Floating Away

Alterations to self-consciousness during mindfulness meditation and Flotation-REST: a comparative study

This study explored two techniques that can create changes in the way people perceive themselves and the world around them – Flotation-Reduced Environmental Stimulation Therapy (REST), which involves floating in a tank designed to limit sensory input, and mindfulness meditation (MM), which is focused on maintaining a moment-by-moment awareness of our thoughts, feelings, bodily sensations, and surrounding environment.

The researchers were particularly interested in comparing these two methods with the experiences people have when they take psychedelic substances. They looked at various aspects of these experiences, such as the feeling of losing one’s sense of self (ego-dissolution) and the sensation of having a mystical or profound experience.

The results showed that both floating and meditation led to a greater sense of losing one’s ego than inflating it. The depth of these mystical experiences fell somewhere between those brought on by low and high doses of a psychedelic substance called psilocybin, which is found in certain types of mushrooms.

Interestingly, those who meditated and had a lesser feeling of physical boundaries felt more ego-dissolution and reported more mystical experiences. Also, those who already practiced meditation had a stronger altered state of consciousness during the experiment. But past use of psychedelics didn’t necessarily enhance these altered states.

One’s openness to new experiences, however, did influence the intensity of these states. The study concluded that using a combination of established scientific measures and personal descriptions of experiences can give us a better understanding of these deep, meditation- or flotation-induced states of consciousness and how they relate to different parts of our awareness.

The Floating Away project team:

– Research Lead: Matt Gwyther (Anglia Ruskin University)

– Supervisor: Dr. Jane Aspell (Anglia Ruskin University)

#Self #Consciousness #Floatation-RESt #Meditation #Psychedelics #PredictiveProcessing