Which of the following statements is true of meditation?

A. Meditation is an altered state of consciousness or a psychological state of altered attention and expectation in which the individual is unusually receptive to suggestions.

B. As a physiological state, meditation shows qualities of sleep and wakefulness, yet it is distinct from both.

C. The meditator is ignorant of his or her thoughts and feelings and is, therefore, not consumed by them.

D. A meditative state is exactly similar to the hypnotic state.

b)

Explanation:

Meditation refers to the act of focusing on a single target to increase awareness of the moment. Any individual can perform meditation by himself/herself.

Some latest researches have shown that a meditative state is not an altered state of consciousness per se but patterns of brain waves represent a unique state of consciousness, thus, it shows qualities both from sleep and wakefulness.

Meditation tries to clear the individual's mind in order to achieve a state of relaxed awareness and focus. Meditation requires that the individual maintains the mind in one static state, but still, by meditating, the individual comes in touch with his/her feelings and let himself/herself feel them and be aware of them but without letting them consume him/her.

From the options given we can see that the one that corresponds to meditation would be

B) As a physiological state, meditation shows qualities of sleep and wakefulness, yet it is distinct from both.

Note:

a) This is the definition of hypnosis were the individual reaches an altered state of mind in which the individual is unusually receptive to suggestions (by the hypnotizer).

c) The meditator actually is not ignorant of his feelings but actually feels them but it's not consumed by them.

d) These two states are not the same, as we said before, a hypnotic state usually requires the presence of other person and the main focus of meditation is to empty the mind while in hypnosis it is to be receptive to suggestions.

B. As a physiological state, meditation shows qualities of sleep and wakefulness, yet it is distinct from both.

Explanation:

Meditation is a concentration technique that allows an individual to focus all their attention on a sensation or feeling, or even an object, to be able to see it clearly, understanding it and preventing their mind, psyche and fullness be consumed by it. In other words, we can say that meditation is done by an individual who seeks to achieve mental clarity and for that reason, meditation does not allow the alteration of consciousness, nor the disconnection from the outside world, such as hypnosis.

As a physiological state, meditation shows qualities of sleep and wakefulness, but it is distinct from both, since it works with concentration and with an attentive and open awareness to learning.