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The Physical and Psychological Effects of Meditation
A Review of Contemporary Research
by Steven Donovan, Michael Murphy, and Eugene Taylor
When it first appeared, The Physical and Psychological Effects of Meditation drew wide attention within the meditation community and eventually sold out. Its authors, Michael Murphy and Steven Donovan, leaders in the American growth center movement and themselves seasoned meditators, presented their bibliography as a project of the Center for Exceptional Functioning, a newly-founded program within Esalen Institute.
In the book, Murphy and Donovan have given us a summary of meditation research that anticipated, among other trends, the rising influence of psychology in general medicine, the increasingly important role of beliefs and values in the healing process, the possibility of a new dialogue emerging between science and religion framed in terms of spiritual experience, and the potential impact that different models of consciousness might have on our understanding of character development. This second edition of the text suggests that these are still rising trends for the future.
IONS' intent is to provide access to citations for all scientific research studies into meditation that have been published in English. In addition to this book, please visit the IONS online, searchable meditation bibliography.
Below are two downloadable screen shots from the online meditation bibliography with some key functions pointed out. When you get to the bibliography, try clicking on different links to discover what they do and to find which are most useful to you.
The Introduction of this book is downloadable in PDF format:
