This is an important interview published today with Willoughby Britton, a professor of psychiatry and human behavior (and experienced meditator), on the team at Cheetah House, an organization that helps people who have had adverse experiences w/ meditation.
She discusses her research, including the backlash she's experienced from #meditation teachers as she's discussed her work. (I found Scott Carney to be an irritating interviewer but the content is worth the watch).
@hollie Kinda wish there was a form I could just read because I'm interested but I don't want to sit through a long video..
(I/we also have a very weird perspective on meditation, not sure how aware you are of that.)
@hollie Decided to scan through. The details that are interesting to me seem to start at around 17:00.
@madewokherd I'll probably make some notes later, happy to share if that's useful?
Also interesting are the videos directly from Cheetah House:
https://www.youtube.com/@cheetahhouse2125/videos
@hollie Notes might help. I just watched through most of it.
I have little direct experience with meditation but I feel like it falls in a more general category of "brain hacking" which I do have experience with (mostly via hypnosis). I expected that to have risks, it did have (thankfully relatively brief) adverse effects, it's greatly improved my life now and don't regret any of it but there are a few things I wish I'd been specifically warned about.
@hollie I suspect meditation circles would frame systemhood differently, and I only encountered those ideas because of the communities I was in. I also occasionally find stuff like this which to me sounds very plural: https://www.awakin.org/v2/read/view.php?tid=953
I know that when system members discover themselves, it tends to lead to a short-term lack of function as they adapt to their changing dynamic. (1/2)
@hollie I try to warn anyone who's questioning plurality and asking me advice that reaching out is likely to disrupt their life.
I don't think the idea that this is a goal of meditation is mainstream, but anyone teaching it with that goal should warn about the disruption IMO, especially if they're teaching it to people who aren't in a retreat environment and have responsibilities they need to keep up with. (2/2)
@madewokherd I suspect you're right, they (meditation circles) might frame it as "different parts," but not see that as a system and more like different facets of one consciousness.
@hollie I mean, it kinda is that at least in our case, but the concepts of having separate identities, fronting/switching, and a headspace to interact in really work well for us.
@madewokherd Oh wow, yeah that makes a lot of sense! I haven't read anything about folks in systems meditating but I'll keep an eye out.