Empirical Studies of Meditation
This Chapter contains a review of empirical studies of meditation. Included in the discussion are psychological and neurophysiological effects and correlates, EEG, and neuroimaging studies of meditation. This chapter concludes with a discussion on whether
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Empirical Studies of Meditation
As mentioned earlier, Yoga means both a system of Indian philosophy and a set of practices. Meditation is the central focus of yoga practice. Yoga is equated, however, in the public mind with a physical culture involving bodily and breathing exercises, which are included in Patañjali yoga among the preliminary steps leading to meditation. Some of the Haṭha yogic exercises date back to antiquity. But many are added over the years and a variety of benefits are claimed for them (Swatmarama 1933). Inasmuch as the exercises are designed for the purpose of controlling mental states, it is clear that there has been an explicit recognition that bodily processes influence mental states. Consequently, a study of the effects of these exercises on human psyche and soma is of interest on its own, independent of the goals of yoga. However, it should be recognized that these exercises are essentially aids to meditation and may not be confused with meditation per se. Empirical research on meditation is vast, some of it is well done, and much of it is lacking in conceptual clarity and methodological rigor. Since it is not possible to review comprehensively all the studies in this section, and there are indeed several such reviews, we will focus on some of the main trends, with illustrations from research carried out in India and outside. The interest in scientific study of yoga and meditation is worldwide (Pratap 1971). It is one area where classical Indian ideas inspired an immense amount of research. In fact, much of this research, though based on Indian concepts and practices, is carried out in other countries. A bibliography on meditation and related states included in Meditation: Classical and Contemporary Perspectives (Shapiro and Walsh 1984) contains a little over seven hundred items. Of these less than seven percent are by those with Indian names. Many of the Indians listed are working in the Western countries. A smaller bibliography of 452 items compiled by Peo of Scandinavian Yoga and Meditation School (1978) has about 14% of the items by authors of Indian origin. Yoga Research Bibliography (Monro et al. 1989), with over 1350 items, lists some 20% Indian authors. If we consider only those studies that are published in refereed journals and cited in articles published in scholarly and scientific journals, the number of Indian researchers of meditation © The Author(s) 2017 K.R. Rao, Foundations of Yoga Psychology, DOI 10.1007/978-981-10-5409-9_6
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Empirical Studies of Meditation
would be even smaller. For example, the report Meditation Practices for Health: State of the Research (Ospina et al. 2007) lists 813 studies published between 1956 and 2005 involving research on the therapeutic use of meditation. Sixty-one percent of these were carried out in North America. Under “references and included studies,” it lists 1031 items. Of these about 13% are authored by Indians. Thus clearly, there appears to be no increasing interest in studying meditation by Indians. This is so despite th
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