Meditation is the concentrated focus on a sound, the

breath, object, or attention itself to increase awareness of the present moment.

Its purpose is to reduce stress, promote relaxation, or increase cognitive
capacities and spiritual growth.

Definitions
� Concentration is the one-pointed awareness or undivided attention of one�s
consciousness upon a particular point of focus.
� Consciousness is the capability for awareness
of one�s own existence.
� Mindfulness is the moment-by-moment awareness of one�s thoughts, feelings,
sensations,and environment without evaluating or judging them.
� Practice is a method or process used to accomplish
a goal or objective.
� Religion is search for significance through the
organized and collective dogma or doctrine
that defines the sacred.
� Spirit does not have an agreed-upon definition.
One way to define spirit is that which is omnipresent, infinite, all-pervading, and
all-encompassing.
� Spirituality is the personal effort to think, feel,
and act in order to find, conserve, or transform the sacred in one�s life.
� Transcendental meditation is a form of external
awareness meditation that takes one�s awareness beyond the conventional boundaries
of a body-bound self and unites the self with spirit.

Description

Meditation is a spiritual practice that has been described and practiced in various
ways. From a mental
health prospective, there are two basic forms of meditation.
These two forms of meditation are referred to as
concentrative meditation and external awareness meditation.
The specific techniques or meditative practices
associated with these two forms of meditation are infinitely varied.
In concentrative meditation attention is focused upon any aspect of reality or
imagination.
The meditation experience consists of maintaining the
concentration and is useful in countering the mind�s
tendency to wander. As concentration wanes, the goal
is to refocus one�s efforts to concentrate. Meditation of this kind becomes a
sequence of focusing and refocusing one�s attention on a preselected object or
mental construction. A beginning practitioner of concentrative meditations
typically experiences a restless mind.

The restless mind is filled with apparently random and

uncontrollable mental constructions. This way ward
mental experience of novice practitioners is called
�monkey-mind� in the Buddhist traditions. It takes
will and discipline to train the mind to stay focused.
The ability to concentrate develops over time with
the deliberate practices associated with concentrative
meditation. Concentrative meditation is also known as
�object-based� practices.
In concentrative meditation there is a distinct experience of duality and
separateness between the self that is meditating and the object that one is
concentrating upon.
In the second form of meditative practices, external
awareness meditation, attention is focused outside
of one�s self. External awareness meditation is similar to concentrative meditation
in that attention is focused on any aspect of reality or imagination. It emphasizes
the relationship between the meditator and that which is meditated upon. External
awareness meditation focuses on �opening up� one�s awareness. The ultimate goal of
external awareness meditation is to become totally open to and absorbed in the
relationship between self and other. In this meditative relationship the boundary
between self and other is indistinguishable.
The self-object duality dissolves into an experience
of radical unity.
While different in focus, there is some overlap between these two forms of
meditation. In fact, concentrative meditation and external awareness meditation can
be viewed on a continuum. The continuum begins with concentrative meditation and
self-object duality,and the continuum extends to external awareness meditation and
a sense of unification and non-dual self-sacred integration.

Examples of these two forms of meditation are

Christianity�s Contemplative Prayer, Hinduism�s Advaita (Vedanta) meditations, and
Zen Buddhism�s
Dzogchen (Ch�an). These practices are unique because
they are object-based concentrative practices to the
novice practitioner. Contemplative Prayer, Advaita,
and Dzogchen at their rudimentary stages are contemplative or concentrative
practices. Through deliberate and steadfast effort, these meditations become
objectless external awareness meditations to the advanced practitioner. They are
also Transcendental Meditations (TM) at advanced levels of practice. In TM
practices, the self and other is not-two or non-dual. �Non-dual� simply means
united or yoked sufficiently that the experience of self and other is
unintelligible. Contemplative Prayer, Advaita, and Dzogchen are three metaphorical
bridges between concentrative meditation and external awareness meditation.
Meditation is the practice of eliciting a type of consciousness. Beginning
meditators can expect to experience stress reduction
and increased relaxation. However, the type of
consciousness that meditation ultimately develops is a
consciousness united with spirit.

Development and Current Status

Meditative practices outdate recorded history. Meditation was as much a part of
prehistory as it is a part of current times. The etiology of meditative practices
was passed along through lore until the written word was developed. Various
philosophies and religious practices began documenting meditative practices in
writing approximately 5,000 years ago. Such writings were first discovered in
Egypt, India, China, andMesoamerica (Mexico and Chile). The earliest forms of
written meditation are mantras or rhythmic chants.
The oldest forms of modern meditation have their roots
in the Hindu traditions of Vedanta. �Vedanta� refers
to the scriptural writings of the Vedas. The Vedas are
writings devoted to the lore of ancient India. These
writings clearly influenced the development of Buddhism in China and Zen Buddhism
in Japan. There are
theories that claim these same philosophies traveled
west as well and influenced the development of Islam
and Christianity. In any case, these Eastern �psychologies� have emphasized the
cultivation of attention to one�s own subjective experience prior to the formal
establishment of modern mental health practices.
However, meditation is a major aspect of almost all
religions and spiritual practices. In other words, meditation
is an aspect of human experience and does not
belong to any particular ideology. Nevertheless, many
of the most popular and effective meditative practices
available today originate in the Yogic, Buddhist, and
Christian traditions. Students and scholars interested in these meditative
traditions might begin with the writings of Adi Shankara (788�820), the Diamond
Sutra
preserved by Aurel Stein (1862�1943), and the Trappist
monk Thomas Keating (1923�), respectively. It is
important to note that many forms of meditation are in
fact mindfulness practices. These traditions teach that it is most difficult to
stay mindful when one is attached to biases, longing for desire, or intensely
angry. Many Eastern traditions agree that factors of calmness, tranquility, and
balance assist the maintenance of a mindful awareness. Meditation and mindfulness
are closely related to loving kindness and compassion.