The practice of meditation traces its roots to around 3000 B.C. However, some scholars proffer that meditation may be as old as humanity itself, stating that even the Neanderthals might have had meditative capacities. Derived from the Latin word ‘meditatum,’ meditation refers to a technique or set of techniques that individuals use to attain a heightened sense of awareness and focus on reaching a calm and stable state, mentally and emotionally.
Meditation can be firmly traced back to 1500 B.C. India, where old records reference the practice of ‘jhana’ or ‘dhyana,’ or training of the mind. These records are said to originate from the Hindu tradition of ‘Vedantism.’ Meditation also has roots in ancient China, as far back as the third and sixth centuries, with the writings of Laozi, an ancient Chinese philosopher. He used several terms similar to the meditation techniques used in later centuries in his works. Some of these terms include ‘Shou Zhong,’ meaning “guarding the middle” and ‘Bao Yi,’ which translates to “embracing the one.” Despite these connections to China and India, it is difficult to trace the exact origin of meditation because it is practiced in multiple cultures and religions like Christianity, Islam, and Judaism. These have all influenced what meditation is today.
Meditation didn’t creep into Western culture until the 20th century. In the 1960s, Harvard Medical School professor, Herbert Benson, began to study the scientific aspect of meditation, finding that people who meditated used 17% less oxygen than others. In the 1990s, meditation began to be viewed as trendy in the United States, especially with celebrities joining the trend. Now, about 9.3 million adults in the U.S. use meditation annually.
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