Meditation and cultures

All over the world, meditation is practised in many cultures with or without religious purposes. Psychologists focus more on various forms of East-Asian Yoga practices, but other forms of meditation practises also occur across all these cultures. Anthropologists have found that meditation is very likely to be one of the earliest religious practises during the Paleolithic age. Meditation is related to invoking spiritual experiences and providing cultural-appropriate interpretation to those experiences. There are different forms of meditations: trance dancing, dream yoga, prayer, shamanic journeying and healing practises. Meditation may seem like a simple process where one stays still, breathes and reflects but it is deep-rooted within the cultural history of many as well.

Meditation practises across some of the cultures

Buddhism: It is the core principle of Buddhism. Its practices are preserved and detailed in texts which are thousands of years old. Buddhist meditation is done to develop practical insight and wisdom.
Christianism: Meditation is practised in Christianity to bring one closer to the divine power through regular prayer and contemplation.
Hinduism: This religion has been related to meditation since its origin with the Bhagavad Gita detailing the influence of meditation on Hindu Spirituality. It is practised to realize the union of one’s eternal self or soul.
Islam: In Islam, Sufism explores meditation as a pathway towards awareness, healing and creativity.
Jainism: In this religion, meditation is encouraged as a practice for self-realisation and self-salvation.

Meditation practises were found in China, Ancient Egypt as well as Hinduism, Buddhism, Jainism and Sikhism. It started spreading across the west with the opening of the Silk Road around 600 BCE to 500 BCE. When arriving in a new place, it started transforming gradually to fit into their culture. Meditation began to be taken seriously around the 1960s when B.K. Anand, a researcher from India, found that yogis meditate into the trances so deep that they don’t react even when the hot test tubes are pressed against their bodies. But western countries had a hard time accepting the medical benefits of meditation. Finally when Dr. Herbert Benson, a Harvard medical school professor found that people who meditate use 17% less oxygen, have lower heart rates and produce more brain waves which help them fall asleep, people in the west started exploring meditation.

By the 1990s, meditation shedded the hippie implications associated with it and became a popular practice among celebrities. It has come from a religious practice to a stylish trend nowadays. Although a lot of people still meditate for religious purposes, yoga has become a chic trend. There are so many studios opened in New York and LA for dedicated meditation and big fitness chains like Equinox are also opening their own meditation classes. This trend has now coupled with technology with new apps emerging everyday to facilitate meditation practises such as Headspace and OMG.

Meditation and cultures

Meditation practises across some of the cultures

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