ABSTRACT
This chapter discusses the available published data separately under the headings of autonomic-metabolic and of electrophysiologic variables. The experimentalist feels compelled to limit himself to considering physical or behavioral variables in order to comply with the dominant physicalist-reductionist paradigm of modern science. "Meditation" is a term applied to a diverse group of practices having the common goal of producing in the short-term desired mental states, and in the long term the promotion of personality growth and mental health. The way in which psychophysiology has dealt with this problem in the last decade or so has been to postulate an interaction between visceral phenomena and cognitive variables in the determination of affective state and emotional behavior. The mystical state of yogic ecstasy was characterized as predominantly ergotropic, based on the findings of Das and Gastaut. The attitudes, expectations, and desires play an important role in emotional experience and behavior in normal waking consciousness.
