Meditation traditions aim at different things, and research has tested only a few

Key takeaways

• Researchers sort meditation into focused attention, open monitoring and kindness practices, but that scheme was built from Buddhist methods and leaves prayer and mantra traditions out⁴.
• Across 22 trials, kindness-based meditation eased depression and raised self-compassion compared with no practice, but results against other active practices were often inconclusive¹⁰.
• In 2013 the American Heart Association said Transcendental Meditation may be considered for lowering blood pressure, while rating other meditation methods as not recommended for that purpose¹¹.
• As listed in October 2026, learning TM in the U.S. costs $540 to $980 depending on household income, or $420 for full-time students, according to the TM organization’s own fee page¹².
• Few studies compare traditions head to head, so none has been shown to be healthier than another; choose by meaning and fit, and talk with a professional if low mood lasts two weeks or more¹⁵.

In 1979, during the Dalai Lama’s first visit to the United States, a Boston cardiologist named Herbert Benson made a request¹. Benson studied blood pressure. He wanted to measure Tibetan monks who practiced tummo, or “inner fire,” a meditation said to raise body heat.

The Dalai Lama turned him down. These practices were meant for private spiritual ends, he explained, not for show¹.

Several months later, he changed his mind. In 1981, Benson’s team went to Dharamsala, India, then hiked up into the hills to record senior monks’ vital signs during practice¹. The monks raised their peripheral body temperature, a response many Western scientists had assumed the mind couldn’t control.

To Benson, the finding hinted at healing. To the monks, tummo had a different purpose: burning away inner defilements¹.

That gap, between what a tradition practices for and what a scientist can measure, runs through all meditation research. Here is what the major traditions aim at, how much each has been studied and what to ask a teacher.

One word covers many practices with different goals

The National Center for Complementary and Integrative Health (NCCIH) notes that many meditation techniques began in Eastern traditions². By 2022, 17.3% of U.S. adults meditated, up from 7.5% in 2002².

When the American Heart Association (AHA) reviewed meditation in 2017, it listed several types side by side³. They included samatha, or focused attention; vipassana, or insight meditation; mindfulness; Transcendental Meditation (TM), which repeats a word or thought; and Benson’s secular “relaxation response.”

Those methods don’t share a single goal. In the Burmese insight tradition, the aim is to see directly that experience keeps arising and passing away, which Buddhists call impermanence⁵. Soto Zen’s own guide to zazen, or seated meditation, asks you to stop trying to control your thoughts and simply let the sitting be⁶. The secular program called mindfulness-based stress reduction (MBSR) aims to ease the stress of pain and illness⁵.

Ranking them misses the point. A health study can tell you whether a practice lowers stress, not whether you reached a tradition’s spiritual goal.

Scientists sort practices by what attention is doing

In 2008, a team including Richard Davidson at the University of Wisconsin–Madison proposed a way to compare methods⁴. They split practice into two broad styles.

In focused attention, you rest attention on one chosen object, such as the breath. When it wanders, you notice and bring it back⁴. In open monitoring, you drop any single object and watch whatever arises, without reacting to it. The goal is to see your habits of thought and feeling clearly.

The authors said both styles appear, with variations, in Zen, vipassana and Tibetan Buddhism⁴. As focused attention matures, it becomes the doorway into open monitoring. Compassion practices, they wrote, are often seen as essential companions to the other two, but too little data existed to review them.

A map of major traditions

This table is our own summary for comparison, not a ranking. Each tradition contains far more variety than one row can hold.

Tradition	Core practice	Traditional aim	How people usually learn	Research status
Theravada insight (vipassana), shaped by 19th- and 20th-century Burmese teachers	Close attention to breath and body sensations as they change	Insight into impermanence5	Meditation centers, residential retreats, local sitting groups	Its methods feed much of mindfulness research45
Zen (Soto zazen)	Upright sitting, eyes half open, no particular object; periods of about 40 minutes6	Letting the sitting simply be, neither lost in thought nor drowsy6	Zen centers and temples	Mostly studied as one of several Buddhist styles in lab research4
Tibetan Buddhist practices	Calm focus and open awareness4, plus advanced practices such as tummo1	Varies by practice; for tummo, purifying the mind1	A qualified teacher within a lineage	Studies of expert monks, beginning in 19811
Loving-kindness (metta) and compassion	Silently repeating kind wishes, such as “may you be happy”9	Unconditional kindness toward yourself and others9	Buddhist centers, secular courses	Two meta-analyses; mostly small trials910
Mantra meditation, including TM	Repeating a word, phrase or thought23	Varies by tradition; TM’s U.S. group stresses health research13	TM: one-on-one with a certified TM teacher13	A cautious “may be considered” AHA rating for blood pressure11
Christian Centering Prayer	Silent prayer with a chosen sacred word, at least 20 minutes twice a day7	Consent to God’s presence and action within7	Contemplative Outreach groups, parishes and retreats	Little trial research in the sources reviewed for this guide
Sufi dhikr (Islam)	Invoking God’s name or a phrase of faith, alone or in a circle, often paced with the breath8	Remembrance of God8	Within a Sufi community	Little trial research in the sources reviewed for this guide
Secular programs (MBSR, relaxation response)	Breath, body scan and open awareness, taught in set courses45	Easing stress, pain and illness5	Eight-week classes, clinics, apps	Many randomized trials2
Jewish meditative prayer and other faith practices	Varies by faith and community	Defined by each faith	Through a congregation, clergy or a spiritual director	Few trials; see our articles on contemplative practices and spiritual well-being

The modern insight movement owes much to Ledi Sayadaw (1846 to 1923), a Burmese scholar-monk who taught meditation to laypeople⁵. He did so partly to strengthen Buddhists under British colonial rule and amid Christian missionary work. His line passed through Saya Thet Gyi, a lay teacher, to U Ba Khin and then to S.N. Goenka⁵.

Secular mindfulness partly grew from that line. Our article on the body scan tells how MBSR’s founder learned a practice from the U Ba Khin tradition. The Buddhist scholar Anālayo argues that tracing this history devalues neither form, since Buddhism has always changed with its circumstances⁵.

Prayer traditions use attention in their own way

The 2008 scheme was built on purpose from Buddhist methods and their secular offshoots⁴. Christian and Muslim contemplatives have their own methods, which don’t fit neatly into it.

In Centering Prayer, a Christian method set out by Thomas Keating in a guide from the group Contemplative Outreach, you sit with eyes closed for at least 20 minutes, twice a day⁷. You choose a sacred word of one or two syllables, such as “God” or “peace,” as a sign of your consent to God’s presence.

Unlike a mantra, the word isn’t repeated nonstop. You return to it gently only when you notice you’ve been caught up in a thought⁷. Keating’s guide adds that the practice isn’t meant to replace other kinds of prayer.

In Sufi Islam, dhikr, or “remembrance” of God, centers on invoking God’s name or the phrase lā ilāha illā Allāh, “there is no god but God”⁸. A 2026 study in a journal from the University of Virginia’s Contemplative Sciences Center describes a Sufi circle in Karachi, Pakistan, whose members chant together and pace the phrase with their breathing⁸.

Jewish meditative prayer and Hindu mantra practice have long histories of their own, best learned from teachers inside those traditions.

Loving-kindness has its own evidence, but it’s still thin

Loving-kindness, often called metta, is a Buddhist practice for building unconditional warmth toward yourself and others⁹. It belongs to a set of four qualities Buddhists cultivate: loving-kindness, compassion, appreciative joy and equanimity. Practitioners usually start with themselves, then move to loved ones, strangers, difficult people and finally all beings.

In compassion practice, you call to mind people who are suffering and grow the wish to ease their pain⁹.

In 2014, Julieta Galante and colleagues pooled 22 randomized trials, where people are assigned to groups by chance¹⁰. Compared with no practice, kindness-based meditation eased depression and raised mindfulness, compassion and self-compassion. Compared with progressive relaxation, it lifted positive emotions.

The quality of the trials ranged from low to moderate, and most were small¹⁰. The reviewers also noted that the practice may feel hard at first for some people.

A 2015 meta-analysis in Frontiers in Psychology looked at 24 studies with 1,759 people⁹. In randomized trials against waiting lists, loving-kindness gave a moderate boost to daily positive emotions. For those daily emotions, only one study found it beat another active practice. Longer programs didn’t produce bigger effects.

Transcendental Meditation: a heart rating, a price tag and a research question

TM is the only meditation method the AHA graded on its own for blood pressure¹¹. It also raises questions about who does the research.

The rating. In 2013, an AHA panel graded drug-free ways to lower blood pressure¹¹. It gave TM a class IIb rating with level B evidence, meaning it may be considered in clinical practice. Other meditation techniques, including MBSR, got class III, level C: not recommended for lowering blood pressure at that time¹¹. Yoga got the same grade. Aerobic exercise earned the top grade, class I, level A.

In 2017, a second AHA panel concluded that meditation may be considered as an add-on to proven lifestyle changes for lowering heart risk³. The evidence, it said, was modest. It also asked that future studies be run by investigators free of bias about the outcome.

The price. According to the group, TM is taught one-on-one by certified teachers and practiced 20 minutes twice a day¹³. As listed in October 2026, the TM organization’s U.S. fee page set a sliding scale by household income: $540 under $50,000, up to $980 at $200,000 or more¹². Full-time students were listed at $420, and people on federal assistance could ask about partial grants. The fee includes what the group calls free lifetime support.

The teaching nonprofit, Maharishi Foundation USA, says more than 400 peer-reviewed studies back TM and that the NIH has given more than $25 million for research on TM and heart health¹³. Those are the group’s own claims, which we did not independently confirm.

The research question. In 2012, a trial led by Robert Schneider reported a striking result¹⁴. It assigned 201 Black adults with heart disease to TM or to health education and followed them for about 5.4 years. By the end, 20 people in the TM group had died or had a heart attack or stroke, compared with 32 in the health education group.

The backstory matters. Schneider worked at an institute at Maharishi University of Management in Iowa¹⁴. The school carries the name of Maharishi, the teacher whose devotees practice TM¹. In 2011, the Archives of Internal Medicine pulled the paper 12 minutes before it was due to post online, to review extra data the authors had sent less than a day earlier¹⁴.

When the study appeared in another journal more than a year later, the count of primary events had risen from 40 to 52¹⁴. And because the trial compared TM with health education, not with other meditation, it can’t say whether any benefit is unique to TM. The 2013 AHA panel had found too few head-to-head studies to judge that¹¹.

None of this proves the result is wrong. It does mean one trial from a TM-linked team needs independent replication. Claims that group TM practice lowers city crime are a separate matter, covered in our article on meditation groups.

The research has studied only a few traditions

NCCIH’s research summary deals mostly with mindfulness programs². Among the sources reviewed for this guide, Zen sitting and most forms of contemplative prayer had little or no trial evidence of their own.

That gap cuts both ways. Little research doesn’t mean a practice fails. It means no one can yet say what it does for health.

It also explains why the Dalai Lama hesitated¹. A tradition’s goals, such as insight, devotion or compassion, rarely show up on a blood pressure cuff.

This matters to readers who value tradition. You can honor a practice for what it was built to do, and still apply the same honest test to any health claim made for it. That’s the standard to apply to a supplement label or a drug ad, too.

What the evidence says, rated

Claim	Evidence level	What the research shows
Mindfulness programs drawn from Buddhist practice ease anxiety and depression	Strong evidence	In a 2018 analysis of more than 12,000 people, better than no treatment and about as helpful as cognitive behavioral therapy and antidepressants2
Loving-kindness meditation lifts mood and self-compassion	Promising but early	Two meta-analyses, mostly small trials of low to moderate quality910
Loving-kindness beats other active practices	Not enough evidence	For daily positive emotions, only one study showed an edge9
TM lowers blood pressure	Promising but early	AHA class IIb, level B in 201311
TM prevents heart attacks and strokes	Promising but early	One 201-person trial by a TM-linked team, with an unusual publication history14
Expert tummo practice raises peripheral body temperature	Promising but early	Studies of senior monks, beginning in 19811
One tradition is healthier than the others	Not enough evidence	Few studies compare methods head to head11

Choosing a tradition or teacher, with respect

Start with what you’re seeking: calm, insight, devotion, kindness or a structured health course. Then pick the setting. Clinical courses suit health goals. Temples, centers and congregations teach a practice inside its full meaning.

NCCIH advises asking any instructor about their training and experience². Our article on meditation groups covers safety questions, costs and red flags. These questions focus on tradition and fit:

1. Whom did you learn from, and what lineage or program do you teach in?
2. What is this practice for in your tradition, and is a health goal welcome here?
3. Are there beliefs, vows, rituals or fees I should know about before I start?
4. Can I take part without joining the religion, and how should a guest behave?
5. How intensive is the training, and do you suggest starting slowly?
6. How do you credit the tradition and the communities this practice comes from?
7. If a student has a hard experience, what do you do, and do you refer to clinicians?

Respect is practical. Learn from teachers who can name their sources. Be wary of anyone selling a sacred practice as a quick fix. Our article on cultural appropriation offers a fuller guide to appreciating without taking.

Questions readers ask

The bottom line

Meditation isn’t one practice. Insight meditation, Zen, Tibetan practice, mantra, contemplative prayer and secular mindfulness grew from distinct roots and seek distinct ends, from calm to insight to devotion. Research has measured a few health effects of a few methods, and some of the best-known work came from researchers close to the practice they tested.

Choose a tradition for what you hope it will mean in your life. Learn it from a teacher who can name its roots, keep health claims to the same honest standard you’d use anywhere else, and get help if your mood stays low.

Related reading

• Meditation eases stress modestly, but two of its biggest promises didn’t hold up
• What meditation groups can do, and what they can stir up
• Tai chi, prayer and journaling: what research can measure and what it can’t
• Spiritual well-being shows up in health data, and so does spiritual struggle
• How to appreciate white sage without taking, since yours may have been poached

Sources

1. Tricycle: The Buddhist Review. “Dr. Herbert Benson, Who Brought Meditation to the Medical Mainstream, Dies at 86.” February 24, 2022. tricycle.org
2. National Center for Complementary and Integrative Health. “Meditation and Mindfulness: Effectiveness and Safety.” NIH, updated June 2022. nccih.nih.gov
3. American College of Cardiology. “Meditation and Cardiovascular Risk Reduction: Ten Points to Remember” (on Levine GN, et al., Journal of the American Heart Association, 2017). October 10, 2017. acc.org
4. Lutz A, Slagter HA, Dunne JD, Davidson RJ. “Attention regulation and monitoring in meditation.” Trends in Cognitive Sciences, 2008;12(4):163-169 (author copy, Center for Healthy Minds). centerhealthyminds.org
5. Anālayo Bh. “Buddhist Antecedents to the Body Scan Meditation.” Mindfulness, 2020;11(1):194-202 (pre-publication copy, University of Hamburg). buddhismuskunde.uni-hamburg.de
6. Sotoshu Shumucho (Administrative Headquarters of Soto Zen Buddhism). “The Practice of Zazen.” Leaflet, 2014. sotozen.com
7. Keating T. “The Method of Centering Prayer: The Prayer of Consent.” Contemplative Outreach, Ltd., 2006, 2020 (the organization’s own guide; copy hosted by Jamberoo Abbey). jamberooabbey.org.au
8. Baig N. “Dhikr: The Contemplative Life in the Sufi Tradition.” Journal of Contemplative Studies (Contemplative Sciences Center, University of Virginia), May 28, 2026. contemplativejournal.org
9. Zeng X, Chiu CPK, Wang R, Oei TPS, Leung FYK. “The effect of loving-kindness meditation on positive emotions: a meta-analytic review.” Frontiers in Psychology, 2015;6:1693. frontiersin.org
10. Galante J, Galante I, Bekkers M-J, Gallacher J. “Effect of kindness-based meditation on health and well-being: A systematic review and meta-analysis.” Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 2014;82(6):1101-1114 (record, Cardiff University). pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov
11. Brook RD, Appel LJ, Rubenfire M, et al. “Beyond Medications and Diet: Alternative Approaches to Lowering Blood Pressure: A Scientific Statement From the American Heart Association.” Hypertension, 2013;61:1360-1383. Abstract via Qigong Institute research database: qigonginstitute.org ; text excerpts via University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (Schoenbach V, public library, “Cardiovascular health”):
12. Maharishi Foundation USA. “Course Fee” (TM organization’s own fee schedule, undated), accessed October 2026. usa.tm.org
13. Maharishi Foundation USA. “Transcendental Meditation Health Professionals Program” (TM organization’s own page), accessed October 2026. usa.tm.org
14. Retraction Watch. “Transcendental meditation paper pulled minutes before publication appears in a new journal.” November 13, 2012. retractionwatch.com
15. National Institute of Mental Health. “My Mental Health: Do I Need Help?” NIH, revised 2025. nimh.nih.gov