Prayer programme and physiological coherence, health and spirituality1
Influence of a prayer programme on physiological coherence, health and spirituality perceptions
STEPHEN D. EDWARDS
Psychology Department, University of Zululand, KwaDlangezwa, South Africa. E-mail:
(Received: ; Revision accepted: )
Abstract
The goal of this study was to examine the influence of a prayer programme on physiological coherence, health and spirituality perceptions. A within group, pre-test and post-test, design was employed to assess changes in physiological and psychological variables. A convenience sample of 10 participants, 5 men and 5 women, with a mean age of 44.8 years and an age range from 23 to 78 years, completed the programme, which consisted of rest, intercessory, gratitude, contemplative and heart prayer conditions. Significant increases in physiological coherence and spirituality perceptions, as well as reported health improvements, were associated with the prayer programme in general and the heart prayer in particular. Findings are discussed in relation to previous and future research.
Keywords: Prayer programme, physiological coherence, heart rate variability, health, spirituality perceptions.
How to cite this article:
Edwards, S.D. (2014). Influence of a prayer programme on physiological coherence, health and spirituality perceptions. African Journal for Physical, Health Education, Recreation and Dance, 20(4:1), 1390-1402.
Introduction
Contemporary, global views on health and well-being typically involve an integrated and harmonious dynamic of various interacting components and contexts (Wilber, 2000). Components include biological, psychological, social, spiritual and ecological dimensions. Contexts range from indigenous healing practices, through modern biomedical and pharmacological settings, to space and aviation medicine. This study was generally motivated by the frequent use of meditation and prayer in various faith, health and sports contexts. For example, in addition to spiritual practices in places of worship, sporting teams in soccer, cricket and/or rugby may use indigenous medicines to promote faith, get into a huddle and/or pray before an important contest. Extraordinary accomplishments have been extensively documented (Benson, 2000; Murphy, 1992).
Conceptual clarity, operational definitions and/or standardized scales avoid confusion and provide scientific rigor with regard to such phenomena such as faith, health and spirituality, where findings are often contradictory (Andrade & Radhakrishnan, 2009). However, the apparent healing power of faith has been supported by evidence from various randomized controlled trails (Benson, 1997). Further scientific, evidence based practice and faith based health promotion programmes (DeHaven, Hunter, Wilde, Walton & Berry, 2004; Manget & Sands, 2008) have generally endorsed improved health reports from various spiritual traditions, such as Hinduism, Judaism, Buddhism, Taoism, Christianity and Islam (Fante, 2009; Iyengar, 2005; Reid, 1998).
This research was specifically stimulated by a scientific study by Stanley (2009), who used HeartMath, emWave technology to monitor heart rate variability in five Benedictine nuns, who each practised five types of prayer. Stanley (2009) found the following percentage levels of high physiological coherence associated with each prayer type: supplication 15%, devotion 16%, intercessory 25%, gratefulness 64% and contemplative prayer 86% respectively. The present research constitutes a partial replication and extension of Stanley’s study, with more participants in an experimental design, with an applied interventionist focus and quantitative and qualitative assessment of participants’ health and spirituality perceptions.
In addition to Stanley’s (2009) work, other research that motivated the present prayer programme were various studies on breath, consciousness, heart rate variability, meditation, contemplation and prayer (Edwards, 2013, 2014; Louchakova, 2007a, 2007b; McCraty, 2003, McCraty, Atkinson, Tomasino, & Bradley, 2006). Although improved conceptualization and methodology is needed, research generally points towards a positive correlation between psychophysiological coherence, positive emotions and transcendence as experienced in deeper levels of prayer and improved health and spirituality (Breslin, & Lewis, 2008; Norris, 2005). Many studies include some differentiated focus on the human heart, for example, physiological/electro-magnetic, (McCraty, 2003), psychological (Edwards, 2014) and spiritual/mystical (Louchakova, 2009) perspectives. Of particular relevance to the present research were the themes of physiological coherence and heart prayer, which are described as follows.
As a measure of inter-beat heart rate changes, heart rate variability is a convenient, non-invasive indication of general health and adaptation. Physiological coherence is a state of synchronization between various physiological structures, including the heart, brain and autonomic nervous and baroreceptor systems. It is particularly characterized by a heart rhythm pattern of elevated amplitude in low frequency heart rate variability of around 0.1 Hz, indicating harmonious balance between sympathetic and parasympathetic divisions of the autonomic nervous system. Equivalent to about 5–7 breaths per minute, physiological coherence is related to respiratory sinus arrhythmia (RSA) and positive emotions such as appreciation, love and/or peace. It is experienced as a state of relaxed alertness, which sportspersons describe as “being in the zone” (McCraty, Atkinson & Tiller, 1993; Tiller, McCraty & Atkinson, 1996; Murphy & White, 1995).
In addition to their use in health and sports contexts, meditation, contemplation and/or prayers focussing on silence, thankfulness, care for others, the heart and/or sacred imagery are found in most wisdom, spiritual and/or healing traditions, such as ancestral consciousness, yogic, chi-gung and Sufi beliefs and practices (Reid, 1993; Saniotis 2012). For example, the particular, Eastern Orthodox Church technique known as Prayer of the Heart typically consists of continuous repetition of a phrase, or the name of a Deity, with breath paced focus on the sense of truest self in the chest (Louchakova, 2007a, Louchakova-Schwartz, 2013). A more recent version called Centring prayer has been popularized by Keating (1997).
The aim of the present research was to examine the influence of a prayer programme consisting of five conditions, namely rest, intercessory, gratefulness, contemplative and heart prayer, on physiological coherence, health and spirituality perceptions as assessed before, during and after the programme. In view of previous contradictory research findings, the null hypothesis was set for all quantitative findings.
Method
Design
An integral, quantitative and qualitative approach, adopting a pre-test and post-test, experimental design (Terblanche, Durrheim & Painter, 2006; Wilber, 2000; 2007) was employed. Independent variables consisted of the prayer programme conditions. Dependent variables included participants’ physiological coherence, health and spirituality perceptions, as well as written descriptions of their experiences.
Participants
The participants were a small, convenience sample of 10 Christians, who volunteered for the research, indicated willingness to explore the prayer conditions and to describe their experience. While such qualitative research selection criteria have certain advantages in small-scale, investigative research as in the present study, they do present the methodological limitation of social desirability, Hawthorne and/or experimenter effects. All participants were English-speaking. There were 5 women and 5 men, with a mean age of 44.8 years and an age range from 23 to 78 years.
Procedure
Participants were informed that their heart rate, variability and physiological coherence levels would be assessed throughout the rest and prayer conditions, that they would be pre-tested and post-tested on standardized measures of health and spirituality and kindly requested to describe their prayer experiences in writing after the programme. During the three types of prayer, namely, contemplative, gratitude and intercessory prayer, which were the same as those used in Stanley’s study, participants received no physiological coherence feedback. All types of prayer are indicated in the Holy Eucharist of the Anglican Church to which participants belonged. They were instructed that they should pray with eyes open or closed in their usual manner and as they felt comfortable. During the heart prayer, participants were requested to pray with heart focussing breathing while watching a mandala which contracted and expanded with inhalation and exhalation respectively.
Types of prayer were described as follows. Contemplative prayer is a quiet, meditative form of prayer in which participants consciously open themselves to divine presence, through silence, repetition of a divine name or in whatever other manner they may directly experience God and/or Godhead. Gratitude prayer implies thankfulness for all gifts, talents and abilities such as life, health and welfare. Intercessory prayer includes praying for the self, others, settings or contexts, especially those in trouble, need, sickness or any other adversity. The heart prayer is found in most wisdom spiritual and/or healing traditions. It was the only condition in which participants were specifically required to pray while breathing through the heart and cultivating any positive emotion of their choice such as love or peace. In addition to such background information, standardized instructions given to all participants were as follows:
The aim of this research is to evaluate a prayer programme consisting of rest, followed by four types of prayer, namely, contemplative, gratitude, heart and intercessory prayer, which will be presented to you in random order of your choice. In brief, contemplative prayer is direct awareness of divine presence, gratitude prayer involves gratefulness for gifts received, heart prayer includes heart focussed breathing and feeling a positive emotion and intercessory prayer involves praying for others. Your physiological coherence levels will be measured during all sessions. Your health and spirituality perceptions will be measured before and after the prayer. You are kindly requested to also write a few lines describing and evaluating your experiences at the end of the session.
Research notes, participants’ prayer type order of choice, as well as quantitative and qualitative data were recorded throughout the prayer programme.
Ethical matters
Following university ethical clearance, permission to use the standardized scales, written informed consent, and guaranteed confidentiality, participants were instructed that they should participate only if they were happy and willing to do so and could withdraw at any stage.
Apparatus
The small 2 by 3 inch, emWave pro apparatus used in this study, when attached to a laptop computer, gives readings of heart rate variability, low, medium and high levels of physiological coherence, as well as coherence achievement and cumulative coherence scores. It was used to obtain 5 minute baseline or pre-test coherence measures as well as 5 minute measures of each type of prayer. The equipment was developed at the Institute of Heartmath, following decades of extensive psychophysiological investigations into heart rate variability measurement (McCraty & Atkinson, 2003; McCraty, Atkinson & Tomasino, 2001). Replicating the study of Stanley (2009), heart rate variability and coherence ratios were measured at emWave pro challenge level 2.
Measures
The Health Scale consisted of an adaptation of the General Health Questionnaire (GHQ-12), which is intended to screen for general psychiatric morbidity. Although it has not yet been standardized in South Africa, it has been widely used internationally, and, as a result, translated into many languages and extensively validated in general and clinical populations worldwide. A recent study conducted in the United Kingdom indicated that reliability of this model was over-estimated by the reported Cronbach Alpha of 0.90 for the Likert scoring method and that a more realistic estimate of reliability was 0.73 (Hankins, 2008). The adapted version used in the present study consisted of 12 items, 6 each being positively and negatively phrased, on a four-point Likert scale, ranging from 1 to 4, requiring responses of strongly agree, agree, disagree and strongly disagree, respectively.
The Spirituality Scale consisted of a 12-item adaptation of Delaney’s (2005) Spirituality Scale. This scale was standardized with a South African sample of 302 participants and a short 12 item version (SS-12) of the scale developed (Edwards, 2012). Reliability analysis for the SS-12 as a whole indicated a very satisfactory total scale alpha coefficient of .82. Responses to items were scored on a one-to-four point Likert rating format worded: strongly disagree, disagree, agree and strongly agree.
Data analysis
Quantitative data were analyzed with the Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS), with specific reference to non-parametric statistics for a small sample that was assumed to be not normally distributed. This implied Kruskal Wallis non-parametric comparisons between prayer conditions and Wilcoxon comparisons between related measures involving pre-test and post-testing on the health and spirituality scales. Qualitative data consisted of participants’ experiences of the prayer programme. The conventional probability level of p < 0.05 was set for all statistical comparisons, with significant findings designated with an asterisk* in the results that follow.
Results and Discussion
Quantitative findings
Quantitative findings from physiological coherence, health and spirituality test measures are observed in Table 1 and Table 2.
Table 1: Prayer Comparisons, Physiological Coherence, Means, Standard Deviations and Kruskal Wallis Statistics
Prayer Conditions/Comparisons / Heart Rate Variability Indices
Statistic / LO / MED / HI / ACH / COH / HR
Rest / Mean / 79 / 11.9 / 9.1 / 0.3 / 16.2 / 84.1
S D / 25.6 / 14.3 / 12 / 0.5 / 11.1 / 52.8
Intercessory / Mean / 74.2 / 10.3 / 15.5 / 0.4 / 26.7 / 71.6
S D / 33.9 / 9.2 / 26.4 / 0.6 / 32.9 / 18.4
Gratitude / Mean / 68.4 / 12 / 19 / 0.6 / 39.5 / 73.2
S D / 32.9 / 9.6 / 33 / 1.2 / 66.9 / 18.4
Contemplation / Mean / 75.5 / 8.6 / 16.5 / 0.5 / 32.3 / 72.4
S D / 32.6 / 9.2 / 29.5 / 0.7 / 47 / 19.2
Heart prayer / Mean / 31 / 16.8 / 52.2 / 1.6 / 92.1 / 70.1
S D / 35.8 / 16.2 / 41 / 1.17 / 65.6 / 18.6
Comparisons
(Kruskal Wallis) / Chi-Square / 10.7 / 2.2 / 7.0 / 10.7 / 11.1 / 0.7
Probability (p) / .031* / .693 / .135 / .03* / .025* / .948
Kruskal Wallis non-parametric test indicated significant differences in prayer conditions with regard to low coherence (LO), Chi-Square = 10.7,p = .031; coherence achievement (ACH), Chi-Square = 10.7, p = .03 and cumulative coherence (COH), Chi-Square = 11.1, p = .025. Although significance was only reached in the ranked comparisons of three of the six dependent variables, namely decrease in low coherence and increases in coherence achievement and cumulative coherence scores respectively, observation of mean score differences in Table 1 indicates that, compared to the other prayer conditions, the heart prayer was consistently associated with lower levels of low coherence and heart rate, as well as higher levels of mean coherence, high coherence, coherence achievement and cumulative coherence.
Table 2: Health and Spirituality Pre-test and Post-Test Comparisons, Means, Standard Deviations and Wilcoxon Statistics
Measure / Pre-test / SD / Post-test / SD / Wilcoxon Z / ProbabilityHealth / 28.5 / 6.4 / 29.8 / 7.5 / 1.49 / .136
Spirit / 35.6 / 5.3 / 40.3 / 4.16 / 2.52 / .012*
Wilcoxon Z statistics indicated the prayer programme as a whole was only associated with significant differences between pre-test and post-test spirituality (Spirit) scores, Z (2, 10) = 2.52, p = .012. Observation of mean score changes indicated improvements in spirituality perceptions. Although health score changes were not significant, mean score changes indicated slight improvements in health perceptions as well. These findings are amplified in greater depth in the following qualitative and integrative findings.
Qualitative findings
Participants’ qualitative experiences indicated that the prayer programme was generally associated with insight, increased commitment, peace, focus, control, spiritual union and health revealed in their individual descriptions, which follow:
A: I feel uplifted and encouraged to pray more to hear the word for love of our lord and saviour. This has opened my eyes to this technique in life. As I have said, this should be spread widely and universally. The Spirit of God Almighty to those who administer his word. Praise be to him on high.
B: I felt relaxed and professionally led during the session. I realize that one needs to constantly devote more time evaluating and acting on spiritual growth and not be caught up with the pressures of one’s surroundings and everyday life.
C: Dividing prayer into categories makes one look at oneself and take stock of where “I am” in relation to the world and to God. It also shows the strong connection between spirituality and health.
D: I see benefit in being actively made to consider my situation by doing the questionnaire. I do not really know what my heart rate readings will mean, but I expect my heart rate will have reduced during prayer.
E: Practising the different types of prayer and saying silent prayers in my mind while listening to the sounds of nature left me feeling completely peaceful and emptied my mind of all thoughts and anxieties.
F. The breathing meditation we did on Monday was fabulous. I was so stressed when I arrived with you I could not think straight...... Gradually with the breathing and meditation (on being grateful) I was able to start to de-stress and gain composure. It was incredibly difficult at first to start to breathe in a composed fashion. As we progressed and my heart rate slowed down it felt more "normal". I did a couple more controlled breathing and meditation sessions on Monday and it really did help to calm me down and compose my thoughts.
Doing the breathing while looking at the heart mandala expanding and contracting settles one down into the quietest and deepest meditation state. I would almost describe it as a "partial human hibernation" /"thinking state" while gathering focus and having some peaceful "thinking" time....It seems to give one the chance to re-focus and one also feels the most intense state of calmness.
It takes a few minutes to get into the breathing pattern but once the breathing and heart rate slow down one is just feeling so in control of life again and one’s thoughts and particularly emotions. I really feel each time I do the breathing that I could spend a longer period of time in that quiet/restful state.
G. My experience of the heart prayer session was very positive. At times when I normally pray, my mind wanders. However during the heart prayer session as I focussed on my heart feelings I was able to enter the zone. I felt a closeness and oneness with God. I experienced peace and joy as I prayed.
H. Obviously very relaxing and assisting with clearing my mind and thoughts. I found the intercessory prayer a lot easier than others, in fact there was not enough time for that, so many people to pray for. This quiet time has made me realise that I should do this on a daily basis to help me cope better.
I. The gratitude and intercessory prayer were meaningful.
J. I experienced prayer as a normal experience within what prayer is. To elaborate, I experienced it relative to my own state of mind but within the context of prayer. That also said, I suppose that prayer, though a concept defined, is purely a subjective experience dependent on the person’s spirituality. Therefore my experience was relative to my pessimistic state of mind as a spiritual person.