Measuring a Journey without Goal: Meditation, Spirituality, and Physiology

Abstract

The secular practice of meditation is associated with a range of physiological and cognitive effects, including lower blood pressure, lower cortisol, cortical thickening, and activation of areas of the brain associated with attention and emotion regulation. However, in the context of spiritual practice, these benefits are secondary gains, as the primary aim is spiritual transformation. Despite obvious difficulties in trying to measure a journey without goal, spiritual aspects involved in the practice of meditation should also be addressed by experimental study. This review starts by considering meditation in the form of the relaxation response (a counterpart to the stress response), before contrasting mindfulness research that emphasizes the role of attention and alertness in meditation. This contrast demonstrates how reference to traditional spiritual texts (in this case Buddhist) can be used to guide research questions involving meditation. Further considerations are detailed, along with the proposal that research should triangulate spiritual textual sources, first person accounts (i.e., neurophenomenology), and physiological/cognitive measures in order to aid our understanding of meditation, not only in the secular context of health benefits, but also in the context of spiritual practice.

The Continuum of Mind-Body Interplay—From Placebo Effect to Unexplained Cures

“…The simplest one, relaxation response (the counterpart to the stress response) produces important physiological changes including reduction in blood pressure, heart rate and oxygen consumption (Buttle, 2015). More impressive, genomic changes (in both short and long term practitioners) include enhanced expression of genes linked to energy metabolism, mitochondrial function, insulin secretion, and telemore maintenance; it is also detected reduced expression of genes linked to inflammatory response and stress related pathways (Bhasin et al, 2013).…”

“…One simple technique is the thoughts transit control, taking some minutes to only focus breathing and organize the mind. Ask the patient to sit comfortably, close calmly the eyes and breathe with awareness (Buttle, 2015).…”

Theoretical Foundations to Guide Mindfulness Meditation: A Path to Wisdom

“…Numerous researchers, clinicians and scholars have suggested however that mindfulness is a richer concept than thus far understood and applied in psychology, and that the current interpretation of mindfulness merely as a clinically-useful psychological trait risks distorting and significantly limiting the potential contribution of mindfulness to mainstream psychology (Grossman 2011;Harrington and Dunne 2015;Hyland 2017;Kang and Whittingham 2010). Furthermore, suggestions have been made to incorporate theoretical concepts derived from the 2,600-year-old Buddhist tradition, which might provide a better understanding along with more sustained outcomes for mindfulness interventions (Amaro 2015;Buttle 2015;de Zoysa 2016;Kudesia and Nyima 2015;Purser and Milillo 2015).…”

“…described as following an inverted U-shaped curve, demonstrating that as meditators gain experience in the practice, there is an increase in activation in terms of attention, but in expert meditators no such increase is seen, as mindfulness becomes an effortless process (Buttle 2015).…”

How Children Describe the Fruits of Meditation

“…The practical benefits of meditation and mindfulness have been well explored in academic research (Thompson and Gauntlett-Gilbert 2008;Campion and Rocco 2009;Campion 2011;Hennelly 2011;Hölzel et al 2011;Boccia et al 2015;Buttle 2015;Crescentini et al 2016). By comparison there has been little or no research that explores the participants' perception of its deeper spiritual fruits.…”