Changing definitions of meditation: is there a physiological corollary? Skin temperature changes of a mental silence orientated form of meditation compared to rest

Objectives) Until very recently, the U.S. National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine (NCCAM) defined meditation as null conscious mental process that induces a set of integrated physiological changes termed the relaxation response. Recently the NCCAM appears to have reviewed its understanding of meditation, by including a new central feature: In meditation, a person learns to focus his attention and suspend the stream of thoughts...