Meditation is a mind-body practice in integrative health and complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) (National Center for Complementary and Integrative Health (NCCIH, 2018). Meditation originated in ancient India about 3,000 years ago and has existed in some form in most major religions and in many secular organizations. Because many individuals regularly practice meditation in a prescribed manner, it can also be considered a ritual and a process of spiritual transformation (Taylor, 2002).
Meditation is practiced in almost every religion as a way to reach union with the Divine; however, you don’t have to be religious to meditate.
There are many types of meditation and individuals practice meditation for different reasons. The reasons people meditate vary almost as much as the types of practices. When practiced in a disciplined manner, meditation provides many physiological benefits, such as stress reduction, improved immune and cardiovascular function, relaxation, and decreased pain (NCCIH, 2018).
Through the learned skill of meditation, people can train their minds to abandon negative qualities and to generate and enhance positive qualities (Dalai Lama, 2003). Fortney (2017) posits that a regular meditation practice can promote physical ease and mental stability, which provide a foundation for health and wellness. The regular practice of meditation may also lead to new insights about life issues, heightened creativity, inspiration, greater compassion for others, and a greater connection to one’s own inner guidance.
Only over the past few decades has meditation been researched as a medical intervention in Western culture (Freeman, 2008). Some types of meditation might work by affecting the autonomic (involuntary) nervous system. This system regulates many organs and muscles, controlling functions such as heartbeat, sweating, breathing, and digestion. There are two major parts to the autonomic nervous system (NCCIH, 2018):
- The sympathetic nervous system helps mobilize the body for action. When an individual is under stress, the sympathetic nervous system produces the fight-or-flight response. Heart rate and breathing rate go up and blood vessels narrow thus restricting the flow of blood.
- The parasympathetic nervous system causes the heart rate and breathing rate to slow down, blood vessels to dilate (improving blood flow), and the digestive juices to increase.
Fortney and Bonus (2012) note that “meditation is one of the most important components of any health plan. Its unique ability to elicit physical ease and mental stability provides a foundation for healing and directly influences one’s ability to meet the challenges resulting from illness and chronic disease” (p. 1051).