A recent study sheds light on the remarkable ability of experienced meditators to intentionally manipulate their state of consciousness during meditation.
These individuals, without resorting to drugs, can induce temporary states of unconsciousness by orchestrating significant changes in brain activity.
While we typically associate a loss of consciousness with situations like anesthesia, brain concussions, intoxication, epilepsy, seizures, or fainting episodes due to reduced blood flow to the brain, the study explored the intriguing concept of “cessation.”
In cessation, meditators briefly slip into unconsciousness but emerge from this state with profound shifts in their mental and perceptual clarity.
Matthew Sacchet and a team of researchers from Australia, the Netherlands, and the United States embarked on this investigation, recognizing that the ability of meditators to “switch off” consciousness could have far-reaching implications for our understanding of cognition.
However, previous research on cessation had encountered limitations, primarily the scarcity of expert meditators who had reached the level where cessations occur and the unpredictability of these events.
To address these challenges, the researchers adopted a neurophenomenological approach, aligning the first-person descriptions of cessations with objective neuroimaging data.
They enlisted a single expert meditator who could consistently enter and report multiple cessation events during various meditation sessions.
The expert meditator systematically assessed the mental and physiological processes associated with cessations, including context, input, event, output, and after-effects.
These evaluations served as the basis for selecting events for subsequent EEG-based analysis.
Through spectral analysis of EEG data from 37 cessation events recorded across 29 sessions, the researchers could link these moments of unconsciousness to measurable indicators of brain activity related to consciousness and higher-level psychological functioning.
According to Matthew Sacchet, one of the researchers, “these findings offer initial evidence that adept meditators possess the capacity to voluntarily and profoundly alter their state of consciousness.
This paves the way for further exploration of these unique states through neuroscientific and empirical research approaches.”
In essence, this study unveils a fascinating aspect of the human mind’s potential—a capacity for conscious control over consciousness itself, unlocking doors to deeper understanding and future scientific investigations into the nature of these extraordinary cognitive states.
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The research findings can be found in Neuropsychologia.
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