Spirituality Studies 9-1 Spring 2023 97 Oleksandr Zubariev Informants describe transpersonal experiences as moments of pleasure, joy, and delight, which make it worthwhile to continue practicing. This point of view is typical of the eudaimonic meaningful context in which informants understand transpersonal experiences. The psychological and biological topics are more prominent in narratives where the eudaimonic meaningful context prevails, except for interviews with representatives of Eastern spiritual practices belonging to new religious organizations, such as the International Society for Krishna Consciousness and Sahaja Yoga. The fifth ideal-typical model for interpreting transpersonal experiences combines fragments of interviews where informants acknowledge the impossibility of expressing their experience. We identified the following subcategories: a) deeply personal experiences that are difficult to articulate, b) feelings that cannot be communicated to someone who has never experienced them, and c) states that cannot be described. An example of a meaningful context in which transpersonal experiences are understood as inexpressible is when an informant acknowledges that their narration lacks a description of their experience. However, they still confess to the impossibility of articulating it. There are different respiratory practices. There is such practice as Sukshma-Vyayama. These feelings are difficult, and impossible to describe, they can only be discussed with a person, who has also experienced them. – Verinika, 20 years old, Pantajali International Yoga Foundation, Vajra Yoga Studio. Some states that I experienced in practice, yes, they were, but I can’t describe them. You follow your body, you cross the boarders, you see the world absolutely differently without opening the eyes. It is entirely different. – Leonid, 32 years old, Pantajali International Yoga Foundation, Vajra Yoga Studio. If an informant uses a meaningful context of the impossibility of articulation, the narration lacks a description of transpersonal experiences. However, such experiences can be present, but in one way or another, the informant confesses the impossibility of expressing their experience. The sixth ideal-typical model of understanding transpersonal experience unites fragments of narrations in which it is acknowledged that the experience is not the main thing. Here is what one of our informants, who practices yoga, said: In its essence yoga nidra is a technique of deep sleep and lucid dreaming. During sleep out subtle body in our physical body, but it cannot be separated. During the sleep we can leave our body and travel in our subtle body. I have friends who have achieved that. During deep sleep sometimes I could get up from the bed, but this is difficult, because you either wake up, or feel that it is difficult to move. This is not that easy, you need practicing all the time… But this is not the final aim, the final aim is to achieve maximum concentration, control of your mind, body, soul. Travelling in subtle body, tantric sex are the secondary aims, they are not the main in Hatha Yoga. – Vadym, 25 years old, Maharaja Yoga Center. The above passage uses the epiphenomenal context of understanding transpersonal experience. Using this context, informants, as a rule, talk about their transpersonal experiences, which can be very different, but they point out that all these experiences and feelings are not the main thing, “kind of side effect.” It should be noted that to ascribe a narrative fragment to this ideal-typical model, it is not important what kind of transpersonal experiences the informant had. The connotation allowing the ascription of these experiences to epiphenomenal meaningful context is important. The seventh ideal-typical model of the interpretation of transpersonal experiences unites cases in which informants perceive transpersonal experience as a reward or gift. It could be assumed that this model is more characteristic of the bearers of religious tradition, but we have also found it during our research: Once I had a dream… I realize that I am in a totally different world, I have a feeling that here, in this world, I think more clearly, the colors, sounds are more distinct, the impressions are more vivid. This is a kind of world with other colors, and I clearly understand that I am in this world. It’s not the one I used to. There were some figures in that dream. I thought, ‘what is that?’ Was it something supernatural that contacted me, noticed me? I could not explain it, until I found [note: descriptions] some kind of impressions of lucid dreaming and I realized, this is it, lucid dreaming! Or, once during body practices I had an experience, I felt I was like a tiger… These are two most vivid examples that present. Time passes, something happens, but they stay in the memory. They all are very pleasant; this is a kind of reward for something. And as an extension of own understanding of myself. Now, it is difficult to say, if it had an effect, then what it was? As if I can’t find words. – Mykyta, 48 years old, Qigong School of Mantak Chia.
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