Effects of Mindfulness Meditation on Self-Transcendent States: Perceived Body Boundaries and Spatial Frames of Reference

Abstract

Objectives: Mindfulness training is believed to encourage self-transcendent states, but little research has examined this hypothesis. This study examined the effects of mindfulness training on two phenomenological features of self-transcendence: 1) perceived body boundary dissolution, and 2) more allocentric spatial frames of reference.

Methods: A sample of healthy, young adults (n=45) were randomized to five sessions of mindfulness training or an active listening control condition.

Results: Results indicated mindfulness training decreased perceived body boundaries (F 4,172=6.010, p<.001, η 2=.12) and encouraged more allocentric frames of reference (F 4,168=2.586, p=.039, η 2=.06). The expected inverse relationship was observed between perceived body boundaries and allocentric frames of reference ((β=-.58, p=.001)), and path analysis revealed the effect of mindfulness training on allocentric frames of reference was mediated by decreased perceived body boundaries (β=.24, se=.17, CI: 0.11 to 0.78).

Conclusions: Taken together, study results suggest that mindfulness training alters practitioners' experience of self, relaxing the boundaries of the self and extending the spatial frame of reference further beyond the physical body. Future studies are needed to explore the psychophysiological changes that co-occur with phenomenological reports of self-transcendence and the behavioral consequences following self-transcendent experiences.

Keywords: Allocentric Frame of Reference; Egocentric Frame of Reference; Mindfulness; Perceived Body Boundary; Self-transcendence; Spatial Frame of Reference.

Conflict of interest statement

Conflict of Interest Statement Adam Hanley, Michael Dambrun, and Eric Garland declare no potential conflicts of interest with respect to the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.

Figures

Figure 1.

Image used for the Perceived Body Boundaries Scale.

Figure 2.

Image used for the Spatial Frame of Reference Continuum.

Figure 3.

Effect of mindfulness training on in-session change in perceived body boundaries (±1 standard error) from study session 1 to session 5. In-session change calculated by subtracting post-induction perceived body boundary score from pre-induction perceived body boundary score.

Figure 4.

Effect of mindfulness training on in-session change in spatial frame of reference (±1 standard error) from study session 1 to session 5. In-session change calculated by subtracting post-induction spatial frame of reference score from pre-induction spatial frame of reference score.

Figure 5.

Mediation models tesing the effects of mindfulness training on resdiualized changes in perceived body boundaries and residulaized changes in spatial frame of reference at sessions 2 and 5, adjusting for change scores during session 1. Parenthetic values re the direct effect of experimental condition on distal outcome with the mediator removed from the model. N.S. = non-significant path. The curved line represents the indirect effect of the endogenous variable on the distal outcome via the mediator.