5 Common Types Of Meditation Techniques
The world we live in is becoming more hectic day by day. There are lots of demands required, and sometimes it becomes even hard to manage our states of consciousness. We become stressed and anxious and feel that things are far beyond our control. Well, it is a general fact that we can’t control most of the things out there, but we can try to train our minds and be effective in whatever we do. One of the techniques that help to do just that is meditation.
Meditation is an ancient self-help practice used for various reasons. It ranges from religious and spiritual ones to a simple habit of mental relaxation. The purpose is the same one would say, to transform the mind for the better by encouraging positive feelings. Meditation itself is a general word just like the word sport. But there are different types of meditations, and the most common ones are listed below:
Photo by Isabell Winter on Unsplash
1. MINDFULNESS
This is the most common and adapted form of meditation. To practice this type of meditation, one should be openly aware of the surroundings and ignore distractions. The main goal here is to encourage the practitioner to focus on the present moment. So that you don’t need to take a specific position to practice mindfulness. You can do it while having a shower, waiting in a queue, walking, etc. All you have to do is be aware of everything happening at the present moment: your body, breath, thoughts, feeling or sounds and objects around you.
2. LOVING-KINDNESS MEDITATION
Like the name itself, loving-kindness meditation aims to foster a feeling of love for yourself and expands to all the world’s creatures, Greater Good Magazine writes. It increases the awareness for more positive feelings and empathy in oneself and others. This can be done closing your eyes and focusing on positive mantras such as ‘May I be healthy, peaceful, and strong.’ To begin first, find a quiet and comfortable place to sit. Then relax your body and let go of any preoccupation. It’s recommended to practice it for 15 or 20 minutes a day.
3. TRANSCENDENTAL MEDITATION
Transcendental meditation (TM) is a technique that is used by millions of people around the world. The technique was first brought to the U.S by the Indian Maharishi Mahesh Yogi in 1960. Just like the name itself, the intent of this form of meditation is to transcend the mind towards a quiet and relaxed awareness. Like all the other meditation techniques the goal of this one as well is to improve the quality of life. However, this is different from the other techniques and it’s recommended that in order to learn to do it in an effortless manner, you have to practice it with a certified teacher.
Photo by Simon Migaj on Unsplash
4. CONCENTRATIVE MEDITATION
Concentrative meditation is that kind of meditation in which we cultivate the ability to be focused entirely in one thing. The goal is to keep the mind focused on a specific thing, in a specific period of time. It can be any entity, breath, a thought, a sound or an object. It requires full concentration and it tends to lead the thinking towards a pure state of consciousness. So that when our mind drifts away we bring it back to the determined object of concentration during the meditation period. Practicing it regularly means being able to stay longer concentrated on one thing at a time.
5. GUIDED MEDITATION
Another form of meditation is guided meditation. It relies on using external sources to concentrate. You can start with recorded guidance like audiobooks, youtube or try different apps that are for the same purpose. This form of meditation is very useful to combat distractions during the meditation and remain in the present. However, is less recommended as one has to be capable to meditate without the need of external factors.
FINAL THOUGHTS
Lastly, there is a plethora of other meditation techniques to choose and we can get informed more specifically about them if we simply ask google. But although one might be tempted to try all of them, not always we have the time or the money to do it. Therefore depending on our lifestyle habits, we should choose a meditation technique that gives us the best results.
You might also be interested in: Relax Your Mind And Body With The Magic Of These 16 Oddly Satisfying Pics