Lomas, Cartwright, Edginton and Ridge (2015) interviewed male meditators. Analysis of the results showed that, while beneficial for most, a quarter of the data revealed significant difficulties. Meditation for some is a difficult practice to learn, giving rise to challenging thoughts and emotions. Conditions such as depression and anxiety were made worse in some cases and psychotic episodes triggered in others. Continue reading
This paper reports a case in which two separate manic episodes arose after meditation using techniques from two different traditions (yoga and zen). Other cases of psychotic illness precipitated by meditation and mystical speculation reported in the literature are discussed. Continue reading
To all those who are considering mindfulness meditation, I would like to tell you that I wish everyday of my life that I had not agreed to practise it. My experience with mindful meditation is perhaps the opposite of what you have heard. It is one that precipitated and I believed caused my depression and anxiety. It provided the opposite of its touted benefits. Continue reading
My history with meditation and contemplative practice feels quite long. All through my primary school years, I used to visit with the nuns in the local convent who taught me to meditate in stillness on the Tabernacle. In times of adversity in childhood and in adolescence, I always knew how to find this “still place”: the watching place. I found it a great source of comfort, often sitting in silence in nature during troubling times. At 19, a few short months after a particularly traumatic event, I took my first retreat – two days teacher led and seven days within a retreat setting which I found quite healing. Continue reading
Damcho has now written an autobiographical series of stories ‘First Telling’. Six of these twenty stories give more detail of her illness and recovery: stories eleven to nineteen, Genetics, Discombobulation, Hospitalisation and Non-compliance, Trust, Understanding, Occupational Therapy. A leaflet giving more details of the book is here.
In my late twenties, I was a yoga teacher. I lived and taught across the world living a vibrant and exciting life that I had chosen and built. In December 2014, because I was advised by many people in my yoga circles to do so, I attended a Vipassana Meditation retreat. It’s a silent retreat that last for 11 days. Continue reading