Do people in your world meditate, and how does meditation work?

[BloodyHellSausage]

It's not just Buddhist monks and yoga practitioners who meditate, many religions across the world has some sort of meditation.

Meditation - Wikipedia

 

[CupofJoe]

Many non-religious people across the world meditate as well.
In my WiP there is a Warrior's meditation that is done before battle. It is there to clear the mind ready for killing as the dominant religion of the area generally frowns on violence in any form. With a clear mind, you shouldn't have to worry that you've taken a life as you will have put yourself in a place mentally where killing is necessary. Ghosts and spirits of the dead are believed to be a very real thing and often a problem. I haven't worked out how the meditation is actually done as I don't think it will be in the story, but the fact that some of the fighters miss it is part of the setting.

 

[Parsa]

Yes , priests and priestesses in my world meditate, they tend to clear their minds til they only see the darkness, tbe purest of all thinga

 

[Viorp]

They don't.
Didn't even think of that.
Something which needs to be added.

 

[pmmg]

My MC meditates frequently, but I don't think they would think of it as such. Most characters would probably not actively engage in such an activity. Its not something that would be prevalent in the culture. Thought, meditation may have many forms and some things they do might achieve a similar purpose.

 

[ShadeZ]

In one of my books, There are two cultures that meditate as a way to center themselves and become more aware of their world, nature, and what is around them. They are assassin like characters and archers usually so they need to have high senses to survive a full on war, they sometimes use it for hunting as well as it enhanced their senses and calms them down.

 

[Horus]

It exists in several forms for a variety of reasons. Mages meditate to attune themselves to mana in the local environment, enabling them to adjust for changes that might negatively impact certain spells. Alchemist do so to analyze elemental composition of materials. And all monastic magic is focused around meditation to unlock additional understanding of the discipline needed to use their art, though their meditation is more like Tai Chi. Then there are people who meditate to pray or commune with their gods/spirits, both for spells and just for clarity/understanding. Saints can enter a meditation that temporarily turns them into a Seraph (a kind of Avatar of their god).

Your average person still will only meditate in the praying sense. They don't get anything out of it, except occasional a feeling of comfort, certainty, or clarity. It is something done only for a minute or less, at a time. The more martial, arcane, and mystic disciplines make full use of it for other things. As such, it is often viewed with the same suspicion as reaching for your belt while you are armed. Do it without going too close to your sword, and people will assume you are reaching for something harmless, but if you take too long, you might be getting ready for trouble.

 

[aDwarfNamedUrist]

Meditation in my world is something which is necessary for powerful magic. You see, in order to create an effect, it must be imagined, however, if the exact nature of the effect in question is not fully specified, then any part unspecified is in the discretion of the energy discharge. A common teaching exercise is the carving of a statue using solely the caster's will. This builds both the will and the meditative ability of the student, which is necessary in magic. The meditation that I describe is not like clearing your mind but focusing on just one thing, but the entirety of it. This is a large reason why mages are scholarly, to have more magical ability, and why casting spells takes time, while also explaining why battle magic is so much faster and more explosive, but much more draining.

 

[Night Gardener]

My characters meditate. Non-magic people do it for purposes that we modern peoples can relate to today ( yoga, self-healing, physical health; preparing for altered states of conciousness such as communing with the dead, clairvoyance.)
However, this is normally a 'static' state. They're in a state of meditation that keeps the body mostly stationary... sitting, laying down, etc.

Magic-using people meditate for all the above mentioned reasons. However, meditating for them can include expanding into dream-walking, astral projection, becomming conduits for spirits, fine-tuning powers ( telekinesis is a big thing in my WIP ),
healing or re-aligning energy after battles or expenditures, etc. The key difference is that magic users go into altered states and are mobile/active effortlessly, should they choose. Powers of concentration, shutting out distractions, clearing the mind- all acts of meditation- all necessary to be able to use high-level magic safely and effectively.

Some forms of meditation are ritualistic... but more practically, they have to be able to alter mindsets quickly to utilize powers effectively in day to day life.