The Journal focuses on meditation, mindfulness, Yoga, health, well-being. Yoga is a group of physical, mental, and spiritual practices or disciplines which originated in ancient India. Meditation is a practice where an individual uses a technique – such as mindfulness, or focusing the mind on a particular object, thought, or activity – to train attention and awareness, and achieve a mentally clear and emotionally calm and stable state. Mindfulness is the psychological process of purposely bringing one's attention to experiences occurring in the present moment without judgment, which one develops through the practice of meditation and through other training. Health is a state of physical, mental and social well-being in which disease and infirmity are absent. Well-being is the experience of health, happiness, and prosperity. It includes having good mental health, high life satisfaction, a sense of meaning or purpose, and ability to manage stress. More generally, well-being is just feeling well.

Originally designed to promote religious and spiritual development, meditation practices have been the subject of enormous public and scientific interest for decades. Over this time, significant research efforts have documented the many psychological health impacts associated with these practices. This article provides a descriptive and critical review of over 250 published studies, spanning 45 years of research and exploring a diverse range of meditation techniques and health and functioning outcome variables. The research is organized along the lines of meditation technique, samples, and outcome domains with study information (including limitations) summarized in tables. While the vast majority of findings support the effectiveness of meditation practices in cultivating positive psychological health and functioning, supporting conclusions of beneficence, the majority of evidence has emerged from uncontrolled and methodologically limited investigations, thus failing to support conclusions of efficacy. Finally, a review of the state of the science with a number of suggestions for future research is provided. The need for conceptually driven studies into the nature of meditation as well as theoretically-grounded investigations is highlighted.

Best Regards,
Editorial Manager
Journal of Yoga Practice and Therapy
Email: yogatherapy@esciencejournals.org