There are, broadly speaking, two types (with many variations):
Mindfulness meditation, wherein you study the contents of your own mind and, in many versions, practice not reacting to thoughts and sensations.
Concentration meditation, wherein you attempt to focus your consciousness to a single point.
It takes a long time to become good at meditation.
Meditation is just clearing your mind and focusing on nothing, preferably while depriving your senses. All it does is clear your mind. I once hallucinated while meditating, was weird.
That's one type of meditation.
Acutely, you are entering into altered states of consciousness. Chronically, you are improving your ability to clearly perceive what is going on in your own mind and your ability to control said mind.
Meditation is a big old meme. Literally useless, except as a way for new agers to feel superior without doing anything.
>controlling my own consciousness is a meme
Imagine being this stupid
Not to drag the conversation too far afield, but for me the separation between Catholic thought and Buddhist thought is a leap rather than a chasm. There are days where I still nurse the suspicion that Christ may have been another transformation body of Shakyamuni. So much of the Gospel seems reflected in the dharma. It is challenging at times to peer into my own assumptions and to see where I have allowed too much cross pollination between my experiences of either faith.
Jesus was doing something for all those years before he started preaching, right? He was meditating in the desert
>meme buzzwords are a meme
Yes. Go control your consciousness somewhere else.
It's pretty fuckin pointless. It lets you think about your day and calm down. Just like a self-conscious form of controlling your mind.
This is one topic where /x/ would probably be more helpful.