June 2016 Participants Required for NUI Galway Study on Meditators

Eric Van Lente, a researcher with NUI Galway’s School of Psychology, is seeking participants for a study to explore the experience of oneness in meditators, including people with experience of any form of sitting or moving meditation practice.

Throughout history, people all over the world have sought to understand their relationship with others, the world, and the cosmos - and in every religious and philosophical tradition there has been an attempt to understand feelings of oneness that arise in these relationships. People often report feeling at one with others, nature, or the universe – either as a temporary or ongoing experience. But where do these feelings come from and how can we best understand them? Researchers in the field of psychology have noted that feelings of oneness sometimes come from practicing different forms of meditation, and researchers at NUI Galway are seeking to understand how people with experience of mediation describe their experience of oneness. 

Commenting on the study, Eric said: “We are particularly interested in the collective intelligence of meditators and are running a series of workshops with groups of meditators over the coming weeks. This work will be used to develop a new measure of oneness experience – a measure that will be used to examine the relationship between oneness and wellbeing outcomes. We’re interested in all forms of meditation and all perspectives on the oneness experiences that people have had.”

A number of workshops are scheduled for the study, two for short-term mediators for those who have three months to one year of some daily meditation practice over their lifetime. The first will take place on Thursday, 30 June from 2-5pm and the second on Saturday, 2 July from 10am-1pm.

There are also two workshops for long-term mediators, those who have five or more years of some daily meditation practice over their lifetime. The first will take place on Saturday, 25 June from 10am-1pm and the second on Saturday 9 July from 10am-1pm.

The results will be published in academic publications and will form part of a PhD thesis. To participate in this research contact Eric at evanlente@gmail.com or at 087 9393100.

-Ends-