Meditation Practices Across the Globe and their Beneficial Effects

One can divide this book into four broad sections: The first section (chapter 1) consists of 'Introduction'; the second section is the longest section that consists of 23 chapters (chapters 2-24). This section covers 'Religion-Based Meditation Practices in the World' in 23 well-known and not so-well-known religions across the globe. The religions included for meditation practices in this section are: Hinduism, Buddhism, Jainism, Sikhism, Murāqabah, Christianity, Bábism, Baha'I Faith, Taoism, Judaism, Confucianism, Shinto, Druze, Mandaeism, Zoroastrianism, Yazdanism, Paganism, Animism, Totemism, Shamanism, Gnosticism, Rastafarianism, and Tenrikyo. The third section consisting of 13 chapters (chapters 25-37) covers 'Secular Meditation Practices in the World'. These meditation practices are: Chakra-Meditation, Transcendental Meditation (TM), Humming-Bee (Bhramari)/Throat-Friction Meditation, Guided-Meditation, Pranayama and other Breath-Based Meditation Practices, Pyramid Meditation, Walking Meditation, Labyrinth Walking Meditation, Standing Meditation, Positive Affirmations Meditation, Binaural-Beats-Based Mediation, Trataka Meditation, and Shoonya Meditation. The last and the fourth section describes some of the 'Research on the Beneficial Effects of Meditation Practices'. This is described in Chapter 38, which is on the Research-supported physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual effects of various meditation practices described in this book. The author sincerely believes that a book of this nature covering diversified types of meditation practices will appeal to the global readership and will go a long way in providing a comprehensive information in a single book.