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    Examination of Meditation studies

    Firefox tossed

    It’s hailed as the panacea for everything from cancer to war. Does research into its efficacy meet scientific standards?


    as an article that I might be interested in and I thought I'd share it. Apparently some researchers took a look at a number of studies regarding meditation and aren't entirely thrilled with the methodology in a number of them.
    life itself was a lightsaber in his hands; even in the face of treachery and death and hopes gone cold, he burned like a candle in the darkness. Like a star shining in the black eternity of space.

    Yoda: Dark Rendezvous

    "But those men who know anything at all about the Light also know that there is a fierceness to its power, like the bare sword of the law, or the white burning of the sun." Suddenly his voice sounded to Will very strong, and very Welsh. "At the very heart, that is. Other things, like humanity, and mercy, and charity, that most good men hold more precious than all else, they do not come first for the Light. Oh, sometimes they are there; often, indeed. But in the very long run the concern of you people is with the absolute good, ahead of all else..."

    John Rowlands, The Grey King by Susan Cooper

    "You come from the Lord Adam and the Lady Eve", said Aslan. "And that is both honour enough to erect the head of the poorest beggar, and shame enough to bow the shoulders of the greatest emperor on earth; be content."

    Aslan, Prince Caspian by CS Lewis



    #2
    Re: Examination of Meditation studies

    I've read of people having adverse experiences - possibly - from meditation. I'm not sure what to make of it, though. I use meditation to get rid of anxiety and panic attacks. Works for me...

    Also, I get irritated by all the hoopla around meditation. As the article said, it is claimed to fix everything. It doesn't.

    It is better to think of meditation as a tool. First, it is just one of many tools - use the right one for the job. Second, the tool doesn't do the work - it helps the USER do the work. How successful that user will be is only partially dependent on the tool And third, tools can be misused - a hammer is great for pounding nails. It also can be used for bashing heads in.
    Every moment of a life is a horrible tragedy, a slapstick comedy, dark nihilism, golden illumination, or nothing at all; depending on how we write the story we tell ourselves.

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      #3
      Re: Examination of Meditation studies

      well said B. D.
      MAGIC is MAGIC,black OR white or even blood RED

      all i ever wanted was a normal life and love.
      NO TERF EVER WE belong Too.
      don't stop the tears.let them flood your soul.




      sigpic

      my new page here,let me know what you think.


      nothing but the shadow of what was

      witchvox
      http://www.witchvox.com/vu/vxposts.html

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        #4
        Re: Examination of Meditation studies

        I'm sort of curious about adverse experiences with meditation and may go looking for data on that since this didn't really cover much about them. I'm also sort of interested that meditation is being applied militarily and whether it can lead to a general reduction in things like PTSD. Thar said, I was surprised by the general testing issues that were revealed. I don't backtrack medical tests often to examine methods. I occasionally doublecheck sources but I rarely examine methods.
        Last edited by MaskedOne; 11 Jul 2018, 07:06.
        life itself was a lightsaber in his hands; even in the face of treachery and death and hopes gone cold, he burned like a candle in the darkness. Like a star shining in the black eternity of space.

        Yoda: Dark Rendezvous

        "But those men who know anything at all about the Light also know that there is a fierceness to its power, like the bare sword of the law, or the white burning of the sun." Suddenly his voice sounded to Will very strong, and very Welsh. "At the very heart, that is. Other things, like humanity, and mercy, and charity, that most good men hold more precious than all else, they do not come first for the Light. Oh, sometimes they are there; often, indeed. But in the very long run the concern of you people is with the absolute good, ahead of all else..."

        John Rowlands, The Grey King by Susan Cooper

        "You come from the Lord Adam and the Lady Eve", said Aslan. "And that is both honour enough to erect the head of the poorest beggar, and shame enough to bow the shoulders of the greatest emperor on earth; be content."

        Aslan, Prince Caspian by CS Lewis


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          #5
          Re: Examination of Meditation studies

          I'm interested in what you find out about the adverse effects. The article I read didn't have any more information than the one you presented. If meditation is linked to something like panic attacks, I'd want to know if it is a cause or an effect - did the person start meditating hoping to cope with anxiety, without any guidance or other help, causing the anxiety to get worse (the article mentioned feeling of failure due to lack of success in meditating), or was the person fine until he/she began meditating?

          Also, there is the correlation/cause problem. A certain portion of the population is going to develop anxiety/panic disorder, so some people who meditate will develop the problem whether they meditate or not. Picture a Venn diagram with two circles labeled "people who meditate" and "people who develop anxiety" overlapping...

          With that said, it also may depend on the the particular meditation technique involved. Some Tantra techniques are pretty extreme (like meditating among rotting corpses), and should NEVER be used without a highly qualified guide. Someone who attempts these techniques without a guide can, literally, drive themselves insane.

          But it's hard for me to imagine that mindfulness meditation could cause problems... Although a person suffering from schizophrenia might end up focused on the voices.

          I would think that, with proper instruction and additional care for extreme cases (sometimes you really need meds), it could help with PTSD - but I don't think self medicating with meditation instead of professional help is a good idea in most cases.

          Honestly, people gotta use sense. There's not much good in stupid.

          Oh, and yeah... You always get crap research when somebody thinks they've got a miracle cure.
          Last edited by B. de Corbin; 11 Jul 2018, 10:23.
          Every moment of a life is a horrible tragedy, a slapstick comedy, dark nihilism, golden illumination, or nothing at all; depending on how we write the story we tell ourselves.

          Comment


            #6
            Re: Examination of Meditation studies

            I started taking meditation classes in the '90s. I never could really achieve what was being talked about. My thoughts are like a highway with 6 lanes of traffic on each side: very orderly, some fast, some slow, some exiting while others enter, never a crash, but it's impossible for every car to exit and leave the highway empty. Or like an orchestra, where each instrument plays its part, and they all play together. That's the best I can explain it.
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              #7
              Re: Examination of Meditation studies

              I have never really had a negative event ,I was told by a "shrink",that I live way to much in my head. Once at a Budapest meditation thing,by a Vietnam friend who asked HOW I could go so deep so fast,and he had been studying for many years,just a quick study I guess. I have been doing it just naturally growing up,my older sister also did that
              MAGIC is MAGIC,black OR white or even blood RED

              all i ever wanted was a normal life and love.
              NO TERF EVER WE belong Too.
              don't stop the tears.let them flood your soul.




              sigpic

              my new page here,let me know what you think.


              nothing but the shadow of what was

              witchvox
              http://www.witchvox.com/vu/vxposts.html

              Comment


                #8
                Re: Examination of Meditation studies

                I meditated for a couple years or so, just focusing on the mantra with my breath until I could clear my mind, then I got better andbetter at keeping it clear, then one night I got this incredible "body buzz", like being on a narcotic, along with a very strong feeling of well being. I was like is this real, and then it was gone. So I kept at it, over time the feeling happened again and again and it became easier to hold on to or let happen however you want to see it. It also became easier to return to that state once broken. Then after a while I was getting in to the state more quickly after starting meditation. This was in the mid 90's. I asked a message board about it, and someone said to try and move my finger, hand, or foot, and keep in the state. And once I get good at that to try (I meditated laying down) try puting my foot on the floor. and everytime I slipped out of it to go back to my origanal position and try again. With the ultimate goal of trying to stand, and eventualy open my eyes, and even walk while being in that state. I took a while but I got to the point where I could walk around, drive, talk to people, all while in this very calm, comforting state. These activities required some amount of thought ofcourse, but it didn't seem to matter. I could just be doing whatever most of the time and say ok lets see if I can. I would breathe with the mantra for just a minute or so and get there. I've been told the proper word isn't mantra, but it worked. Then around 2003-4 I just lost the ability. I did get out of practice but I would still be able to get there with maybe a half hours work. But it just kinda went away, and hasn't come back since.

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