Despite much research in the subject, many facets of meditation remain a mystery. The mechanism by which meditation might provide a positive effect for example are still being debated. Dr Manocha considers two theories by which meditation might have a positive effect as the relaxation response and an increase in mental awareness.
Read Dr Manocha’s discussion [...]
Meditation has been heavily commercialised in the west and Dr Manocha believes this has harmed the proper research, development and propagation of meditation through the west – read about it in an extract from his thesis at the Researching Meditation blog.
Earlier in the year, Dr Manocha spoke at “Toward a Science of Consciousness, 2009″ in Hong Kong. The seminar, part of the Asia Consciousness Festival, examined aspects of consciousness, with Ramesh speaking about long term meditators in Australia. Read their description of him here.
Dr Manocha discusses the benifits felt by parents and children after engaging in sahaja yoga meditation training as part of his thesis research.
“One mother commented: ‘I’m now able to get [my child] to calm down (using meditation). He is then able to focus and carry on with his day.’”
The full article can be read at [...]
Dr Manocha talks about evidence for the positive interaction between humour and the immune system:
“Studies have also shown some effects of humour on immunological factors. A comprehensive review by Martin (2001) examined 9 studies that have assessed the effects of humour on salivary immunoglobulin A. While the majority of these studies have shown evidence of [...]
In this excerpt from his thesis, Dr Manocha discusses the wider implications of his research results.
“Mental silence, and its associated yogic philosophy, may provide a basis for a taxonomy of meditation that is practically useful in the delivery of healthcare. An intervention with a specific effect such as SYM (sahaja yoga meditation) has a wide [...]
Dr Manocha describes the history and propagation of meditation in the Eastern world.
“In antiquity, knowledge and skills regarding meditation were passed on from spiritual master (guru) to aspirant (disciple) on a one-to-one basis. This knowledge was unwritten and maintained by word of mouth and direct experience. Later it was documented in Sanskrit which was accessible [...]
Dr Manocha explains why he categorised the control methods used to examine meditation by their validity in his research.
“Control methods in meditation trials can be positioned on a spectrum based on their varying ability to elicit non-specific effects. At the low face validity end are those that are mostly passive and implausible (such as “waiting [...]
Dr Manocha explains the value of sham meditation in this excerpt from his thesis.
“The fact that some meditation techniques elicit detectable effects when compared to sham procedures while others do not implies that some meditation techniques may not have specific effects whereas others may well have such effects. This logically suggests the possibility that the [...]
Dr Manocha discusses the adverse effects that can arise as a result of meditation in the following excerpt from his thesis.
“The National Centre for Complementary Medicine made the following statement about the safety of meditation:
‘Meditation is generally safe. There have been a small number of reports that intensive meditation could cause or worsen symptoms in [...]