Understanding Pranic Energy Experiences: A Qualitative Approach.

Prana is the driving and organizing force of the entire universe, and essential for survival. It can be experimental and experiential. This is a retrospective analysis of the pranic energy perception data collected for an exploratory study conducted in 2014 using the convenience sampling method. This paper describes the experiences of 100 participants during a hand sensitization practice. Participants were guided to feel the prana between their hands according to prescribed steps in the pranic healing technique, taught by Master Choa Kok Sui. The experiences reported by participants were analyzed by three independent judges and one expert using the qualitative content analysis technique introduced by Strauss and Corbin. Responses were first grouped according to nine elements. These elements were categorized under four major properties - positive experience, experience of awareness, energy experience, and feedback on the study program. These properties were further divided into two categories - experiences and feedback - based on the theme they cover. Participants experienced various sensations, which demonstrates that energy can be felt, and can benefit one's affective and physical state. Because of this qualitative content analysis, we have a better understanding of the various ways people perceive, experience, and benefit from pranic energy experiences.

The Need, Feasibility and Willingness to Explore "Meditation on Twin Hearts" as a Self-administered Tool for Mental Health Management among Transgender Women: An Exploratory Survey.

Hijras are the transgender community and have been socio-economically marginalized and hence their mental healthcare needs to be addressed. This was a descriptive, qualitative study, conducted in Mysore, India to examine the mental health status of 33 transgender women (TGW) and their response to the "Meditation on Twin Hearts (MTH)" intervention. Assessment of anxiety, depression and suicidality was carried out before the meditative session followed by a single session of MTH. Their feedback on meditation experience was collected, coded, and transformed into quantitative data. Among total participants, 39.4% of TGW exhibited severe anxiety, 21.2% has severe depression and 75.8% of them were at suicidal risk. Depression was positively correlated with anxiety and suicidal behavior. Most participants reported MTH was useful with signs of improvements in mental state. Thus, a single session of MTH has shown good signs of improvement in mental state among TGW.

Nursing Student's Experiences of Meditation on Twin Hearts During Eight Weeks Practice: A Qualitative Content Analysis.

BACKGROUND: Meditation on Twin Hearts (MTH) involves blessing the earth to alleviate the sufferings, and praying for the well-being of the entire society using heart and crown chakra. This meditation is characterized by mechanisms of loving-kindness, self-healing imagery, and open awareness. PURPOSE: This study aims to identify the experiences and perceived benefits associated with practicing MTH by nursing students. METHOD: Qualitative method using content analysis was used to study meditation experiences. After obtaining the informed consent, 22 nursing students were introduced to MTH. Experiences and feedback from meditation sessions were reported each day during their 8 week practice. Nursing students also answered seven open-ended questions on the last day of the meditation session. FINDINGS: The verbatim descriptions of experiences reported by nursing students were abstracted to elements (17), properties (6), and categories (2). Identified properties are positive experiences, experiences of awareness, energy experiences, tangible outcomes, physiological reactions, and feedback on the study program. CONCLUSION: The experiences narrated by nursing students include positive affective experiences, health benefits, resolution of problem, awareness and energy experiences, and prosocial tendencies. These findings indicate that MTH would enhance the well-being of the nursing students and could be used as a self-care measure.

Spirituality as a scientific construct: testing its universality across cultures and languages.

Using data obtained from 4004 participants across eight countries (Canada, India, Japan, Korea, Poland, Slovakia, Uganda, and the U.S.), the factorial reliability, validity and structural/measurement invariance of a 30-item version of Expressions of Spirituality Inventory (ESI-R) was evaluated. The ESI-R measures a five factor model of spirituality developed through the conjoint factor analysis of several extant measures of spiritual constructs. Exploratory factor analyses of pooled data provided evidence that the five ESI-R factors are reliable. Confirmatory analyses comparing four and five factor models revealed that the five dimensional model demonstrates superior goodness-of-fit with all cultural samples and suggest that the ESI-R may be viewed as structurally invariant. Measurement invariance, however, was not supported as manifested in significant differences in item and dimension scores and in significantly poorer fit when factor loadings were constrained to equality across all samples. Exploratory analyses with a second adjective measure of spirituality using American, Indian, and Ugandan samples identified three replicable factors which correlated with ESI-R dimensions in a manner supportive of convergent validity. The paper concludes with a discussion of the meaning of the findings and directions needed for future research.