Health Education vs Meditation in Irreversible Age-Related Vision Loss Patients and Their Caregivers

Inclusion Criteria: * Patients with irreversible age-related vision loss (IARVL) and have ongoing significant disability and/or their caregivers who agree to consent. * IARVL patients between age 60 to 85 years or caregivers between 18 to 85 years. * Deemed competent to provide individual consent to participate. * Speak and understand English without requirement for interpretation or assistance. * Have no significant self-reported or physician diagnosed mental health disorder other than depressive and/or anxiety symptoms. * Have either a minimum of CES-D 20-item scale score of 16 OR a minimum of 8 on the Hospital Anxiety Scale (HADS-A) 7-item sub-scale. * Have sufficient hearing to be able to follow verbal instructions * Ability to sit independently without physical discomfort for 30 minutes. * Willing and able to attend, via Microsoft TEAMS software, the four initial training sessions of MEDITATION or HEP and at least 6 follow-up sessions. * Willing to dedicate 33 minutes per day to their assigned home practice. Exclusion Criteria: * Inability to provide informed consent. * Dementia as defined by MoCA \< 21. * Have significant suicidal ideation as per self-report (CES-D = 3 on item question 14 and/or 15). * Have severe depression CES-D ≥ 24. * Participating in other similar studies. * Have a lifetime diagnosis of self-reported other mental disorders, including bipolar I or II disorder, primary psychotic disorder (schizophrenia, schizoaffective disorder, schizophreniform disorder, delusional disorder). * Self-reported substance abuse or dependence within the past 3 months. * Have an acutely unstable medical illnesses, including delirium or acute cerebrovascular or cardiovascular events within the last 6 months. * Have a terminal medical diagnosis with prognosis of less than 12 months. * Having any planned changes to mood-altering medications at the time of enrollment for the next 12 weeks.