By Tika Sathyanarayan
The benefits of meditation have been experienced for centuries. Meditation helps control stress and anxiety, improves self-image, and is just an overall benefactor of mental and physical health. But meditation is more complex and multifaceted than just sitting cross-legged and breathing calmly. The practice has evolved since reaching western civilization, but the actual origins of meditation go way deeper.
Meditation was an integral part of the Indian subcontinent in 1500 BC. This was when the first written accounts of meditation were found, with the Vedas, a group of the oldest scriptures of Hinduism. The oldest documented forms of meditation were shown in art walls around India, dating back to 5000-3500 BC. These art walls depicted people with closed eyes and crossed legs: a basic meditative stance. From there, meditation spread to the Chinese Taoists and the Indian Buddhists. They developed their own meditative practices, which had heavy influences from Vedic culture. The Buddha’s teachings illustrated that meditation was one of the steps to enlightenment. In fact, meditation as a means to concentration, knowledge, morality, and salvation was written in the Pali Canon, a collection of old Buddhist scriptures. Meditation, along with Buddhism, then spread to other parts of Asia along the Silk Road. This can be seen in Zen meditation, where a Japanese monk, Dosho, who studied in China opened a sitting meditation hall in Japan. This subsequently spread the art of meditation to Japanese monks. This is also shown in Taoist meditation. Taoist meditative practices emphasize the importance of being in harmony with nature. While the practice is shown to have heavy Hindu and Buddhist roots, the base of the practice is with finding one’s inner balance. An example of this would be Neiguan. Neiguan, or inner vision, is a type of meditation where you can visualize the flow of your own energy.
Around the 18th century, Asian texts and philosophies had become translated into English. These texts were a common topic for scholars. Many of the texts included philosophies about meditation and peace. But meditation didn’t become popularized in the West until the 20th century. People from the East traveled to the West to spread knowledge about mindfulness and meditation. Meditation, which used to be focused on religions such as Hinduism and Buddhism, became largely secular. Due to becoming so mainstream, meditation simply became the art of finding the balance between the mind, body, and soul.
Because of the long journey meditation took throughout the years, many different forms of meditation have arisen. The type mainly mentioned in this article is spiritual meditation. Spiritual Meditation was popular in Eastern civilizations. It is widely practiced in Hinduism, Taoism, and Hinduism. Spiritual Meditation usually involves a prayer or spiritual chant. This form of meditation focuses on being in touch with a spiritual being, whether it be a god or your own self-actualization. So, spiritual meditation is less about gaining spiritual power or enlightenment, and more about discovering who you are as a person. Most of the time, however, spiritual meditation is used in a religious context.
Mindfulness meditation is based on the teachings of Buddha, but it is growing in popularity across Western civilization. Like spiritual meditation, mindfulness meditation involves little movement and more reflecting on your reality. This will help you feel calmer and concentrate better, getting rid of anxiety and self-doubt. It’s also proven to help people have more realistic expectations of people and treat others with more empathy. This is because mindfulness meditation exercises awareness and tolerance. It exercises the ability to understand our mind and see why we react to things in certain ways. Raising awareness and practicing mindfulness meditation helps us control our emotions and act more stable.
Movement meditation is the kind of meditation you might be more familiar with. This involves practices such as yoga or tai chi. This is so we can experience the sensation of everyday things around us, such as the air, gravity, and the energy around us. After this, you can focus on what grounds yourself, like the weight of your arms, the stiffness of your feet, etc.
Meditation may have been invented in ancient times, but it’s still an effective and healthy way to train your body and mind. Meditation has evolved greatly since 1500 B.C. Instead of just being a way to connect with religion, it’s now a secular way of finding inner peace. There are even websites and apps that can help you practice meditation. These apps can help you cope with the stress and anxiety of schoolwork, quarantine, family life, and any stressors in general.
References:
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