Holy Spirit or Holy Psyche? Energy-Like Somatic Experiences in Contemporary Abrahamic Meditative Traditions

Abstract

Meditation practitioners, historically and today, sometimes report experiencing energy-like sensations in their body. While recent empirical studies have explored such experiences in the context of Buddhist and Yogic practice, no comparable research has yet examined energy-like sensations in Jewish, Christian, or Islamic traditions. We interviewed 30 practitioners and 30 teachers from Abrahamic contemplative traditions and found that energy-like somatic experiences were common within our sample. Twelve practitioners (40%) spontaneously reported having experienced at least one, and thirteen teachers (43%) described them occurring either personally or to their students and colleagues. These experiences occurred along a continuum of intensities and valences, with interpretations ranging from anticipated signs of progress to striking unexpected events. Participants drew on a variety of metaphors and frameworks to make sense of these experiences. They often blended ideas from multiple traditions and mixed concepts from spiritual and psychological explanatory models. When comparing these descriptions from our sample to those reported by Western Buddhists in earlier research, we observe notable commonalities as well as differences in the patterns of energy-like experiences across these traditions. Our findings suggest that energy-like somatic experiences emerge through a complex interaction of cultural and bodily processes, where interpretive frameworks interact with attentional and biological processes to determine the specific phenomenology and outcomes of these energetic sensations.

Tags