This thought hit me when I was reading scientific studies made on the positive benefits with meditation and it hit me -- how come meditation was only practiced in the east and never spread to the west even though everyone can feel it's positive health effects quickly by starting to practice it. And why India of all places? Another strange thing is that the abrahamitic religions never mention this practice, which is strange for a religion proclaiming to be the only true religion. I've read about the gnosticism and it has some elements resembling to meditation but it's really more like an prayer and it came a few centuries later than Christianity.
Doesn't it seem odd that the only civilization that discovered meditation was India? There are no texts showing that similar practices existed elsewhere in the world at that time, and even later (that i know of).
I don't quite know what you mean by 'much later'-meditative or at least intensely focused practices are known from the middle ages on at least in quite a few Abrahamic religions, sometimes with controversy attached, such as the Hesychast movement in Eastern Orthodoxy, the Sufi practice of dikhr, certain aspects of the 'devotio moderna' of the late middle ages, and so on. Is there a specific timeframe or practice you have in mind with your question?
Meditation was meant for intense prayer, through mantras, and different religions have similar practices.
So for religous reasons, Meditation was seen in the wes early on, however it was just different application of the same principle, isntead of crossing ones legs and performing a mantra, kneeling and intense repetitive prayer was used.
For example: Catholics praying the rosary results in similar responses that mantras do for Eastern religions. Its all about focusing the mind, clearing out thoughts through repetition and calm.
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC61046/
As for Yoga, and popular "zen" ideas seen in the west today (particularly the US), I believe is a result of American exposure to Buddhist, and Hindu philosophies when India broke away from the British Empire and had more interaction with other nations in the world. However as I have very limited knowledge of India, I shall let others go into more detail.