by Deane H. Shapiro, Jr., Ph.D.
AUDITORY, VISUAL, KINESTHETIC MEDITATION FOCUS:
Exploring “One size fits all”
Preliminary qualitative data and thoughts for matching” meditative strategy to person
This paper presents qualitative data on twenty individual’s reactions to concentrative meditation on different cues: visual (external: candle flame; internal, tip of nose), auditory (external: flute; internal mantra), and kinesthetic (internal: breath; external, mudra touching thumb to fingers). The results clearly show individual differences and preference, and that “one size does not fit all.” In terms of minimizing distractions and maximizing “enjoyment”, several subjects found external auditory (flute) better, several found external visual (focus on candle flame) better. One found internal auditory (mantra) better; one found internal kinesthetic (breath focus) better. Some had different “distractions” with different focuses: some the same amount of distractions with each focus; a few had cross sense modality and altered state experiences.
The paper then explores some preliminary ideas for how to refine and match the “strategy” to the person, including:
- Additional subject information: e.g. assessing a person’s dominant mode; length of meditation experience; contextual variables;
- Match the intervention/focus to the person’s preferred mode;
- Selection of a dependent variable in a pre-post design: eg., stress—assessing pre and post cognitive, imagery, and kinesthetic stress.
Additional broader implications of this “matching” of person to focus, from method of teaching (e.g., Chinese “dongjing”, balancing yin and yang) to different schools of yoga as a way to “seek divine union” are noted.