Clinical Science

The Measurement Problem

Historically, meditation has been evaluated subjectively. The Meditation World Cup removes self-reporting entirely. We use a proprietary combination of electroencephalography (EEG), electrocardiography (ECG), and galvanic skin response (GSR) to create a multi-modal picture of a competitor's autonomic state.

EEG: Brainwave Topography

We use a custom 32-channel dry-electrode cap sampling at 500Hz. We are primarily analyzing the power spectral density in specific frequency bands:

• Delta (0.5 - 4 Hz): Strictly monitored to ensure competitors are not simply falling asleep outside designated windows.
• Theta (4 - 8 Hz): The target zone for deep, hypnagogic meditation. Sustained frontal midline theta (FmTheta) is the gold standard we measure against.
• Alpha (8 - 12 Hz): The baseline relaxed waking state. High parietal alpha indicates physical relaxation with alert awareness.
• Beta (12 - 30 Hz): The enemy of the endurance meditator. Prolonged beta indicates active, anxious thought processing and triggers point deductions.

ECG & Heart Rate Variability (HRV)

Heart rate is too blunt a metric. We look at HRV, specifically the High Frequency (HF) component of the RR interval power spectrum, which correlates strongly with parasympathetic (vagal) tone. A competitor whose vagal tone collapses under the stress of isolation is losing control of their physiology.

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