A self-proclaimed godman and his brother have been arrested for allegedly molesting and manhandling two minor girls, who were staying at his ashram since last year. The accused allegedly assaulted them under the pretext of offering them spiritual teaching.

Residents of Shirur area, where the incident occurred were said to be shocked as he was one of the prominent personalities, who conducted lectures on spirituality.

Also read - Mumbai: Self-styled 'godman' arrested for allegedly molesting minor

The matter came to light when the victims, who had come home for summer vacations, were unwilling to return to the ashram and spilled the beans to their parents after being prodded. A case was registered with the Shirur Police after which the godman and his brother were arrested under relevant sections of the Prevention of Children from Sexual Offences Act (POCSO).

Also read: Law student fights back, chops off genitals of rapist godman in Kerala

The arrested duo have been identified as Maharaj Babaji Chalak and his brother Aba Chalak. They ran the Pasayadan Gurukul at Dnyandeep Nagar, in Pune's Shirur Taluka.

They have been offering spiritual education free of cost to school going children since the last five years. The ashram housed 15-16 girls.

Also read - Pune: Godman rapes 20-yr-old after offering her specially prayed on chocolates

According to the FIR lodged by victim's father (40) who is farmer from Ahmednagar, his two daughters (13) and (11) have been sexually abused. Victims had enrolled at Pasayadan Ashram in June 2016 for spiritual education.

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Pune Crime: 'Godman' held for molesting minor girls at his ashram - Mid-Day

This years Bury Festival has once again invited creative critics to review a number of performances.

Below are a selection of reviews of the National Youth Music Theatres performance of Honk! at the Theatre Royal on Sunday written by Year 5 pupils from Woolpit Primary Academy.

This brilliant performance had an exciting twist on Hans Christian Andersons The Ugly Duckling. I absolutely loved it because it made me like I was actually there and the songs were so pretty with a beautiful background. It was a brilliant story of a chick being born differently from the others and was teased for it but it turns out that he was actually a graceful, elegant swan and the bullies were sorry about what they had done to him. This incredible version of the Ugly Duckling has been recreated by Anthony Drewe with help from George Stiles on the stunning lyrics. The main character (Ugly, the duck/swan) was played by 14-year-old Mathew Sugden, Ida (mother duck) was played by Dominique McIntyre who is 15 years old, Drake (father duck) was played by Ben Wilson who is 15, and there are many more! I hugely enjoyed this play because it was so funny, it was interesting, it was exciting and I also loved it because everybody else did as well.

By Tom Davey

It was a musical based on the Ugly Duckling which has won a number of awards, including the 2000 Olivier Award for best musical. The relaxing music was by George Stiles and the outstanding lyrics by Anthony Drewe. This perfect performance was directed by an obviously talented director called Jeromy James Taylor. Ugly (played by Matthew Sugden, age 14) is the last egg to hatch and is the most subtle out of all the ducklings. When the others come back after a swim, they see Ugly and start to bully him. Then the mum (Ida, played by Domonique McIntyre, age 15) defends her new born child, Ugly. The dad (Drake, played by Ben Wilson, age 15) insists that Ugly is not their child. I really liked the choreography and the music because the actors looked really relaxed and when they danced they just looked so graceful, like a delicate feather floating from the cobalt sky. I think that the moral of the story is dont judge a book by its cover. Rated, my score for the musical would be a fabulous 10 out of 10!

By Eve Yeldham

This amazing piece of work was all performed by children. The youngest actor chosen was eleven, the oldest seventeen, but they were so good, the actors were better than professionals! The music, by George Stiles, and the lyrics by Anthony Drewe, were made in 1993 and have won an Olivier award. These actors only rehearsed in nine days and, with no intervals, they played it amazingly well. One thing I would say is that there were no changes in the setting, so it seemed that when the Ugly Duckling got lost, he was in the same place! In this theatre production there was comedy, and there were some quite unhappy moments, like when he was rejected by his eight brothers and sisters. My highlight of this production is probably the four bull frogs, they were the funniest out of all the actors (and the slimiest)! The costumes of the actors were really quite good and what I liked about them is that they were quite smart, wearing suits and waistcoats. I encourage people from the age of seven to senior to watch this exemplary, high quality theatre production.

By Joel Casey

The musical was really funny and quite sad. I saw lots of inspirational dances and I heard some funny stuff, basically Honk is based on the ugly duck, so there were eight eggs but one was different from the rest. There were so many great singers and great dancers it blew my mind, it was outstanding. I loved it. My favourite part was when the father came back with the eight ducks and he was so surprised. The amazing music was conducted by George Stiles. They had nine days to rehearse, when I heard that I was shocked nine days! Anthony Drewe wrote the lyrics to the songs. The good part was how they made sound like they were in 1800s/1900s and the costumes were like in the 1800s/1900s which made it look cool and sound cool. The person who played Ugly was Mathew Sugden. Hes 14 years old and he was great playing the ugly duckling. I loved the show and, a score out of 10, I would say 10 out of 10.

By Bobby Burch

HONK! is a brilliant story based on the Ugly Duckling. The music by George Stiles and lyrics by Anthony Drewe. We follow the Ugly Duckling through a glorious adventure. Embarrassed by his looks he sets off with a fiendish feline. It was amazing that young actors took part with only nine days to rehearse and the oldest actor was 17. HONK! was amazing and it made the audience cheer after each song. The music and the sounds were great but sometimes the music drowned out the singing. For 40 years the National Youth Music Theatre has represented the very best in work with young people in musical theatre leading Andrew Lloyd Webber to describe it as the best youth music theatre in the world. Mostly I enjoyed the songs and the characters. It was a great play but maybe the cat could have cat ears.

By Sam Macaulay

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REVIEW: Honk! at the Theatre Royal, May 21 - Bury Free Press

YARDLEY BOROUGH >> Music on Main kicks off its third season of summer-long outdoor concerts on June 3 at Buttonwood Plaza (15 South Main Street next to Firehouse Cycles) in the heart of downtown Yardley.

Yardleys own Peter V. Blues Train will get things started with a lively Blues and R&B show on Saturday, June 3 from 6 to 8 p.m.

Led by singer/songwriter Peter V., the band features Alex DAgnese on drums, Sean Graverson on bass guitar and Aron Louis Gornish on keyboard. The band was formed in 2013 and released its first CD in 2015, self-titled the Peter V. Blues Train. They released their second CD, On Track, in 2016.

Concert goers can listen for a few minutes or take in the full two hours.

This years Music on Main series includes 10 scheduled performances on Saturdays throughout the summer, with three open dates in late July and August in case poor weather cancels a show. Music on Main 2017 will present a diverse array of acoustic and electrified music and vocals including Irish/Celtic, Dixieland Jazz, Zydeco, Blues, traditional Latin American, Caribbean, steel drum, and even a little Reggae and Polynesian drum and Hula dancing thrown in for good measure. Performers in 2017 represent are all professional or semi-professional musicians and all come from either Bucks County or the greater Philadelphia region.

Music on Main is made possible through the generous support of our major sponsor, the Yardley Business Association, and through a generous grant from the Pennsylvania Council on the Arts and Greater Philadelphia Cultural Alliance. Additionally, homegrown Yardley businesses such as Bucks Ship & Print, Burritos Yardley, Cramers Bakery, Firehouse Cycles, The Pink Daisy, Vault Brewing Co., Pretty Bird Coffee, Vinces Pizza & Restaurant, Trattoria Rosa Bianca, and Pilates Bodies Fitness are contributing as key sponsors this season. Music on Main would also not be possible without ongoing partnerships with Yardley Borough, the Yardley Borough Police Department, and the Arts & Cultural Council of Bucks County.

Our downtown is an ideal setting for a high-quality, fun, and free to the public music program, noted Jef Buehler, head of the Yardley Business Enhancement Team (BET) and founder of Music on Main. Not only does Music on Main give residents, visitors and shoppers yet another great reason to come to Yardley to shop, dine, and drink locally, it provides a fun social experience in the Borough, exposes people of all ages and backgrounds to different types of live music, and fosters community in the heart of our town. Its a real win for Yardleys quality of life and our growing local economy. And yes, we will still have lots of sidewalk chalk for kids (of all ages) to use to create their own street art!

People coming to Music on Main can bring folding chairs, or picnic blankets if they want to ensure seating and are encouraged to stroll the downtown, pick up some food and beverages at one of the boroughs 14 restaurants, watering holes and eateries and make themselves at home for a relaxing summer evening.

In addition to the downtown series, Music on Main @ the Market will take place from 10 a.m. to 12 p.m. on May 27 and June 10 at the Yardley Farmers Market in Buttonwood Park. Performances by Christopher Davis-Shannon (May 27) and Dave Boyd (June 10) will delight visitors to the market as they shop.

Music on Main Downtown, weather permitting, will be held on the following Saturdays in 2017 from 6-8 p.m. with any rain dates rescheduled to later in the summer:

Schedule

6/3: Peter V Blues Train

6/10: Eco Del Sur

6/17: James Day & the Fish Fry

6/24: Magdaliz & Her Latin Ensemble Crisol

7/1: Joe DiVita Steel Drum Duo

7/8: New Vintage Dixieland Band

7/15: RichieNavigator Band

7/22: The River Drivers

8/5: De Tierra Caliente

8/12: Hu La La Polynesian Arts

For more information and updates, check out Music on Mains Facebook page: http://www.facebook.com/musiconmainyardley or visit experienceyardley.wixsite.com/musiconmain

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MUSIC ON MAIN: From Dixieland to Caribbean, free outdoor music series kicking off third season in downtown Yardley - Bucks Local News

Beatrice Trum Hunter Crusaded for Organic Food Long Before It Was a Big Business Wall Street Journal (subscription) Decades before Whole Foods Market Inc. implanted itself in affluent neighborhoods across America, Beatrice Trum Hunter was promoting organic foods and fulminating against pesticides and food additives. Ms. Trum Hunter wrote dozens of books, starting ...

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Beatrice Trum Hunter Crusaded for Organic Food Long Before It Was a Big Business - Wall Street Journal (subscription)

People in France are buying more and more organic produce and a survey has found that nine out of 10 people ate organic foods last year.

The rise in interest saw the bio market grow by 22% in 2016 to 7billion with 69% of people telling the Agence Bio/CSA study that they regularly bought organic.

Florent Guhl, head of Agence Bio promotion group, said: Organic is growing in scale but is managing to keep its fundamental values.

He said the 50% of the people who bought organic were changing their way of eating and watching what they ate with 65% opting for seasonal products, 61% opting for fresh products and 58% aiming to cut food waste.

The strong market growth has come with the arrival of new specialist shops which account for 25% of the growth and make up 35% of the sector. That does not mean leading supermarkets are being left behind as they are offering their own ranges on specialist shelves and make up 45% of the market.

One area that the organic movement needs to improve upon, however, is in increasing the amount of bio product grown in France as 24% of that sold is imported, although Mr Guhl said that this was mainly for processed products.

The Connexion will be running an article on organic foods in our July issue where we look at the costs and possible benefits. Do you think organic food is better for you? Let us know at news@connexionfrance.com

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More people opting for organic food at home - The Connexion

DUBLIN--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Research and Markets has announced the addition of the "Europe Organic Food & Beverages Market (2016-2022)" report to their offering.

Organic Foods are produced by complying with the standards of organic farming. In other words, diets which promote well-being and health, prevent diseases, help in curing illness, and also protect the environment are termed as Organic foods.

Food Consumption patterns are changing all over the world. Growing awareness towards the consumption of healthy food and beverages is the factor for the same. Unhealthy food and its consequences such as heart diseases cause aware consumers to adopt food which provides them nutrition. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), an unhealthy diet is the key factor for Non-Communicable Diseases which includes heart diseases, cardiovascular diseases, and others. Many public health campaigns have organized many communication activities for spreading awareness for the same.

The market has been segmented on the basis of Product Type and Country. Based on Product Type, the market is segmented on the basis of Organic Foods and Organic Beverages. Organic Foods includes Organic dairy products, Organic fruits & vegetables, Organic meat, fish & poultry, Organic frozen and processed foods, and Others (Organic baby foods, organic groceries, and so on). Organic Beverages are further segmented into Organic coffee & tea, Organic beer & wine, Organic non-dairy beverages, and other organic beverages. Based on Country, the market has been segmented into Germany, U.K., France, Russia, Spain, Italy and Rest of Europe.

The key player operating the organic food & beverages market are Amys Kitchen Inc., General Mills Inc., Hain Celestial Group, Inc., Starbucks Corporation, The Kroger Co., United Natural Foods, Inc., The WhiteWave Foods Co., and Whole Foods Market, Inc.

Key Topics Covered:

1. Market Scope & Methodology

2. Executive Summary

3. Market Overview

4. Europe Organic Food & Beverages Market

5. Europe Organic Food & Beverages Market - By Country

6. Company Profiles

- Amys Kitchen Inc.

- The WhiteWave Foods Company

- General Mills Inc.

- Hain Celestial Group, Inc.

- Starbucks Corporation

- Whole Foods Market Inc.

- United Natural Foods, Inc.

- The Kroger Co.

For more information about this report visit http://www.researchandmarkets.com/research/257gbq/europe_organic

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Europe Organic Food & Beverages Market 2016-2022 - Research and Markets - Business Wire (press release)

Forbes

Meditation For Energy: To Naturally Energize Your Body And Mind Forbes It's so tempting to get another cappuccino or Red Bull. I get it. It's 3 pm, you have hours of additional work, and the lure of caffeine feel overwhelming. There is another way. Here's an energizing meditation you can do for just thirty seconds that ...

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Meditation For Energy: To Naturally Energize Your Body And Mind - Forbes

Over the past few years, the wellness world has been focused on meditation and mindfulness and how it can help improve your life. Of course, meditation has also been around for millennia, but its apparent ease of access and minimal investment has definitely helped create its recent uptick in popularity.

And while there are many great reasons to meditate (increased concentration, lower stress levels, better sleep, to name a few), there's the small problem of it not going exactly as planned for many who practice.

In a new study published in PLOS One, "The Varieties of Contemplative Experience," researchers found that meditation didn't only deliver positive reactions it could also produce negative or "challenging" ones, such as fear, involuntary body movements and panic.

Noting that these types of results are often under-reported in literature, the study's authors interviewed almost 100 people who practiced meditation, as well as teachers from three main traditions (Theravda, Zen and Tibetan). They discovered that meditation affects seven main aspects: cognitive, perceptual, affective (i.e. emotions and moods), somatic (relating to the body), conative (i.e. motivation or will), sense of self and social.

The subjects reported a variety of reactions, both positive and negative, and they lasted anywhere from as soon as the person started practicing to 25 years into their practice.

While the introspective nature of meditation is meant to bring up difficult thoughts (as with people who re-experienced traumatic memories) and is certainly meant to be a challenge, many believe they'll automatically reap the benefits right away. But the practice isn't as simple as sitting down, closing your eyes and letting the good vibes flow your mental state, your teacher and even your physical location can make a difference.

This is a good example of how a contextual factor can affect associated distress and functioning, Jared Lindahl, one of the study's co-authors, said in a press release. An experience that is positive and desirable in one situation may become a burden in another.

Similarly, people have been questioning the use of apps and other technology, which coerce you to meditate for a certain amount of time or at a specific point in the day, to aid in mediation, which might also create stress with regards to a habit that's meant to be calming.

"Analytics motivate us, like fitness trackers, but then they create the feeling of wasted effort if we cant get our points," wrote Jon Mitchell, lifelong meditator and author of In Real Life: Searching for Connection in High-Tech Times, on his blog. "More content-heavy meditation apps, like ones that guide you or use particular sounds or images, insinuate themselves into your meditation. They dont teach a practice you can do without them."

There's no question meditation can help people, but it seems that it doesn't necessarily help everyone. And with the flood of good news stories on the practice, that can make people feel like there's something wrong with them, when that is not in any way the case.

During the interviews, some people learned for the first time that they are not completely alone in having had this experience, Lindahl said. The social awareness we think this project can raise could be a key way of addressing some of the problems.

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Meditation Can Have Negative Effects, As Well As Positive Ones: Study - Huffington Post Canada

On May 20, San Francisco-based tech giant Salesforce.com Inc.showcased to the public its newest namesake towerSalesforce Tower Indianapolis.

It was Salesforce's latest local milestone in a journey that began almost four years when it announced its deal to acquire ExactTarget for $2.5 billion. ExactTarget had about 1,000 local employees at the time. Today, Salesforce officials said, its Indianapolis headcount exceeds 1,600.

Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff was in town for the grand opening, and he spoke with IBJ about the company's plans to train 500 apprentices and hire additional exployees, as well as his vision for having all local employeesnow scattered across three buildingsin the tower. The conversation, edited for brevity and clarity, follows:

IBJ: Back in 2014 you told IBJ you wanted a tower in Indianapolis. Now it's here. How does it feel?

BENIOFF: Well, we've never been more excited about Indianapolis, and we've never been more excited about Salesforce. We have our tower here and we now have the ability to fulfill our dream to become not only Indiana's largest tech employer but also to help develop the future of Indiana's workforce with our next-generation apprenticeship program that we plan to pilot right here in Indianapolis.

IBJ: How will that program work?

BENIOFF: We know that the requirements for the workforce of the future are changing dramatically, and rapid advancements in technologywhether it's cloud computing or artificial intelligencemean that there's going to be a vast retraining of individuals looking for new jobs.

As part of that, we've made a new system thats available online called Trailhead. And Trailhead is a one-to-one learning system that helps people gain expertise in using our Salesforce platform. And we have hundreds of thousands of people on that system today. It's a very exciting online capability, and we are going to do that in a physical way with a Trailhead apprenticeship program. We're going to bring people into our company and provide that exact same knowledge that Trailhead provides to them virtually.

IBJ: What prompted this?

BENIOFF: We want to be the key people to provide that Salesforce knowledge to these people who we call Trailblazers. I'll tell you that of the top 10 jobs in the U.S. that are available now in the tech industry, two are Salesforce jobs. One is Salesforce administrator and the other is Salesforce developer. Indeed published that survey, and if you want those high-paying jobs, you need these Salesforce skills. We've taken factory workers and even ministers and we've been able to give them these valuable skills to transform their lives.

This is really important. The world is changing rapidly, especially with respect to technologyeverybody realizes that. We don't want anybody to be left behind, so we need to provide both online and in-person training at scale, and we plan to headquarter that right out of Indianapolis.

IBJ: Who are the types of people you plan to target for this and what's your goal? Do you plan to hire them?

BENIOFF: It's across the board, and if you look on the Trailhead website, you'll see the wide variety of people from different industries who have made this decision to learn these skills and how it's impacted their lives. Those are not our employees. Those are users of this technology; they work for customers of this technology.

IBJ: What are some the features of Salesforce Tower Indianapolis?

BENIOFF: First, you're going to see our Trailhead interior, which kind of has the resemblance of a national park with our green carpets, lightwood fixtures, and probably the most remarkable thing is the tremendous amount of open space and lack of offices. There are very few offices and very few conference rooms.

The second thing, of course, is that the very top floor of the building will be known as the Ohana Floor. We'll use that for collaboration, communication and coordination during the day for our employees to have events, lunches and dinners. But we'll make that top floor available to the communityreligious organizations, non-profits, and non-governmental organizationsso they can have catered events or programs on the weekend or when we're not using it.

In addition to that, every floor in the tower has meditation and mindfulness rooms. We believe it's really important to give our employees the ability to completely disconnect in a world that's always on. And so those mindfulness rooms are very popular in the world where we put them in. Of course, they serve all peoples and all religions.

And on each floor there's a Salesforce lounge, which is very similar to a home-living environment where employees have an opportunity to relax. Maybe they want to read or make themselves some type of food or snack. It's a residential environment with tremendous views made possible by the tower.

IBJ: Did you ever consider building from scratch here?

BENIOFF: We did. In fact, in our original discussions we thought we would have to build from scratch. But, as you know, through a twist of fate we were able to lease the tower for it to take on our namesake.

IBJ: How many towers bear the Salesforce across the globe?

BENIOFF: The big ones are San Francisco, Indianapolis, New York and London. There's also a very large facility in Munich, Germany. There's a large headquarters building in Paris, France. And I think those are the major facilities right now.

IBJ: Is there anything special about the Indianapolis tower?

BENIOFF: The view of Indianapolis.

IBJ: What's your long-term vision for real estate now. I understand employees are in three buildings right now. Do you want everyone in the tower eventually?

BENIOFF: Ideally, everyone is in the tower. Our goal is for everyone to be in one place.

IBJ: Last year, Salesforce said it planned to add 800 jobs in Indianapolis. It had about 1,400 at the time. How's hiring going?

BENIOFF: Hiring here has been great. We still have a lot of openings. We need technical talent. We need the best and brightest, especially in regard to our schools, colleges and universities. And we're also moving people here from other headquarters locations like San Francisco.

IBJ: How much of that relocation activity is actually happening? Is it few and far between or is there a lot interest?

BENIOFF: There is interest. As housing prices increase in places like the San Francisco Bay area, Indianapolis now with the Salesforce Tower provides an attractive opportunity for people in high-price urban areas to move here and have a great lifestyle at a reasonable price.

IBJ: As you may know, there are a whole host of tech firms that have official plans to expand headcount here. Do such plans make it tougher for Salesforce to meet its hiring goals?

BENIOFF: I actually think it'll be easier because there will be more people spreading the good news about Indianapolis. Yeah, we don't want to be the only ones. That is never a good situation.

IBJ: The ExactTarget acquisition was almost four years ago and it became the foundation for your Marketing Cloud. So what has theacquisition meant for Salesforce?

BENIOFF: Well it's transformed Salesforce from being just a B2B [software] provider to being a B2C provider. And you can see the tremendous growth from when we bought that company to where we are today. Just through that line, it's amazing and it's phenomenal how much we've been able to grow. And it's been a huge catalyst for that growth.

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In Q&A, Benioff riffs on Salesforce Tower meditation rooms, Indy strategy and more - Indianapolis Business Journal

Friday May 26 2017

Many types of meditation are practiced across the world

"Meditation can leave you feeling even more stressed," the Daily Mail reports.

The claim is prompted by a study of 60 practitioners of Buddhist meditation in the US which found they'd had a range of "challenging or difficult" experiences associated with the practice.

However, it's not clear how relevant the results are to the majority of people who use meditation apps or take mindfulness classes.

The study only included people in Western countries who meditated within one of three Buddhist traditions, and importantly who'd had negative experiences. So the numbers of people in the study reporting, for example, fear, is only representative of people who'd said they had a negative experience through meditation, not of all people meditating.

The study does make an important point, however, at a time when mindfulness and meditation has become more popular, that the effects of meditation are not always positive or harmless. Some people in the study reported feeling depressed or suicidal, and a few needed treatment in hospital as a result.

Classical Buddhist literature discusses potential pitfalls of mindfulness and meditation, such as maky (hallucinations) and "Zen sickness" a sense of imbalance and loss of identity. So these warnings should not be glossed over by teachers of Buddhist inspired techniques.

Also, healthcare practitioners who recommend meditation need to be aware of the associated risks.

The study was carried out by researchers from Brown University and the University of California in the US. It was funded by the National Center for Complementary and Integrative Health, the Bial Foundation, the Mind and Life Institute and the 1440 Foundation.

The study was published in thepeer-reviewed journal PLOS One on an open-access basis, so it is free to read online.

The Mail covered the study particularly badly. It began by sneering at the celebrities and "yummy mummies" that practice mindfulness, without apparently noticing that the study excluded generic mindfulness-based interventions and looked only at specific Buddhist meditation practices.

It reported that 82% of people questioned had experienced fear, anxiety or paranoia, without making it clear the study only interviewed people with negative experiences. It also said that people who had previous psychological problems had been "ruled out" of the study. Yet the study reported 32% of people interviewed had a history of psychiatric disorder (only people with current mental illness, or similar unusual psychological experiences not linked to meditation were excluded).

Finally, the Mail said the study interviewed "nearly 100" people about their experiences, when they actually interviewed 60 people.

This was a qualitative study. Qualitative studies, like this one, use interviews to ask people open-ended questions about their experiences of specific issues, such as meditation.

Experiences were then grouped into categories. The researchers looked specifically for people who'd had negative experiences of meditation, because they say these experiences had not previously been properly investigated.

This type of research is useful to gather detailed information about people's experiences. It doesn't tell us how common these experiences are, what causes them, or why these people in particular experienced them.

Researchers recruited 60 people who were regular practitioners of one of three types of Buddhist meditation, and who had experienced a challenging or negative experience linked to meditation.

They interviewed them about what they experienced, how they understood it, and what effect it had. They also interviewed 30 "experts" mostly meditation teachers about their understanding of what caused challenging experiences and how they could be managed.

The interviews were used to compile models of types of experience (described as "domains") and models of the factors that could affect people's likelihood of having this type of experience. Researchers say this element should only be understood as the opinions (often conflicting) of the teachers and experts interviewed, not as a definitive list of causes.

Researchers identified eight "domains" of experience from the interviews, which included both positive and negative experiences. These were:

Of the practitioners interviewed, 60% were also meditation teachers, and 41% of them said their challenging experiences followed meditation of 10 hours a day or more. This suggests they were more intensive practitioners than the average person doing perhaps half an hour a day.

The researchers said the experiences were likely to be caused by meditation, as they'd passed criteria designed to assess causation. These included whether they happened at the time of the meditation practice, whether they were linked to more intense practice, whether they receded when people stopped meditating and returned when they began again, and that they were consistently reported by people in the study.

Some experiences were directly causedby meditation, while others might be secondary for example, fear at loss of sense of self or even tertiary for example distress at the way they were treated by a meditation teacher after having a challenging experience.

The researchers say the results suggest that "meditation practices on their own may produce challenging effects, but the specific type of effect, as well as its likelihood, duration, and associated distress and impairment, is influenced by a number of additional factors."

They add that the results "should not be interpreted as conclusive" because the study is one of the first in its field.

Many people around the world find meditation can be helpful. However, as with most things, there can be downsides.

Some people especially if they practice intensive meditation for many hours, such as on a retreat have challenging or difficult experiences. Some religious teachers within Buddhism say these can be part of the path of the religious experience. However, for people doing meditation hoping to experience health benefits, without a religious context, these experiences can be unexpected and difficult to deal with.

There are limitations in this study that mean we shouldn't try to apply it too widely. The people interviewed were quite a select group all had volunteered to talk about challenging experiences during meditation, the majority were meditation teachers, they were almost all white and highly educated (42% had a master's degree and 25% a doctorate). Their experiences may be different from those of the average person attending a meditation class orusing a meditation or mindfulnessapp on their phone.

The serious, long-lasting nature of some of the negative experiences reported, however, are cause for concern. People who experience depression,suicidal feelings or other serious problems after meditation should seek medical help.

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Does meditation carry a risk of harmful side effects? - NHS Choices