Meditation and cannabis

[OffgridMonk]

Hey everyone,

I'm a grad student studying mental health counseling and have been using the Muse S (gen2) to record my sits for a form of meditation called Centering Prayer consistently for about 4 months. I have about 90 recordings, only about half of which I would say are reliable because of defectiveness with the first device that Interaxon provided. Thankfully, they replaced it, the new one seems to work great, and I have continued. About 2 months ago, I grew curious about the impact of cannabis on meditation and the neural correlates. I have about 10 recordings from those experiments because I only do the cannabis sessions on the weekends.

I wanted to ask the community a few questions:

1) Has anyone else has been experimenting with Centering Prayer or another form of prayer? Interested in trying??
If you've studied your own, would love to hear about your results! And whether you have or haven't, I would love to organize a group to practice and record together, with or without cannabis. I'm one who believes that there are subtle nuances between forms of prayer/meditation that lead to very different outcomes and this is one of the only forms of contemplation that the Christian community in the west has, which is why I want to study it and see if it is of any merit and value, beyond my subjective experience with it (which is a resounding yes for me, personally).

2) Does anyone have experience interpreting the graphs who would be willing to help me interpret mine?
My education and training has not been in neuroscience so I have only been able to make sense of some details, but feel like I am largely scratching the surface. I have the opportunity to present some of my findings through my university at a national conference next year, and would appreciate any assistance you can provide!

Below are two examples of the meditation and cannabis experiments. The top row shows the sober sit, and the bottom row is the cannabis sit.

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Thanks in advance for any help, and look forward to collaborating if possible!

[OffgridMonk]

Here's a few more graphs just for reference.

The form of meditation I'm practicing, Centering Prayer, uses a "sacred word" as embodiment of intent to rest and release all thoughts, sensations, emotions, memories, etc. etc. in order to be fully present and receptive to the presence of God in us, moving ever closer to a unitive kind of experience, which is why I believe my alpha never becomes the primary/dominant wave.

Anyways, look forward to hearing thoughts and reactions. I've read other posts and will be looking into books like Awakening the Mind and Raising Your Vibration. I watch techforpsych YouTube videos daily. Any other recommendations and feedback are appreciated!

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[OffgridMonk]

And a few more...


Each of these sits is 20-25 min long, back to back, with only a short break to smoke before going back in to the practice.

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[OffgridMonk]

Hey James,
Any chance you'd be willing to speculate on why my Delta and theta are consistently so high?

From research I've come across, high Delta-theta in waking states is often associated with traumatic brain injury (I've had a number of concussions over the years thanks to rugby) or the onset of Alzheimer's or some other neuro degenerative disease. Since I'm only 34, I doubt it's the latter but certainly could be TBI related.

My other theory is it's the nature of the prayer practice that's described as an "unloading of the unconscious" which might be demonstrated in waves that resemble sleep/dream states.

Thoughts?

[James]

99% of the time high Delta is due to poor sensor contact. You can check this by looking at the variance on the RAW EEG. Ideally, you want sub 50uV variance.

[OffgridMonk]

99% of the time high Delta is due to poor sensor contact. You can check this by looking at the variance on the RAW EEG. Ideally, you want sub 50uV variance.

I hope I'm doing the quote thing right to respond...

I'll double check the variance tonight, but I don't believe that's the case. I've had other people use my device on a few occasions and gotten different wave patterns that didn't show elevated Delta... I'm also bald so there's no physical obstruction to improve sensor contact... What's the other 1%?

Thanks much.

[James]

Ok, I'll correct that to 100% then
I've not see any recordings with high delta that haven't been due to poor sensor contact. But that's all from people emailing me saying "why do I have high delta", so I'm probably not the best person to ask!
Regarding bald/sensor contact, that will certainly help, but note that the electrodes require a thin film of conductive sweat to work best. So give that a minute or two to form.

[RazorCarrie]

While I haven't personally experimented with this combination, I'm intrigued by your findings. It's commendable that you're open to different forms of contemplation and seeking to understand their impacts. Regarding interpreting the graphs, reaching out to professionals or fellow researchers in neuroscience could provide valuable insights. Keep up the great work, and best of luck with your studies and presentation at the national conference! Also, if you're interested, exploring medical cannabis uk might offer additional perspectives for your research.

[Aarsonhfr]

Hi

It's also interesting to see your curiosity in exploring the impact of cannabis on meditation and neural correlates. This is a fascinating area that is certainly worth exploring as Dr Green Bangkok, especially if it can enrich your meditative practice and understanding of yourself.

[Liasso]

I knew that cannabis can have a good impact on your mental health, but I didn't realize that the effect could be that big. I am a cannabis user. I use it for recreational purposes. I am not a smoker, so I have to vape this substance via the Air Bar AB10000 flavor options. But still, I think that the effect of cannabis is the same no matter how you use it. But, returning to your comment, can you provide a more straightforward explanation of the graphs you posted? I am interested in understanding how cannabis affects our brains, so I would appreciate it if you would explain this in simpler words. I appreciate any help you can provide.