I have been meditating off and on for the last 12 years. It began as an assignment for a comparative religions course (don't remember the course title exactly, but it was something like that). However, I found the mindfulness practice helpful and return to it regularly. It helps me control my mind and, piece-by-piece, progress down the Eightfold Path.
Today, I found an interesting article on the long term benefits of mindfulness practice. Giovanni assembles a set of articles that researched the benefits of meditation. Although it is only a sampling of all research on meditation (see the comments on his article for further research), he presents a good primer for meditation's benefits. Here's the accompanying infographic:
Interestingly, today's Dilbert isn't keen on meditation in the workplace.