The Influence of Spiritual Transcendence on a Centering Meditation: A Growth Curve Analysis of Resilience

Abstract

The authors longitudinally examined a spiritual meditation based on centering prayer. The study consisted of two primary aims: (1) to determine the effectiveness of centering meditation on increasing resilience and (2) to examine the temporal dynamics of spiritual transcendence on resilience during the meditation. Participants (n = 150) engaged in a 4-week randomized controlled trial, in which the treatment group practiced the centering meditation twice a day. The growth curve model includes a three-way interaction to determine if there were group effects in the relationship between spiritual transcendence and time. The interaction between treatment group, time, and spiritual transcendence was statistically significant in explaining the trajectory of resilience, p < 0.05. Based on the findings, the centering meditation was effective in statistically significantly increasing resilience in the treatment group compared to the waitlist control group. In addition, spiritual transcendence significantly potentiated the effect of centering meditation on improving resilience over time, p < 0.05. The authors discuss limitations and implications for research and practice of centering meditation.