In this episode of the Buddha Pill Podcast, host Miguel Farias addresses the extraordinary diversity that exists within the world of meditation. Are all meditation practices essentially the same or do they differ significantly in technique, goals, and outcomes? Miguel explores the historical and cultural evolution of meditation by speaking to experts from Hindu philosophy, Tibetan Buddhism, early Christianity, neuroscience, and cognitive psychology. By speaking with them, he discovers how different traditions have understood meditation’s creative power in shaping emotions and cognition.
Miguel Farias is a writer, teacher, and researcher. He holds a doctorate in Experimental Psychology from the University of Oxford, where he has lectured and tutored for the past twenty years. He is the co-author of The Buddha Pill: Can Meditation Change You? and the lead editor of The Oxford Handbook of Meditation. He has written for the BBC and New Scientist.
The Buddha Pill Podcast is produced by the Academic Podcast Agency and has been funded by the Templeton World Charity Foundation
The episode features contributions from:
A lecturer in theology and religion at Trinity College, Oxford, and a fellow of the Oxford Centre for Hindu studies
Frazier, Jessica (2021). The Self in Meditation: The Art of Self-Transformation. In Miguel Farias, David Brazier, and Mansur Lalljee (eds), The Oxford Handbook of Meditation. Oxford University Press.
Forman, Jed (2024).Out of Sight, Into Mind: The History and Philosophy of Yogic Perception. Columbia University Press.
An emeritus Professor of Psychology at Chemnitz University of Technology, Germany. He has published widely on the psychological effects of meditation.
Sedlmeier, Peter. (2022). The Psychology of Meditation: Varieties, Effects, Theories and Perspectives. Hogrefe Publishing.
Sedlmeier, P. (2023). What mindfulness, and for whom? And why might it work? Springer Nature.
Matko, K. & Sedlmeier, p. (2023). Which meditation technique for whom? An experimental single case study comparing concentrative, humming, observing thoughts, and walking meditation. Springer Nature.
- Brendan Case & Michael Ferguson
Brendan Chase is the Associate Director for Research of the Human Flourishing Program at Harvard University.
Michael Ferguson is a pioneering Harvard neuroscientist and founding director of the Neurospirituality Lab, they are both interested in studying the Christian contemplative tradition.
Laird, Martin (2021). Western Christianity and Meditation. In M. Farias, D. Brazier & M. Lalljee (Eds.). The Oxford Handbook of Meditation (pp 144-162). Oxford University Press.
Palmer, G. (translator)(1951). Writings From the Philokalia on Prayer of the Heart. London: Faber & Faber.
The Desert Fathers: Sayings of the Early Christian Monks. Edited by B. Ward. Penguin Classics, 2003.
Director of the Centre for Buddhist Studies and the Glorious Sun Professor in Buddhist Studies, at the University of Hong Kong.
Halkias, Georgios (2021). Buddhist Meditation in Tibet: Exoteric and Esoteric Orientations. The Oxford Handbook of Meditation: Miguel Farias (ed.) et al.
A Hindu monastic and the founder of The Traditional Yoga Association. She also is a Yoga and meditation teacher and the translator of Hindu scriptures.
The Uddhava Gita (2000), translated by Swami Ambikananda. London: Francis Lincoln. This is part of the Bhagavatha Purana and is said to be the final teaching of Krishna.
Vasistha's Yoga (1993), translated by Swami Venkatesananda. New York: SUNY Press. This is a teaching of the Sage Vasishtha to the young Prince Rama who stood before him in a depressed state. It is told by the Sage Valmiki.
