The Origins of Meditation

The practice of meditation has been around for several
millennia. Although there are no recorded texts which would
point exactly when this practice started, several ancient
civilizations became the cradle of today’s meditation
practices.

India particularly is hailed as the proponent of meditation
as an organized practice. Over centuries, many Hindi
scholars have written about meditation, from the ways of
doing it to its benefits. Some of the well-known Hindi
texts include the Vedas and the Yoga Sutras which was
written by Patanjali.

But no one has arguably been more influential in the world
of meditation than Siddharta Gautama, otherwise known as
Buddha. In 500 BC, he achieved enlightenment through the
practice of meditation. His influence spread throughout
Asia and eventually the whole world.

While the East has been practicing meditation for several
centuries already, the Western world picked the practice up
much later. In fact, it was only in the mid-20th century
when meditation became a popular practice among Westerners.

Today, more and more meditation centers and organizations
crop up in the West. While meditation used to be
intertwined with religious practices, a good number of
Western meditation centers are stripped off this spiritual
aspect. They usually focus now on the health benefits of
this practice especially in the fast-paced world of today.

But regardless of the loss of the spiritual side of
meditation, it is still widely-recognized for its benefits
to people’s mental well-being. It was and it still remains
as one of the central aspects of meditation.