Comeditation: an exploratory study of pulse and respiration rates and anxiety

To achieve deep relaxation in seriously ill persons, Tibetan medicine has employed a breathing process, known as "comeditation," which requires a caregiver to focus attention on the chest of the reclining patient while making a sound or number keyed to the patient's exhalation. This study investigated the relationship between state and trait anxiety and lowered respiratory rate, using the comeditation procedure. Ten subjects were assigned randomly to either a control or comeditation group. Anxiety was measured on the State-Trait Anxiety Inventory. Analysis indicated a decrease in State-Anxiety scores in the comeditation group, but no differences between groups in pulse and respiration rates or trait anxiety. Implications for theory and research are discussed.