Journal of Meditation based Psychological Counseling
April 30, 2026
J. Kim
A guided imagery meditation program that combines generative AI with Seon Master Daehaeng's Hanmaum Ogong philosophy helped six middle-aged women experiencing existential anxiety and relational disconnection. Over eight sessions, participants showed that AI helped visualize and objectify unconscious content, their self-perception shifted toward autonomy reflecting the values of Gongsaeng and Gongche, and their relational patterns were reconfigured through intersubjective receptivity based on Gongsim and Gongyong. The circulation of life energy, rooted in existential connectivity and practical will, pointed toward holistic subjectivity by internalizing Gongche and Gongsik. The work suggests that blending traditional philosophy with AI offers a modern counseling and meditation framework.
Journal of holistic nursing : official journal of the American Holistic Nurses' Association
April 28, 2026
Shashirani Pangambam, Bidita Khandelwal, Barkha Devi et al.
A nurse-led, digitally supported Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) program is being tested for feasibility and acceptability in early postmenopausal women. The community-based randomized waitlist-controlled trial will recruit 128 women from rural and urban areas. The eight-week intervention includes mindfulness meditation, mindful breathing, gentle yoga, and attention-based practices delivered digitally, with supervised daily practice. Menopause-related quality of life is the primary outcome; secondary outcomes include mindfulness, sexual function, and program acceptability. The study aims to provide evidence supporting holistic, nonpharmacological care for early postmenopausal women in community settings.
April 20, 2026
Jaime Navarrete, Adrián Pérez‐aranda, Daniel Campos et al.
preprint
Spanish versions of three psychological scales—the Quiet Ego Scale (QES), the Nondual Awareness Dimensional Assessment (NADA), and the Ontological Addiction Scale (OAS‑24)—showed good reliability and validity in a sample of 242 Spanish adults. The QES and NADA fit a bifactor structure, while the OAS‑24 fit a one-factor structure. Scores were comparable across genders and meditation experience. Women scored higher on the QES, but no gender differences appeared for the NADA or OAS‑24. Meditators reported higher QES and NADA scores and lower OAS‑24 scores than non-meditators. Low-ego individuals were more likely to meditate and had accumulated more lifetime practice. An optimal threshold of 376 lifetime meditation hours discriminated low- from high-ego profiles.
medRxiv Preprint Server
April 19, 2026
Cameron C. Glick, Saad Pirzada, Shaun Quah et al.
preprint
A scalable, low-burden behavioral intervention using ultra-brief, remotely delivered meditation was tested in a randomized controlled trial with multimodal outcome assessment under real-world conditions. The intervention aimed to address rising subclinical mental health symptoms, though the abstract does not report specific findings or effect sizes.
Zenodo (CERN European Organization for Nuclear Research)
April 11, 2026
Tenzin Trepp
A state of consciousness beyond the ordinary subject–object framework can be understood as a self-organizing cognitive event driven by specific introspective parameters, not as an ontological revelation. The authors propose a model (I × F × D ≥ T) where Intensity of attentional engagement, Cycle Frequency of introspective process, and total Duration of practice must reach a threshold for stable reduction of the subject–object structure (groundless awareness) to become likely. Drawing on phenomenology, analytic philosophy, contemplative science, and cognitive neuroscience, the paper reviews empirical meditation research on default-mode network suppression and EEG complexity. It contrasts this process-based, functional approach with traditional mystical metaphysics and explores implications for theories of selfhood and meditation pedagogy.
Preprints.org
April 7, 2026
Luis Miguel Gallardo
preprint
Altered states of consciousness (ASC) are a universal human capacity for accessing and transforming the subconscious mind, employed through diverse contemplative, somatic, pharmacological, ritual, and technological modalities. This review synthesizes evidence from over 25 disciplines, finding converging neurobiological mechanisms including default mode network suppression, autonomic regulation, and neuroplasticity. Clinical evidence is strongest for MDMA-assisted therapy in PTSD (67% response rate in Phase 3 RCTs), psilocybin for treatment-resistant depression (60-70% response), EMDR for trauma, mindfulness for depression relapse and anxiety, and neurofeedback for ADHD and anxiety. Transpersonal modalities like Life Between Lives hypnotherapy show preliminary evidence for existential distress but lack rigorous controlled trials. The review proposes an integrative framework positioning ASC as a spectrum from subconscious to superconscious, with diverse modalities as complementary vehicles for consciousness transformation.
Humanities and Social Sciences Communications
April 6, 2026
Xinyue Tian, Benqian Sang
Religious practices like prayer, chanting, asceticism, and meditation activate pleasure-related circuits in the brain, according to neurobiological and psychological evidence. Ascetic practices do not inherently conflict with the human tendency to seek pleasure. Religion's evolutionary adaptability allows it to sustain well-being even with low resource consumption. The paper reinterprets religious practices as a strategy of finding joy in hardship and proposes that faith may result from practice rather than cause it, with deities as peripheral institutional tools. The Ascetic Practice Model is offered as an evolutionary-friendly framework for dialogue with adaptationist and byproduct accounts.
Maǧallaẗ Kulliyyaẗ Al-Tarbiyyaẗ Al-Nawʿiyyaẗ - Ǧamiʿaẗ Būr Saʿīd
April 4, 2026
مها زكريا عبد الرحمن, سارة حامد زيادة, أشرف محمود رضوان
Sufi meditation has influenced Egyptian art across four major historical periods: Ancient (3200 BC–323 BC), Coptic (30 BC–640 AD), Islamic (640 AD–1805 AD), and Modern (1805 AD–present). A descriptive historical analysis of selected Egyptian artworks reveals that the philosophy of Sufi meditation contributes to unique aesthetic and artistic values, semantic interpretations, and creative solutions in visual art. The study describes and analyzes these works to show how meditative practices have shaped artistic thought and expression throughout Egyptian history, recommending further research on the impact of Sufi meditation on visual artists and their styles.
ShodhKosh Journal of Visual and Performing Arts
April 3, 2026
Surendra P. Singh, Lohans Kumar Kalyani, Manju Singh et al.
Yoga and meditation can help performing artists improve physical awareness, cognitive focus, emotional control, and creative engagement, while reducing performance anxiety and building emotional resilience. The paper reviews interdisciplinary literature from performing arts, psychology, and mindfulness studies to discuss how practices such as asana (poses), pranayama (breath control), and meditation support body alignment, breathing performance, and mental clarity. A Mindfulness-Based Performance Framework is proposed that integrates these practices into performing arts training and rehearsal techniques. The findings suggest that yoga and meditation are valuable for the holistic development of artists and their long-term well-being.
Acta psychologica
April 1, 2026
Xianhua Zhang, Enqin Yan
2 citations
Mindfulness is positively linked to professional identity among early childhood education teachers, both directly and indirectly through psychological resilience and well-being. A survey of 854 full-time kindergarten teachers in Shandong Province, China, found that mindfulness directly predicted professional identity (β = 0.15). Psychological resilience mediated 55.5% of the total indirect effect, and well-being mediated 22.6%. A sequential pathway through resilience then well-being also contributed. The findings suggest that mindfulness enhances professional identity by boosting resilience and well-being, supporting the integration of mindfulness-based interventions in teacher training to improve emotion regulation and sustainable professional development.
Applied nursing research : ANR
April 1, 2026
Elham Memar Haghighi Chianeh, Mohammad Ali Khoshnevis, Masoud Sirati Nir et al.
A randomized clinical trial with 49 psychiatric ward nurses in Tehran, Iran, found that an eight-session mindfulness meditation training program, delivered over four weeks, improved professional quality of life compared to standard in-service education. The intervention led to significant increases in compassion satisfaction and significant reductions in both burnout and secondary traumatic stress. The authors suggest that mindfulness meditation is an effective, easy-to-implement, and side-effect-free approach for enhancing the well-being of nurses in high-stress psychiatric settings.
European journal of pain (London, England)
April 1, 2026
Edward Walsh, Kayleigh Hart, Bettina Forster
A systematic review and meta-analysis of 11 trials involving 1,153 people with fibromyalgia (1,097 women) found that Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) does not significantly reduce pain severity compared with active control treatments, updating earlier guidance from 2013. MBSR did produce small improvements in quality of life at both short and long term follow up, and reduced pain catastrophising at long term follow up. Effects on pain severity and depression were only significant at short term follow up versus passive control. The certainty of evidence ranged from very low to moderate. The results suggest a lasting, mindfulness-specific mechanism that improves quality of life without directly reducing pain.
Psychiatria Danubina
April 1, 2026
Ksenija Popadić
Research on meditation for mental health faces key challenges: meditation covers diverse practices with different techniques, goals, and outcomes, making comparisons difficult. Standardizing protocols and operationalizing the specific type of meditation are proposed solutions. Meditators vary in experience, motivation, and characteristics, so tracking participant traits and stratifying samples in quantitative studies is essential. Repeated measurements often yield inconsistent results due to methodological shortcomings and lack of a theoretical framework. Defining measurable outcomes specific to research goals is necessary, and combining qualitative with quantitative methods helps capture subjective experiences. Interdisciplinary research incorporating psychology, philosophy, anthropology, neuroscience, biology, sociology, and comparative cultural and religious studies is recommended to better understand meditation's impact on mental processes, personality, and behavior, and to improve its application in mental health.
medRxiv Preprint Server
April 1, 2026
Jiawei Zhu, Zhenfu Wen, Yonghao Cao et al.
preprint
A wearable mindfulness meditation brain-computer interface (MM-BCI) system that provides real-time neurofeedback can reduce carsickness severity. In a 10-week randomized controlled trial, 60 carsickness-susceptible individuals practiced mindfulness meditation with either real MM-BCI neurofeedback or sham feedback during car rides and at home. Those receiving real feedback showed significantly reduced carsickness severity at post-intervention and at a one-month follow-up, assessed during regular car riding without any task or feedback. At baseline, susceptible participants had a reduced aperiodic exponent in occipito-parietal cortex compared to non-susceptible controls. MM-BCI training increased this exponent toward non-susceptible levels, and the degree of neural normalization correlated with symptom improvement.