The Impact of Meditative Practices on Physiology and Neurology: A Review of the Literature

Abstract

A general awareness of meditation has grown significantly in the western world within the last fifty years yet with little accurate understanding of the nature of the practice. In addition, the broad diversity of meditative practices and their variations of physiological results make a standardized study of effects difficult. Recent advances in technology have provided an opportunity for investigators to systematize their efforts so that the body of research may be more coherent. A more accurate understanding of the physiological and neurological effects of meditation will likely reveal means of therapeutic application for both individual and social benefit as well as further insight into attentional states. The preponderance of literature points to meditation as a practice facilitating a general return to neurological and physiological homeostasis.