Pilot Study

The study is expected to last approximately 45 months and involve 20 individuals aged 25–85. Quantitative and qualitative data will be collected in two phases of the project.

Full-time contemplatives and control participants who meditate but are not in full-time retreat have completed weekly reflective journal writing regarding their meditation practice. The journals are presently undergoing analysis using a method known as interpretive phenomenological analysis (IPA). At the beginning of the study, and then in three-month intervals for approximately one year, the full-time contemplatives and control participants also completed multiple psychological questionnaires that addressed attentional and emotional states. Meditation teachers at the CCR participated in recorded interviews with the Principal Investigator and provided independent, expert evaluations of the contemplatives’ subjective experiences, attentional abilities, and reflective insights. The data collection of this first phase of the study has been completed.

Across three years of the study, the full-time contemplatives will participate in recurring EEG recordings, during which they will perform multiple meditation techniques. Researchers will make notes of their observations during these recordings. Following the EEG sessions, the contemplatives will take part in brief journaling to capture their subjective experiences during the meditation sessions.