Unfortunately, there are no such studies that I know of. There is a large disconnect between the models that practitioners use and the ways in which scientists have been interested in examining the subject. This disconnect is something I intend to discuss in Part 3. Theravada Buddhism, for example, has an official (i.e. sanctioned by doctrine) model of the various stages of meditation, which makes extremely detailed predictions about the changes a meditator is likely to undergo, in what order, etc. but for various reasons, scientists don’t seem to be interested in or aware of that model.
About your experiences with meditation, one thing I ought to have made clear (and I’m not sure whether I did) is that contemporary practitioners have found that some methods work better than others. Common methods that people throw around (e.g. “relax, follow your breath, and try to remain in equanimity regardless of what thoughts come up” turn out not to be very effective. What method did you use?
I’ll briefly describe methods that have been found to be especially effective in Part 2. “Finding and sharing effective methods” is one of the major things that contemporary meditators interested in enlightenment have done well at.
Unfortunately, there are no such studies that I know of. There is a large disconnect between the models that practitioners use and the ways in which scientists have been interested in examining the subject. This disconnect is something I intend to discuss in Part 3. Theravada Buddhism, for example, has an official (i.e. sanctioned by doctrine) model of the various stages of meditation, which makes extremely detailed predictions about the changes a meditator is likely to undergo, in what order, etc. but for various reasons, scientists don’t seem to be interested in or aware of that model.
About your experiences with meditation, one thing I ought to have made clear (and I’m not sure whether I did) is that contemporary practitioners have found that some methods work better than others. Common methods that people throw around (e.g. “relax, follow your breath, and try to remain in equanimity regardless of what thoughts come up” turn out not to be very effective. What method did you use?
I’ll briefly describe methods that have been found to be especially effective in Part 2. “Finding and sharing effective methods” is one of the major things that contemporary meditators interested in enlightenment have done well at.