Talk:Meditation

About Meditation is not an innocuous practice, we have good evidence for that now: it is hard to say if meditation was the cause of those psychoses or those psychoses were the cause of meditation. tgeorgescu (talk) 17:40, 20 May 2024 (UTC)

Well is always difficult. But you can read Farias et al. (2020) extensive review of five decades of mediation research or some of the other articles procuring evidence about its connention to psychosis. Further Farias et al. (2020) states clearly that there is a massive underreporting of side effects from meditation and that there is an urgent need to correct it (now tha medidation has become a global trend). Didaktron (talk) 17:18, 19 July 2024 (UTC)

Here are just a few unambiguous references that definitely proves the initial point:

Cheetah House | Help for Meditators In Distress. (n.d.). Cheetah House. Retrieved November 20, 2023, from https://www.cheetahhouse.org

French, A. P., Schmid, A. C., & Ingalls, E. (1975). Transcendental Meditation, Altered Reality Testing, And Behavioral Change: A Case Report. THE JOURNAL OF NERVOUS AND MENTAL DISEASE, 161(1), 55–58. https://doi.org/10.1097/00005053-197507000-00007

Lazarus, A. A. (1976). Psychiatric Problems Precipitated by Transcendental Meditation. Psychological Reports, 39(2), 601–602. https://doi.org/10.2466/pr0.1976.39.2.601

Lindahl, J. R., Britton, W. B., Cooper, D. J., & Kirmayer, L. J. (2019). Challenging and Adverse Meditation Experiences: Toward a Person-Centered Approach. In M. Farias, D. Brazier, & M. Lalljee (Eds.), The Oxford Handbook of Meditation (1st ed.). Oxford University Press. https://doi.org/10.1093/oxfordhb/9780198808640.013.51

Lomas, T., Cartwright, T., Edginton, T., & Ridge, D. (2015). A Qualitative Analysis of Experiential Challenges Associated with Meditation Practice. Mindfulness, 6(4), 848–860. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12671-014-0329-8

Palitsky, R., Canby, N. K., Van Dam, N. T., Levin-Aspenson, H. F., Kaplan, D. M., Maples-Keller, J., Raison, C. L., Grant, G. H., Dunlop, B. W., & Britton, W. B. (2024). Leveraging meditation research for the study of psychedelic-related adverse effects. International Review of Psychiatry, 1–15. https://doi.org/10.1080/09540261.2024.2420745

Reynolds, L. M., Bissett, I. P., Porter, D., & Consedine, N. S. (2017). A Brief Mindfulness Intervention Is Associated with Negative Outcomes in a Randomised Controlled Trial Among Chemotherapy Patients. Mindfulness, 8(5), 1291–1303. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12671-017-0705-2

Tangney, J. P., Dobbins, A. E., Stuewig, J. B., & Schrader, S. W. (2017). Is There a Dark Side to Mindfulness? Relation of Mindfulness to Criminogenic Cognitions. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 43(10), 1415–1426. https://doi.org/10.1177/0146167217717243

Van Gordon, W., Shonin, E., & Garcia-Campayo, J. (2017). Are there adverse effects associated with mindfulness? Australian & New Zealand Journal of Psychiatry, 51(10), 977–979. https://doi.org/10.1177/0004867417716309

Aizik-Reebs, A., Shoham, A., & Bernstein, A. (2021). First, do no harm: An intensive experience sampling study of adverse effects to mindfulness training. Behaviour Research and Therapy, 145, 103941. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.brat.2021.103941

Cebolla, A., Demarzo, M., Martins, P., Soler, J., & Garcia-Campayo, J. (2017). Unwanted effects: Is there a negative side of meditation? A multicentre survey. PLOS ONE, 12(9), e0183137. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0183137

Charan, D., Sharma, P., Kachhawaha, G., Kaur, G., & Gupta, S. (2023). Meditation Practices and the Onset of Psychosis: A Case Series and Analysis of Possible Risk Factors. Indian Journal of Psychological Medicine, 45(1), 80–84. https://doi.org/10.1177/02537176211059457

Cooper, D. J., Lindahl, J. R., Palitsky, R., & Britton, W. B. (2021). “Like a Vibration Cascading through the Body”: Energy-Like Somatic Experiences Reported by Western Buddhist Meditators. Religions, 12(12), 1042. https://doi.org/10.3390/rel12121042

Farias, M., Maraldi, E., Wallenkampf, K. C., & Lucchetti, G. (2020). Adverse events in meditation practices and meditation‐based therapies: a systematic review. Acta Psychiatrica Scandinavica, 142(5), 374–393. https://doi.org/10.1111/acps.13225

Goldberg, S. B., Lam, S. U., Britton, W. B., & Davidson, R. J. (2022). Prevalence of meditation-related adverse effects in a population-based sample in the United States. Psychotherapy Research, 32(3), 291–305. https://doi.org/10.1080/10503307.2021.1933646

Goud, S. S. (2022). Meditation: A Double-Edged Sword—A Case Report of Psychosis Associated with Excessive Unguided Meditation. Case Reports in Psychiatry, 2022, 1–3. https://doi.org/10.1155/2022/2661824

Kaselionyte, J., & Gumley, A. (2017). “It’s like a charge – either fuses you or burns you out”: an interpretative phenomenological analysis of extreme mental states in meditation context. Mental Health, Religion & Culture, 20(10), 986–1001. https://doi.org/10.1080/13674676.2017.1422237

Kuijpers, H. J. H., Van Der Heijden, F. M. M. A., Tuinier, S., & Verhoeven, W. M. A. (2007). Meditation-Induced Psychosis. Psychopathology, 40(6), 461–464. https://doi.org/10.1159/000108125

Lambert, D., Van Den Berg, N. H., & Mendrek, A. (2023). Adverse effects of meditation: A review of observational, experimental and case studies. Current Psychology, 42(2), 1112–1125. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12144-021-01503-2

Lindahl, J. R., Britton, W. B., Cooper, D. J., & Kirmayer, L. J. (2021). Challenging and Adverse Meditation Experiences: Toward a Person-Centered Approach. In M. Farias, D. Brazier, & M. Lalljee (Eds.), The Oxford Handbook of Meditation (pp. 839–864). Oxford University Press. https://doi.org/10.1093/oxfordhb/9780198808640.013.51

Lindahl, J. R., Fisher, N. E., Cooper, D. J., Rosen, R. K., & Britton, W. B. (2017). The varieties of contemplative experience: A mixed-methods study of meditation-related challenges in Western Buddhists. PLOS ONE, 12(5), e0176239. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0176239

Pauly, L., Bergmann, N., Hahne, I., Pux, S., Hahn, E., Ta, T. M. T., Rapp, M., & Böge, K. (2022). Prevalence, predictors and types of unpleasant and adverse effects of meditation in regular meditators: international cross-sectional study. BJPsych Open, 8(1), e11. https://doi.org/10.1192/bjo.2021.1066

Schindler, S., Pfattheicher, S., & Reinhard, M. (2019). Potential negative consequences of mindfulness in the moral domain. European Journal of Social Psychology, 49(5), 1055–1069. https://doi.org/10.1002/ejsp.2570

Schlosser, M., Sparby, T., Vörös, S., Jones, R., & Marchant, N. L. (2019). Unpleasant meditation-related experiences in regular meditators: Prevalence, predictors, and conceptual considerations. PLOS ONE, 14(5), e0216643. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0216643

Sharma, P., Mahapatra, A., & Gupta, R. (2022). Meditation-induced psychosis: a narrative review and individual patient data analysis. Irish Journal of Psychological Medicine, 39(4), 391–397. https://doi.org/10.1017/ipm.2019.47

Taylor, G. B., Vasquez, T. S., Kastrinos, A., Fisher, C. L., Puig, A., & Bylund, C. L. (2022). The Adverse Effects of Meditation-Interventions and Mind–Body Practices: a Systematic Review. Mindfulness, 13(8), 1839–1856. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12671-022-01915-6

The MYRIAD team, Baer, R., Crane, C., Montero-Marin, J., Phillips, A., Taylor, L., Tickell, A., & Kuyken, W. (2021). Frequency of Self-reported Unpleasant Events and Harm in a Mindfulness-Based Program in Two General Population Samples. Mindfulness, 12(3), 763–774. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12671-020-01547-8

Van Dam, N. T., Van Vugt, M. K., Vago, D. R., Schmalzl, L., Saron, C. D., Olendzki, A., Meissner, T., Lazar, S. W., Kerr, C. E., Gorchov, J., Fox, K. C. R., Field, B. A., Britton, W. B., Brefczynski-Lewis, J. A., & Meyer, D. E. (2018). Mind the Hype: A Critical Evaluation and Prescriptive Agenda for Research on Mindfulness and Meditation. Perspectives on Psychological Science, 13(1), 36–61. https://doi.org/10.1177/1745691617709589

Yorston, G. A. (2001). Mania precipitated by meditation: A case report and literature review. Mental Health, Religion & Culture, 4(2), 209–213. https://doi.org/10.1080/713685624

Best,

Olivier Sandilands 194.199.3.13 (talk) 17:39, 9 December 2024 (UTC)

This is incorrect, as meditation is embedded in yoga. Yoga became later on one of the branches of Hinduism, above all thanks to Patañjali, but it actually predates the Vedas themselves, hence the Upanishads by many centuries. Ngs111 (talk) 16:24, 25 February 2025 (UTC)

So, where then, in which pre-Upanishadic, or even pre-Vedic, text, is yoga mentioned or described? Joshua Jonathan - Let's talk! 19:11, 25 February 2025 (UTC)

Hi all,

The citation system in this article uses three separate lists at the bottom (References, Printed sources, and Web sources). This seems unnecessarily complex compared to the standard format on most articles.

Would anyone object to simplifying this to a single References list where the full citation appears directly? I think it would be much easier for readers to navigate, but wanted to get consensus first. Thoughts? Digressivo (talk) 00:34, 12 July 2025 (UTC)

I definitely object. Having a separate source-list makes editing much easier. Joshua Jonathan - Let's talk! 04:41, 12 July 2025 (UTC)

Hi, I’m Masrur9955123

I would like to discuss adding more information on meditation techniques, such as mindfulness, transcendental, and chakra-focused meditation. Reliable sources can be added to clarify historical origins and cultural variations.

--Masrur9955123 Masrur9955123 (talk) 11:01, 3 November 2025 (UTC)

I agree there isn't one type of meditation. The sources cited in this article make that clear too. Dauntbares (talk) 13:41, 9 February 2026 (UTC)

Is about being here now with everything we need is right in front of us Arnbiology (talk) 23:48, 30 December 2025 (UTC)

I wanted to get consensus on reverting a reversion of an edit of mine by @Joshua Jonathan:. I believe my edit to define meditation to "refer to practices" rather than "is a practice" to better reflect the range of practices that fall under the umbrella term. Dauntbares (talk) 17:04, 10 February 2026 (UTC)

"A technique" includes a plurality of techniques. And "uses specific technique" is a grammatical error. Joshua Jonathan - Let's talk! 19:30, 10 February 2026 (UTC)

To respond:

1) "A technique" doesn't imply a plurality of techniques that fall under the umbrella of meditation. "A" is an indefinite article which does not imply plurality--just that the noun is not specified yet.

2) I don't think "uses specific technique" is a grammatical error. Indefinite articles are necessary for introducing single countable nouns. I was using "technique" in a more abstract, uncountable sense. Here are some examples from Merriam-Webster without indefinite articles: "a dancer with excellent technique" and "The ice-skaters will be judged on technique and creativity." Dauntbares (talk) 21:48, 10 February 2026 (UTC)

Ad: it should be "a spefific technique" or "specific techniques." Joshua Jonathan - Let's talk! 04:46, 11 February 2026 (UTC)

In context, "a specific technique" implies there is only one technique of meditation: "Meditation is a practice in which an individual uses a specific technique to train attention and awareness..."

On the other hand, "specific techniques" implies that the act of meditation involves multiple techniques when a lot of meditation is the application of only one technique: "Meditation is a practice in which an individual uses specific techniques to train attention and awareness..." A lot of practitioners of transcendental meditation just do that, and the sentence above suggests the application of multiple techniques in an individual's practice.

The more I dwell on this, the more I think "deliberate technique" might be better here, but that would still be without the indefinite article.

As an aside, I noticed on your user page that you are, in part, using Wikipedia to strengthen your English language skills. I think that's great, and I support your efforts and your contributions to Wikipedia in general. As a native English speaker, I think you might need to trust me on this one, but I'm open to more discussion and the opinions of other editors as well. Dauntbares (talk) 12:26, 11 February 2026 (UTC)

To return to the Merriam-Webster definitions, I'm using "technique" here according to the first definition--"the manner in which technical details are treated (as by a writer) or basic physical movements are used"--rather than the second--"a method of accomplishing a desired aim". The first definition is uncountable and is used without articles. Dauntbares (talk) 12:32, 11 February 2026 (UTC)

The first line says "a tachnique," not " a specific technique." "Technique" at this page refers to method(s), not to proficiency in those methods. Joshua Jonathan - Let's talk! 09:16, 12 February 2026 (UTC)

I'm saying the current sentence does not suggest what you think it suggests. "A technique" in this context makes it sound like there is only one technique for meditation, not a plurality. That's not how indefinite articles work.

I'm suggesting our disagreement arises from my use of "technique" in a way that you are unfamiliar with. It doesn't refer to "proficiency in those methods" it refers to "the manner" (or perhaps bearing or comportment) that one approaches a task. Dauntbares (talk) 13:57, 12 February 2026 (UTC)

I agree with Joshua. "a technique" implies one of many, not the only. e.g. "Prayer is an invocation" - does not imply there is only one form of prayer, and "Mantra is a sacred utterance" - does not imply there is only one mantra.

Maybe it can include "a family of practices" / "variety of practices" / "variety of techniques" (as discussed in the body), but don't think that change is necessary. Also, articles usually start with "is ..". Asteramellus (talk) 00:02, 13 February 2026 (UTC)

I think you are confusing subject and predicate. You write, "'Prayer is an invocation' - does not imply there is only one form of prayer," but the indefinite article is before "invocation" not "prayer". "Prayer is an invocation" does not imply multiple types of prayer; it implies that prayer is one instance or type of invocation.

The sentence at issue is more grammatically complex than "Prayer is an invocation". The sentence begins "Meditation is a practice in which an individual uses a technique to train attention and awareness..." My issue is not with the first indefinite article (the "a" before "practice") but the third (the one before "technique"), which is in a restrictive relative clause. The grammar of the sentence can thus be reduced to: "In meditation, an individual uses a technique to train attention and awareness..." I don't think substituting "a variety of techniques" ameliorates the problem as it now seems to define meditation as necessarily involving a variety of techniques, even for a single meditator.

My substitution in this reduced grammatical form is to say "In meditation, an individual uses deliberate technique to train attention and awareness..." It was suggested that omitting the indefinite article is grammatically incorrect, but it's not. Here's an example from the NYT, "what looked like natural-born genius was often deliberate technique in disguise." Dauntbares (talk) 13:31, 13 February 2026 (UTC)

I'm feeling pretty confident in my edit given the responses. Unless anyone still objects, I'll make the edit in a few days. Dauntbares (talk) 16:40, 19 February 2026 (UTC)

I object; your example-sentence underscores what's wrong with your proposal, as explained before. Techniques like following the breath or repeating a mantra are examples of 'a' technique, a deliberate act. What you are referring to is more akin to the quality, or level of mastery of that technique. Joshua Jonathan - Let's talk! 03:03, 20 February 2026 (UTC)

Ok, I'm going to leave this alone given your repeated objections. I think you're missing my point about how restrictive relative clauses work, and "technique" as I'm trying to use it does not refer to "quality or level of mastery of that technique" as you suggest. Again, I would implore you to consider that there are intricacies to the language that you don't quite get yet. Dauntbares (talk) 13:32, 20 February 2026 (UTC)

I'm not a native speaker indeed; I don't even know the nuances in Dutch. Congratulations with your skills in that respect; hope you're happy with it. But I do know how "technique" is used in the sources we're using here:

• " the use of a defined technique"
• "a natural category of techniques"
• "a stylized mental technique"

Joshua Jonathan - Let's talk! 13:55, 20 February 2026 (UTC)

Taking a look at AskBetty, as suggested by you. Regarding "A technique" doesn't imply a plurality of techniques that fall under the umbrella of meditation. "A" is an indefinite article which does not imply plurality--just that the noun is not specified yet., that page says:

The indefinite article ("a" or "an"), as its name suggests, is used when you have a singular countable noun that is unknown or not specific to the hearer, while the definite article ("the") is used when the hearer or the reader knows what specific noun you are talking about.
Using the examples above, you can see that in 1.1 and 1.2, the hearer cannot identify which specific notebook or a specific envelope the speaker is talking about: it could be any notebook or any envelope at the store, regardless of color, quality, and so on.

This applies to the sentence "Meditation is a practice in which an individual uses a technique": 'it could be any meditation-technique'. Joshua Jonathan - Let's talk! 14:09, 20 February 2026 (UTC)

I'm sorry for being a little snippy.

I agree that "a" could imply any technique, but indefinite articles on their own don't imply plurality, just that the technique hasn't been specified. The sentence begins, "Meditation is a practice in which an individual uses a technique to train the mind..." In an inaccurate lede, the next sentence could very well be "That technique is called Vipassana." This lede doesn't go that way, but what I'm trying to highlight is that as written, it does kind of sound like there is only one technique of meditation.

Here's another example: "Golf is a sport in which an individual uses a club to hit a ball." That sentence implies one club is used and doesn't make it sound like there are multiple types of clubs that one can use in golf or that multiple clubs could be used by one person, but I wouldn't suggest omitting the indefinite article because that would be grammatically incorrect. With prior knowledge of golf, one can glide past this suggestion of a singular club, but I think a lot of people reading about meditation on Wikipedia might not know much about meditation and might have thought there was only one type of technique.

Fortunately, technique has another sense which allows us to avoid this pitfall of indefinite article use--"the manner in which technical details are treated" MW. The example I provided above from the NYT was about teaching, and in the sentence I highlighted, through omitting an indefinite article, the sentence is agnostic about whether one or many different teaching techniques are at play. Contrast is drawn between genius (or innate intuition) and deliberate method(s). Dauntbares (talk) 14:24, 20 February 2026 (UTC)

To reply more succinctly, "a technique" alone does not close off the possibility of multiple techniques but it kind of implies there is only one. Dauntbares (talk) 14:27, 20 February 2026 (UTC)

I realize there might be some confusion around the word "any". When you say "it could be any technique"--"any" could mean there is only one predetermined technique in a set of techniques that we haven't narrowed down yet or "any" could mean all techniques of the set would be valid. An example of the first sense: "His house could be any house on this street"--he only has one house but I don't know which one it is. An example of the second: "He could live in any house as long as it has a pool"--all houses with pools would be suitable for him to live in.

I wonder when you say "any" technique you mean the latter, but I believe the use of indefinite articles suggests the former. Dauntbares (talk) 14:57, 20 February 2026 (UTC)