A proposed meditation expirement.

**Digital.Totem** · 04-06-2008 06:41 AM

Have you ever used a reference free room to attempt breathing/meditation for a given period of time, and spent more or less time than you had intended. If so do you wonder if your breathing/meditation actually slows and relaxes your mind. If you have ever done this and wondered about the effectiveness of your relaxation technique I have a proposed experiment.

Note: Through out the following procedure please use your standard relaxed measured breathing. Try
to keep your mind as clear and empty as possible.

1.In a quiet calming room set up a digital alarm clock which shows only hours and minutes.
It is best to use a digital clock, because you cannot observe the seconds passing
2.Using your standard relaxed breathing watch the clock for one minute without counting breathes or counting off in your head, counting of any sort will invalidate this experiment.
3.After observing the clock for one minute, use a stop watch or a stopwatch program on your phone or computer to attempt to approximate one full minute without visual or numerical reference. Closing your eyes is the best way, or you can simply cover the time piece or turn it away from you so you cannot watch it.
4.When you feel one minute has passed observe the stopwatch. Three things are possible.
4.1.You stopped early
4.2you were exactly correct
4.2.1If this happens congratulations you have a very good internal clock. But, you have also ended this experiment for yourself. Read the post experiment documentation for ideas.
4.3you went too long

If you come up short your perception of time is faster than true time, we will call this positive perceptual time dilation. If on the other hand you went long you perceive time slower than it actually passes, We'll call this negative perceptual time dilation.

Going long in the experiment means your breathing/meditation actually slows your mind helping you relax. In the context of this experiment this provides you with a way to measure the effectiveness of your meditation. It also means that though practice you can alter your internal perception of time's passage.

Coming up short in the experiment means your breathing/meditation is not calming your mind. You can view the results as a general way to measure your current stress levels. The shorter you come up the more anxious you may be.

Being; bored, tired, anxious, or exited during the experiment will skew your perception of time. When bored or tired you will experience what we've called positive dilation. When anxious or exited you will experience what we've called negative dilation. Note your perceived state of mind before starting the experiment again. Noting your state of mind will bring up a question. Does knowing how you feel and thus theoretically being able to predict the outcome affect what will really occur when you repeat the experiment?

You can repeat the experiment as many times as you like to attempt to manipulate your internal perception of time.

{I would appreciate anyone who tries this experiment if they would report their findings back in this forum. Your feed back will tell me if I am correct in the way I arranged the experiment.}