Meditation has stronger relationships with mindfulness, kundalini, and mystical experiences than yoga or prayer.

People who engage in meditation, yoga, or contemplative prayer—alone or in combination—report greater mindfulness, kundalini effects, and mystical experiences. The amount of time spent practicing, rather than the specific pattern or social setting, appears to drive these benefits. Meditation shows the strongest links to these outcomes and may underlie the associations seen with yoga and prayer. The findings suggest that contemplative practices primarily enhance real-time awareness and appreciation of sensory and perceptual experiences, which may serve as a bridge between different practices and the observed improvements in mindfulness, kundalini effects, and mystical experiences.

Study at a glance

Abstract

Contemplative practices can have profound effects on mindfulness and on physical and sensory and mystical experiences. Individuals who self-reported meditation, yoga, contemplative prayer, or a combination of practices and their patterns of practice were compared for mindfulness, kundalini effects, and mystical experiences. The results suggest that the amount of practice but not the pattern and social conditions of practice influences mindfulness and possibly mystical experiences. Meditation, yoga, contemplative prayer, or a combination of practices all were found to be associated with enhancements of mindfulness, kundalini effects, and mystical experiences, but meditation had particularly strong associations and may be the basis of the associations of yoga and prayer with these outcomes. The results further suggest that the primary association of contemplative practices is with the real time awareness and appreciation of sensory and perceptual experiences which may be the intermediary between disparate practices and mindfulness, kundalini effects, and mystical experiences.