MEDITATION AS A VOLUNTARY HYPOMETABOLIC STATE OF BIOLOGICAL ESTIVATION

Meditation, a wakeful hypometabolic state of parasympathetic dominance , is compared with other hypometabolic conditions, such as sleep, hypn osis, and the torpor of hibernation. We conclude that there are many a nalogies between the physiology of long-term meditators and hibernator s across the phylogenetic scale. These analogies further reinforce the idea that plasticity of consciousness remains a key factor in success ful biological adaptation.