cccbauer

[Matthew D. Sacchet @MatthewSacchet]

Advanced meditation is increasingly a critical test case for neuroscience, psychology, phenomenology, philosophy and computational modeling of the mind.

In doing so, advanced meditation is pushing us to rethink how we both study and understand our own subjective experience and the processes through which our minds can deeply transform.

I’m therefore delighted to share that our new review and synthesis, “Active Inference, Computational Phenomenology, and Advanced Meditation: Toward the Formalization of the Experience of Meditation,” is now officially published in Neuroscience & Biobehavioral Reviews

As the scientific study of advanced meditation continues to mature, a central challenge for our team at the Meditation Research Program is this: How can subjectively rich, conceptually elusive, and highly refined first-person meditative experiences integrate into fruitful dialogue with formal, testable computational models of the mind?

In this paper, we critically synthesize a rapidly growing, but until now largely scattered, literature that uses Active Inference and related computational frameworks to model the states, stages, and endpoints of advanced meditation. We ask where current models succeed, where they fall short, and what rigorous and meaningful progress will require next.

Importantly, this work goes well beyond basic mindfulness by engaging radical experiential territories including defabrication (the loosening of mental habits that shape experience), Minimal Phenomenal Experience (MPE; the barest awareness without thought, affect, or sense of self), and cessation (a complete, temporary absence of conscious experience altogether).

So why does this matter for contemplative science and meditation more broadly?

Because carefully developed formal models can help clarify and illuminate how deep psychological transformation actually happens. When pursued rigorously and respectfully, we believe such models can bridge difficult-to-articulate first-person phenomenology with precision tools of third-person science, guiding future empirical work and potentially even informing mental health.

My deepest gratitude to first author Hagar Tal, and our collaborators Malcolm Wright @punk_utopian, Shawn Prest, and Lars Sandved Smith @lars_sandved !

As always, my colleagues and I warmly welcome your reflections and deeper conversations, and we’re especially keen to hear from those around the world thinking deeply about advanced practice, phenomenology, and the contemplative and computational science of consciousness in transformation.

The full manuscript PDF is included below ⤵️

[PlanB @100trillionUSD]

Bears think $126k was the top, and btc will fall below $100k, and 2026 will be a bear market mainly because ... the 4 year cycle!?

IMO that is a BIG misunderstanding. Yes, there is a 4y halving cycle that doubles S2F-ratio, and 6 months before until 18 months after a halving was very profitable last 3 cycles. But, 3 cycles is not enough for a reliable pattern, and it is absolutely not guaranteed that the top is again 18 months after the halving (Oct'25!). Also, S2F model says nothing about tops or bottoms, only about the average price level in a halving cycle, assuming a fundamental phase transition (as described in the S2FX article, on my website in the bio). So IMO the top could very well be in 2026, or 2027, or 2028 ... actually I am much more interested in the average price level than the top (or the bottom).

What I do know is: there has not been a fundamental bitcoin phase transition yet in this cycle. Realized price (grey line) has not diverted from 200 week moving average (black line), RSI has not been 80+ (red) etc. Either the big jump has yet to come, or we have transitioned into a more stable price regime, dominated by institutions, fund mandates (e.g. 1%-10% btc) and rebalancing (sell after pump and buy after dump, to keep exposures within mandate). Both scenarios are very bullish for bitcoin. Also, IMO there can not be a big bear market without a big jump (red RSI 80+ and grey realized price diverting from black 200wma).

[Matthew D. Sacchet @MatthewSacchet]

Can meditation be understood as systematic mental training?

Despite the obvious appeal of thinking of meditation training like a workout for the mind, as the gym is for muscles, and its wide usage across communities practicing and researching meditation, virtually no real dialogue has yet occurred between contemplative science and training and exercise science.

While meditative attainments are clearly more than just feats of self-centered inner endurance—and some meditative endpoints involve profound epistemological or ontological shifts that have no clear counterpart in athletic or performance-based disciplines—training science has long been dedicated to uncovering the principles and mechanisms that underlie training and its adaption. It thus potentially has a great deal to offer the emerging science of advanced meditation.

In our latest paper, led by the brilliant Sebastian Ehmann together with Terje Sparby @terjesparby and Daniel M. Ingram @danielmingram, we address the need for an alternative framework to evaluate meditation as systematic training that shapes meditative development. We first survey foundational principles of training science, such as programming and periodization, and then show how core training variables—volume, frequency, duration, density, and intensity—can be meaningfully adapted to contemplative training. Among these, we propose a novel definition of training intensity: the graded phenomenal presence of specific meditative qualities, coupled with the minimization of counteractive qualities. Benchmarked against a normative standard, this construct opens a promising path between structured training metrics and subjective markers of skill-based meditative proficiency.

This work is a step toward a future in which advanced meditation is not confined to spiritual or religious systems of meditative training, but can also be understood as this-worldly—a systematic method of engaging with mental training that cultivates profound states of well-being. We believe it can be both theoretically and practically useful to think of the most effective ways that these practices can be used to profoundly transform the mind.

In this way, perhaps one day meditators will debate the finer points of training variables as well as the interaction with meditative skills, with the same vigor as athletes and training scientists do now. Our hope is to give more people an opportunity to choose which particular goals they want to achieve in meditation, while potentially drawing from cultural heritages in a way that feels authentic and comfortable.

So, are we ready to embrace interdisciplinary, science-based and more culturally appropriate frameworks that make these practices more inclusive and accessible—while also enabling the systematization and conceptual clarity needed to safeguard and advance the field of contemplative science?

May this work benefit many 🙏

[cccbauer @cccbauer]

@ProfitCircle_ Conviction by Mr O

[Mr. P @ProfitCircle_]

THE BULL RUN ENDGAME 🐂

Part #1: Markets Are Quietly Repositioning Ahead Of The Next FOMC Meet (Oct 28-29).

Fed Governor Waller has already hinted at another 25 bps rate cut, even with limited data coming in because of the US Government Shutdown. It lines up perfectly with the Liquidity Window I've outlined in the October Crypto Report (check pinned post).

That’s what makes the next 10 days so crucial… Liquidity Expectations are building, and Risk Assets are sniffing it early. If the Fed confirms easing again, October might close with one of the Strongest Macro Tailwinds for Crypto in 2025.

➡️ For Part #2, Re-Quote This Post With Caption: "CONVICTION BY MR P"

[Mr. P @ProfitCircle_]

OCTOBER CRYPTO REPORT IS HERE - by Mr. P

This time it’s 100% FREE for all Premium fam, no paywalls. Just pure alpha from someone who actually cares about his community ❤️

Inside you’ll find:
• $BTC direction heading into Q4
• $ETH's Next Move
• US Govt Shutdown Ending
• $SPX + Altcoins Cycle View
• Big macro shifts (rate cuts, QT)
• Early hints of a wild 2026 setup

If this hits 100 reposts, I’ll leak a tiny hint from one of these sections on Monday.
You already know what happens when Mr. P hints

[Mushtaq Bilal, PhD @MushtaqBilalPhD]

❌ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini cost $20/m each. But NO integration with academic databases.

✅Chat Academia cost $15/m. Offers integration with multiple academic databases with millions of research papers. Also helps you find research gaps.

Check it out 👇 https://t.co/BJwqSUxaT8

[Nicholas Fabiano, MD @NTFabiano]

Starting something new is a struggle and requires a large amount of brain activity.

As you practice, things get easier and require much less brain power.

Keep practicing and your brain will do the rest.

[Lucina Uddin @LucinaUddin]

Task and resting state fMRI modelling of brain-behavior relationships in developmental cohorts - Biological Psychiatry https://t.co/rtAth8nvuZ

[Nicholas Fabiano, MD @NTFabiano]

This is the neuroplasticity theory of depression.

Rather than a serotonin deficit, it focuses on restoring connections between brain regions involved in mood & reward.

[Matthew D. Sacchet @MatthewSacchet]

Powerful scientific clues to the mystery of consciousness are emerging from its very absence.

Advanced meditation research seeks to scientifically understand profound and powerful shifts in consciousness that can arise from contemplative mastery. One such shift, which we call extended cessation (EC), refers to a rare and temporary suspension of consciousness in its entirety. That is, after specific and especially deep meditation, all perception and mental activity cease entirely for an extended period.

In this first-ever electrophysiological study of EC, in which five meditators underwent concurrent electroencephalography (EEG) and magnetoencephalography (MEG) recording, we asked ourselves: What is the neuroelectrophysiology of EC—and does EC affect the brain differently than deep sleep, anesthesia, and disorders of consciousness?

Here’s what we found:
—A reduction in alpha power in EC, especially in the visual cortex, suggesting a significant shift away from normal sensory processing.
—During EC, most participants showed increases in neural complexity (e.g., Lempel-Ziv complexity, permutation, entropy and integrated information).
—Global coherence showed no consistent, group-wide change during EC, with some participants increasing at certain frequencies, others decreasing, and in two it remained unchanged.
—Functional connectivity between brain networks was highly individual with some participants having EC strengthen communication across networks, while in others it produced little change.

These results have several radical implications for how we currently understand consciousness, flourishing, and the brain itself. Unlike deep sleep, anesthesia, or coma, EC doesn’t simply switch consciousness off. Instead, it seems to leave the brain in a state of surprising complexity.

That puzzling paradox of no consciousness with high neural complexity is the opposite of what several leading theories predict, and therefore challenges some of the most established scientific models of what consciousness is thought to require. It also raises the possibility that EC is not a collapse of consciousness, but a content-free baseline from which it can re-emerge with renewed intense clarity, vividness of perception, and deep sense of joy and inner peace.

What’s perhaps most promising and exciting is that EC may provide a unique experimental window into what philosophers have called “pure consciousness” or “minimal phenomenal experience” — and the awe-inspiring afterglow of this strange yet scientifically observable state could have far-reaching implications for well-being, resilience, and farthest reaches of human flourishing.

A big congratulations to Kenneth Shinozuka @kfshinozuka, Winson F.Z. Yang @winsonfzyang, Ruby M. Potash, and Terje Sparby @terjesparby for bringing such rigor and pioneering vision to the farthest frontiers of modern mind and brain science.

If you find this work exciting, we would be deeply grateful for reposts and comments to reach more people who may be interested~

[Nicholas Fabiano, MD @NTFabiano]

Chocolate consumption enhances cognitive function.

There is powerful correlation between chocolate intake & the number of Nobel Prize recipients.

[Trending Bitcoin @TrendingBitcoin]

“I now own 0.1 #BTC.”

[Lyn Alden @LynAldenContact]

When it comes to task management, there is an analogy to filling up a jar. If you start with the little things, you can't get the rest in. But if you start with the big things, the smaller things can also fit in the cracks.

Same thing applies to macro. Focus on the big things.

[Vivek Sen @Vivek4real_]

SOMEONE BOUGHT 10,000 #BITCOIN FOR $15,400 AND HODLED FOR 14 YEARS, AND SOLD TODAY FOR $1.1 BILLION 🤯

WHAT A LEGEND!!!

[PlanB @100trillionUSD]

Bitcoin June closing price: $107,179 ... new monthly close ATH, like clockwork

[Matthew D. Sacchet @MatthewSacchet]

Announcing our new preprint on the
neuroscience of cessation events as informed by brain criticality

The manuscript is titled:
“Brain Criticality and Advanced Meditation ‘Cessation’ Events: An Intensively Sampled Electroencephalography Case Study”

In this intensively sampled case study, we assessed brain criticality surrounding cessation events, an endpoint of advanced meditation characterized by a brief loss of consciousness and profound peace and mental clarity thereafter. Detrended fluctuation analysis was deployed to track changes in criticality surrounding 37 cessation events recorded using EEG.

May this research contribute to a science of advanced meditation that benefits all 🙏

I am deeply grateful for my incredible colleagues: Remko van Lutterveld, Tom Cahaly, and Daniel Ingram @danielmingram

🧠🧘‍♀️🔬

A “cessation” event is an endpoint of advanced meditation that can occur in practitioners through mastery of meditation. This event, which is related to nirodhaand enlightenment in Theravada Buddhism, is marked by a brief loss of consciousness followed by feelings of a mental reset, deep clarity, and bliss. In this study, we investigated brain criticality surrounding cessation events in one intensively studied advanced meditator. The brain can be characterized as operating along a criticality spectrum, with order and disorder at the extremes and the critical point in between. Criticality analysis has been used to characterize different states of consciousness, such as psychedelic states and anesthesia-induced unconsciousness. Past research has theorized that a healthy brain operates near this point; deviations have been associated with disorders. To map changes in brain criticality surrounding cessation events, we applied detrended fluctuation analysis (DFA) to EEG recordings. DFA is used to characterize the self-affinity and long-term memory of an EEG signal. As the DFA exponent approaches 1, long-range temporal correlations strengthen and the brain approaches criticality. The signal is non-stationary and in supercritical territory if the DFA exponent exceeds 1. We present three key findings: (1) a spike in the whole-brain average DFA exponent leading up to cessation with a post-cessation plateau, suggesting a strengthening of long-range temporal correlations and movement towards the critical point surrounding cessations (Figure 2); (2) more pronounced linear DFA exponent changepoint effects in posterior EEG channels (Figures 3 and 4); and (3) a movement of frontal EEG channels into supercritical territory surrounding cessations (Figure 4). These results suggest altered critical dynamics surrounding cessations and contribute to a growing understanding of advanced meditation and human consciousness more broadly.

The full preprint is available on our website and SSRN:

https://t.co/8dtqrtlnSR

https://t.co/xCRaaCCIeu

https://t.co/2k6MNz1dxx

[cccbauer @cccbauer]

@ProfitCircle_ I'm in

[Matthew D. Sacchet @MatthewSacchet]

Psychedelics and meditation: can meditation training support improved outcomes for psychedelic-assisted mental health treatments?

Announcing our new preprint titled:
“Practitioner perspectives on meditation-based preparation for psychedelic experiences”

The study of >100 experienced meditators and psychedelic practitioners found an important insight into psychedelic preparation: while contemporary meditation research has predominantly examined attentional processes, our findings indicate that the capacity for adaptive emotion regulation may be particularly important for navigating psychedelic states. Through multiple convergent measures - from specific practice evaluations to ratings of anticipated effects - we found that meditation approaches emphasizing psychological flexibility and positive emotional states were consistently rated as more beneficial for preparation for psychedelics than concentration-based techniques. These findings, which varied systematically with meditation experience and tradition adherence, suggest meaningful refinements to current theoretical frameworks while offering empirically grounded insights into how meditation might support psychedelic practices. Clearly so much more work to be done to understand if and how meditation with psychedelics may be helpful.

Thank you to study lead Ros McAlpine @rosmcalpine , and collaborators Merve Utanğaç, Joanna Kuc, Henok Pankhurst, Milly Sellers, Doug Kraft, Andrew Litchy, Naina Eira Gupta, Chris Timmermann @neurodelia, and Sunjeev Kamboj @sunjeevk

🧠🧘‍♀️🔬🍄

Abstract:
The potential of meditation as a preparatory tool for psychedelic experiences lacks empirical investigation. We surveyed experienced practitioners (N=123) with substantial histories in both meditation and psychedelic use to examine meditation’s role in psychedelic preparation. Respondents expected meditation training to primarily enhance acceptance and present-moment focus during psychedelic experiences, while also increasing oceanic boundlessness and reducing anxious ego-dissolution. For practitioners with limited meditation experience (1-3 years) and fewer psychedelic sessions (1-20), those adhering to specific meditation traditions reported significantly higher PBMPP scores (Perceived Benefits of Meditation for Psychedelic Preparation) compared to non-adherents. However, among highly experienced meditators (10+ years) with limited psychedelic experience (1-20 sessions), this pattern reversed, with non-adherents reporting significantly higher PBMPP scores than adherents to specific tradition. When evaluating specific meditation approaches, Loving-Kindness Meditation emerged as the most beneficial preparatory practice, significantly outrating other approaches such as Focused Attention. Exploratory factor analysis of meditative elements identified three distinct components: Positive Emotional States (PES), Mindful Awareness and Insight (MAI), and Concentration Techniques (CT), with PES receiving the strongest endorsement for psychedelic preparation. For practical implementation, participants recommended approximately three weeks of preparation with 30-minute daily sessions, strongly favouring online and asynchronous delivery methods. These results provide empirical groundwork for developing effective evidence-based meditation protocols for psychedelic preparation. They also highlight the importance of considering psychedelic users’ level of previous meditation experience in optimising such interventions. Future research directions should include controlled trials examining specific meditation practices’ effects on psychedelic experiences and outcomes across different populations and contexts.

We are deeply grateful to the practitioners who generously shared their insights and experiences for this study. Their contributions provide invaluable perspectives on the intersection of meditation and psychedelic preparation, helping to inform evidence-based approaches for future research and practice.

The full preprint is available on our website and on PsyArXiv here:
https://t.co/8dtqrtlnSR
https://t.co/TwgRehpwLf
https://t.co/3nG2kVrqdz

[Robin Carhart-Harris @RCarhartHarris]

This is big