find the characters coherent, and their conflicts and how they manage life challenges unfold with verity. Psychotherapists with serious meditation practices might find this book somewhat frustrating, knowing that it is difficult to describe the impact that meditation has on mind states. The author does a good job with the main character, who mediates struggles with the impermanent nature of all arising phenomena. The book will appeal to anyone practicing psychotherapy. The characters struggle with life crises and transform their lives with affirming resilience—here with the use of meditation. The novel affirms the helpfulness that meditation can have in healing.Ms. Glimm is administrative supervisor for the Jewish Board of Family and Children's Services, New York. FiguresReferencesCited byDetailsCited ByNone Volume 59Issue 12 December, 2008Pages 1479-1480PSYCHIATRIC SERVICES December 2008 Volume 59 Number 12 Metrics PDF download History Published online 13 January 2015 Published in print 1 December 2008

Anatomic Characterization of Human Ultra-Weak Photon Emission in Practitioners of Transcendental Meditation™and Control Subjects

Research on human ultra-weak photon emission (UPE, biophoton emission) has raised the question whether a typical human emission anatomic percentage distribution pattern exists in addition to individual subject overall anatomic summation intensity differences. The lowest UPE intensities were observed in two subjects who regularly meditate. Spectral analysis of human UPE has suggested that ultra-weak emission is probably, at least in part, a reflection of free radical reactions in a living system. It has been documented that various physiologic and biochemical shifts follow the long-term practice of meditation and it is inferred that meditation may impact free radical activity. To systematically quantify, in subjects with long-term transcendental meditation (TM) experience and subjects without this experience, the UPE emission of the anterior torso, head and neck plus the hands in an attempt to document the differences by the two groups. Subjects were 20 men reported to be healthy and nonsmokers. Each of the subjects in the meditation group had practiced TM twice daily for at least the past 10 years. UPE in 20 subjects was recorded in a dark room using a highly sensitive, cooled photomultiplier system designed for manipulation in three directions. The protocol for multisite registration of spontaneous emission includes recording of 12 anatomic locations of anterior torso, head, and hands. Data demonstrate emission intensities that are lower in TM practitioners as compared to control subjects. The percent contribution of emission from most anatomic locations was not significantly different for TM practitioners and control subjects. Exceptions are the contributions of throat and palm. In subjects with long-term TM experience, the UPE emission is different from control subjects. Data support the hypothesis that free radical reactions can be influenced by TM.

Meditation experience is associated with increased cortical thickness.

Previous research indicates that long-term meditation practice is associated with altered resting electroencephalogram patterns, suggestive of long lasting changes in brain activity. We hypothesized that meditation practice might also be associated with changes in the brain's physical structure. Magnetic resonance imaging was used to assess cortical thickness in 20 participants with extensive Insight meditation experience, which involves focused attention to internal experiences. Brain regions associated with attention, interoception and sensory processing were thicker in meditation participants than matched controls, including the prefrontal cortex and right anterior insula. Between-group differences in prefrontal cortical thickness were most pronounced in older participants, suggesting that meditation might offset age-related cortical thinning. Finally, the thickness of two regions correlated with meditation experience. These data provide the first structural evidence for experience-dependent cortical plasticity associated with meditation practice.

Impact of regular meditation practice on EEG activity at rest and during evoked negative emotions

The main objective of the present investigation was to examine how long-term meditation practice is manifested in EEG activity under conditions of non-emotional arousal (eyes-closed and eyes-open periods, viewing emotionally neutral movie clip) and while experiencing experimentally induced negative emotions (viewing aversive movie clip). The 62-channel EEG was recorded in age-matched control individuals (n=25) and Sahaja Yoga meditators (SYM, n=25). Findings from the non-emotional continuum show that at the lowest level of arousal (eyes closed) SYM manifested larger power values in theta-1 (4–6 Hz), theta-2 (6–8 Hz) and alpha-1 (8–10 Hz) frequency bands. Although increasing arousal desynchronized activity in these bands in both groups, the theta-2 and alpha-1 power in the eyes-open period and alpha-1 power while viewing the neutral clip remained still higher in the SYM. During eyes-closed and eyes-open periods the controls were marked by larger right than left hemisphere power, indexing relatively more active left hemisphere parieto-temporal cortex whereas meditators manifested no hemisphere asymmetry. When contrasted with the neutral, the aversive movie clip yielded significant alpha desynchronization in both groups, reflecting arousing nature of emotional induction. In the control group along with alpha desynchronization affective movie clip synchronized gamma power over anterior cortical sites. This was not seen in the SYM. Overall, the presented report emphasizes that the revealed changes in the electrical brain activity associated with regular meditation practice are dynamical by nature and depend on arousal level. The EEG power findings also provide the first empirical proof of a theoretical assumption that meditators have better capabilities to moderate intensity of emotional arousal.

Effect of meditation on immune cells

The objective of this study was to assess the influence of long term meditation on runners' immune status at rest, after exercise and after 2 h recovery. Ten males, who had practised meditation for a long time and were participating in a half-marathon race, were studied in a case–control design. The control group was drawn from the pool of applicants to the race who did not practise meditation. Blood samples were taken before, immediately after and 2 h after the race. Immune and blood analysis were conducted. Runners practising meditation had lower lymphocyte counts at rest before the race (p<0.02). Just after the race, both groups more than doubled their white blood cell (wbc) counts (p<0.01); however, no significant effects were observed on the immune cells, neither was any difference between groups seen in the post-exercise period. Long term practice of meditation may influence absolute lymphocyte counts at rest. No effect was observed in the immune response to exercise stress. Copyright © 2000 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.