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Dean Cvetkovic
l
Irena Cosic
Editors
States of Consciousness
Experimental Insights into Meditation,
Waking, Sleep and Dreams
Editors
Dean Cvetkovic
RMIT University
School of Electrical
and Computer Engineering
PO Box 2476V
3001 Melbourne Victoria
Australia
dean.cvetkovic@rmit.edu.au
Irena Cosic
RMIT University
College of Science, Engineering
and Health
PO Box 2476V
3001 Melbourne Victoria
Australia
irena.cosic@rmit.edu.au
Series Editors:
Avshalom C. Elitzur
Bar-Ilan University, Unit of Interdisciplinary Studies, 52900 Ramat-Gan, Israel
email: avshalom.elitzur@weizmann.ac.il
Laura Mersini-Houghton
Dept. Physics, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, NC 27599-3255, USA
email: mersini@physics.unc.edu
Maximilian A. Schlosshauer
Niels Bohr Institute, Blegdamsvej 17, 2100 Copenhagen, Denmark
email: schlosshauer@nbi.dk
Mark P. Silverman
Trinity College, Dept. Physics, Hartford CT 06106, USA
email: mark.silverman@trincoll.edu
Ru
¨
diger Vaas
University of Giessen, Center for Philosophy and Foundations of Science, 35394 Giessen,
Germany
email: ruediger.vaas@t-online.deH.
Dieter Zeh
Gaiberger Straße 38, 69151 Waldhilsbach, Germany
email: zeh@uni-heidelberg.de
ISSN 1612-3018
ISBN 978-3-642-18046-0 e-ISBN 978-3-642-18047-7
DOI 10.1007/978-3-642-18047-7
Springer Heidelberg Dordrecht London New York
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Chapter 10
States of Consciousness Beyond Waking,
Dreaming and Sleeping: Perspectives from
Research on Meditation Experiences
Frederick Travis
Abstract Three categories of meditation practices have been proposed: focused
attention meditations, which involve voluntary and sustained attention on a chosen
object; open monitoring meditations, which involve non-reactive monitoring of
moment-to-moment content of experience; and automatic self-transcending
meditations, which are designed to transcend their own activity. While focused
attention and open monitoring meditations explore the nature of individual
cognitive, affective, and perceptual processes and experiences, automatic sel f-
transcending meditations explore the state when conscious processing and
experiences are transcended, a state called pure consciousness. This paper reports
unique phenomenological and physiological patterns during the state of pure con-
sciousness, as experienced during Transcendental Meditation (TM) practice, a
meditation in the automatic self-transcending category. These data support the
description of pure consciousness as a fourth state of consciousness with unique
phenomenological and physiologica l correlates. This p aper also discusses the Junc-
tion Point Model that integrates meditation experiences with the three ordinary
states of waking, sleeping, and dreaming. Th e Junction Point Model is supported
by EEG data and provides a structure to integrate ordinary experience during
waking, sleeping, and dreaming with meditation experiences and so can serve as a
foundation for investigating the full range of human consciousness.
10.1 Introduction
Traditional meditation tec hniques are part of a subjective approach to gaining
knowledge that parallels and complements the objective approach of gaining
knowledge in the natural sciences. The objective approach in western science has
F. Travis (*)
Center for Brain, Consciousness, and Cognition, Maharishi University of Management, Fairfield,
IA 52557, USA
e-mail: ftravis@mum.edu
D. Cvetkovic and I. Cosic (eds.), States of Consciousness, The Frontiers Collection,
DOI 10.1007/978-3-642-18047-7_10,
#
Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg 2011
223
used instruments to objectively measure phenomena to identify the principles and
laws that explain material and social interactions. Similarly, the subjective
approaches in eastern traditions have used med itation techniques to directly expe-
rience and so understand the full range of human experience. Some meditation
techniques are designed to explore the range of waking processes and experiences;
others are designed to explore the nature of consciousness at the source of thought
when mental processes and content are transcended. In this time when East meets
West, scientists can objectively evaluate growth of subjectivity through meditation
practice. Thus, meditation techniques can serve as scientific probes to fathom the
range of human experience.
Lutz has divided meditat ion practices into two categories: focused attention
meditations, which involve voluntary and sustained attention on a chosen object,
and open monitoring meditations, which involve non-reactive monitoring of the
moment-to-moment content of experience (Lutz et al. 2008). In focused attention
meditations, attention is focused on a given object and regulative skills are devel-
oped to monitor the movement of attention – detecting distraction, disengaging
attention from the source of distraction, and redirecting and refocusing on the object
(Lutz et al. 2008). Open monitoring or mindfulness-based meditations refer to an
alert and open mode of perceiving and monitoring mental content from moment to
moment, including perception, sensation, cognition, and affect (Kabat-Zinn 2003).
These meditation practices involve the non-reactive, dispassionate monitoring of
the content of ongoing experience to become reflectively aware of the nature of
emotional and cognitive processes.
Meditation techniques in these two categories explore the nature of waking
processes and experiences. Waking experiences are characterized by subject/object
duality. A subject, agent or experiencer observes and reflects on affective, cogni-
tive, or sensory objects of perception that are separate from himself or herself – I am
here observing the experience out there. Focusing attention on a speci fic object of
experience or maintaining an orientation to monitor changing objects of experience
uses and maintains the subject/object duality. One keeps the attent ion involved with
the procedures of the technique.
A third meditation category has been proposed, automatic self-transcending,
which includes meditation techniques designed to transcend their own activity
(Travis and Shear 2010a). Meditation techniques in this category do not attempt
to control the movement of attention or to monitor ongoing experience; rather they
are designed to transcend their own activity – to allow a state of consciousness to
emerge when mental activity and cognitive control has been transcended.
Techniques in this third category necessary must be automatic, because any inten-
tion to control the attention would keep the mind active and not allow mental
activity to settle to silence.
Meditation techniques in the automatic self-transcending category provide
insight into the state of consciousness when thoughts have ceased, revealing a
ground state of human consciousness. This paper explores the nature of this state,
and then presents a model that integrates this state during meditation with those
during waking, dreaming, and sleeping.
224 F. Travis
Note that these three categories are not necessarily mutually exclusive within a
single session or over the course of a life-time of meditation practice. Focused
attention and open monitoring are combined in Zen, Vipassana, and Tibetan
Buddhism meditation traditions (Austin 2006; Gyatso and Jinpa 1995; Lutz et al.
2008). Also, with diligent practice over many years, focused attention meditations
may lead to reduced cognitive control and could result in effortless concentration
(Lutz et al. 2008; Wallace 1999).
A meditation technique within the automatic self-transcending category is the
Transcendental Meditation
®
(TM
®
) technique. During TM practice, one appre -
ciates a mantra at finer levels in which the mantra becomes secondary in experience
and self-awareness becomes primary (Maharishi 1969; Travis and Pearson 2000).
Ultimately, the mantra disappears and the subject-object relation that defines
customary experiences is transcended. The subject, or the experiencer, finds him/
herself awake to his/her own existence – called pure consciousness or a ground state
of consciousness (Maharishi 1997). Pure consciousness is pure in the sense that it is
free from the processes and contents of knowing. It is a state of consciousness in
that self-awareness is maintained. Pure consciousness is a non-dual state of aware-
ness – the self is both the subject and object of awareness. This would contrast with
the end state of some Buddhist meditations that seek to lose the self in the object,
such as during the practice of loving, kindness, and compassion (Lutz et al. 2008).
While this is also a non-dual state, it is a state of object referral – the object alone is
(see Travis and Shear 2010b).
The non-dual state of pure consciousness differs from the duality of conscious
awareness or conscious experience. Conscious experience has a three-part structure –
the experiencer, the object of experience, and the process of experience. These three
components exist as separate even at the same time as they are unified in the
conscious experience. In pure consciousness, the three-part structure of experiencer,
object of experience, and process linking the two has been transcended. Now, the
experiencer or subject is the both the subject and object of experience – it is described
as a purely self-referral experience.
Table 10.1 presents a schematic of the qualitative shift of inner experience from
sleeping to pure consciousness. This table presents a 2 2 grid with the presence
or absence of affective, cognitive, or perceptual content as one axis, and presence or
absence of sense of self as the other. As presented in this table, the waking state is
characterized by the inner experience of a sense of self, the experiencer or doer and
the experience of outer objects in the mind or in the environment. There is a clear
separation between my inner reality and my outer experience.
Table 10.1 Phenomenological characteristics that differentiate waking, dreaming, sleeping and
pure consciousness
Sense of self is present
Yes No
Inner and/or outer perception is present
Yes Waking Dreaming
No Pure consciousness Sleeping
10 States of Consciousness Beyond Waking, Dreaming and Sleeping 225
The sleep state is characterized by no sense of self and no awareness of any
content. “Sleeping like a log” is a saying for having a good night’s sleep. During
deep sleep, there is no awareness of self or ongoing cognitive or perceptual
experiences for large blocks of time.
Dreaming is arguably characterized by no sense of self and vivid dream images .
This describes most dream experiences. Lucid dreaming, we argue, is meta-cogni-
tion within the dream state. A careful analyze of lucid dream content reveals that
the dream ego and dream intellect make decisions that the waking ego and waking
intellect would not make (see Travis 1994).
The fourth box in this 2 2 table is a sense of self without mental content.
Before reading this paper, you along with the vast majority of today’s scientists
might say that state does not exist. The empty cell is simply an artifact of setting up
a2 2 grid. How can there be a sense of self without an object; without a sense of
the body or the thinker or the thinking? William James, in his Principles of
Psychology, observed:
...it is difficult for me to detect in the activity any purely spiritual element at all. Whenever
my introspection glance succeeds in turning round quickly enough to catch one of those
manifestations of spontaneity in the act, all it can ever feel distinctly is some bodily process,
for the most part taking place within the head (James 1950/1890, p. 300).
This conclusion is a valid conclusion if the experience of consciousness has been
limited to waking experience, which includes sense-of-self (inner) and outer
experiences. In waking consciousness, the self is never found without an object.
However, the proposal put forth in this paper, is that meditation techniques uncover
that state of pure consciousness and so make this seemingly anamolous state
available for discussion and experimentation.
10.2 Phenomenological and Physiological Investigations
of Pure Consciousness
Fifty-two college students who practiced the TM technique for a few months to
over 8 years were asked to describe their deepest experiences during TM practice.
They were asked to use their own words to describe their experiences, as though
they were describing it to someone who did not meditate. A content analysis of
these descriptions yielded three themes that were common to all reports – absence
of time, absence of space, and absence of body sense (Travis and Pearson 2000).
Time, space, and body sense are the framework that give meaning to waking
experience. During deepest TM experiences, both the fundamental framework
and the content of waking experience were reported to be absent. This suggests
that the experience of pure consciousness may not be an “alte red” state of waking.
It is not described in terms of distorted content – strong emotions, strong visual,
auditory or tactile sensations, or distorted sense of self. Rather, pure consciousness
was described by the absence of the customary framework and characteristics that
226 F. Travis
define waking experience. Phenomenologically, pure consciousness is distinct from
experiences that characterize waking, dreaming, and sleeping.
Physiological, pure consciousness is also distinct from waking, dreaming, and
sleeping. During pure consciousness, research reports higher EEG alpha coherence,
and apneustic breathing – slow, extended inhalation from 10 to 20 s – with skin
conductance orienting and a heart rate preparatory response at the onset of breath
changes (Badawi et al. 1984; Travis and Pearson 2000; Travis and Walla ce 1997).
Apneustic breathing is not repor ted in normal populations (outside of meditation
practices), and has never been reported in the literature with durations longer
than 4–6 s (Plum and Posner 1980). The respiratory drive centers responsible
for apneustic breathing (the parabrachialis medialis nuclei) are quiet during waking,
dreaming, and sleeping, but become active during pure consciousness periods
(Kesterson and Clinch 1989). Changes in the brainstem nuclei driving breathing,
in autonomic functioning and brain state, with distinct phenomenological reports,
supports the description of pure consciousness as a fourth major state of conscious-
ness funda mentally different from waking, dreaming, or sleeping (Maharishi 1997).
10.3 Self-Referral Default Mode Network: Pure
Consciousness Experiences Activate the Intrinsic
Default State of the Brain
During TM practice, brain activity is reported to increase in the default mode
network (DMN) (Travis et al. 2010). This network was first noted when comparing
data from nine different neural imaging studies. Since neural imaging involves
subtracting control from experimental images, higher activation in a control condi-
tion could lead to perc eived “decreases” in the experimental condition. In these nine
studies of unrelated and independent tasks, decreases in midline frontal and pariet al
cortices were consistently reported (Raichle et al. 2001); eyes-closed rest or simple
fixation on a point were used as the control conditions. The researchers concluded
that a default mode network exists that is an intrinsic, default property of the brain
(Fox and Raichle 2007). Activation in this default mode is higher during low
cognitive load periods, such as eyes-closed resting control periods, and is lower
during goal directed behaviors requiring executive control (Gusnard et al. 2001;
Raichle and Snyder 2007).
Further research into DMN activation reported higher activation during (1) self-
referential mental activity (Gusnard et al. 2001; Kelley et al. 2002; Vogele y et al.
2001); (2) self-projection tasks; and (3) taking the viewpoint of others (Buckner and
Carroll 2007). Activity in the default state is higher during eyes-closed experiences.
When one closes the eyes, objects are reduc ed but sense-of-self remains. The
person knows that they are sitting in space; they are there waiting for the next
instruction. This is a predominately self-referral experience and DMN activity is
reported to be high. When opens the eyes and attention streams through the senses
and falls on an object – an object referral experience – DMN activity is reduced.
10 States of Consciousness Beyond Waking, Dreaming and Sleeping 227
Relative to eyes-closed rest, DMN activation was higher during TM. This
supports the description of pure consciousness during TM practice as being a fuller
or higher sense of self-referral than just eyes-closed rest. Self can be written with a
small and a capital “S”. When “self” is written with a small “s” it denotes the self
that thinks, feels, decides, and experiences – the self in a waking state; when “Self”
is written with a big “S” it denotes that part of the individual that does not change
and is the source of all streams of individual activity (Maharishi 1969). Thus, DMN
activation during eyes-closed rest – small self-referral – would rise during the
experience of pure consciousness – large self-referral.
10.4 Junction Point Model of Pure Consciousness, Waking,
Sleeping, and Dreaming
A proposed Junction Point Model integrates meditation experience with waking,
dreaming, and sleeping. This model helps to locate meditation experiences relative
to those three states. It also provides a model for discussing higher states of
consciousness. The Junction Point Model posits that waking, sleeping, and dream-
ing are not isolated states that interact, but are sequential expressions of an
undifferentiated field – pure consciousness – that underlies them (Maharishi
1972; Travis 1994). This model starts with the observation that waking, sleeping,
and dreaming are discrete states. This assumption is supported by unique brain stem
activity (Siegel 1987), neurotransmitter balance (Hobson 1988), and EEG, EMG,
and eye movement patterns (Niedermeyer 1997) during each state. The model
suggests that one state must completely fade away before the next begins, and
that between any two, a junction point can be located that will mark the end of one
state and the beginning of the next. These junction points are windows into the field
of consciousness posited to underlie waking, sleeping, and dreaming.
10.5 Research Testing the Existence of Pure Consciousness
Between States of Consciousness
The prediction that pure consciousness can be located between states of conscious-
ness is supported by two lines of research. First, similar EEG patterns have been
reported during TM practice, which leads to pure consciousness between thoughts,
as during the waking/sleepi ng transition. For instance, frontal alpha and slowing of
peak EEG frequency by 1–2 Hz, reporte d during TM practice (Wallace 1970), were
later independently reported (Santamaria and Chiappa 1987) during the waking/
sleeping transition. This relation between EEG patterns during TM program and the
waking/sleeping transition has also been experimentally investigated. EEG in 15
experienced TM subjects during TM practice was compared to EEG during the
waking/sleeping transition in 15 non-meditating subjects matched for age, gender,
and handedness. The raw EEG and the resulting power and coherence spectra were
228 F. Travis
not significantly different between the TM sessions and the waking/sleeping transi-
tion (Travis 1990). However, the duration of thes e EEG patterns were different.
During TM practice, they lasted for the entire 10-min TM session; during the
waking/sleeping transition, they lasted for 3–5 min.
Other researchers have reporte d this similarity of EEG patterns during TM and
during the waking/sleeping transition, and the fact that they last longer during TM.
They concluded that TM practice balanced awareness betwee n waking and sleeping
(Fenwick et al. 1977; Stigsby et al. 1981; Wachsmuth and Dolce 1980), or that TM
practice freezes the hypnagogic process (Pagano and Warrenberg 1983; Schuman
1980). The junction point model gives a more comprehensive interpretation of these
findings. According to this model, EEG patterns would be similar during the
waking/sleeping transition and during TM practice because both states involve a
gradual minimizing of mental activity followed by pure consciousness periods
between states in the first case, and between thoughts in the second. Also, this
model would predict a longer duration of this pattern during TM practice because
one continues to give an inward direction to awareness during TM, thereby cycling
through pure consciousness many times in each session, in contrast to the natural
transition between states of consciousness.
A second line of research directly compared EEG patterns during TM prac tice to
those during the junction points between waking/sleeping, sleeping/dreaming, and
dreaming/sleeping. In the subjects’ power spectra, activity in each band, except
7–10 Hz, could be explained by known sleep mechanisms (Travis 1994). For
instance, the rise and fall of 1–4 Hz power occurred during periods of slow wave
sleep marked by high delta density and power; 13–16 Hz power was highest during
Stage 2 sleep, reflecting sleep-spindle activity. In contrast, the rise and fall of
7–10 Hz activity (alpha1) occurred at the transitions between waking, sleeping,
and dreaming in all subjects. Activity in this same band was seen in these subjects
during their Transcendental Meditation program. In terms of the Junction Point
Model, significant peaks in EEG power during the transitions between waking,
sleeping, and dreaming and during TM practice suggests that a similar state might
be available between states of consciousness and between thoughts.
10.6 Research Testing the Integration of Pure Consciousness
with Waking, Sleeping and Dreaming
If pure consciousness underlies waking, dreaming and sleeping, can it be integrated
with the three customary states of consciousness? If pure consciousness represents a
fourth state of consciousness, then the integration of pure consciousness with
waking, dreaming and sleeping will be a fifth state. This is the first stabilized
state of enlightenment described in the Vedic tradition, called turiyatit chetana
(Maharishi 1997). Since subj ective experiences and states of consciousness have
defining physiological characteristics, this proposed fifth state of consciousness
should also have distinct physiological markers.
10 States of Consciousness Beyond Waking, Dreaming and Sleeping 229
10.7 Research Testing the Integration of Pure Consciousness
with Sleeping
Two research papers report EEG data that support the description of the experience
of pure consciousness along with the body sleeping. Banquet and Sailhan (1974)
recorded EEG during sleep in advanced TM subjects, and reported that alpha1
activity, seen during the TM practice, was superimposed over delta activity, seen
during deep sleep. Although they used experienced TM subjects, they did not
correlate this EEG pattern with self-reports of the integration of pure consciousness
with sleep.
Mason tested this hypothesis more directly (Mason et al. 1997). She compared
sleep EEG in 11 subjects reporting the integration of pure consciousness with sleep,
to sleep EEG in 11 short-term TM subjects, who did not report this experience, and
11 non-meditating controls. Subjects reporting the integration of pure conscious-
ness with sleep had simultaneous alpha1 and delta in their sleep records, which
supports their subjective experience of self-awareness while the body rested deeply.
Simultaneous alpha and delta during sleep, called alpha/delta sleep, has also been
reported in clinical cases of subjects in pain (Moldofsky et al. 1983). However,
these clinical subjects only reached Stages 2 and 3 during sleep. In contrast, the TM
subjects did not complain of pain, discomfort, or problems during sleeping, and
they had the same amount of Stage 4 sleep as normal subjects.
10.8 Research Testing the Integration of Pure Consciousness
with Waking
A second line of research has investigated the integration of pure consciousness
with waking tasks. EEG was recorded during simple and choice paired reaction
time tasks in 17 long-term TM subjects, reporting the integration of pure conscious-
ness with waking and sleeping, and compared to EEG patterns in 17 short-term TM
subjects who did not repor t this experience, and 17 non-meditating controls. In
individuals reporting the integration of pure consciousness with waking and sleep-
ing, brain preparatory responses during the paired reaction time tasks were highe r in
simple but lower in choice trials, and alpha relative power and broadband frontal
EEG coherence were higher during the challenging tasks (Travis et al. 2002).
Increased alpha amplitude and coherence, characteristic of TM practice, appeared
to become a stable EEG trait during challenging tasks in these subjects.
These individuals were also given a battery of personality and psychological
tests including inner/outer orientation, moral reasoning, anxiety, and personality.
Scores on these tests were factor analyzed. The first unrotated PCA component of
the test scores yielded a “consciousness factor,” analogous to the intelligence
g factor. The individuals reporting the integration of pure consciousness with
waking and sleeping had significantly higher consciousness factor scores – more
230 F. Travis
inner directed, higher levels of moral reasoning, higher emotional stability, and
lower anxiety . These same individuals had higher scores on the Brain Integration
Scale (BIS) (Travis et al. 2004).
We can use a movie metaphor to give a sense of the growth of consciousness.
Watching a movie, most individuals are “lost” in the movie. The movie is real.
Emotions and thoughts are dictated by the ever-changing sequence of the film. This
is a predominantly object-referral state that characterizes the waking state. The
meditative experience of transcending – the repeated experience of pure, self-
referral consciousness – alters this common movie-going experience. Subje ctively,
the individual begins to “wake up” to his/her own inner status. Although continuing
to enjoy the movie, he/she gradually becomes aware that they exist independently
of the movie. They experience a value of witnessing the activity around them. To
these individuals, the ever-changing movie frames are a secondary part of experi-
ence because these frames are always changing. The most salient part of their every
experience is pure self-awareness. What is “real” shifts with time from the movie to
self-awareness, from the thoughts, feelings, and actions to the Self, from object-
referral to self-referral awareness (Travis et al. 2004).
10.9 Other Research on the Brain Integration Scale
The Brain Integration Scale (BIS) was constructed from cross-sectional data of
individuals reporting more frequent experiences of pure consciousness. A 3-month
random assignment longitudinal study with college students supports the finding
that TM practice leads to higher scores on this scale. After 3 months of TM practice,
college students increased on brain integration scores and decreased in sympathetic
reactivity (Travis et al. 2009). They also decreased in negative personality traits,
such as total mood disturbance, anxiety, and depression, and increased in positive
personality traits such as vigor, emotional intelligence, and behavioral and emo-
tional coping (Nidich et al. 2009). Thus, the experience of pure consciousness
during TM could to be a causal mechanism for increasing levels of brain integration
over time.
In addition, BIS scores were explored in two groups of athletes: professional
athletes who placed in the top ten in the Olympics, world games, or national games
for 3 consecutive years, or control athletes who did not consistently place. The
professional athletes who excelled had higher BIS scores, faster skin conductance
habituation to loud tones, and higher moral reasoning and ego development than the
controls (Harung et al. in press). The athletes were not practicing a meditation
technique. Their level of brain integration reflects the sum of their lifestyle and life
experiences to that point. However, this finding suggests greater success in life with
those markers that could index higher consciousness.
10 States of Consciousness Beyond Waking, Dreaming and Sleeping 231
10.10 Conclusion
Meditation techniques can serve as probes to investigate states of consciousness.
Investigating the Transcendental Medita tion technique, a technique designed to
transcend its own activity, has led to phenomenological and physiological
descriptions of a state called pure consciousness, a proposed fourth state of con-
sciousness, and has generated a model, the Junction Point Model, which integr ates
waking, sleeping, and dreaming with meditation experiences. This model is
supported by similar EEG patterns during the transitions betwee n waking, sleeping,
and dreaming and during TM practice. This model also sugges ts that the underlying
field of pure consciousness can coexist with ordinary waking, sleeping and dream-
ing. This would be a fifth state of consciousness. Individuals reporting this experi-
ence were distinguished during slow wave sleep by the coexistence of alpha EEG,
observed during TM, and delta EEG, observed during sleep, and during waking
tasks by higher scores on the Brain Integration Scale and higher consciousness
factor scores. The Junction Point Model could provide a structure to integrate
ordinary experience with meditation experiences to help model and research the
full range of human consciousness.
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