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For many years, meditation remained largely outside the purview of scientific research. Clinicians and researchers commonly considered meditation synonymous with reflection or relaxation, if they considered it at all. However, recent years have witnessed a surge in the scientific study of meditation. This remarkable change appears to be the result of at least two factors. First, meditation-based interventions have become widespread in clinical settings [4]. Second, a more sophisticated understanding of the history and cultural context of meditation traditions has lead scientists to conceive of meditation as a kind of cognitive training. While the heterogeneity of meditative techniques obviates any definition that is both simple and inclusive, in general meditation involves the continuous direction of attention towards some aspect of one’s present experience. The goal is not to think about the mental or perceptual …