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Browsing by Author "Alexander, Charles"

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    "Consciousness" during sleep in a TM practitioner: heart rate, respiration, and eye movement
    (1987) Gackenbach, Jayne; Moorecroft, William; Alexander, Charles; LaBerge, Stephen
    Reports of consciousness during dreaming or lucid dreaming have been verified by having the dreamer signal from the dream that he/she is dreaming with a prearranged set of distinctive lateral eye movements (LaBerge, 1985). This basic methodology has subsequently been replicated in other sleep laboratories. Relatedly, a continuation of consciousness from the waking state into the sleep state is claimed to be a key aspect of the experience of "Transcendental Consciousness", which is developed by the practice of Transcendental Meditation (TM; Banquet & Sailhan, 1974).
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    EEG correlates of consciousness during sleep: a pilot study
    (1990) Mason, Lynne; Alexander, Charles; Travis, Fred; Gackenbach, Jayne
    Vedic psychology, as presented by Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, delineates seven major states of consciousness (Maharishi, 1972). The daily cycle of waking, dreaming, and sleeping constitute the three ordinary changing states of consciousness. In addition, Maharishi's Vedic psychology describes an invariant sequence of higher stages of consciousness. The fourth state of consciousness, termed transcendental consciousness (TC), is characterized as a content-free state of "restful alertness", the ultimate ground state of the mind, pure consciousness (Maharishi, 1969).In this state "... awareness becomes completely 'self-referral' --consciousness has nothing other than itself in its structure" (Maharishi, 1986, p. 27).Maharishi describes TC as follows: This is a state of inner wakefulness with no object of thought or perception, just pure consciousness [TC], aware of its own unbounded nature. It is wholeness, aware of itself, [Self-awareness] devoid of differences, beyond the division of subject and object --transcendental consciousness (Maharishi, 1977, p. 123).TC is held to be as distinct from the ordinary waking state as waking is from dreaming or sleeping. Recent research reviews have identified over twenty physiological correlates distinguishing TC from simple relaxation, sleeping, dreaming and waking (See Alexander and Boyer, 1989; Alexander, Cranson, Boyer and Orme-Johnson, 1986; Wallace, 1986; for a complete review).
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    Electrophysiological correlates of higher states of consciousness during sleep in long-term practitioners of the transcendental meditation program
    (1997) Mason, Lynne; Alexander, Charles; Travis, Fred; Marsh, G.; Orme-Johnson, David; Gackenbach, Jayne; Mason, D.; Rainforth, Maxwell; Walton, Kenneth
    Standard ambulatory night sleep EEG of 11 long-term practitioners of transcendental meditation reporting higher states of consciousness during sleep (the experimental group) was compared with that of 9 short-term practitioners and 11 nonpractitioners (all Ss aged 21–50 yrs). EEG tracings during Stages 3 and 4 sleep show that experimental Ss had theta-alpha activity simultaneously with delta activity and decreased chin EMG during deep sleep compared with short-term controls. In the 1st 3 cycles, experimental Ss had significantly greater theta2 (6–8 Hz)-alpha1 (8–10 Hz) relative power during Stages 3 and 4 than did the combined control groups. There was a graded difference across groups during Stages 3 and 4 in theta2–alpha1 power. Experimental Ss also had increased REM density during REM periods relative to short-term controls.
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    Intelligence and higher states of consciousness: a longitudinal study
    (1990) Cranson, Robert; Alexander, Charles; Orme-Johnson, David; Gackenbach, Jayne
    When William James (1890) introduced the concept of consciousness into American psychology, he argued that beyond the range of normal waking consciousness there is the possibility of exceptional states of consciousness that are completely "discontinuous" with discursive thought. He argued that these heightened states of awareness could be induced under specifiable conditions, could influence thought and behavior profoundly, and could be adaptive for the individual. He challenged psychology to investigate these states scientifically. The onset of the behaviorist revolution almost completely overshadowed this field of psychology (Hilgard, 1980). However, some groups of investigators continued to investigate these states, particularly the Jungian school (1956, 1960, 1980); Abraham Maslow (1968, 1977) and his school of humanistic psychology; and the movement known as transpersonal psychology (Grof, 1983; Rothberg, 1986; Sutich, 1976; Wilber, 1980). These experiences, called "peak experiences" by Maslow, have also been referred to as "transpersonal experiences," "flow," and others. Recently, a larger number of researchers have again begun to recognize and investigate these phenomena (e.g., Alexander, Davies, et al., in press; Alexander, Druker, & Langer, in press; Csikszentmihalyi, 1982; Hilgard, 1980; Hunt, 1989; Kramer, in press; Pascual-Leone, in press-a, in press-b; Pribram, 1986; Shapiro & Walsh, 1984; Wilber, Engler, & Brown, 1986). James (1902/1960, p. 386) suggested that exceptional states could be systematically cultivated, and he pointed to the ancient Indian tradition of yoga as a source of such practices. He thus anticipated a promising research area: the experimental investigation of meditation and associated psychophysiological changes. In 1957 Maharishi Mahesh Yogi introduced Transcendental Meditation (TM) as a simple mental technique derived from the Vedic tradition of India (Maharishi, 1963, 1969; 1972a). He proposed that through this procedure [Editors Note: See discussion by Charles Alexander in the Lucid Dreaming and Higher States of Consciousness Panel Discussion for a brief explanation of the procedure], a "fourth major state of consciousness" can be regularly experienced. This fourth state is referred to in Maharishi's Vedic psychology as transcendental consciousness (Maharishi, 1969; Orme-Johnson, 1988) because it is said to transcend or be discontinuous with the three ordinary states of waking, dreaming, and sleep, as typically described conceptually and psychophysiologically (e.g., see Natsoulas's sixth definition of "normal" waking consciousness: 1983, p. 49; see also, Gackenbach, 1987; Rechtschaffen & Kales, 1968).
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    Lucid dreaming, witnessing dreaming. and the Transcendental Meditation technique: a developmental relationship
    (1986) Gackenbach, Jayne; Cranson, Robert; Alexander, Charles
    The recent growth of interest in dream lucidity, reflected in descriptive and experimental research, has led to a consideration of the theoretical and practical significance this type of dream experience might have. Whereas some researchers have suggested that lucidity offers an important phenomenological tool for the investigation of dreaming processes (LaBerge, 1985), others have emphasized the similarities between lucidity and certain types of meditative states and have suggested that they may promote psychological development in related ways (e.g., Hunt, 1985; Hunt & Ogilvie, in press).Alexander, Boyer and Orme-Johnson (1985) have recently postulated a theoretical model placing dream lucidity as a bridge between formal operations and "post-conceptual or post-language" development. They argue that the Maharishi Technology of the Unified field manifested by the practice of Transcendental Meditation (TM) promotes development of consciousness beyond symbolic thought. Specifically, they say, "We speculate that lucidity as typically experienced may reflect the further developmental de-embedding and generalization of higher order self-reflective thought such that it can function in some form during the dream state. It is our impression that many if not most lucid dreams may result from activation of such functions of the intellect and ego .Nevertheless, some lucid experiences which have been reported may be of the purely self-referral witnessing type described by Vedic psychology (p. 82)".Dream witnessing is similar to dream lucidity in that there is awareness of dreaming while dreaming. However, there seems also to be clear conceptual differences in that witnessing the dream also involves an "unbounded awareness," which is quiet, peaceful and nonparticipative.
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    Panel discussion: Is lucid dreaming related to higher states of consciousness?
    (1990) Alexander, Charles; Bogzaran, Fariba; Derfler, Melissa; Gackenbach, Jayne; Hunt, Harry T.
    The reason I got into research and wrote on lucid dreaming in the first place is because I was interested in higher states of consciousness. That's always been my passion. As an ASIDE from that, I got involved in dreaming. I'm really glad I did, because my work in dreaming has helped to ground me and ground my work in lucid dreaming. I see lucid dreaming as a bridge from the essential human experience of all dreams --which reflect our activity, our feelings and our experience of daily life --to the transpersonal, the transcendent, the experiences that seem in some sense larger than us.