This article requires membership to read so I couldn't post a link to it. I hope I am not in violation of forum rules if I give credit where credit is do to author and magazine. If not, I apologize for violating policy. The article was too interesting not to post.
-------------------------------------
If meditation is good, God makes it better
03 September 2005
NewScientist.com news service
Rowan Hooper
GOD can help you relax, according to a study of meditation. People practising spiritual meditation were more relaxed and better able to withstand pain than those performing secular meditation.
College students who volunteered for the study were randomly assigned to one of three groups regardless of their spiritual beliefs. The 25 students in the spiritual meditation group were told to concentrate on a phrase such as "God is love" or "God is peace" during their meditation periods. Those in the secular meditation group used a phrase such as "I am happy" or "I am joyful" while the third group were simply told to relax.
Subjects were asked to practise their technique for 20 minutes each day for two weeks, at the beginning and end of which the researchers used psychological profiling to assess their mood. They also tested pain tolerance as measured by the amount of time the volunteers could keep their hands in water at 2 °C (Journal of Behavioral Medicine, DOI: 10.1007/s10865-005-9008-5). Those practising spiritual meditation showed greater reductions in anxiety than the other two groups and were able to keep their hands in the cold water for nearly double the time - on average 92 seconds versus 49 for the relaxation group.
Amy Wachholtz of Bowling Green State University in Ohio, who conducted the research, says that spiritual meditation brings more than just deeper relaxation. "It is also likely that there is something unique inherent in the practice of spiritual meditation that cannot be completely conveyed through secular meditation and relaxation," she says, but admits that she doesn't know what it is.
Elizabeth Valentine, emeritus professor of psychology at Royal Holloway, University of London, says that the result could be down to a placebo effect. Participants in the spiritual group might simply have expected benefits because they were practicing "real" meditation.
The study raises the question of the effect of a negative spiritual phrase. "We suspect that if people were asked to repeat negative spiritual phrases, such as 'God hates me,' it would have destructive effects," says Ken Pargament, also of Bowling Green State University. But he adds that to test the hypothesis would probably be unethical.
-------------------------------------
If meditation is good, God makes it better
03 September 2005
NewScientist.com news service
Rowan Hooper
GOD can help you relax, according to a study of meditation. People practising spiritual meditation were more relaxed and better able to withstand pain than those performing secular meditation.
College students who volunteered for the study were randomly assigned to one of three groups regardless of their spiritual beliefs. The 25 students in the spiritual meditation group were told to concentrate on a phrase such as "God is love" or "God is peace" during their meditation periods. Those in the secular meditation group used a phrase such as "I am happy" or "I am joyful" while the third group were simply told to relax.
Subjects were asked to practise their technique for 20 minutes each day for two weeks, at the beginning and end of which the researchers used psychological profiling to assess their mood. They also tested pain tolerance as measured by the amount of time the volunteers could keep their hands in water at 2 °C (Journal of Behavioral Medicine, DOI: 10.1007/s10865-005-9008-5). Those practising spiritual meditation showed greater reductions in anxiety than the other two groups and were able to keep their hands in the cold water for nearly double the time - on average 92 seconds versus 49 for the relaxation group.
Amy Wachholtz of Bowling Green State University in Ohio, who conducted the research, says that spiritual meditation brings more than just deeper relaxation. "It is also likely that there is something unique inherent in the practice of spiritual meditation that cannot be completely conveyed through secular meditation and relaxation," she says, but admits that she doesn't know what it is.
Elizabeth Valentine, emeritus professor of psychology at Royal Holloway, University of London, says that the result could be down to a placebo effect. Participants in the spiritual group might simply have expected benefits because they were practicing "real" meditation.
The study raises the question of the effect of a negative spiritual phrase. "We suspect that if people were asked to repeat negative spiritual phrases, such as 'God hates me,' it would have destructive effects," says Ken Pargament, also of Bowling Green State University. But he adds that to test the hypothesis would probably be unethical.
