In this excerpt from his thesis, Dr Ramesh Manocha highlights the need for independent clinical trials to research meditation.
Conflict of interest issues in this field are of considerable concern. They may be effectively addressed by more independently funded clinical trials conducted by researchers who are open-minded but not dependent on the financial ramifications or effects [...]
Dr Ramesh Manocha talks about the importance of a large sample size when researching meditation in this excerpt from his thesis.
Sample size is obviously a key factor in determining the validity and generality of randomised controlled trial outcomes. It needs to be determined carefully to ensure that the research time, effort and support costs invested [...]
In this excerpt from his thesis, Dr Ramesh Manocha highlights the scientific importance of religious and spiritual traditions.
The notion that religious and spiritual traditions have somehow evolved knowledge and methods to exploit the most potent of these mind body pathways is fascinating and provocative. Importantly these biological explanations might help to understand the mechanisms [...]
Dr Ramesh Manocha is a regular contributor on the blog Researching Meditation. The site explores the scientifically associated phenomena associated with mental silence based meditation. Much of Dr Manocha’s research is published on the site, including extracts from his research and graphs of his results.
The blog can be found at www.researchingmeditation.org.
In this excerpt from his thesis, Dr Ramesh Manocha describes the full potential of mental silence based meditation.
Future research emphasis should be placed on the evidence in this thesis and elsewhere that suggests that mental silence is not only a therapeutic tool, but a method that changes cognitions and perceptions. In health behaviours, interpersonal relationships, [...]
In this excerpt from his thesis, Dr Ramesh Manocha discusses potential future research into the changes in skin temperature observed in mental silence meditators.
Physiological trials of skin temperature could be expanded to include larger numbers of participants as well a other basic physiological parameters. Larger sample sizes and perhaps also randomisation which would necessitate the [...]
Dr Ramesh Manocha has collaborated with a number of organisations in his research including the following:
Royal Australian College of General Practitioners,
The Natural Therapies Unit, Royal Hospital for Women, Sydney,
The Sydney Menopause Centre, Royal Hospital for Women, Sydney,
School of Women and Children’s Health, Faculty of Medicine, University of New South Wales,
The Swinburne Institute of Psychopharmachology, Swinburne [...]
In this excerpt from his thesis, Dr Ramesh Manocha discusses two studies which found adverse effects resulting from meditation.
Despite the very positive perception enjoyed by meditation, there is a small but significant literature describing both serious and non-serious adverse reactions. In 1971 at the Stanford Research Institute, Otis (1971, 1984) conducted a follow-up survey [...]
In this excerpt from his thesis, Dr Ramesh Manocha discusses the link between psychoneuroimmunology and religosity.
Correlational studies of religious expression have reported some interesting associations. Schaal (1998) assessed the association between religious involvement and immune function in 112 women with metastatic breast cancer. Small but significant correlations between immune cell counts and importance of religious/spiritual [...]
Probably the two most cited clinical experiments illustrating the connection between the mind and body are those done by Fawzy (1993, 2003) and Spiegel (1989). Fawzy assessed melanoma sufferers who participated in a multimodal support programme. Subjects in the intervention group demonstrated better mood, immune function and survival than those who did not. Spiegel found [...]