Meditation, Mindfulness, and Prayer: Three Spiritual Modalities Utilized for Healing


Author: Jeff Levin1,2

Affiliation: <sup>1</sup> Institute for Studies of Religion and Medical Humanities Program, Baylor University, Waco, TX, USA. jeff_levin@baylor.edu.

<sup>2</sup> Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, Duke University School of Medicine, Durham, NC, USA. jeff_levin@baylor.edu.
Conference/Journal: J Relig Health
Date published: 2024 Sep 6
Other:
  Special Notes: doi: 10.1007/s10943-024-02122-4.   ,  Word Count: 111  
    This paper describes three spiritual practices utilized for healing. These modalities-meditation, mindfulness, and prayer-share a spiritual foundation and appear to operate, in part, through mind-body connections that can be accessed to ameliorate physical and psychological symptoms and to promote health. For each modality, this paper discusses pertinent conceptual issues, summarizes empirical evidence suggestive of a role in healing, and outlines theoretical support for such a relationship. Also discussed is a fourth modality, energy healing, and how it might be studied, as well as why further investigation of spiritual healing is merited and a worthwhile topic for medical research.



Keywords: Healing; Meditation; Mindfulness; Prayer; Spiritual healing.



PMID: 39240398 DOI: 10.1007/s10943-024-02122-4