Meditation

The dance of rain drops

splashing into a puddle

gentle sharings arise

A Note:

I was asked to write a book chapter for Miguel Farias; Oxford Handbook of Meditation. Since I knew this was going to be the last article I wrote on Meditation, I wanted to:

1. Summarize my past work on meditation , especially as it relates to the role of control
2. To share my own personal journey regarding the content and context of meditation, and
3. To invite the reader to explore their own journey with meditation.

Because of space limitations, the “invitation to the readers” was not able to included in the book chapter. Therefore below please find first the Invitation to readers, (hope you enjoy your personal exploration!) followed by the Book Chapter “The Role of Control In Meditation.”

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Read the Book Chapter “The Role of Control In Meditation”

Edited by Deane H. Shapiro, Jr. and Roger N. Walsh

Comments by colleagues on this book; click here.

* Selected by Choices: The Journal of the Association of College and Research Libraries as one of the Outstanding Academic Books for 1984-1985. Outstanding Research Book, 1985, Japanese Government, Asahi Press: (see here)

This collection of contemporary articles on meditation is the most comprehensive ever assembled on the subject. The editors have selected works that are classics in the field, methodologically interesting, and clinically relevant.

• Table of Contents
• Classic perspectives of meditation: Toward an empirical understanding of meditation as an altered state of consciousness.
• A systems approach to meditation research: Guidelines and suggestions.
• Epilogue – As a spiritual discipline, meditation is an ancient and revered practice, and its most outstanding practitioners have been ranked among the wisest people in history. Unfortunately, that history and tradition is sometimes lost and/or forgotten by those who unquestioningly and evangelically embrace a particular meditation technique or path, and try to convince all around them of its absolute truth. On the other hand, it may also be lost to us as Western scientists if we are not careful of our own biases and views as we study meditation.
• Tables (Studies on Fears and Phobia, Stress, and Tension Management; Studies of Hypertension; Subjective and other changes within and following meditation; Studies on Attention and Perception)

by Deane H. Shapiro, Jr., Ph.D.

Editor’s note (JTP):
Meditation, often the primary teaching method in spiritual practice, is attempted by innumerable students. It is generally believed, however, that it is most meaningful when pursued as a long-term practice. To investigate this assumption, Deane Shapiro, Jr. found and studied twenty-seven meditators with over four years average meditation experience. His research shows significant shifts along a continuum measuring the meditator’s reports of self-regulation, self-exploration and self-liberation.

(1992) A preliminary investigation of long-term meditators: Goals, effects, religious orientation, cognitions: Journal of Transpersonal Psychology, 24,1,23-39.

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Case Study: Background Note to Motivation, Expectation. Adherence Questionnaire (MEA)

Supplemental Comments

by Deane H. Shapiro, Jr., Ph.D.

A mode of control and self-control profile for longterm meditators. A Retrospective and Prospective Assessment. Psychologia 1992,35 (1) 1-11.

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by Deane H. Shapiro, Jr., Ph.D.

(l992) Adverse effects of meditation: A retrospective and prospective study of long term meditators. International Journal of Psychosomatics, 39,(1-4),62-67.

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Supplemental Comments

Comments by colleagues on Meditation book; click here.

Author’s comments below:

I began this book with three goals. First, I wanted to provide a book which offered the most comprehensive, up-to-date. scientific approach available to t he study of meditation. That book became the product of over three and one-half years preparation and involved reading every scientific article on meditation published in any major English language journal.

Second, based on my research. training. and experience as a clinical psychologist and behavioral scientist. I wanted the book to show t he potential health-care, medical, and therapeutic uses of meditation: both indications and contraindications. As more and more people begin to meditate in our culture , sensitive clinicians and therapists are faced with the need to know about the nature of meditation, both it s positive and adverse effects.

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The material below is taken from the SCI Manual, and provides information targeted to data collected from groups of  meditators based on length of practice—beginning, intermediate, long term, and very long term (over 20 years). In the manual, these groups are discussed under each of the scales, and compared with other populations researched.   It is summarized here just for convenience. The entire SCI Manual, with studies of all the different populations researched, and reliability and validity studies, can be found at

https://controlresearch.net/shapiro-control-inventory-manual.html

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by Deane H. Shapiro, Jr., Ph.D.

Shapiro, D. H. Comparison of meditation with other self-control strategies–biofeedback, hypnosis, progressive relaxation: A review of the clinical and physiological literature. American Journal of Psychiatry, 1982, 139, 3, 267-274.

Reprinted (abstract) in Steven Locke, M.D., Harvard University, Psychological and Behavioral Treatments for Medical Disorders, New York: IAHH, 1986.

Reprinted in part in Stanley B. Baker ), Merville C. Shaw Improving Counseling Through Primary Prevention Paperback – February, 1987 McGraw Hill

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This is additional footnotes not included in the American Psychologist article that may be of interest: Topics include refinement in what is meant by formal meditation; detached observation; behavioral self-observation reactivity; integrating meditation and behavioral approaches. 

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Supplemental Material

by Deane H. Shapiro, Jr., Ph.D.

Meditation and behavioral medicine: Application of a self-regulation strategy to the clinical management of stress. In S. Burchfield (ed.) Stress: Psychological and Physiological Interactions. New York: Hemisphere Publishing Corporation, 1985, pp. 307-328.

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