White Papers on
Meditation Brainwaves
What is Meditation Depth?
In 1999, Harald Piron set out to find out if one could create a single depth index that worked across several meditation traditions. He asked 45 teachers from six traditions to classify 30 statements about meditation states by depth...
Each white paper is about 5-10 pages. Tap on any one to download a PDF.
A New Taxonomy for
Meditation Brainwave Research
Proper taxonomy accelerates research results. Until the turn of the century, most cancer research was organized by where the cancer showed up in the body. When we started looking for subtypes by molecular classification it led to more targeted therapeutic approaches and improved patient outcomes. Classifying meditations by EEG signatures is similar to using a molecular approach in cancer research...
The Brainwaves of
Effortless Absorption Meditations
Effortless Absorption meditation is a surrender based meditation. It is “mastered” quickly and there is little difference in the experience of 100 hours and 1,000 hours of practice..The goal is to let go of one's personal mind and become absorbed into a higher consciousness that is beyond space and time...
The Brainwaves of
Focused Awareness Meditations
The goal of Focused Awareness (FA) meditations is to direct and sustain one's full attention to a chosen meditation object, ultimately culminating in effortless single-pointed concentration and total absorption...
The Brainwaves of
Open Heart Meditations
The essence of Metta is the cultivation of an unconditional and inclusive love, a boundless warmth that encompasses all beings without discrimination. The most common way to point the mind towards metta when beginning the practice is the silent repetition of loving kindness phrases. This is not done to create metta from non-metta but rather to radiate qualities, or even just intentions, that are already there...
The Brainwaves of
Open Monitoring Meditations
The goal state in Open Monitoring (OM) meditation is to open one's aperture of focus to take in all sensations without judgment, resistance, or engagement. The goal is equanimity and the wisdom that comes from seeing raw reality without our analytical overlays...
The Brainwaves of
Non-Dual Meditations
The Nondual (ND) family of meditations serves as a pathway to experiencing a unified state of consciousness, where the distinction between self/other and subject/object dissolves. Nondual is both the highest expression of each type of meditation and a completely different state...