Table 2.

Studies using focused attention meditation.

Study	Practice				Phenomenology		Psychophysiology – EEG bands
	Practice	Description	Eyes	Focus	Description	Subjective report	θ (4–8 Hz)	α (8–12 Hz)	β (13–30 Hz)	γ (30–50 Hz)
Kasamatsu and Hirai (19) Japan	Zen	Zazen	Open	NR	“Concentration without tension” “special state of consciousness”	Informal	Bursts in advanced	Power increase freq decrease	Not measured?	Not measured?
Ghista et al. (23) India	Ananda Marga	“Intuitional practice”	Closed	Chakra, personal mantra	“Distinct from mental concentration”	No	Power increase	Power increase freq decrease	Not measured	Not measured
Elson et al. (27) USA	Ananda Marga		Closed	Personal mantra	“Mental withdrawal and concentration”	No	Power increase in advanced	Power increase	Not measured	Not measured
Corby et al. (28) USA	Ananda Marga	Tantric yoga	Closed	Personal mantra, with breath	“Intense concentration of attention”	Meditation quality rating	Power increase with proficiency	Some power increase	Not measured	Not measured
Pan et al. (38) China	Qigong	Concentrative	Closed	Attention on breath or body sensation	Thinking regulation	No	Frontal power increase	Power increase	NR	Not measured
Kamei (41) Japan	Yoga	SoHam, preceded by asana, pranayama	Closed	Breath, mantra	NR	No	Not reported	Power increase in most S’s	Not reported	Not reported
Lehmann et al. (46) Switzerland	Diamond Way Buddhist	Buddhist	Half closed	Visualization	Subjectively different meditations	Informal	Not measured	Not measured	Not measured	Right posterior
				Mantra						Left central
				Self						Right anterior
Lo et al. (50) Taiwan	Zen	Inner light	Closed	Zen and third eye chakra	Perception of “inner light”	Signaling of “inner light”	Not reported	Power increase in early meditation	Occurrence on perception of “inner light”	Not reported
Kubota et al. (66) Japan	Zen	Susoku	Open	Counting breath	“Concentrated but relaxed”	Signaling of count	Some frontal found	Occipital – no difference	Not measured	Not measured
Murata et al. (53) Japan	Zen	Susoku	Open, lying down	Counting breath	“Concentrating the mind”	Signaling of count	No difference	Frontal coherence increase	No difference	Not measured
Takahashi et al. (54) Japan	Zen	Susoku	Open	Counting breath	“Concentrating the mind”	Signaling of count	Frontal power increase	Central power increase	No difference	Not measured
Huang and Lo (58) Taiwan	Zen		Closed	Zen chakra	“Samadhi”	Post-session questionnaire		Increase at start	Increased with meditation concentration	Not measured