The Other Side of Meditation: Why Some Community Ex-Meditators Discontinued

This research is intended to find out the community ex-meditators' experiences that led to their discontinuation of meditation. A qualitative study was conducted to elicit their experiences and perspectives. Six themes emerge - cognitive changes, affective changes, conative changes, somatic changes, encountering better alternatives and environmental constraints. This study expanded the understanding of quitting meditation, which not only confides to bodily and emotional experiences, but also to encountering better alternatives and the environmental constraints. The authors provide a few proposals towards making meditation a recommendation for patients' care.