Very interesting series. I wonder as a UU Minister, have you found the same problems with prayer as with meditation?

Also, have you looked into adverse effects of the kind of effortless mindfulness that Loch Kelly teaches? Loch himself is involved as a research subject as well as teacher and therapist, and I’ve not seen any references to adverse effects of his method. It may also relate to the fact that he teaches “brief glimpses,” as little as 30 seconds.

About 28 years ago, when I conducted research on the use of mindfulness for reducing chronic pain, I created a protocol in which the mindfulness period was 5 minutes. I spent a great deal of time scouring the research for adverse effects in that limited period and could not find any.

In the past 2 years, I’ve been twice certified (I’m a doctoral level licensed clinical psychologist) in cognitive behavioral therapy for insomnia. Around 2010 ,mindfulness was added to CBT I as a means of helping with sleep. I’ve looked at Britton’s work and that of others, and again, I can’t find anything that contradicts Dr. Jason Ong’s consistent findings over the past 14 years that mindfulness added to CBT I makes it more effective.

If you know of nay such research (involving short periods of effortless mindfulness causing adverse effects) I’d be very grateful to you to point it out. I am guessing that the attitude of prayer (not slavish devotion but humility, sincerity and openness to experience, among other things) may counter many of the negative side effects you mention.