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

Summary

Meditation is linked to various physiological and cognitive benefits, such as lower blood pressure and increased brain activation related to attention. However, when meditation is viewed as a spiritual practice, these benefits become secondary to the primary goal of spiritual transformation. The review suggests that future research should integrate traditional spiritual texts with personal experiences and scientific measures to better understand meditation's effects in both secular and spiritual contexts.

Study at a glance

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.