Since ancient times, a strong and pervasive belief in the efficacy of prayer–for the living and the dead–reinforces the notion that consciousness is not limited to the physical body. Not only do traditions throughout the world share a belief that prayers may in some way help (or invoke help from) deceased ancestors, many cultures throughout history have believed that prayer can bring about chan...

Complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) use, including spiritual modalities, is common in pediatric chronic diseases. However, few users discuss CAM treatments with their child's physician. Semi-structured interviews of 25 parents of children who have cystic fibrosis (CF) were completed. Primary themes were identified by thematic analyses. Most parents (19/25) used at least one CAM modalit...

[Purpose] Preparing for prayers, practicing religious meditation and performing prayers are believed to stimulate the visual, vestibular and somatosensory systems, which provide the sensory information that influences human balance. The purpose of this study was to determine the effect of the Islamic prayer regime on balance. [Subjects and Methods] Sixty healthy male subjects with a mean age of...

e might label this instance of pleading on the part of the biblical centurion “intercessory prayer,” or we could call it “advocacy.” However, personally asking Jesus to cure someone seems different from asking Congress or a state legislature to ensure health care resources for the poor, an activity we call advocacy today. Yet there is a parallel between the two actions. Pleading for another, wh...

Paul Robeson Park in Los Angeles County was often the designated location for Eid al-Fitr, the obligatory group prayer and celebration following Ramadan, the Islamic month of fasting. Families, predominantly African American, would begin arriving around 7:00 am dressed in their best Eid clothing. Well before the crowd began to trickle in, plastic tarps would be positioned in straight rows so th...

Spiritual practice, such as prayer or meditation, is associated with focusing attention on internal states and self-awareness processes. As these cognitive control mechanisms presumably are also important for neurofeedback (NF), we investigated whether people who pray frequently (N = 20) show a higher ability of self-control over their own brain activity compared to a control group of individua...