Category: health and wellbeing

What Meditation Should You Choose?

The Most Important and Least Asked Question…

I’ve highlighted 100 of the most widely used forms of meditation below; however, please take a moment to read the explanation and context first.

At the start of my journey with meditation, I thought ‘meditation’ was just one thing, one practice, one method. But while, by definition, there is a general collection of behaviours we think of as ‘meditation’, the differences between practices can be unimaginable. Take the case of mindfulness meditation. In its original Buddhist form, it is a basic traditional practice directly connected to the spiritual path. There are, however, many forms of ‘mindfulness’ in different Buddhist traditions, some suitable for beginners, while others are regarded as advanced practices. Mindfulness meditation was reinvented by Western scientists as a form of medicalised therapy in the 1970s. We now have at least 50 different forms of mindfulness being used in Western clinical settings, each with a slightly different configuration that affects meditators in different ways. For almost all meditators, whether spiritual or secular, young or old, novice or experienced, the key issue when looking for a method is to be clear about your meditation goals and use a practice that can help you reach your objectives.

To learn more about the challenges and opportunities associated with the scientific appropriation of mindfulness, click here. To understand what the secularisation of meditation means to people practising meditation, read this article on the Mindtraining website.

I’ve catalogued over 500 distinct forms of meditation in my own research; the 100 listed below are among the most popular. For each method listed, there are dozens of variants. Some of those included have been scientifically validated, other techniques are unknown to psychology. Take these descriptions as relative and do some research before you commit to any meditation teacher or practice.

Core Meditation Techniques – Defining Practices

  1. Mindfulness Meditation – Split between traditional Buddhist and Western medicalised forms. Observing thoughts and sensations without judgment in the present moment.
  2. Focused Attention Meditation – Concentrating on a single object like breath, a candle, or a mantra.
  3. Open Monitoring Meditation – Maintaining awareness of all aspects of experience without fixation.
  4. Loving-Kindness (Metta) – Generating feelings of love and compassion for self and others.
  5. Vipassana – Insight-oriented observation of bodily sensations to develop self-awareness.
  6. Samatha – Calming the mind through focused attention, often on the breath.
  7. Zazen – Seated meditation from Zen Buddhism emphasising non-thinking and posture.
  8. Kundalini Meditation – Awakening energy at the base of the spine using breath, movement, and mantra.
  9. Transcendental Meditation (TM) – Using a personalised mantra to transcend thought.
  10. Mantra Meditation – Repeating sacred sounds or phrases to quiet the mind.

Yogic & Hindu Meditation Methods

  1. Yoga Nidra – Deep relaxation meditation conducted in a sleep-like state.
  2. Trataka – Gazing at a fixed point (e.g. candle flame) to develop concentration.
  3. Nada Yoga – Meditating on sound, either external or internal auditory experiences.
  4. Chakra Meditation – Focusing attention on energy centers to align body and mind.
  5. Tantra Meditation – Using ritual and visualization to integrate spiritual energy.
  6. Bhakti Meditation – Devotion-based meditation through prayer, chant, and surrender.
  7. Japa Meditation – Repetition of mantras using mala beads for counting.
  8. Raja Yoga Meditation – Combining ethical living, concentration, and absorption.
  9. Atma Vichara (Self-Inquiry) – Asking “Who am I?” to realize true self or consciousness.
  10. Sahaja Meditation – Effortless awareness focusing on spontaneous attention.

Buddhist Meditation Approaches

  1. Tonglen – Taking in suffering and breathing out compassion.
  2. Shamatha-Vipassana – Pairing calm abiding with profound insight.
  3. Walking Meditation – Practising mindfulness while moving slowly and deliberately.
  4. Dzogchen – Resting in the nature of mind, spontaneous presence.
  5. Mahamudra – Recognising awareness itself as the path and goal.
  6. Analytical Meditation – Reflecting intellectually to penetrate Buddhist teachings.
  7. Visualisation of Deities – Mentally constructing divine forms for transformation.
  8. Five Aggregates Meditation – Contemplating the components of personhood to dissolve illusion.
  9. Six Elements Meditation – Reflecting on earth, water, fire, air, space, and consciousness.
  10. Death Meditation (Maranasati) – Contemplating mortality to deepen presence.

Psychotherapeutic Meditation & Modern Adaptations

  1. Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) – A Controversial clinical approach to managing stress through mindfulness. The dominant form favoured by health and social policy organisations and businesses.
  2. Mindfulness-Based Cognitive Therapy (MBCT) – Combines mindfulness with CBT to prevent depression relapse in limited cases.
  3. Acceptance and Commitment Meditation – Noticing thoughts while committing to values-led action.
  4. Body Scan Meditation – Progressive awareness of bodily sensations.
  5. Somatic Experiencing Meditation – Tuning into internal body signals to release trauma.
  6. ACT-Based Present Moment Meditation – Grounding in sensory awareness and defusion techniques.
  7. Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT) Mindfulness – Cultivating nonjudgmental present awareness in emotion regulation.
  8. Compassion-Focused Meditation – Generating warmth toward self and others to counter shame.
  9. Interpersonal Mindfulness – Bringing awareness to real-time relational interaction.
  10. Reflective Meditation – Allowing thoughts to arise while exploring emotional resonances.

Esoteric Meditation Methods & Energy Based Practices

  1. Qi Gong Meditation – Coordinating breath, movement, and intention to cultivate life energy.
  2. Taoist Inner Smile – Sending smiling energy to internal organs to promote healing.
  3. Astral Projection Meditation – Guiding consciousness beyond the physical body.
  4. Crystal Meditation – Using crystals to amplify specific energies and intentions.
  5. Light Meditation – Visualising inner or external light for healing or illumination.
  6. Reiki Meditation – Channelling universal energy through hands or mind for self-care.
  7. Kabbalistic Meditation – Contemplating Hebrew letters, names of God, or Tree of Life.
  8. Merkaba Activation Meditation – Awakening geometric energy fields for ascension.
  9. Third Eye Meditation – Focusing between the brows to develop intuitive insight.
  10. Aura Cleansing Meditation – Visualising the purification of personal energy fields.

Technology Enhanced Meditation Techniques

  1. Binaural Beats Meditation – Using audio frequencies to synchronise brainwaves.
  2. Guided Imagery Meditation – Listening to narrated journeys to evoke relaxation or insight.
  3. VR Meditation – Immersing oneself in virtual landscapes to deepen sensory engagement.
  4. App-Based Mindfulness – Practising structured sessions via digital platforms.
  5. Neurofeedback Meditation – Real-time monitoring to enhance brainwave states.
  6. Sound Bath Meditation – Experiencing healing vibrations through instruments like gongs or singing bowls.
  7. AI-Guided Meditation – Interactive sessions with responsive virtual facilitators.
  8. Subliminal Audio Meditation – Listening to layered affirmations below the conscious threshold.
  9. Digital Detox Meditation – Mindfully disengaging from screens and digital noise.
  10. Eye Mask Meditation – Sensory deprivation to intensify inward attention.

Cultural Based & Devotional Meditation

  1. Christian Contemplative Prayer – Meditative silence in God’s presence.
  2. Hesychasm – Repetitive Jesus Prayer to enter inner stillness.
  3. Islamic Dhikr Meditation – Repetitive remembrance of divine names.
  4. Sufi Whirling Meditation – Physical rotation to induce spiritual ecstasy.
  5. Jewish Hitbodedut – Speaking spontaneously with God for inner clarity.
  6. Native American Vision Quest – Solitary reflection in nature to seek guidance.
  7. Shamanic Drumming Meditation – Entering altered states through rhythmic beat.
  8. African Ubuntu Meditation – Reflecting on interconnectedness and community spirit.
  9. Hawaiian Ho‘oponopono – Repeating forgiveness phrases for reconciliation.
  10. Vedic Fire Ritual Meditation – Meditating on the flame as a transformation symbol.

Specialized Meditation & Hybrid Techniques

  1. Sleep Meditation – Relaxation practices to support restful sleep.
  2. Gratitude Meditation – Focusing on positive experiences and appreciation.
  3. Goal Visualization Meditation – Envisioning desired outcomes to prime action.
  4. Stoic Reflection Meditation – Contemplating virtue, mortality, and control.
  5. Emotional Release Meditation – Allowing feelings to arise and dissolve mindfully.
  6. Productivity Meditation – Grounding and setting intentions before focused work.
  7. Decision-Making Meditation – Clarifying values and options through reflection.
  8. Micro-Meditation – Quick resets throughout the day for clarity.
  9. Habit Formation Meditation – Embedding new routines through intentional repetition.
  10. Creative Flow Meditation – Tapping intuition to support artistic expression.

Nature Based Meditation – Connected

  1. Forest Bathing (Shinrin-Yoku) – Immersing attention in natural environments.
  2. Sun Gazing Meditation – Safely gazing near sunrise/sunset for energy absorption.
  3. Ocean Meditation – Synchronising breath with wave rhythms.
  4. Mountain Meditation – Visualising grounded presence and strength.
  5. Rain Meditation – Listening to or imagining rainfall to induce calm.
  6. Earth Element Meditation – Connecting with soil and grounded energy.
  7. Sky Meditation – Embracing expansive awareness through open sky imagery.
  8. Animal Observation Meditation – Mindfully watching animal behaviour to mirror presence.
  9. Campfire Contemplation – Reflecting in silence near flickering flames.
  10. Seasons Meditation – Noting changes in internal and external cycles.

Meditation for Cognitive Enhancement

  1. Meta-Cognition Meditation – Observing one’s thinking patterns consciously.
  2. Neurosculpting Meditation – Rewiring thought through mindfulness and neuroplasticity.
  3. Synesthesia Meditation – Exploring cross-sensory imaginative states.
  4. Reverse Engineering Meditation – Analysing actions to understand their motivations.
  5. Memory Palace Meditation – Visualising spatial locations to encode information.
  6. Intuition Calibration Meditation – Fine-tuning inner signals for decision-making.
  7. Language Awareness Meditation – Observing mental language formation.
  8. Time Perception Meditation – Altering awareness.
  9. Mind Training Meditation – Changing brain function and structure.
  10. Emotional Regulation Practice – Mediating emotions with the Executive Function.

Why the ‘Mindfulness Revolution’ Failed: Understanding the Boundaries Between Science and Religion

Part 1: Going Back to Basics: Dual and Nondual

Perhaps as much as $5 bn has been spent by scientists investigating the benefits of meditation and mindfulness over the last 50 years. Over 30,000 scholarly studies, primarily scientific, have been published in the peer-reviewed literature. In 2010, mindfulness enthusiasts and entrepreneurs announced the arrival of a new age of understanding through the ‘mindfulness revolution’. However, credible reviews of meditation research demonstrate that Western scientific understanding of mindfulness practices is, at best, preliminary. Further, almost no progress has been made in understanding what traditional Buddhist forms of meditation are, let alone how they work on the psychological level.

Scientists and clinicians initially appropriated religious meditation methods because of evidence that, in their original forms, they could provide profound health benefits. In the 1950s, long before the ‘Mindfulness Revolution’, psychologists were using Buddhist meditation to treat intractable mental health conditions. Since the early 1980s, Western scientists and clinicians developed hundreds of new versions of mindfulness. The best of these diverse forms can provide a degree of relaxation, often equivalent to or slightly more significant than a placebo effect. Unfortunately, the hope that mindfulness could be a powerful technique to treat and cure problematic mental health has evaporated.

Scientists gambling on a mindfulness miracle
Has the £5 bn mindfulness gamble paid off?

Today, the scientific understanding of mindfulness is fragmented, with growing scepticism about its benefits from many sections of society. Mindfulness is most frequently seen as a ‘welbeing’ intervention and is often taught by trained volunteers rather than psychologists or therapists. However, hyped claims of mindfulness’s benefits, supported by big business, politicians, and social policy, have ensured mindfulness’s popularity and longevity. Mindfulness has even been earmarked as a tool to keep people working and consuming when their material conditions are being eroded, a dramatic departure from the original purpose of Buddhist meditation.

The scientific history of mindfulness raises many problems. The most crucial issue is to consider how scientific engagement with religious meditation led to less rather than more understanding of the practices. By researching this question, we have started to gain much more insight into the fundamental nature of Buddhist thought and practice and the problems that arise when the boundaries between religion and science are altered.

No one factor can explain why thousands of scientists, spending a vast fortune in research funding, have made so little progress. Many studies have been critical of the scientific investigation of meditation. However, they often see the solution to the ‘mindfulness crisis’ as producing more, better-quality experiments. Fortunately, several academics have begun to question the nature of the relationship between science and religion, especially Buddhism.

In essence, the scientific method is part of a dualistic knowledge system based on certain principles, such as empiricism (all ‘true’ knowledge comes from sensory experience and empirical evidence) and reductionism (complex behaviours can be understood by isolating and understanding individual elements of the behaviours). Buddhism is divided into very different knowledge systems, most of which are explicitly and implicitly nondual. For example, Mahayana Buddhism is set in a theoretical framework where emptiness (all things are empty of intrinsic nature or existence) is held to be the underlying nature of reality. So, in any meaningful way, experimental psychology cannot understand Buddhism because they do not share the same frames of reference (ontology and epistemology). Psychology can see the effect of meditation but is unable to understand what it is.

Just to be clear, psychological science can measure the psychological and physiological effects of meditation. But it cannot currently understand what spiritual meditators do, the underlying cognitive processes, or what their spiritual goals are. Similarly a spiritual practice is unable to calculate the speed of light or the atomic weight of an element. By definition, different knowledge systems are incompatible because they address different human needs in different ways.

Dr Stephen Gene Morris

The second part of this article can be found here.

How to Make Sucessful New Year’s Resolutions

Why Do New Year’s Resolutions Fail? A Scientific Perspective

Why Do New Year’s Resolutions Fail? A Scientific Perspective

As the clock strikes midnight on December 31st, hundreds of millions worldwide enthusiastically embrace New Year’s resolutions. These promises are often made with the sincere intention to enhance well-being, happiness, and success. Although research shows that nearly 83% of resolutions can be challenging, there’s good news: adopting an informed and systematic approach can significantly empower you to take charge of your life and achieve your goals. Resolutions are a fantastic opportunity for personal growth, and incorporating meditation and mind training can wonderfully elevate the quality of your life. Let’s explore the main reasons why New Year’s resolutions might stumble and how nondual meditation and mindtraining can make a huge difference in your transformation.

Lack of Perseverance and Continuity

The vast majority of New Year’s resolutions are centered around the exciting beginnings or positive endings of activities and behaviors. In neuropsychology, we often refer to this as the ‘all or nothing’ mindset. While this approach sets high expectations for goals, embracing incremental improvements can be transformative, where each partial success is a step forward. In reality, reducing the amount of alcohol or junk food we consume is a significant victory worth celebrating. By building on this progress and viewing it as a triumph rather than a setback, we open ourselves up to the possibility of achieving our goals with confidence and enthusiasm.

The Psychology of Habits

At the heart of the issue is the psychology of habits. Habits are deeply ingrained behaviours that are hardwired into our brains through repeated actions and reinforced by the reward system. According to Dr. Wendy Wood, a psychology professor at the University of Southern California, about 40% of the actions people perform each day are habitual. Other research suggests that the mechanisms supporting ‘free will’ are complex and cannot be mediated by simplistic gaol-setting. Changing these deeply embedded habits requires significant effort and consistency, which is challenging for many. As such, supporting resolutions with habit-changing techniques like mind training and meditation will dramatically increase your chances of success.

Unrealistic Expectations

One of the primary reasons resolutions fail is that people set unrealistic goals, often unrelated to their actual abilities and motivation. Put simply most humans don’t learn enough from previous mistakes and continue to underestimate the challenge of change. Resolutions are best supported with a considered objective approach, maintained by ongoing commitment. New Year’s promises often lack specificity and attainability, making them overwhelming. For instance, resolving to “lose weight” without a concrete plan or achievable milestones can quickly lead to frustration and abandonment. Research shows that setting SMART goals—Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, and Time-bound—can significantly increase the likelihood of success.

Lack of Immediate Gratification (The Dopamine Problem)

Meditation and mindtraining can train humans in patience and perseverance. Humans are wired to seek immediate gratification, a concept deeply rooted in our evolutionary past and neurobiology. New Year’s resolutions often involve long-term goals, such as losing weight or saving money, which do not provide immediate rewards. This lack of instant gratification can demotivate individuals, causing them to revert to their old habits that offer quicker satisfaction. The brain’s reward system, which releases dopamine when we achieve something pleasurable, plays a crucial role here. Immediate rewards trigger this system effectively, whereas distant goals do not. Unless you understand that impulsive wishes can be mediated by mental training, goals and objectives are always at risk.

Willpower and Cognitive Load

Although an oversimplification, neuropsychologists claim willpower is like a muscle that can be exhausted. Some studies have shown that the more we use our willpower, the more it depletes, making it harder to maintain self-control over time. This concept, known as ego depletion, may mean that after a long day of resisting temptations, individuals are more likely to give in. Additionally, the cognitive load of modern life—with constant demands on our attention and decision-making—further drains our mental resources, leaving little energy for new habits. Nondual forms of meditation typically lead to a reduction in the mechanisms that exhaust mental capacity and the concept of ‘temptation’.

Environmental and Social Factors

Meditation and mindtraining are good methods for regulating our inner and outer worlds, aligning our aspirations with our lived conditions. Our environment and social circles greatly influence our behaviour. If someone resolves to quit smoking but is constantly surrounded by friends who smoke, their chances of success decrease significantly. Similarly, environments that do not support new habits—such as a household full of unhealthy snacks for someone trying to eat healthier—can sabotage resolutions.

Lack of a Concrete Plan

At its heart, traditional forms of meditation allow a systematic approach to mind and matter, aligning goals with behaviour. Many people make resolutions without a clear plan for achieving them. A study published in the Journal of Clinical Psychology found that individuals who made explicit plans for their resolutions were 10 times more likely to succeed than those who did not. Planning involves breaking down goals into actionable steps, anticipating obstacles, and developing strategies to overcome them. Without such a plan, resolutions often remain vague aspirations.

Conclusion

The failure of New Year’s resolutions is a multifaceted issue rooted in the complexities of human psychology, behaviour, and the environment. By understanding these scientific explanations, individuals can better prepare to set realistic goals, create actionable plans, and foster supportive environments, increasing their chances of success. Remember, change is a gradual process, and persistence is key. Celebrate small victories along the way, and don’t be too hard on yourself if setbacks occur. After all, each day is an opportunity for a fresh start. Nondual meditation and mindtraining methods are among the most powerful tools we have to help shape behaviour and reach meaningful goals.

What is the Nondual View, and Why is it Important in Meditation?

A startling finding emerging from the groundbreaking Scientific History of Mindfulness is the failure of Western science to recognise the nondual nature of traditional forms of meditation. Experienced meditation practitioners may have been taught about the nondual view or nondual meditation methods, which are pivotal to many meditation traditions. However, most Westerners’ consciousness is dominated by explicitly dualistic frameworks. The ability of people rooted in a dualistic awareness, including scientists, to understand a nondual worldview is problematic, even if they have received instruction and training. One possible explanation for this problem is the concept of incommensurability found in Thomas Kuhn’s writings. A controversial term, incommensurability, describes how changing to alternative ways of knowing is problematic once we have been trained in a particular understanding of the world. Further, someone who is schooled in a specific understanding may not even know that they have been cognitively conditioned to see the world from one particular dualistic perspective.

A characteristic of the dualistic mind is that it believes its conscious experience is an objective reality. This misunderstanding is experienced by Western meditation scholars and scientists, even today. Many highly intelligent and well-intentioned academics make claims about the nature of traditional forms of meditation from a dualistic perspective without ever having recognised the role of nonduality in meditation methods. This problem is not restricted to modern materialistic societies but is present wherever people foster a ‘belief in self’ as an objective reality. Thus, many traditional meditation students train for years, or even decades, to appreciate that their consciousness can be either dual, nondual, or even an integration of the two.

Typically, humans flit between dual and nondual forms of consciousness without knowing or detecting the difference.  In this brief introduction, the critical thing to remember is that we all have access to dual and nondual ways of knowing; both are integral to the human experience. However, it is highly problematic to recognise and then cultivate a consistent nondual view without training and guidance. It is not possible to provide a comprehensive explanation of dual or nondual consciousness in this article, but I have written about these issues elsewhere.  So here, I will attempt to use simplified approximations to introduce this subject.

In a typical Western materialistic society like the UK today, most people spend significant time in dualistic consciousness.  We could characterise the dualistic state in many ways; as a starting point, let us simply regard it as the point of view where one believes, as truth, the conscious and subconscious impulses generated by our brain.  

We can all find examples of our irrational thoughts and baseless concerns that we recognise as meaningless. However, many of us accept unfounded opinions and erroneous perceptions as ‘reality’. While our thoughts and ideas often seem meaningful, the views of others can seem meaningless or even ridiculous. Without nondual awareness, our identity is partly made up of fabricated constructs with no reality other than what we attribute to them; I’d suggest this is the dominance of emotion over reasoning, although it is obviously an oversimplification. So, for example, thinking that others are responsible for your mental state (you make me angry) is usually an expression of dualism, as is the default belief that our wishes and goals are somehow more important than the wishes and goals of others. 

By contrast, a nondual view distinguishes between reliable mental phenomena and transient, unreliable thoughts and feelings. Once a stable and systematic nondual view is achieved, we can establish relative freedom in thinking, speaking and acting. This freedom is often associated with the happiness and stability observed in nondual practitioners. So, from a nondual perspective, we make the presumption that the thoughts and feelings of others may be just as important and meaningful as ours. A note of caution; the nondual view is typically achieved by abandoning limiting concepts, an exercise that usually requires a significant amount of time, effort and training. I will stop the preliminary definitions here for now and briefly discuss what these concepts mean for meditation practice.

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In traditional meditation, people often begin at the beginning; if they have a reliable teacher and methods and are diligent, they can progress.  However, until a practitioner realises which mental phenomena arising in their consciousness are transient and meaningless, all meditation can be seen as relative. That means your practice is relative to your mental state and other causes and conditions.  A practitioner with some modest experience of the nondual should be able to transcend belief in mundane phenomena, knowing their relative unimportance.  That is not to say that a nondual practitioner may have arrived at a transcendent mental state; it is simply that they understand the limitations of their own worldview.  That, in a nutshell, is my view of why the nondual is essential to progress beyond a preliminary stage in meditation practice.  Without nondual awareness, the inner world of our consciousness remains uncertain. While much Buddhist meditation is not explicitly nondual, it all, by its very nature, increases the ability of the student to understand nonduality. Nonduality is a central pillar in many spiritual and philosophical traditions, but it is mainly invisible to the psychological sciences; I wonder why…?

Does science understand compassion meditation?

Compassion may be the most beneficial of all meditation techniques, but scientists have to work harder to understand it

Compassion meditation.
Compassion? – Photo by bin Ziegler on Pexels.com

In preparation for some upcoming blog articles, including looking at the Luberto et al. meta-review of compassion meditation research, I wanted to talk about terminology and concepts in this field.1 While science is a powerful system for measuring and predicting nature, it has problems in understanding and thus evaluating complex human behaviours such as compassion. But these challenges are made harder by imprecision and generalisations. For example, scientific reviews frequently combine or aggregate the findings from compassion, empathy, and loving-kindness studies. Cognitively speaking, these practices draw on related but different processes. Empathy, identifying with the experiences of others, is quite different from compassion, seeking to alleviate the suffering of others. If scientists compare the effects of belief-based versions of these practices, it becomes even more problematic. Even within Buddhism, the major schools have distinct ontological perspectives, which makes the operational deployment of their meditation methods quite different.

While the psychological sciences can observe almost any human behaviour, including meditation, the problems arise when attempting to understand what takes place, particularly in methods, like Buddhist meditation, developed in non-positivist environments. So while it’s relatively simple for scientists to measure the before and after effects of one form of meditation, understanding what the meditators are doing is more challenging. And aggregating the impact of different forms of compassion meditation seems likely to deliver unreliable data. These problems become even greater when empathy, metta, loving-kindness and self-compassion practices are thrown into the mix.

Understanding the concept of compassion as an object of scientific inquiry is preliminary; we don’t yet have comprehensive knowledge of trait and state compassion or how to measure them reliably. Added to this challenge, concepts of compassion are culturally embedded and can be incredibly complex to unravel. Simply moving a compassionate activity from a church or temple into a laboratory may change the psychological impact of the practice. As described in the scholarly literature, removing mindfulness from its religio-cultural contexts changed its nature.2 This doesn’t mean that medicalised mindfulness is not a useful intervention, simply that it does not reliably reflect the mental training present in the dozen or so known spiritual mindfulness practices.

Let’s look at the complexity of understanding compassion meditation in Buddhist traditions. First, we have to consider there are three main Buddhist schools or vehicles, Theravada, Mahayana and Vajrayana, each has a different world view. These particular world views lead to operational differences in how the concept of compassion is integrated into meditation methods. Furthermore, multiple schools exist within the three ‘vehicles’, each of which may have a degree of uniqueness in their compassion practices. At this stage, it’s probably better not to discuss the role of non-dual compassion as there is almost nothing replicated in the scientific literature about this element of human consciousness (although we all access it every day).

So the take-home message here is how well we define compassion will inevitably be linked to our ability to harness meditation practices’ health and well-being benefits.

Notes:

  1. Luberto, Christina M., Nina Shinday, Rhayun Song, Lisa L. Philpotts, Elyse R. Park, Gregory L. Fricchione, and Gloria Y. Yeh. “A systematic review and meta-analysis of the effects of meditation on empathy, compassion, and prosocial behaviors.” Mindfulness 9, no. 3 (2018): 708-724.
  2. King, Richard. “‘Paying attention’in a digital economy: reflections on the role of analysis and judgement within contemporary discourses of mindfulness and comparisons with classical Buddhist accounts of sati.” In Handbook of Mindfulness, pp. 27-45. Springer, Cham, 2016.

Can Mindfulness Meditation Boost Immunity

There are many preliminary scientific studies that indicate meditation improves self-reported measures of disease symptomatology. But what do we know about the link between mindfulness and inflammation?

Does Mindfulness Meditation Boost Immunity
Mindfulness and immunity. (Photo by Anna Shvets on Pexels.com)

Authors: Black, D.S. and Slavich, G.M

Year: 2016

Title: Mindfulness meditation and the immune system: a systematic review of randomized controlled trials.1

Summary: The role of inflammation in health and wellbeing is becoming increasingly important in our understanding of illness and perhaps more important to establish greater resilience to ill health. For example, we now know that an unhealthy gut can lead to inflammation in many different organs. It’s not that inflammation should be seen as the problem per se; it is a function of the immune system, our body’s essential response to harmful stimuli. However, too much or too little inflammation can lead to major and minor health problems. Therefore if meditation can regulate excessive inflammation and its causes before they can damage the body, it will improve health and wellbeing.

Mindfulness meditation and immune system biomarkers. This systematic review of 20 randomized controlled trials, comprising more than 1600 participants, revealed replicated, yet tentative, evidence that mindfulness mediation is associated with changes in select immune system processes involved in inflammation, immunity, and biological aging.1

This scientific review was a meta-study; the authors looked across several different published papers to establish the overall state of research in this field. When analyzed together, these individual papers indicated that: ‘mindfulness meditation modulates some select immune parameters in a manner that suggests a more salutogenic immune profile.’ Simply that practising mindfulness can reduce pro-inflammatory reactions and an increase in the biological mechanisms linked to cell ageing. The study’s authors stress that despite the scope of the paper, the reviewed literature contained some methodological limitations, so the findings of individual studies and the meta-review should be treated with caution. 

What does this study mean for meditation and mindfulness practitioners?

Since the development of medicalised meditation (the relocation of belief based practices into medico-scientific domains) in 1970, the science of meditation has had an increasing tendency to pragmatism rather than empiricism. This means that the effects of meditation and not underlying causal mechanisms tend to be the object of most research projects. This paper represents a movement towards a more rigorous positivist approach, but no definite conclusions were established. My personal view is that the evidence supports much of what we already know about regular meditation practices; it can improve overall health and wellbeing. This paper was published in 2016 but it remains one of the few reviews of the relationship between mindfulness and the immune system.    

Notes:

  1. Black, D.S. and Slavich, G.M., 2016. Mindfulness meditation and the immune system: a systematic review of randomized controlled trials. Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences, 1373(1).

Link: www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov