RT Article
T1 Types of Prayer, Heart Rate Variability, and Innate Healing
JF Zygon
VO 44
IS 4
SP 825
OP 846
A1 Stanley, Ruth
LA English
PB Wiley-Blackwell
YR 2009
UL https://www.ixtheo.de/Record/1827961120
AB Abstract. Spiritual practices such as prayer have been shown to improve health and quality of life for those facing chronic or terminal illness. The early Christian healing tradition distinguished between types of prayer and their role in healing, placing great emphasis on the healing power of more integrated relational forms of prayer such as prayers of gratitude and contemplative prayer. Because autonomic tone is impaired in most disease states, autonomic homeostasis may provide insight into the healing effects of prayer. I report on observations in five volunteers engaging in five types of prayer. Using heart rate variability as a measure of autonomic tone and adaptability, I review the potential correlation of type of prayer with autonomic rebalance as measured specifically by psychophysiological coherence ratios. The five types—supplication, devotion, intercession, gratefulness, and contemplative prayer—elicited varying degrees of improvements in heart rate variability and corresponding psychophysiological coherence. These observations suggest a correlation of innate healing to prayer type that is consistent with teachings from the Christian healing tradition and with modern research. Further research is warranted to verify these hypotheses.
K1 supplication prayer
K1 psychophysiological coherence
K1 prayers of gratitude
K1 Prayer
K1 monastic prayer
K1 Meditation
K1 intrinsic religiousness
K1 Intercessory prayer
K1 integrated spirituality
K1 innate healing
K1 Heart rate variability
K1 Healing
K1 gratefulness
K1 devotional prayer
K1 desert tradition
K1 desert fathers and mothers
K1 Contemplative Prayer
K1 Christian healing tradition
K1 Autonomic Nervous System
DO 10.1111/j.1467-9744.2009.01036.x