Guided meditation

Meditation is a practice in which an individual uses a technique – such as mindfulness, or focusing the mind on a particular object, thought, or activity – to train attention and awareness, and achieve a mentally clear and emotionally calm and stable state.

Meditation is practiced in numerous religious traditions. The earliest records of meditation (''dhyana'') are found in the Upanishads, and meditation plays a salient role in the contemplative repertoire of Jainism, Buddhism and Hinduism. Since the 19th century, Asian meditative techniques have spread to other cultures where they have also found application in non-spiritual contexts, such as business and health.

Meditation may significantly reduce stress, anxiety, depression, and pain, and enhance peace, perception, self-concept, and well-being. Research is ongoing to better understand the effects of meditation on health (psychological, neurological, and cardiovascular) and other areas.

Etymology

The English ''meditation'' is derived from Old French ''meditacioun'', in turn from Latin '' meditatio'' from a verb '' meditari'', meaning "to think, contemplate, devise, ponder". In the Catholic tradition, the use of the term ''meditatio'' as part of a formal, stepwise process of meditation goes back to at least the 12th century monk Guigo II, before which the Greek word Theoria was used for the same purpose.

Apart from its historical usage, the term ''meditation'' was introduced as a translation for Eastern spiritual practices, referred to as ''dhyāna'' in Hinduism and Buddhism and which comes from the Sanskrit root ''dhyai'', meaning to contemplate or meditate. The term "meditation" in English may also refer to practices from Islamic Sufism, or other traditions such as Jewish Kabbalah and Christian Hesychasm.

Definitions

Difficulties in defining meditation

No universally accepted definition

Meditation has proven difficult to define as it covers a wide range of dissimilar practices in different traditions. In popular usage, the word "meditation" and the phrase "meditative practice" are often used imprecisely to designate practices found across many cultures. These can include almost anything that is claimed to train the attention of mind or to teach calm or compassion. There remains no definition of necessary and sufficient criteria for meditation that has achieved universal or widespread acceptance within the modern scientific community. In 1971, Claudio Naranjo noted that "The word 'meditation' has been used to designate a variety of practices that differ enough from one another so that we may find trouble in defining what ''meditation'' is."Claudio Naranjo (1972) 971 in: Naranjo and Orenstein, ''On the Psychology of Meditation''. New York: Viking. A 2009 study noted a "persistent lack of consensus in the literature" and a "seeming intractability of defining meditation".

Separation of technique from tradition

Some of the difficulty in precisely defining meditation has been in recognizing the particularities of the many various traditions;Lutz, Dunne and Davidson, "Meditation and the Neuroscience of Consciousness: An Introduction" in ''The Cambridge handbook of consciousness'' by Philip David Zelazo, Morris Moscovitch, Evan Thompson, 2007 pp. 499–55
(proof copy)
(NB: pagination of published was 499–551 proof was 497–550). and theories and practice can differ within a tradition. Taylor noted that even within a faith such as "Hindu" or "Buddhist", schools and individual teachers may teach distinct types of meditation.
Ornstein noted that "Most techniques of meditation do not exist as solitary practices but are only artificially separable from an entire system of practice and belief."Robert Ornstein (1972) 971 in: Naranjo and Orenstein, ''On the Psychology of Meditation''. New York: Viking. For instance, while monks meditate as part of their everyday lives, they also engage the codified rules and live together in monasteries in specific cultural settings that go along with their meditative practices.

Dictionary definitions

Dictionaries give both the original Latin meaning of "think ngdeeply about (something)"; as well as the popular usage of "focusing one's mind for a period of time", "the act of giving your attention to only one thing, either as a religious activity or as a way of becoming calm and relaxed", and "to engage in mental exercise (such as concentrating on one's breathing or repetition of a mantra) for the purpose of reaching a heightened level of spiritual awareness."

Scholarly definitions

In modern psychological research, meditation has been defined and characterized in various ways. Many of these emphasize the role of attention and characterize the practice of meditation as attempts to get beyond the reflexive, "discursive thinking" or "logic" mind to achieve a deeper, more devout, or more relaxed state.

Bond et al. (2009) identified criteria for defining a practice as meditation "for use in a comprehensive systematic review of the therapeutic use of meditation", using "a 5-round Delphi study with a panel of 7 experts in meditation research" who were also trained in diverse but empirically highly studied (Eastern-derived or clinical) forms of meditation:

Several other definitions of meditation have been used by influential modern reviews of research on meditation across multiple traditions:
* Walsh & Shapiro (2006): "Meditation refers to a family of self-regulation practices that focus on training attention and awareness in order to bring mental processes under greater voluntary control and thereby foster general mental well-being and development and/or specific capacities such as calm, clarity, and concentration"
* Cahn & Polich (2006): "''Meditation'' is used to describe practices that self-regulate the body and mind, thereby affecting mental events by engaging a specific attentional set.... regulation of attention is the central commonality across the many divergent methods"
* Jevning et al. (1992): "We define meditation... as a stylized mental technique... repetitively practiced for the purpose of attaining a subjective experience that is frequently described as very restful, silent, and of heightened alertness, often characterized as blissful"
* Goleman (1988): "the need for the meditator to retrain his attention, whether through concentration or mindfulness, is the single invariant ingredient in... every meditation system"

Classifications

Focused and open methods

In the West, meditation techniques have often been classified in two broad categories, which in actual practice are often combined: focused (or concentrative) meditation and open monitoring (or mindfulness) meditation:

Focused methods include paying attention to the breath, to an idea or feeling (such as mettā (loving-kindness)), to a kōan, or to a mantra (such as in transcendental meditation), and single point meditation. Open monitoring methods include mindfulness, shikantaza and other awareness states.

Other possible typologies

Another typology divides meditation approaches into concentrative, generative, receptive and reflective practices:
* concentrative: focused attention, including breath meditation, TM, and visualizations;
* generative: developing qualities like loving kindness and compassion;
* receptive: open monitoring;
* reflective: systematic investigation, contemplation.

The Buddhist tradition often divides meditative practice into samatha, or calm abiding, and vipassana, insight. Mindfulness of breathing, a form of focused attention, calms down the mind; this calmed mind can then investigate the nature of reality, by monitoring the fleeting and ever-changing constituents of experience, by reflective investigation, or by "turning back the radiance," focusing awareness on awareness itself and discerning the true nature of mind as awareness itself.

Matko and Sedlmeier (2019) "call into question the common division into “focused attention” and “open-monitoring” practices." They argue for "two orthogonal dimensions along which meditation techniques could be classified," namely "activation" and "amount of body orientation," proposing seven clusters of techniques: "mindful observation, body-centered meditation, visual concentration, contemplation, affect-centered meditation, mantra meditation, and meditation with movement."

Jonathan Shear argues that transcendental meditation is an "automatic self-transcending" technique, different from focused attention and open monitoring. In this kind of practice, "there is no attempt to sustain any particular condition at all. Practices of this kind, once started, are reported to automatically “transcend” their own activity and disappear, to be started up again later if appropriate." Yet, Shear also states that "automatic self-transcending" also applies to the way other techniques such as from Zen and Qigong are practiced by experienced meditators "once they had become effortless and automatic through years of practice."

Technique

Posture

Asanas and positions such as the full-lotus, half-lotus, Burmese, Seiza, and kneeling positions are popular in Buddhism, Jainism and Hinduism, although other postures such as sitting, supine (lying), and standing are also used. Meditation is also sometimes done while walking, known as kinhin, while doing a simple task mindfully, known as samu, or while lying down, known as savasana. Postures involve focus attention and move body coordinately or hold still with rhythmic inhalation and exhalation.

Frequency

The Transcendental Meditation technique recommends practice of 20 minutes twice per day. Some techniques suggest less time, especially when starting meditation, and Richard Davidson has quoted research saying benefits can be achieved with a practice of only 8 minutes per day. Research shows improvement in meditation time with simple oral and video training. Some meditators practice for much longer, particularly when on a course or retreat. Some meditators find practice best in the hours before dawn.

Supporting aids

Use of prayer beads

Some religions have traditions of using prayer beads as tools in devotional meditation.'' Mysteries of the Rosary'' by Stephen J. Binz 2005 p. 3'' The everything Buddhism book'' by Jacky Sach 2003 p. 175 Most prayer beads and Christian rosaries consist of pearls or beads linked together by a thread. The Roman Catholic rosary is a string of beads containing five sets with ten small beads. The Hindu japa mala has 108 beads (the figure 108 in itself having spiritual significance), as well as those used in Gaudiya Vaishnavism, the Hare Krishna tradition, Jainism and Buddhist prayer beads. Each bead is counted once as a person recites a mantra until the person has gone all the way around the mala. The Muslim misbaha has 99 beads. There is also quite a variance when it comes to materials used for beads. Beads made from seeds of rudraksha trees are considered sacred by devotees of Shiva, while followers of Vishnu revere the wood that comes from the tulsi plant.

Striking the meditator

The Buddhist literature has many stories of Enlightenment being attained through disciples being struck by their masters. According to T. Griffith Foulk, the encouragement stick was an integral part of the Zen practice:

Using a narrative

Neuroscientist and long-time meditator Richard Davidson has expressed the view that having a narrative can help the maintenance of daily practice. For instance he himself prostrates to the teachings, and meditates "not primarily for my benefit, but for the benefit of others".

Meditation traditions

Origins

The history of meditation is intimately bound up with the religious context within which it was practiced. Rossano has suggested that the emergence of the capacity for focused attention, an element of many methods of meditation, may have contributed to the latest phases of human biological evolution. Some of the earliest references to meditation, as well as proto-Samkhya, are found in the Upanishads of India. The earliest clear references to meditation are in the middle Upanishads and the Mahabharata (including the Bhagavad Gita). According to Gavin Flood, the earlier Brihadaranyaka Upanishad is describing meditation when it states that "having become calm and concentrated, one perceives the self (''ātman'') within oneself" (BU 4.4.23).

Indian religions

Jainism

Jain meditation and spiritual practices system were referred to as salvation-path. It has three parts called the ''Ratnatraya'' "Three Jewels": right perception and faith, right knowledge and right conduct. Meditation in Jainism aims at realizing the self, attaining salvation, and taking the soul to complete freedom. It aims to reach and to remain in the pure state of soul which is believed to be pure consciousness, beyond any attachment or aversion. The practitioner strives to be just a knower-seer (Gyata-Drashta). Jain meditation can be broadly categorized to ''Dharmya Dhyana'' and ''Shukla Dhyana''.

Jainism uses meditation techniques such as ''pindāstha-dhyāna, padāstha-dhyāna, rūpāstha-dhyāna, rūpātita-dhyāna, and savīrya-dhyāna''. In ''padāstha dhyāna'' one focuses on a mantra. A mantra could be either a combination of core letters or words on deity or themes. There is a rich tradition of Mantra in Jainism. All Jain followers irrespective of their sect, whether Digambara or Svetambara, practice mantra. Mantra chanting is an important part of daily lives of Jain monks and followers. Mantra chanting can be done either loudly or silently in mind.

Contemplation is a very old and important meditation technique. The practitioner meditates deeply on subtle facts. In ''agnya vichāya'', one contemplates on seven facts – life and non-life, the inflow, bondage, stoppage and removal of ''karmas'', and the final accomplishment of liberation. In ''apaya vichāya'', one contemplates on the incorrect insights one indulges, which eventually develops right insight. In ''vipaka vichāya'', one reflects on the eight causes or basic types of ''karma''. In ''sansathan vichāya'', one thinks about the vastness of the universe and the loneliness of the soul.

Buddhism

Buddhists pursue meditation as part of the path toward awakening and nirvana. The closest words for meditation in the classical languages of Buddhism are ''bhāvanā'' ("development"), and the core practices of body contemplations ( repulsiveness and cemetery contemplations) and anapanasati (mindfulness of in-&-out breathing) culminating in ''jhāna''/'' dhyāna'' or ''samādhi''.

While most classical and contemporary Buddhist meditation guides are school-specific, the root meditative practices of various body recollections and breath meditation have been preserved and transmitted in almost all Buddhist traditions, through Buddhist texts like the Satipatthana Sutta and the Dhyana sutras, and through oral teacher-student transmissions. These ancient practices are supplemented with various distinct interpretations of, and developments in, these practices.

The Theravāda tradition stresses the development of samatha and vipassana, postulating over fifty methods for developing mindfulness based on the Satipatthana Sutta, and forty for developing concentration based on the Visuddhimagga.

The Tibetan tradition incorporated Sarvastivada and Tantric practices, wedded with Madhyamaka philosophy, and developed thousands of visualization meditations.

Via the Dhyana sutras, which are based on the Sarvastivada-tradition, the Zen-tradition incorporated mindfulness and breath-meditation. Downplaying the "petty complexities" of satipatthana and the body-recollections (but maintaining the awareness of immanent death), the early Chan-tradition developed the notions or practices of ''wu nian'' ("no thought, no "fixation on thought, such as one's own views, experiences, and knowledge") and ''fēi sīliàng'' (非思量, Japanese: ''hishiryō'', "nonthinking"); and ''kanxin'' ("observing the mind") and ''shou-i pu i'' (守一不移, "maintaining the one without wavering," turning the attention from the objects of experience, to the nature of mind, the perceiving subject itself, which is equated with Buddha-nature.

The Silk Road transmission of Buddhism introduced meditation to other Asian countries, reaching China in the 2nd century CE, and Japan in the 6th century CE. In the modern era, Buddhist meditation techniques have become popular in the wider world, due to the influence of Buddhist modernism on Asian Buddhism, and western lay interest in Zen and the Vipassana movement, with many non-Buddhists taking-up meditative practices. The modernized concept of mindfulness (based on the Buddhist term ''sati'') and related meditative practices have in turn led to mindfulness based therapies.

=Dhyana

=
Dhyana may have been an original contribution of Gautama Buddha (5th cent. BCE), the founder of Buddhism. While often presented as a form of focused attention or concentration, as in Buddhagosa's Theravada classic the Visuddhimagga ("Path of purification, 5th c. CE), according to a number contemporary scholars and scholar-practitioners, it is actually a description of the development of perfected equanimity and mindfulness, apparently induced by satipatthana, an open monitoring of the breath, without trying to regulate it. The same description, in a different formula, can be found in the bojjhanga, the "seven factors of awakening," and may therefor refer to the core program of early Buddhist ''bhavana''. According to Vetter, dhyana seems to be a natural development from the sense-restraint and moral constrictions prescribed by the Buddhist tradition.

=Samatha and vipassana

=
The Buddha identified two paramount mental qualities that arise from wholesome meditative practice or ''bhavana'', namely ''samatha'' ("calm," "serenity" "tranquility") and ''vipassana'' (insight). As the developing tradition started to emphasize the value of liberating insight, and ''dhyana'' came to be understood as concentration, ''samatha'' and ''vipassana'' were understood as two distinct meditative techniques. In this understanding, ''samatha'' steadies, composes, unifies and concentrates the mind, while ''vipassana'' enables one to see, explore and discern "formations" (conditioned phenomena based on the five aggregates).

According to this understanding, which is central to Theravada orthodoxy but also plays a role in Tibetan Buddhism, through the meditative development of serenity, one is able to weaken the obscuring hindrances and bring the mind to a collected, pliant, and still state (samadhi). This quality of mind then supports the development of insight and wisdom ( Prajñā) which is the quality of mind that can "clearly see" (''vi-passana'') the nature of phenomena. What exactly is to be seen varies within the Buddhist traditions. In Theravada, all phenomena are to be seen as impermanent, suffering, not-self and empty. When this happens, one develops dispassion (''viraga'') for all phenomena, including all negative qualities and hindrances and lets them go. It is through the release of the hindrances and ending of craving through the meditative development of insight that one gains liberation.

Hinduism

There are many schools and styles of meditation within Hinduism. In pre-modern and traditional Hinduism, ''Yoga'' and ''Dhyana'' are practised to recognize 'pure awareness', or 'pure consciousness', undisturbed by the workings of the mind, as one's eternal self. In Advaita Vedanta ''jivatman'', individual self, is recognized as illusory, and in Reality identical with the omnipresent and non-dual Ātman-Brahman. In the dualistic Yoga school and Samkhya, the Self is called Purusha, a pure consciousness undisturbed by Prakriti, 'nature'. Depending on the tradition, the liberative event is named moksha, vimukti or kaivalya.

One of the most influential texts of classical Hindu Yoga is Patañjali's Yoga sutras (c. 400 CE), a text associated with Yoga and Samkhya, which outlines eight limbs leading to kaivalya ("aloneness"). These are ethical discipline (yamas), rules (niyamas), physical postures ( āsanas), breath control ( prāṇāyama), withdrawal from the senses (pratyāhāra), one-pointedness of mind (dhāraṇā), meditation ( dhyāna), and finally samādhi.

Later developments in Hindu meditation include the compilation of Hatha Yoga (forceful yoga) compendiums like the Hatha Yoga Pradipika, the development of Bhakti yoga as a major form of meditation, and Tantra. Another important Hindu yoga text is the Yoga Yajnavalkya, which makes use of Hatha Yoga and Vedanta Philosophy.

Sikhism

In Sikhism, simran (meditation) and good deeds are both necessary to achieve the devotee's Spiritual goals; without good deeds meditation is futile. When Sikhs meditate, they aim to feel God's presence and emerge in the divine light. It is only God's divine will or order that allows a devotee to desire to begin to meditate. Nām Japnā involves focusing one's attention on the names or great attributes of God.

East Asian religions - Taoism

Taoist meditation has developed techniques including concentration, visualization, '' qi'' cultivation, contemplation, and mindfulness meditations in its long history. Traditional Daoist meditative practices were influenced by Chinese Buddhism from around the 5th century and influenced Traditional Chinese medicine and the Chinese martial arts.

Livia Kohn distinguishes three basic types of Taoist meditation: "concentrative", "insight", and "visualization". ''Ding'' 定 (literally means "decide; settle; stabilize") refers to "deep concentration", "intent contemplation", or "perfect absorption". ''Guan'' 觀 (lit. "watch; observe; view") meditation seeks to merge and attain unity with the Dao. It was developed by Tang Dynasty (618–907) Taoist masters based upon the ''Tiantai'' Buddhist practice of ''Vipassanā'' "insight" or "wisdom" meditation. ''Cun'' 存 (lit. "exist; be present; survive") has a sense of "to cause to exist; to make present" in the meditation techniques popularized by the Taoist Shangqing and Lingbao Schools. A meditator visualizes or actualizes solar and lunar essences, lights, and deities within their body, which supposedly results in health and longevity, even ''xian'' 仙/仚/僊, "immortality".

The (late 4th century BCE) '' Guanzi'' essay ''Neiye'' "Inward training" is the oldest received writing on the subject of '' qi'' cultivation and breath-control meditation techniques. For instance, "When you enlarge your mind and let go of it, when you relax your vital breath and expand it, when your body is calm and unmoving: And you can maintain the One and discard the myriad disturbances. ... This is called "revolving the vital breath": Your thoughts and deeds seem heavenly."

The (c. 3rd century BCE) Taoist ''Zhuangzi'' records ''zuowang'' or "sitting forgetting" meditation. Confucius asked his disciple Yan Hui to explain what "sit and forget" means: "I slough off my limbs and trunk, dim my intelligence, depart from my form, leave knowledge behind, and become identical with the Transformational Thoroughfare."

Taoist meditation practices are central to Chinese martial arts (and some Japanese martial arts), especially the ''qi''-related ''neijia'' "internal martial arts". Some well-known examples are ''daoyin'' "guiding and pulling", ''qigong'' "life-energy exercises", ''neigong'' "internal exercises", ''neidan'' "internal alchemy", and ''taijiquan'' "great ultimate boxing", which is thought of as moving meditation. One common explanation contrasts "movement in stillness" referring to energetic visualization of ''qi'' circulation in ''qigong'' and '' zuochan'' "seated meditation", versus "stillness in movement" referring to a state of meditative calm in ''taijiquan'' forms. Also the unification or middle road forms such as Wuxingheqidao that seeks the unification of internal alchemical forms with more external forms.

Monotheistic religions

Judaism

Judaism has made use of meditative practices for thousands of years.''The history and varieties of Jewish meditation'' by Mark Verman 1997 p. 1 For instance, in the Torah, the patriarch Isaac is described as going ''"לשוח"'' (''lasuach'') in the field – a term understood by all commentators as some type of meditative practice (Genesis 24:63). Similarly, there are indications throughout the Tanakh