Psychology of Meditation

Our understanding of the nature and applications of meditation, especially mindfulness meditation, has been expanding almost as rapidly as the empirical evidence from neuroscience and intervention studies that have become available in the research literature. Meditation is centuries old and prevalent in almost all ancient cultures in one form or another. Initially, people in the West were enamoured by its spiritual promise of personal transformation, but now a larger portion is attracted to mindfulness meditation (Vipassana or insight meditation) because of the promise of enhanced physical and mental well-being. Indeed, research shows that engaging in a daily practice of meditation for 20 to 30 minutes a day over 8 weeks produces new neural networks in the brain, attesting to observable calmness and clarity of perception. This book brings together a diverse group of experts who collectively provide a nuanced view of meditation from a variety of perspectives. This book offers a single-source authoritative guide to an ancient practice that is coming into its own in the Western world.