Zen Meditation and Aromatherapy as a Core to Mental Health: Studies in Vietnamese Monasteries

(1) Background: Meditation, originally stemming from the Buddhist tradition, has been the subject of extensive psychological research, with a growing body of literature exploring its effects on various mental and physical health aspects. (2) Methods: This article consists of two studies conducted in two Vietnamese Buddhist Monasteries. Study 1 investigated brain activity during Zen meditation among monks and nuns (N = 16) and a control group of non-practitioners (N = 3). Study 2, conducted on nuns (N = 13), explored the effects of meditation experience and essential oil inhalation on brainwave activity, with two measurements taken during short meditation sessions separated by inhalation. (3) Results: Study 1 showed that monks had higher alpha and theta activity during meditation compared to non-meditators. Moreover, advanced practitioners could transition from beta waves during mind-wandering to alpha waves within short 5-min sessions, indicating their ability to dynamically regulate brain activity even in brief meditative states. Study 2 found no significant differences between nuns with varying meditation experiences but revealed a significant decrease in theta wave amplitude after inhalation. (4) Conclusions: Together, these studies deepen our understanding of neural activity in advanced meditation.