Well here is the wikiepidia definition of and explanation about meditation:
The term meditation refers to a broad variety of practices (much like the term sports), which range from techniques designed to promote relaxation, contacting spiritual guides, building internal energy (chi, ki, prana, etc.), receiving psychic visions, getting closer to God, seeing past lives, taking astral journeys, and so forth, to more technical exercises targeted at developing compassio, love, patience, generosity, forgiveness and more far-reaching goals such as effortlessly sustained single-pointed concentration, single-pointed analysis, and an indestructible sense of well-being while engaging in any and all of life's activities. Thus, it is essential to be specific about the type of meditation practice under investigation.
Accordin- g to Little Universe, the act of conscious or non-conscious meditaion is instrumental in helping us create the environment we need to get to know and work on our-SELVES beyond our superficial SELF since the journey of rediscovering our SPIRITUAL SELF and ALL THAT IS starts from and ends within our BEING.