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By Jaden F. WardMeditation is one of these ageless techniques that all religious or spiritualtraditions share. The common beliefs concerning its effect and the reasonswhy we use it have evolved during history. Even as I write these lines, somepersons still believe that those who practice meditation would be better of in a lunatic asylum: some scientific papers (like those of Pr. Persinger forinstance) defend the hypothesis that meditation induces epilepsy, which inturn provokes hallucinations - in this theory, religion is a delusion associatedto these hallucinations. Recently several scientific investigations about medi-tation were led using brain imaging. The main result observed is a significantchange in brain activity during practice (differing from the effects of simplerelaxation), and long lasting changes for those who practice regularly.The specific effects vary depending on the meditation technique, and aunifying scientific theory explaining the mechanisms of meditation is yet tobe found. Meditation is indeed also one of these ill-defined terms of language,with so many different possible meanings that one wonders if it should be usedwith singular. Meditations are of so many different kinds: concentrating on ablank mind (classical definition of meditation in Hinduism), meditation on aspecific state of mind or emotion (like for instance compassion in MahayanaBuddhism), and meditation on centers of energy (chakras meditation in Va- jrayana Buddhism) are only the more classical ones. In India, the Patanjaliscrolls define the well-known hatha yoga as one step to achieve a state of steady blank mind, leading to illumination. But preliminary steps involve,again, some other type of meditation: breath techniques (pranayama), dedi-cation techniques (bakhti yoga), etc... Hatha yoga itself can be practiced asa gymnastic - which is usually done in Occident - or as an active kinestheticmeditation. In the end, what defines best meditation would be a work pur-sued in order to acquire a better inner knowledge (“know thyself”, as waswritten above the entrance door of Delphi’s oracle).3
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