Altered States of Consciousness More Common Than Believed in Mind-Body Practices

https://neurosciencenews.com/altered-consciousness-meditation-26148/

Summary: A new study finds that altered states of consciousness (ASCs), like those experienced during meditation, are more common than previously thought. 45% of respondents reported experiencing ASCs at least once, often leading to positive outcomes.

However, a significant minority also reported negative or even life-threatening suffering, highlighting the need for better support and understanding of these experiences.

Yoga, mindfulness, meditation, breathwork, and other practices are gaining in popularity due to their potential to improve health and well-being. The effects of these practices are mostly positive and occasionally transformational, yet they are known to sometimes be associated with challenging altered states of consciousness.

New research by a team including investigators from Massachusetts General Hospital, a founding member of the Mass General Brigham healthcare system, reveals that altered states of consciousness associated with meditation practice are far more common than expected.

Although many people reported positive outcomes, that were sometimes even considered transformational, from these experiences, for a substantial minority the experiences were negative. The results are published in the journal Mindfulness.

“With more people engaging in mindfulness, meditation, and other contemplative and mind-body practices, we thought that altered states and their effects might be common among the general population.

“Altered states were most often followed by positive, and sometimes even transformational effects on wellbeing,” 

The experiences included derealization (the feeling of being detached from your environment), unitive experiences (a sense of unity or “oneness”), ecstatic thrills, vivid perceptions, changes in perceived size, bodily heat or electricity, out-of-body experiences, and perception of non-physical lights.

“Rather than being extremely unusual and rare, our study found that altered states of consciousness are a common variant of normal human experience,” said Sacchet.

He added that “ancient meditation manuals from the wisdom traditions may be useful for classifying and understanding altered states of consciousness. They may provide guidance into how to better manage altered states when they may be difficult. We clearly need more research to further study and understand this possibility.”