What Do Meditators Do When They Meditate? Proposing a Novel Basis for Future Meditation Research

Abstract

Meditation is an umbrella term for a vast range of contemplative practices. Former proposals have struggled to do justice to this diversity. To our knowledge, there is to date no comprehensive overview of meditation techniques spanning all major traditions. The present studies aimed at filling this gap. In a qualitative study, we compiled a collection of 309 meditation techniques through a literature search and interviews with 20 expert meditators. Then, we reduced this collection to 50 basic meditation techniques. In a second, quantitative study, 635 experienced meditators from a wide range of meditative backgrounds indicated how much experience they had with each of these 50 meditation techniques. Meditators' responses indicated that our choice of techniques had been adequate and two techniques had to be added. Our additional statistical and cluster analyses illustrated preferences for specific techniques across and within diverse traditions as well as sets of techniques commonly practiced together. Body-centered techniques stood out in being of exceptional importance to all meditators. In conclusion, we found an amazing variety of meditation techniques, which considerably surpasses previous collections. Our selection of basic meditation techniques might be of value for future scientific investigations and we encourage researchers to rely on this set.

Differential Effects of Ethical Education, Physical Hatha Yoga, and Mantra Meditation on Well-Being and Stress in Healthy Participants—An Experimental Single-Case Study

“…Alternatively, they could examine the effects of diverse meditation techniques in this context. Current research has revealed a multiplicity of meditation techniques (Matko and Sedlmeier, 2019 ; Matko et al, 2021b ), most of which are under researched at present. Furthermore, yoga incorporates a collection of diverse breathing techniques that can have quite different, sometimes even opposing effects on practitioners (Raghuraj et al, 1998 ; Peng et al, 2004 ).…”

The effects of different components of yoga: A review of comparative studies and meta-analyses

“…Still, more research is necessary to understand thoroughly how each component contributes to the efficacy of combined treatments. Additionally, current research has demonstrated that Hindu and Buddhist meditators show very distinct preferences for specific meditation techniques (Matko et al, 2020). These differences between traditions might ultimately influence the outcomes of both related interventions and might account for the observed differences reviewed above.…”

Assessing the effects of an 8-week mindfulness training program on neural oscillations and self-reports during meditation practice

“…This is usually cultivated through focused meditation, in which a particular object (e.g. the breath) is chosen as the target of attention (Matko et al, 2021;Matko & Sedlmeier, 2019). The practice of mindfulness has become popular in western cultures in the last years due to its putative health benefits (Kabat-Zinn, 2006).…”