Eight Scientifically Established Benefits of OM
Institute of OM Foundation
Explore 8 key benefits of OM for mental, emotional, and physical wellbeing.
1. OM produces intense happiness
Nicole Prause and Greg Siegle carried out a psycho-physiological study of 125 couples who were experienced in the OM practice. They concluded that OMing produces an intense positive affect—a feeling of happiness.
The researchers asked participants to complete psychological tests before and after completing an OM session. During the session a wide range of physiological indicators were monitored and recorded. The combination of psychological and physiological measures provides a rich resource for understanding the complex effects of OM on the mind, body and—because both partners were monitored at the same time—on the relationship between the partners.
A lot of practitioners exhibit very intense experiences that are very positive, without any underlying negative emotions. This could be a great way to address trauma and depression.
–Nicole Prause, PhD, Founder, Liberos
2. OM increases practitioners’ feelings of closeness and connectedness
Prause and Siegle also found that practicing OM increased feelings of closeness and connectedness.
Using a validated and well established psychological test—the Inclusion of Other in the Self Scale (IOSS), administered before and after an OM session, they found a significant and substantial increase in closeness between partners. The effect was even stronger in OM partners who were not in a romantic relationship with each other than in those that were romantically involved.
Early studies show that in only 15 minutes, OM can provide improved connection and closeness.
–Nicole Prause, PhD, Founder, Liberos
3. OM may help people with traumatic childhoods regain sexual function
Prause and Siegel report that OM may help reduce the negative sexual effects of childhood trauma. People who have experienced Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs), including sexual abuse, frequently have diminished ability to become aroused during sexual activity. This makes it difficult to form satisfying adult relationships.
Prause and Siegle found that those participants who had experienced ACEs were able to respond to stimulation in an OM session by becoming aroused — in fact, their physiological responses showed higher levels of arousal than other participants. Researchers proposed that this effect was due to the OM container, a highly structured protocol that specifies each step of practice. Embedding sexual stimulation in this controlled and goalless context provides a safe space in which trauma sufferers were able to reconnect with their sexuality without the anxiety and uncertainty that often attends romantic sexual encounters,
4. OM reduces negative affect including anxiety and anger
Prause and Siegle’s study, found that practicing OM significantly reduced measures of negative emotion, including anxiety and anger.
5. OM modifies emotional states without blunting the capacity to feel emotions
OM changes the balance of emotional states in a lasting way without reducing the intensity of emotion. This is important as many interventions that are widely used for psychological disorders such as depression, anxiety and PTSD are pharmaceuticals (such as SSRIs) that blunt sufferers’ ability to feel anything. They often have particularly damaging effects on libido and sexual function.
The potential to improve mood and support the processing of trauma without compromising the ability to feel joy means that OM could be an important addition to the therapeutic toolbox.
6. OM may improve cognitive performance
Brain imaging studies carried out by Dr Andrew Newberg suggest OM may have long-term benefits for brain health and cognition. Generally, as we age, metabolic activity in the temporal lobes steadily decreases—an aspect of general deterioration in brain health. But Newberg found that, in the population of experienced OM practitioners that he studied, older participants had a much less pronounced reduction in activity.
7. OM may promote altruistic
and pro- social behavior
In his imaging studies, experienced OM practitioners were shown to have lower metabolic activity in the parietal lobe after an OM session compared to before it.5,6 Their resting state brain activity also differed significantly from that of non-practitioners, suggesting that lower activity in the parietal lobe is sustained over the long term as a result of consistent practice.
Following a preview of these findings, Roland Griffiths observed that similar changes in parietal lobe activity have been observed in studies of other practices such as meditation. In those cases, he noted, it is associated with a feeling of interconnectedness or a diminished sense of ego, and he suggested that this may mean that OMing, like those practices, may promote pro-social and
altruistic behavior.
8. OM is a safe way to bring about “mystical states”, altered states of consciousness that have been shown to have many benefits
Researchers Vivian Siegel and Ben Emmert-Aronson asked over 780 practitioners of OM to complete the Mystical Experience Questionnaire (MEQ30). They found that 62% of respondents had experiences that met all the criteria for a mystical experience. In a follow-up study reported in the same article, they asked OM partners to complete the questionnaire and discovered that the intensity of mystical experience reported by each member of the pair was highly correlated.
Mystical states are altered states of consciousness, also known as “peak states” that are widely observed in traditional religious and healing practices. They are defined by the distinctive combination of feelings or sensations they produce: a sense of unity with other people and the universe, a sense of sacredness, a feeling of having discovered a deep truth, a feeling of transcending time and space, and finally, an intense positive affect. Mystical states can be brought about by a variety of traditional religious and healing practices as well as by dosing with psychedelics.
The Health Benefits of Mystical States
Mystical states have been of interest to psychologists because people who have experienced mystical states have been known to undergo drastic transformations in their behavior and
perception. It has been proposed that methods of bringing about these states may be helpful interventions for conditions such as treatment-resistant depression and PTSD. However, most of these techniques involve risks that need to be managed by a hands-on clinical team (e.g., to administer psychedelics), or work best when the patient is embedded in a specific belief system (for example, a religious tradition). OM may provide a safe and reliable alternative that can be practiced without medical supervision.
When you tap into the state accessible in OM, you feel connected to another human being. And when you feel connected to another human being, you begin this wider sense of being connected to all things and something naturally heals itself in that state.
References
1. Siegle, G. J. & Prause, N. Intense positive affect without arousal is possible: Subjective and physiological reactivity during a partnered sexual meditative experience. International Journal of Psychophysiology 178, 99–107 (2022).
2. Prause, N., Siegle, G. J. & Coan, J. Partner intimate touch is associated with increased interpersonal closeness, especially in non-romantic partners. PLOS ONE 16, e0246065 (2021).
3. Prause, N., Cohen, H. & Siegle, G. J. Effects of adverse childhood experiences on partnered sexual arousal appear context dependent. Sexual and Relationship Therapy 38, 479–494 (2023).
4. The Science of Orgasmic Meditation, A Path to Deeper Connection and Joy. Institute of OM YouTube Channel. Click here. (2023).
5. Newberg, A. B. et al. Alterations in Functional Connectivity Measured by Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging and the Relationship With Heart Rate Variability in Subjects After Performing Orgasmic Meditation: An Exploratory Study. Front. Psychol. 12, (2021).
6. Newberg, A. B. et al. Alterations in cerebral glucose metabolism measured by FDG PET in subjects performing a meditation practice based on clitoral stimulation. Click here.
7. Newberg, A. B. et al. Neuroimaging evaluation of the long term impact of a novel paired meditation practice on brain function. Front. Neuroimaging 3, (2024).
8. OM Science Conference with Roland Griffiths—Transcript. Click here. (2020).
9. Siegel, V. & Emmert-Aronson, B. Both partners practicing orgasmic meditation report having a mystical-type experience: Results using the Mystical Experience Questionnaire. Click here.
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