Meditation and Mindfulness

Since mindfulness is something, you can practice at home for free, it often sounds like the perfect tonic for stress and mental health issues.

Mindfulness is a type of Buddhist-based meditation in which you focus on being aware of what you're sensing, thinking, and feeling in the present moment.


The first recorded evidence for this, found in India, is over 1,500 years old. The Dharmatrāta Meditation Scripture, written by a community of Buddhists, describes various practices and includes reports of symptoms of depression and anxiety that can occur after meditation.


It also details cognitive anomalies associated with episodes of psychosis, dissociation, and depersonalisation (when people feel the world is "unreal").


In the past eight years there has been a surge of scientific research in this area. These studies show that adverse effects are not rare.


A 2022 study, using a sample of 953 people in the US who meditated regularly, showed that over 10 percent of participants experienced adverse effects which had a significant negative impact on their everyday life and lasted for at least one month.


According to a review of over 40 years of research that was published in 2020, the most common adverse effects are anxiety and depression. These are followed by psychotic or delusional symptoms, dissociation or depersonalization, and fear or terror.      READ MORE...

Altered States of Consciousness

Summary:  Mindfulness training can lead to altered states of consciousness, such as disembodiment and unity. Researchers found that participants were twice as likely to experience these states compared to a control group.

While these experiences can be positive, they may also be startling or unpleasant. Mindfulness teachers and students should discuss these potential side effects.

Key Facts:

•  alltered States: Mindfulness can cause experiences like disembodiment and unity.
• Increased Likelihood: Participants were twice as likely to experience these states.
• Awareness Needed: Teachers and students should discuss these potential effects.

Source: University of Cambridge

Mindfulness training may lead participants to experience disembodiment and unity – so-called altered states of consciousness – according to a new study from researchers at the University of Cambridge.

The team say that while these experiences can be very positive, that is not always the case. Mindfulness teachers and students need to be aware that they can be a side-effect of training, and students should feel empowered to share their experiences with their teacher or doctor if they have any concerns.

Mindfulness-based programmes have become very popular in recent years. According to recent surveys, 15% of adults in the UK have learnt some form of mindfulness. They are often practised as a way of reducing stress or coping with depression and anxiety.

There is anecdotal evidence that practicing mindfulness can lead to alterations of the senses, self, and body boundaries, some even similar to those induced by psychotropic drugs.     READ MORE...

Altered States of Consciousness

Recent research has uncovered that altered states of consciousness are much more common
among those who practice meditation and mindfulness than previously thought. While many individuals report positive and even transformational outcomes, a significant minority experience negative effects that can range from moderate to severe. The findings have been published in the journal Mindfulness.

The popularity of meditation, mindfulness, yoga, and similar practices has surged due to their potential health benefits. However, the experiences and effects of these practices, particularly the altered states of consciousness they can induce, remain underexplored. Researchers from Massachusetts General Hospital sought to investigate how common these altered states are and their impact on well-being, given the rising number of people engaging in these practices.

To achieve this, they developed a detailed questionnaire in collaboration with a team of experts in psychiatry, neuroscience, meditation, and survey design. The survey was designed to capture the diverse range of experiences associated with these practices and their impact on well-being.     READ MORE...

Reducing Prosocial Reparative Behaviors

A series of studies have uncovered a causal relationship between mindfulness meditation and decreased feelings of guilt. The findings have been published in the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology.

Several studies have found that mindfulness meditation draws people’s focus inward and reduces negative emotions. But some negative emotions provide useful social feedback. For example, feelings of guilt help to push individuals to atone for their transgressions against others. The new study provides evidence that mindfulness can lead to undesirable outcomes by dampening feelings of guilt.

“I was interested in doing this research because, after I started studying meditation and meditating myself, I noticed that I was using it as almost a default way of reacting to stressors,” said study author Andrew C. Hafenbrack, an assistant professor at the University of Washington. “This was great when I was overly ruminating or overreacting to some minor problem, and is a powerful sleep aid. Sometimes, however, this meant that I would meditate or focus on my breath in situations that there was actually a significant problem and it would have been better if I had faced it directly and immediately.”

“I had some confidence that I was not alone in this when I read a Harvard Business Review article by medical doctor and executive coach David Brendel in 2015, where he described that he ‘worked with clients who, instead of rationally thinking through a career challenge or ethical dilemma, prefer to disconnect from their challenges and retreat into a meditative mindset. The issue here is that some problems require more thinking, not less.'”

“I also know several people who are into mind-body practices, including but not limited to mindfulness meditation, but who are unusually flaky or otherwise don’t treat other people particularly well. So I wondered what was going on. It seemed to go against the essence of what I thought mindfulness and meditation were supposed to do, which is largely due to the associations I had based on the traditional or religious forms.”

The researchers conducted eight separate experiments, which included more than 1,400 participants. In the studies, the participants were randomly assigned to either listen to an 8-minute guided meditation recording created by a professional mindfulness meditation instructor or an 8-minute recording by the same speaker in which they were instructed to think of whatever came to mind.  READ MORE...

Selfish Mindfulness

Mindfulness is said to do many things for our psyche: it can increase our self-control, sharpen our concentration, extend our working memory and boost our mental flexibility. 

With practice, we should become less emotionally reactive – allowing us to deal with our problems more calmly.

One ‘benefit’ that you might not expect to gain, however, is heightened egotism. 

Yet a recent study suggests that, in some contexts, practicing mindfulness really can exaggerate some people’s selfish tendencies. 

With their increased inward focus, they seem to forget about others, and are less willing to help those in need.

This finding, alone, should not be a cause for you to cease meditating, if you do find it useful in other ways. 

But it adds to a growing body of research suggesting that mindfulness training can have undesirable side effects as well as potential benefits – and many psychologists now believe that the potentially negative consequences of certain meditative practices should be advertised alongside the hype.

The ‘me’ in meditation
The study comes from Michael Poulin, an associate professor in psychology at the State University of New York at Buffalo, who wanted to investigate whether the effects of mindfulness might depend on its cultural context and the existing values of the people who are practicing it.  READ MORE

Stairway to Enlightenment

ENLIGHTENMENT is...

the state of having knowledge or understanding

the act of giving someone knowledge or understanding

a movement of the 18th century that stressed the belief that science and logic give people more knowledge and understanding than tradition and religion

ENLIGHTENMENT... 

was centered around the idea that reason is the primary source of authority and legitimacy, and advocated such ideals as liberty, progress, tolerance, fraternity, constitutional government, and separation of church and state.

ENLIGHTENMENT...

happens when one reaches the state of having attained spiritual knowledge about the true nature of our body and soul and all of divinity. Everyone struggles to experience, enjoy and embody what awakens your heart and soul.

ENLIGHTENMENT...
is difficult only because we are not willing to let go of the way we currently express consciousness. Yet to those who have attained enlightenment, it is the most natural way of being. Some enlightened beings express genuine wonder why would anybody choose to live any other way.

ENLIGHTENMENT...
happens when people accept themselves just the way they are. 

happens by being aware of any self critical thoughts and then deciding that they are not true. 

There is a 

THREEFOLD PATH to ENLIGHTENMENT:

First --  there is ethics which is the avoidance of non-virtuous deeds

Second --  there is concentrations which involves controlling one's mind

Third --  there is wisdom which pertains to insight into the nature of reality

These three revolve around:

CORRECT...

1. action
2. speech
3. livelihood
4. effort
5. mindfulness
6. concentration
7. view
8. intention

SOUNDS SIMPLE...  DOESN'T IT?