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- Harvard Medical School Health Publications: Mindfulness Meditation May Ease Anxiety, Mental Stress
- National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine: Meditation - an Introduction
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What Is the Goal in Meditation?

Meditation is a powerful set of techniques for calming and quieting the mind. Meditation involves creating a mode of consciousness in which the practitioner is not focused on actively thinking but is instead focused on sitting and breathing, which allows him to clear his mind. Some people meditate for spiritual purposes, while others may meditate just for the sense of relaxation and calm it provides.
Spiritual Goals
Many forms of meditation have their roots in spiritual or religious disciplines. Modern meditative practices are strongly influenced by Hindu and Buddhist philosophy, but other religions also have a tradition of meditation. Within a religious or spiritual context, practitioners believe that meditation opens the mind to divine influence or serves as a form of prayer or worship. For these practitioners, the goal of meditation is an increased understanding, often a purely intuitive understanding, of spiritual truths.
Stress Relief
Modern practitioners of meditation may employ it as a form of stress reduction. Meditation often involves techniques of physical and mental relaxation, including deep breathing and sitting in a relaxed posture. For these practitioners, meditation quiets the worries of daily life and provides a sense of relaxation. As a result, they feel better able to deal with the problems they face. The goal of meditation for these practitioners is to build confidence, increase focus and concentration, and reduce anxiety.
Health Benefits
Medical evidence for the health benefits of meditation is tentatively positive. A 1992 study in the "American Journal of Psychiatry" found that meditation reduced symptoms of anxiety and panic in some people with anxiety disorders, while a 2007 report by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services found some evidence that meditation helps to improve cardiovascular health. It called for further research. For some practitioners, therefore, the goal of meditation is to improve health.
Personal Goals
Meditation goals are as diverse as meditation practitioners. In addition to the common goals of stress reduction, health and spirituality, many people meditate to achieve a specific goal, such as improved performance at school, at work or in sports. In cases where someone is trying to achieve a specific goal, she may meditate on that goal, focusing her attention on it, sometimes in the form of an affirmation or short statement related to the goal.
References
- American Journal of Psychiatry; Effectiveness of a Meditation-Based Stress Reduction Program in the Treatment of Anxiety Disorders; Jon Kabat-Zinn et al.; 1992
- Harvard Medical School Health Publications: Mindfulness Meditation May Ease Anxiety, Mental Stress
- Religion Facts: Buddhist Meditation
- National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine: Meditation - an Introduction
- Meditation programs for psychological stress and well-being: a systematic review and meta-analysis - PubMed
- A comparison of mindfulness-based stress reduction and an active control in modulation of neurogenic inflammation - ScienceDirect
- Irritable Bowel Syndrome: The effect of FODMAPs and meditation on pain management - ScienceDirect
- Meditation for posttraumatic stress: Systematic review and meta-analysis - PubMed
- Evidence-Based Non-Pharmacological Therapies for Fibromyalgia - PubMed
- Effects of the transcendental meditation technique on trait anxiety: a meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials - PubMed
- Randomized Controlled Trial of Mindfulness Meditation for Generalized Anxiety Disorder: Effects on Anxiety and Stress Reactivity
- Observing the Effects of Mindfulness-Based Meditation on Anxiety and Depression in Chronic Pain Patients - PubMed
- Mindfulness-Based Interventions for Anxiety and Depression
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- Does mindfulness attenuate thoughts emphasizing negativity, but not positivity?
- Effect of meditation on neurophysiological changes in stress mediated depression - PubMed
- Reconstructing and deconstructing the self: cognitive mechanisms in meditation practice - PubMed
- Affect and Motivation Are Critical in Constructive Meditation - PubMed
- Role of yoga and meditation in the context of dysfunctional self: a hypothetico-integrative approach - PubMed
- Effects of Tai Chi on Self-Efficacy: A Systematic Review
- Mindfulness training reduces loneliness and increases social contact in a randomized controlled trial
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- Meditation Effects on the Control of Involuntary Contingent Reorienting Revealed With Electroencephalographic and Behavioral Evidence
- On mind wandering, attention, brain networks, and meditation - PubMed
- Brief, daily meditation enhances attention, memory, mood, and emotional regulation in non-experienced meditators - PubMed
- Stress, Meditation, and Alzheimer's Disease Prevention: Where The Evidence Stands - PubMed
- The potential effects of meditation on age-related cognitive decline: a systematic review - PubMed
- Meditation-based interventions for family caregivers of people with dementia: a review of the empirical literature - PubMed
- Effect of kindness-based meditation on health and well-being: a systematic review and meta-analysis - PubMed
- APA PsycNet
- The interventional effects of loving-kindness meditation on positive emotions and interpersonal interactions
- Positive Emotion Correlates of Meditation Practice: A Comparison of Mindfulness Meditation and Loving-kindness Meditation
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- A translational neuroscience perspective on mindfulness meditation as a prevention strategy - PubMed
- Mindfulness meditation practice and executive functioning: Breaking down the benefit - PubMed
- Integration of Transcendental Meditation® (TM) into alcohol use disorder (AUD) treatment - PubMed
- Mindfulness meditation as an intervention for binge eating, emotional eating, and weight loss: a systematic review - PubMed
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- Mindfulness Meditation for Chronic Pain: Systematic Review and Meta-analysis
- Meditation programs for psychological stress and well-being: a systematic review and meta-analysis - PubMed
- Investigating the effect of transcendental meditation on blood pressure: a systematic review and meta-analysis - PubMed
- Meditation can produce beneficial effects to prevent cardiovascular disease - PubMed
- Meditation: should a cardiologist care? - PubMed
Writer Bio
Dr James Holloway has been writing about games, geek culture and whisky since 1995. A former editor of "Archaeological Review from Cambridge," he has also written for Fortean Times, Fantasy Flight Games and The Unspeakable Oath. A graduate of Cambridge University, Holloway runs the blog Gonzo History Gaming.