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Recently, we reprinted a lecture by Donald N. Michael, emeritus professor of planning and public policy, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, on the question of information overload: “Too Much of a Good Thing? Dilemmas of an Information Society .“ 1 In my discussion of this problem, I reviewed some of the literature on sensory input overload as it contributes to certain mental disorders. For the scientist and layperson, information overload is only one of the stressful consequences of life in modern society. Other sources of stress include family problems, job security, crime, noise pollution, and worldwide tensions. Faced with this daily round of stress-inducing stimuli, each person makes attempts to reduce stress or may, in fact, suffer consequences in the form of physical or mental disorders of one kind or another. One form of relief from tensions and stress, and a very old one, is the practice of meditation. In the first part of this essay, I’ll examine the various forms of meditation and the ways in which meditation seems to affect human physiology. The second part will deal with meditation’s effects on learning and creativity. Roger Walsh, University of California at Irvine Medical School, points out that the beginnings of meditation are lost in antiquity, but can be traced back at least 3,000 years. Walsh refers to meditation as “... a family of practices that train attention in order to heighten awareness and bring mental processes under greater control. ”z In his book Trance, Art and Creativity, John C. Gowan, California State University, Northndge, calls meditation” . . .a conscious effort to open the doors to the preconscious, through clearing and tranquilizing the conscious mind. ”s (p. 333) In Reafms of the Unconscious: The Enchanted Frontier, V.V. Nalimov, Moscow State University, says that the aim of meditation is “.. .to achieve a state which could be called a controlled waking dream.,., It is also possible to say that the aim of meditation is dehypnotization, the liberation of consciousness from the induced rubbish of thoughts, images, and fantasies.”q (p. 108) According to Deane H. Shapiro, California College of Medicine, University of California, Irvine, ”.., meditation refers to a family of techniques which have in common a conscious attempt to focus attention in a nonanalytical way and an attempt not to dwelf on discursive, ruminating thought ,“5 The foregoing attempts at definition illustrate a central difficulty in discussing meditation: it is a highly subjective pr~ cess, not easy to define or describe. And there are many different kinds of meditation. Some are esoteric and mystical, closely tied to religious doctrine, requiring years of intense study to master. Other forms of meditation demand no spiritual or religious commitment, are