Re:It's A Small World!

I don't want to make this a message board for meditators. Thank you for allowing the discussion. I hope that it at least it creates some understanding and interest beyond "stress reduction" in therapy.

That being said, I can't say that I was frightened by the experience. The initial "opening" lights and sounds was shocking since I didn't know that it could happen, and I did stop it prematurely. However, I had worked with healers and my meditation teacher was a healer. So, the conventional person that I was, was accustomed to the downright weird. Anything that might have been considered psychosis that I experienced from meditation at the time I thought was an amazing phenomena created by my brain. It didn't cross my mind to be frightened. It was fun.

As far as the risk of psychosis from meditation, that was a question that a friend of mine asked our teacher. Both have practiced meditation for 30 years, one a Buddhist style meditation, and the teacher a energy based meditation. My friend, deeply depressed from a divorce wondered about pyschosis, I assume because she was hoping that her accute depression was due to meditation. My teacher said that he had never known anyone who had had any sort of problem.

As for discussion of meditation phenomena in therapy. Well, at the time, I didn't have the relationship with my therapist that I do now. I as very careful about what I disclosed. However, he did see an immediate shift in me for the better. Today, I talk about it all the time, even the odd stuff. He's become much more receptive to it. I don't think that it really makes a difference whether it becomes a topic in therapy or not. They are two difference disciplines as far as I can see. Yet, it's nice to have someone to talk to about it. It's hard to convey the experience of transcedence to another person, particularly someone who hasn't exerienced it and has already created a belief system about it. And, the type of meditation that I do is very unconventional as meditation goes. So, even without discussing the phenomena, it sounds weird. But I think that I've influence therapy by discussing it. I believe, however, that psychotherapy and meditation really are two different things.

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