Preface 6
Fighting stress - a brief outline 8
Meditation: A scientific perspective 11
Øyvind Ellingsen and Are Holen
Effects of Acem Meditation 37
Erik Ekker Solberg and Are Holen
Coping with psychological complaints 61
Anne Grete Hersoug
Meditation in a stressful society 77
Margareta Hammarlund-Udenaes
When painkillers don't kill pain 91
Merete Lund Hetland
The meditating brain 107
Svend Davanger
Did the Neanderthals meditate? 123
Svend Davanger
Sleep, alertness and quality of life 129
Pär Westlund and Are Holen
Stress management with Acem Meditation 139
Anne Grete Hersoug, Nina Aarhus Smeby, Morten Wærsted and Are Holen
Did Cinderella have muscle pain? 147
Morten Wærsted
Appendix 155
What is Acem Meditation? 157
What is Acem? 159
Acem publications 160
Acem retreat centres 167
References 171
Index 183
Contributors 189