The current study aimed at developing and validating an instrument to identify and recruit skilled meditators for scientific research. Six factors that played a key role in defining a “skilled meditator” were identified through extensive literature searches, focus group discussions and in-depth interviews with experts in the field of meditation. The psychometric properties of relevant factors were analyzed by exploring their factor structure and internal consistency reliability. The identified factors were: heightened peripheral awareness, stable attention and alertness, and emotional stability as well as the time duration of the meditation practice and details of the meditation practice in terms of its content and context.
As the framework presented by Yates and colleagues (8) suggest, a meditator develops the qualities of that of a skilled practitioner and a number of factors are identified to hinder the progression through these stages. According to the conceptualization that follows, sustaining continued attention and overcoming gross distraction and strong dullness (stage four) may be obstructed by the occurrence of emotionally charged mental stimuli, pain and discomfort and subtle distractions which may progress into gross distractions. The process of overcoming subtle dullness and increasing mindfulness (stage five) is hindered by the inability to recognize subtle dullness (a slight dullness that makes the meditation object less vivid and intense and cause periphery awareness to fade) and the possibility of an illusion of stable attention being created during this stage. In terms of subduing subtle distraction (stage six), the tendency of attention being focused on the continuous and distracting chain of thoughts and other phenomena in the peripheral awareness may hinder the progression through this stage. Such obstacles characteristic to these three stages depicted the importance of exploring the presence of four factors, namely peripheral awareness, stable attention, alertness and emotional stability in identifying a skilled meditator.
These four factors are further in line with conceptual and empirical evidence that differentiate between meditation naïve subjects and meditation practitioners with skill and experience. Stable attention is empirically supported to enhance mindfulness (28) which is cultivated through the practice of meditation as indicated by studies conducted among long-term meditating and non-meditating samples (29) and peripheral awareness is understood to indicated the firm establishment of one’s stable attention. According to Buttle (30), alertness can be understood as an attentional aspect of meditation which is encouraged by the Buddhist concept of awakening and meditation promotes insight by keeping the practitioner alert and mindful (31). Insight and awakening are phenomena that occur in later and more profound states of meditation which requires more practice and skill. Furthermore alertness plays a key role in strengthening and improving attentional functions (32), which may further contribute to the development of stable attention overtime. This theoretical basis was further supported by the construct validity analysis procedure of the current study where items representing stable attention and alertness loaded in to one single factor (factor 01) suggesting their possible inter-correlation. This factor was subsequently named as Section C2 (stable attention and alertness) and its internal consistency reliability in measuring stable attention and alertness was supported through an acceptable Cronbach’s alpha level of .64.
In terms of emotional stability, studies conducted between meditation naïve participants and experienced meditators suggest that meditation practitioners show higher emotional stability through reduced arousal evoked by sensory stimuli (33, 34, 35, 36). In order to capture the concepts of emotional stability, we included the concept of the Five Mental Hindrances (FMH) (Pancha nivarana dharma) suggested in traditional Buddhist literature and which is more culturally compatible with our study context. The FMH are viewed as unwholesome negative states of mind that obstruct and hinder the progression towards the ultimate goal of meditation, nirvana (enlightenment) and mental and physical health and wellbeing which are its byproducts. According to Ubeyasekara (37), these hindrances arise from unwholesome roots which include: sensual desire arising from greed (lobha), ill-will arising from aversion (dwesha) and sloth and torpor, restlessness and remorse and skeptical doubt that arises from delusion (moha). These roots, especially those of ill-will, restlessness and remorse are entwined with several negative emotions including aversion, anger, agitation, resentment, hostility and therefore the eradication of these may result in emotional stability and control. And as this eradication is needed to progress in the meditation practice as it otherwise obstructs the development of deep concentration, wisdom, insight and etc. Furthermore, in terms of sloth and torpor, these can be mental states resultant through laziness and lethargy thus affecting alertness needed during the meditation process. Thus, the five mental hindrances were utilized as indicators of emotional stability/control and alertness which are established in skilled meditators. As indicated by the EFA process all items representing the concept of the FMH were loaded in to one factor (factor 02) and was termed Section D (emotional stability). An acceptable Cronbach’s alpha level of .77 supported the reliability of this factor in assessing emotional stability.
In terms of the importance of identifying the content and context in terms of duration of the meditation practice, as empirically suggested prolonged time periods are found effective in better detecting changes in brain plasticity and meditation practitioners with long-term experience and skills may be ideal human models for this identification given the regularity, duration and the on-going nature of their meditation practice (38), Furthermore, we identify the combination of duration, frequency and participation in retreats to be important as extensive meditation training can happen in a multiple ways and time periods where intense and lengthy meditation can occur during retreats while it may be practices in a less intensity during daily practice (39). Moreover, identifying content and context of the meditation practice in terms of cultural/place and person-related factors were deemed important as the setting and background where meditation is practiced is often found to be a predictor of certain meditation states (9). The above suggests the benefit of exploring the duration, frequency/regularity, participation in meditation retreats and person and place related factors in identifying meditator participants in effectively yielding scientific results. Defining cut-off scores was based on a pilot study which was carried out within our cultural context, future research on scoring systems should be followed if this tool will be used beyond the Sri Lankan context.
We believe that clear demarcation between skilled and inexperienced meditators in terms of the initial four factors along with duration and details of the meditation practice (eight questions) may lead to effectively understanding the effects of meditation on certain psychological and physiological parameters in meditation practitioners. Furthermore, through empirical and theoretical literature, we found these six factors to be intertwined with one another. For example, regularity of meditation is found to improve emotional stability (40) while continuous stable attention, especially promoted through the participation in intense meditation-retreats are found to develop and encourage the emergence of improved alertness which is associated with the ventral attention system (30). Therefore, we emphasize the importance of using all these aspects as a combination in identifying a skilled meditator. With the addition of the three general questions which qualitatively explored the opinions of meditators on certain meditation-related phenomena, an Intake Interview with 30 questions was developed through this study.
The CIISMR was developed to be used in a large scale study titled, “meditation, Mindfulness and Health”. The meditators recruited for this on-going study using the CIISMR have demonstrated; significantly higher levels of plasma telomerase levels (41), and relative telomere lengths which suggests of the possibility of higher longevity among this group; significantly lower production of nitric oxide and a significantly higher anti-oxidant capacity in this group with potential beneficial effects against oxidative stress (42); as well as central and peripheral neurological functions (43) and changes in psychological parameters in terms of mindfulness and psychological distress (44) compared to their age and gender matched non-meditating controls. Moreover, trait mindfulness levels and plasma telomerase levels were seen to be significantly associated with the duration of meditation practice suggesting increased longevity among skilled meditators chosen using the CIISMR compared to their age, gender and education matched controls (41). A further correlational analysis conducted with the meditators in terms of demographic details reported their skill level of meditation measured through the CIISMR to be significantly and positively correlated with education achievement (p = .001, r = .671) (45). The researchers within the study group have flagged the importance of using this type of a systematic approach in their research and according to them, this tool has contributed in minimizing the errors commonly found in meditation research at the point of recruitment of participants to the study.