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Meditation

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Encyclopedia of Personality and Individual Differences

Synonyms

Attention training; Concentration; Cultivation; Introspection; Mental training; Reflection

Definition

Meditation refers to a family of self-regulation practices that focus on training attention and awareness in order to bring mental and emotional processes into consciousness and thereby foster general well-being and development and/or specific capacities such as calm, clarity, concentration, and compassion (Walsh and Shapiro 2006, pp. 228–229).

Introduction

Depending on the context, the term “meditation” can refer to a wide variety of traditional and contemporary practices, ranging from techniques designed to enhance spirituality, relaxation, health, and well-being. More recently, meditation has been taught in nonsectarian contexts including hospitals, educational settings, psychotherapy and substance abuse clinics, homeless shelters, and workplace settings. This chapter describes different forms of meditation and how these practices can be categorized. Next, this chapter...

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Correspondence to Shauna L. Shapiro .

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Shapiro, S.L., Jazaieri, H. (2020). Meditation. In: Zeigler-Hill, V., Shackelford, T.K. (eds) Encyclopedia of Personality and Individual Differences. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-24612-3_535

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