A Buddhist-based meditation practice for care and healing: An introduction and its application

Abstract

This paper outlines Buddhist-based meditation in terms of its spiritual, psychotherapeutic, physiological and neuroscientific perspectives. In the latter part of this paper, a pilot study is discussed, in which Japanese university students volunteered to practice meditation at home and complete questionnaires. T-tests were performed to compare with the non-meditated control group. Although only a small number in the experimental group completed the study, our analyses demonstrated that students benefited from meditation and showed significant increases in their sense of coherence, self-esteem and purpose in life. Lastly, practical implications of meditation in contemporary Japanese society are discussed. © 2013 Wiley Publishing Asia Pty Ltd.