PHENOMENOLOGICAL METHOD AND MEDITATION

Most research on meditation focuses on objectively measurable effects of meditation rather than on experimental subjects' own awareness of t heir meditation experiences. The phenomenological method can be used t o describe meditation experiences in a way that is introspective, syst ematic and experimental. One basic step of the phenomenological method , the phenomenological reduction, is itself similar to mindfulness med itation, because it is a deliberate technique for increasing awareness of whatever one is conscious of, while one is conscious of it. A seco nd basic step, the eidetic reduction, is used to identify the essentia l features of experiences; it differs, however, from most meditation t echniques because it experiments upon one's experiences with an interv ention called ''imaginative variation,'' instead of sustaining simple observation of one's experiences. Two meditation experiences, a ''quie t focus'' experience and a ''heightened awareness'' experience, are de scribed phenomenologically.