Meditation Variation

Meditation is no longer the province of Eastern cultures or “hippy” types. The “West” has embraced meditation and today meditation can even be prescribed by doctors, particularly in relation to relieving conditions that relate to stress. It is wonderful that on the one hand the insights and powers of meditation are being discovered by Western societies but there are also pitfalls ahead.

When an outsider embraces an ancient tradition there is always the possibility that a superficial understanding will result. For instance simply encouraging someone to “meditate” misses the point that there are many different styles of meditation and that each one has different effects. This point has been highlighted in a new study which showed exactly how the different styles affect your brain.

The study identified that the Buddhist, Chinese, and Vedic traditions of meditation produce styles that can be grouped under three broad headings. (MORE)

Source: WellBeing