Deep Rest: An Integrative Model of How Contemplative Practices Combat Stress and Enhance the Body’s Restorative Capacity

Engaging in contemplative practice like meditation, yoga, and prayer, is beneficial for psychological and physical well-being. Recent research has identified several underlying psychological and biological pathways that explain these benefits. However, there is not yet consensus on the underlying overlapping physiological mechanisms of contemplative practice benefits. In this article, we integrate divergent scientific literatures on contemplative practice interventions, stress science, and mitochondrial biology, presenting a unified biopsychosocial model of how contemplative practices reduce stress and promote physical health. We argue that engaging in contemplative practice facilitates a restorative state termed “deep rest, ” largely through safety signaling, during which energetic resources are directed toward cellular optimization and away from energy-demanding stress states. Our model thus presents a framework for how contemplative practices enhance positive psychological and physiological functioning by optimizing cellular energy consumption.