Meditation

Meditation is a name for many practices that train attention. Victoria's Better Health Channel describes it as deliberately focusing attention, so as to feel calm and more aware and energised. In some kinds of meditation the person holds their attention on one thing, such as the breath, a sound, an image or a mantra (a word or phrase said over and over). Others, such as mindfulness, involve paying attention to the present moment without judging it. In Spiritualism, meditation is the basic discipline of the development class, where mediums are trained.

Description

Ways of meditating

Because meditation has grown out of many religions, philosophies and ways of life, there are many techniques. Better Health gives these examples:

• Breath: noticing the air moving in and out through the nostrils, or counting breaths in different ways.
• Mindfulness and grounding: noticing inner experiences such as bodily sensations, feelings, thoughts and memories, and simply observing them without judging them.
• Emptying the mind: letting the mind clear, gently setting aside stray thoughts or letting them drift in and out of awareness.
• Looking at an object: resting attention on the shape, sound and texture of something such as a tree, a candle flame or a spiritually meaningful picture.
• Movement: using yoga, qi gong or tai chi to quieten the mind by matching breath and body to gentle movement.
• Mantra: repeating a word or phrase, aloud or silently and sometimes in time with the breath, to hold attention.

Some people meditate while moving, for example while walking, swimming, or doing a simple repetitive task such as sweeping or washing dishes. The activity is done slowly and with attention, as a way of keeping attention on what is happening inside, rather than as an end in itself.

Practising

A common approach is to sit comfortably in a quiet place, free of distractions, for anywhere from five minutes to half an hour. Sitting cross-legged on the floor isn't necessary: a chair or a bed will do, although lying down at night can lead to falling asleep. Meditating at about the same time each day helps make it a habit. Many people learn on their own; others prefer a class or a group with an experienced teacher. When attention wanders, Better Health suggests accepting this without annoyance and gently bringing attention back.

healthdirect, the Australian Government-funded health information service, suggests that beginners start with one or two minutes a day and build up gradually over weeks or months: find a quiet spot, settle into a comfortable position such as sitting on a chair or lying on the floor, close the eyes, and focus on one thing, such as the breath, nearby sounds or an object.

Structured programs

Some programs combine meditation with other activities. Mindfulness-based stress reduction teaches mindfulness meditation alongside group discussion and ways of applying it to stressful situations. Mindfulness-based cognitive therapy combines mindfulness practice with parts of cognitive behavioural therapy.

Scope

What it includes

• Practices that hold attention on one focus, such as the breath, a sound, an image or a mantra
• Mindfulness: attention to the present moment without judgement
• Meditation in movement, including yoga, qi gong, tai chi and walking
• Learning alone or in classes and groups
• Structured programs such as mindfulness-based stress reduction and mindfulness-based cognitive therapy
• In Spiritualism, meditation in development classes and circles, as part of training for mediumship, and in church services

What it is not

• Meditation doesn't require a religion, although it is central to many religions, including Buddhism and Hinduism.
• It is not meant as a way to withdraw from life or to avoid personal and practical problems.
• It is not a replacement for conventional health care, or a reason to put off seeing a health care provider about a medical problem.
• In Spiritualism, meditation is not mediumship itself. It is the groundwork on which mediumship is developed; Melton notes that other development techniques vary from medium to medium.
• The research is mixed in quality. The US National Center for Complementary and Integrative Health (NCCIH) reports that recent studies have looked at whether meditation or mindfulness helps people manage anxiety, stress, depression, pain and withdrawal symptoms, and at its effects on sleep and weight control. Much of this research has been preliminary or not scientifically rigorous. Because the studies covered many different practices whose effects are hard to measure, the results have been difficult to analyse and may have been read too optimistically. Studies of meditation and the brain are also hard to interpret, and their practical meaning is unclear.

Traditions and lineage

Meditation goes back thousands of years, and many of its techniques began in Eastern traditions. Some form of it is found in most of the major religions, including Christianity, Judaism, Buddhism, Hinduism and Islam. Eastern religions have tended to treat meditation as a path to spiritual enlightenment, and have joined it with health-promoting practices.

In the West, people meditate for health and for religious or spiritual reasons, and many see it mainly as a self-help tool for managing stress and sharpening thinking. Meditating for spiritual growth without a religious framework is becoming very common. In the United States, a national health survey found that the share of adults who had meditated more than doubled between 2002 and 2022, from 7.5 to 17.3 per cent.

Context

Within Spiritualism

In Spiritualism, meditation appears both in the training of mediums and in worship.

The foundation of development

J. Gordon Melton describes the Spiritualist development class, which trains psychic and especially mediumistic abilities, and says meditation is basic to it, while other techniques vary depending on the medium. The Spiritualists' National Union (SNU) in Britain builds the same order into its own training. In its certificate course in speaking and demonstrating, the training sessions for both speakers and demonstrators include one titled "Meditation, Attunement, and Inspiration", listed before the sessions on developing speaking or communicating mediumship. The SNU uses the word attunement elsewhere for the medium's relationship with the spirit world: in healing mediumship, it says, the medium attunes to Spirit.

In worship

The SNU says some services may include meditation, and that its Lyceum, the education body, now includes meditation, yoga and Tai Chi.

How it differs from meditation in other traditions

The techniques themselves are shared widely, and what changes is the purpose. Eastern religions have tended to treat meditation as a path to enlightenment, and many people in the West use it mainly to manage stress or think more clearly. In the Spiritualist development class its aim is the development of psychic and mediumistic abilities. This difference matters for a student: the same quiet sitting may be taught for relaxation, for insight, or as preparation for mediumship, and it helps to know which a teacher or group intends.

Scholars also note that Spiritualists have taken up meditation from outside the movement. Deirdre Meintel counts meditation among borrowings from other traditions in a Montreal Spiritualist church, and Paul Gillen wrote that Spiritualism's philosophical surroundings had most recently shifted towards homeopathy and meditative practices.

In Australian Spiritualism

In Sydney in the late 1970s, a Spiritualist development class that Gillen attended opened with the Lord's Prayer and readings from Spiritualist literature, then followed the pattern of home circles, beginning with a long silence while the group meditated. After the silence, members were encouraged to go into trance; those who did not were expected to describe what they had "seen", and the leader discussed these images as possible clairvoyance. The circle ended with a test of psychometry. In this account meditation was the opening stillness from which the rest of the development work followed, as Melton's description of the development class would lead one to expect.

Meditation also has a place in Australian services and church life. At the Canberra Spiritualist Association, a typical service includes a brief meditative session after the medium is introduced. In 1985 the South Canberra Spiritualists held discussion and meditation meetings alongside their services. The Victorian Spiritualists' Union holds meditation and development circles in North Melbourne and Ringwood East, and St John's Spiritual Church in Adelaide says its Sunday service includes a healing and meditation segment. In 2017 the Blue Mountains Gazette reported that the Church of United Spiritualism of Australia offered meditation, along with numerology and astrology, in its services.

A Spiritualist perspective

Meditation is one of the most ordinary and most valued parts of Spiritualist life. Circles and development classes begin in silence, and services often make room for a quiet few minutes. A teacher would say that sitting quietly, regularly and without straining is the ground on which everything else is built, and that the stillness comes before any attempt at mediumship. A student who learns to sit well learns to tell their own passing thoughts from impressions that may be worth sharing, and that discernment is the beginning of good mediumship.

Spiritualist meditation shares a great deal with the many other traditions that meditate, and some Spiritualist churches have borrowed from them. What gives it a particular character is its purpose: to settle the mind, attune to spirit and grow in awareness. It is not a contest or a race to experiences, and nothing has gone wrong if a sitting is simply quiet. Good practice is the same as anywhere. Keep sessions gentle, especially for beginners. Watch for anyone who becomes anxious or unsettled, and stop if they do. People living with serious mental illness should meditate only with expert guidance, and keep their own doctor informed.

Meditation in Australia

healthdirect, the Australian Government-funded health information service, describes meditation as a kind of mind–body relaxation technique and a formal practice of mindfulness. It suggests weekly classes, podcasts or videos, mental health apps and meditation courses as ways to learn.

Victoria's Better Health Channel lists a GP, a psychologist, teachers of yoga, kum nye, qi gong and tai chi, and Meditation Australia among the places to seek help.

Safety and good practice

Meditation is usually considered low-risk, but few studies have looked for harmful effects, so NCCIH says firm statements about its safety aren't possible. A 2020 systematic review of 83 studies, covering 6,703 people who meditated, found at least one kind of adverse event reported in 55 of the studies. Across all studies about 8 per cent of participants had an adverse event, ranging from about 4 per cent in experimental studies to about 33 per cent in observational studies. The most common were anxiety, depression and changes in thinking, and they sometimes happened in people with no previous mental health problems. This matters for circles and classes as much as for people meditating alone.

Better Health advises that people with a serious mental illness should meditate only under expert guidance, and take great care if meditating alone. NCCIH suggests asking about a meditation teacher's training and experience, and telling your health care providers about any complementary practices you use.

Related modalities

• Development circles
• Relaxation techniques
• Yoga
• Qigong
• Mediumship

Further reading

• Better Health Channel. "Meditation". Department of Health, State Government of Victoria, 2015.
• Farias M, Maraldi E, Wallenkampf KC, Lucchetti G. "Adverse events in meditation practices and meditation-based therapies: a systematic review". Acta Psychiatrica Scandinavica, 2020.
• healthdirect. "Meditation". Healthdirect Australia, 2023.
• National Center for Complementary and Integrative Health. "Meditation and Mindfulness: Effectiveness and Safety". US National Institutes of Health, 2022.