Meditation
Methods for calming and focusing the mind. Meditation is the mental “laboratory work” through which persons come to master their own mental and physical states and achieve the expansion of conscious awareness. There are many secularized forms of meditation that are effectively used in contemporary society for therapy and relaxation. Recognizing the need for meditative practice in the stress and strain of modern life, secular psychology has produced a variety of therapies (e.g. Gestalt Therapy) that represent secularized versions of classical religious meditative disciplines. For example, certain forms of humanistic and transpersonal psychology have championed the expansion of human potential through meditative techniques like biofeedback. Dr. Jon Kabat-Zinn and other researchers in the health sciences have identified a number of therapeutic benefits to be derived from meditation, including: 1) improved rates of recovery from a variety of illnesses (especially those with a psychogenic component, such as such as ulcers, asthma, arthritis, fibromyalgia, and hypertension), 2) improved circulation, vitality and stamina, 3) management of chronic pain, 4) improved clinical outcomes associated with dental and medical treatments, 6) reduced anxiety, fear and depression, 7) greater mental clarity and peace of mind, and 
experience of insights relating to one’s social, psychological and physical well-being, as well as answers to questions regarding the meaning and purpose of life.
There are many schools of meditative practice, with the following approaches common: 1) body preparation (via progressive relaxation, yoga, Tai Chi, etc.), 2) specific postures, 3) set opening phrases or patterns of prayer, 4) chant, 5) concentration on single word mantras, sounds or repetitive phrases, 6) use of the breath and breathing to calm the mind and focus attention, 7) methods of mindfulness designed to erase the “mental static” created by intruding thoughts and feelings, means for withdrawing attention from the senses and all external stimuli, and 9) methods for achieving one-pointed concentration on the object of one’s meditation, whether it be improved health, greater mental clarity and peace, or God.
Contemporary meditative methods evolved mostly from ancient religious sources. Hinduism, Taoism, Buddhism, Judaism, Sufism, Sikhism, Christianity and other spiritual traditions have long utilized meditation to expand the human consciousness in order to achieve the unifying of an individual’s life and being with ultimate, Universal Truth. Spiritual meditation equates with mastering and focusing the mind so as to achieve perfect concentration on God (or Tao, Brahman, Nirvana, Jehovah, Allah, depending on religious perspective). Spiritual meditation is understood to depend for its result on the action of God’s grace (the western perspective) or on the essential unity between the individual human soul and the Universal Soul of God (the eastern perspective).