Meditative replayof troubling life events and transformation in practitioners of yoga and meditation: a pilot study

Several views of meditation indicate that when either suppressed or repressed material surfaces during meditation, the individual is able to cope with it better. Research on meditation has demonstrated that it helps individuals to overcome stress and transforms them into better persons. However, only a handful of studies have focused on collecting data of actual meditative experiences from practitioners. In this study, meditative experiences of the practitioners of yoga and meditation were collected by means of semi-structured interviews pertaining to the meditative replay of troubling life events. Four long-term meditators (age range, 24–52 years; meditation experience range, 8–12 years) of Yoga Consciousness Trust, India, constituted the final sample (out of 15 subjects) in this pilot study. Thematic analysis revealed that meditative replay of episodes in which material related to the past surfaced helped practitioners to overcome negative feelings and emotions and to clarify cognitions.