Authors: Amutha Aruvi Kaniamuthan, Alexius Weng Onn Cheang.
ABSTRACT
Background: Heartfulness meditation aims to help individuals connect to their inner self to attain peace and a balanced state of mind. Previous studies have been conducted to gain mechanistic insights into the effects of Heartfulness meditation on bodily and cellular functioning as well as in enhancing one’s psychological, emotional and social well-being. However, most of the research is quantitative in approach, and has not been able to capture the intricacies of human lived experiences involved during the process of meditation. This qualitative study aims to understand the lived experiences of Heartfulness practitioners.
Method: A thematic analysis strategy was utilized to discover the themes which represented the meaning behind the reported narrative experiences of Heartfulness practitioners. Twenty-five Heartfulness meditation practitioners were recruited at a Heartfulness retreat at the International Heartfulness Centre in Hyderabad, India to gain their insights.
Result: The current study found that for Heartfulness practitioners, positive changes become gradually visible with regular practice. The process of Heartfulness meditation was found to directly influence physical, psychological, social, cognitive, as well as spiritual benefits.
Conclusion: In-depth lived experiences were explored which add personalized human elements to the field of Heartfulness meditative practice. Implications and limitations of the current study were also addressed and suggestions for future research were discussed.
Keywords: qualitative, biopsychosocial, heartfulness meditation, well-being.
Citation: IeJSME 2021 15 (2): 19-28
