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Division of Perceptual Studies

Altered States of Consciousness

Mindfulness, Meditation, and Unusual Experiences

Dr. Kim Penberthy and her colleagues are interested in studying meditators, especially the unusual experiences sometimes reported during (or around) meditation sessions. Research shows meditation to be hold a variety of benefits for stress-related conditions, but there has been little investigation into the reports of unusual experiences associated with a meditation or mindfulness practice.

Dr. Kim Penberthy

Kim Penberthy, PhD – Carlson Prof. of Psychiatry

These reports include anecdotes of precognition, telepathy, clairvoyance, synchronicity, memories of past lives, out-of-body experiences, and other unusual experiences. DOPS is particularly interested in reports where people experienced enhanced psychic or psi abilities as a result of meditation retreats, intensive practice, or meditation classes.

If you have had an unusual experience associated with your meditation and/or mindfulness practice, we would like to hear about it. Please feel free to share your experience with our research team: Contact Us.

Out-of-Body Experiences (OBEs)

Approximately 15% of the general population, at some point in their life, has had the experience of feeling located in space away from their physical body. This experience also occurs in 65% of persons who come close to death and survive.

While most OBEs are spontaneous, a small number of persons claim to be able to have these experiences voluntarily. Such persons may be suitable for experiments that might demonstrate exceptional features of these experiences.

Features of Exceptional OBEs

  • Veridical Observations – Some persons report that, while out-of-body, they went to another place and observed events they could not have known because they were outside the range of their normal senses.
  • Shared Experiences – On rare occasions, the person who reports having been out out-of-body may be perceived by another person at the place where the first person claimed to be during the OBE.

If you have an experience with one of these features, or you can induce OBEs voluntarily, please Contact Us.

After-Death Communication (ADCs)

People sometimes report receiving messages from deceased loved ones through experiences such as memorable dreams, significant sounds, special smells, particular symbols, or other personal imagery. Sometimes these events are experienced in altered states, such as meditation or hypnagogic states before/after sleep, and sometimes they happen in an everyday state of consciousness.

When people experience these ADC events, they are often a great source of comfort and healing. They can happen in the wake of a recent death, 1-2 years after a death, or even many years later. These experiences often involve everyday people who do not have a history of mediumistic abilities or special skills.

Occasionally, an ADC yields information not previously known to the living recipient. There is much to be studied in this area: the types of people who experience ADCs, the range of circumstances for occurrence, veridical elements, as well as short-term and long-term effects on a person’s grieving process.

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