Meditation is a fundamental practice for human development. Science has increasingly focused on understanding its mechanisms and how it acts positively on human beings. Its origin is very old, dating back to the eastern traditions of Yoga and Buddhism, but the term also refers to practices adopted by some religions, such as Christianity, Judaism, Islam, Taoism, Shamanism, among others.

The word meditate comes from the Latin mederi, which means to treat, to cure, to give medical attention to something. The definition of meditation varies with the context in which it is inserted, and it can often seem contradictory, however, the common point of all these religions, philosophies or schools regarding meditation is the experience of an inner reality with a focus on attention, which promotes in practitioners greater spiritual, emotional and physical well-being, a state of inner tranquility.

We also know from the literature the importance of the practice of meditation in people’s lives in relation to the support of many diseases. In a scientific study carried out by Rui Bizarro in 2007, with a sample of ninety subjects who practiced meditation in India, we proved that meditation has been assuming a fundamental role in terms of quality of life, namely with regard to health, influencing the well-being -subjective being and the spiritual well-being of the individual. The main correlational results revealed that there is a positive relationship between these concepts. In other words, the practice of regular meditation allows the practitioner a better quality of life and a greater well-being in his life.

There are several types of meditation, several schools and techniques, however, as already mentioned, the objective of all these practices is the same, to calm the practitioner’s mind, increase concentration, center the individual, greater control of emotions, an increase in your awareness and ultimately greater happiness. Of the various schools of meditation, we can enumerate: Transcendental Meditation by Maharishi Maeshi Yogi, Active Meditations by Osho, Vipassana Meditation by SN Goenka, Zazen Meditation, Taoist Meditation, Buddhist Meditation, Meditation through Mantras and more recently Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) created by Prof. Jon Kabat-Zinn that combines mindfulness meditation, body awareness and exploration of patterns of behavior, thought, feelings and action. Science has done a lot of research on this model of Mindfulness and found very positive results and benefits.