Meaningful change often requires some discomfort, but it doesn’t necessitate that we experience lasting distress. So, when are we being pushed outside our comfort zone and when are we potentially just getting worse?

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Can you point to these “lots of studies” or your published research? Some versions of neurofeedback have been demonstrated to be helpful for certain outcomes but those studies are different to the referenced commercial device for meditation.

Sounds like you did have good teachers! I wouldn’t say it’s wrong if it’s distressing, just that it needn’t be distressing by default. People need a clear understanding of what may happen and teachers should know what is in vs out of scope of their practice/instruction.

Many argue that difficulty is a feature rather than a side effect. Meditation, like life, is challenging and sometimes uncomfortable, but that doesn’t mean it need be distressing. Ppl need to know what they’re agreeing. When discomfort turns to distress, we need clear guidelines about what to do.

I disagree that ‘we’ always teach potential difficulties. Many programs are marketed as quick ways to bliss with few (if any) negatives. Separately, there is an important difference between difficulty, discomfort, distress, and impairment. It needs to be clear to people what they’re getting into.

An adverse effect (58%) is an unexpected negative experience and functional impairment (9%) means the effect leads to disruption in day-to-day activities. Both of these are considered harm in the clinical literature.

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Among a representative survey of 886 U.S. adults:
- 96% reported an unusual experience (change in sense of self, sense of bliss, loss of boundary btwn self/other) 
- 58.4% reported an adverse effect (side effects that are negative)
- 9.1% reported functional impairment because of adverse effects

More reactive, anxious, tense when I don’t meditate.