Meditation and Applied Yoga

Abstract

Various techniques of meditation of Indian and Tibetan origin are getting increasingly popular in the practice of clinical psychology in the past few decades. Also, there is burgeoning literature on clinical and neuropsychological research on the practice of meditation. Before examining the outcomes of this research we first examine what meditation means as described in basic texts of two traditions that are currently popular, namely concentrative methods based on Yoga and vipaśyanā, a Buddhist technique often known as mindful meditation. Of these, the technique of Transcendental Meditation (TM) developed by Maharishi Mahesh Yogi as a variation of the traditional yogic method is arguably the most popular. Since the start of research on TM the emphasis has been on neurophysiological concomitants of meditation. As this line of research continues, there is a parallel trend investigating the psychological aspects of meditation—cognition, attention, anxiety or lack of it. There is an emerging interest in the more positive effects such as kindness and compassion. Against this background we present a detailed discussion of the spiritual, psychic, conative, and emotional effects of meditation as revealed in a wide range of research reports. Then we discuss the various therapeutic applications of the practice of meditation for general health, anxiety disorders, hypertension, and so on. Finally we present an overview of what all this means.