In today's digital, fast-paced, and stressful world, our senses are often dulled, and finding inner peace often seems like an impossible task.
Luckily, there is a super simple solution - meditation. Meditation is a set of techniques designed to encourage a heightened state of focused attention and awareness and has the potential for way more than just temporary stress relief.
Meditation offers a chance to improve emotional health as well as physical wellbeing. However, there is no single way to meditate, meaning people can explore different types of meditation until they find one that works best for them.
So, if you are interested in trying meditation but are not sure where to start, we have pulled together a list of seven types of meditation practice.
7 Types of Meditation Techniques
1. Mindfulness Meditation
Mindfulness meditation is also known as Samatha because it is believed to originate from Buddhist teachings. It is one of the most popular types of meditation for stress relief in the West.
It is all about focusing on the present moment and truly accepting it without any judgment. This means that when certain senses, feelings, or thoughts pop up, you will learn to acknowledge their presence, accept them without judgment, and let them go float away.
2. Transcendental Meditation
Transcendental meditation practice is a repetition of the same mantra (e.g., a word, small phrase, or sound) twice a day for 20 minutes in a sitting position. It brings relaxation, good energy, and calmness.
Bear in mind that if you want to reach this point, it is of the utmost importance to regularly practice because otherwise, staying still in a sitting position for 20 minutes will be extremely difficult.
3. Guided Meditation
Guided meditation is the best one for beginners. As the name suggests, meditation or yoga instructors will guide you through each session with the help of vocal cues to help you experience the maximum effect of meditation. They may also utilize singing bowls or background music to help put you in a deeply relaxed state.
Though there may be short moments of silence, meditators are usually guided through the practice in order to stay on track and reel and avoid straying thoughts that may distract them. That's why guided meditation is the best one for beginners who might find sitting in quiet for a while difficult.
4. Vipassana Meditation (Sayagyi U Ba Khin Tradition)
Vipassana meditation is one of the most ancient forms of meditation. As a matter of fact, it dates back to 2,500 years ago. In this mindfulness technique, emphasis is on the awareness of the breath. That is, focusing on how the air comes out and back in through the nose.
The goal of this style is self-transformation through a deep connection between the mind and body and a self-observation technique. The accomplishment of interconnectedness results in a perfectly balanced mind full of compassion and a stable mentality.
5. Loving Kindness Meditation (Metta Meditation)
This one is also known as Metta Bhavana or Metta for short and is a meditation type derived from Theravada Buddhism. As the name itself suggests, loving-kindness meditation encourages love and kindness not only towards yourself but those around you as well.
Compared with other meditation types, it is a softer and gentler approach that helps people cultivate an attitude of kindness and love toward everything, from themselves over friends to their enemies. While breathing deeply in a completely relaxed state, practitioners open their minds to receive loving-kindness.
6. Chakra Meditation
Those who have been practicing yoga before already know that there are 7 chakras that are the energy centers of our bodies and are located in different parts. Chakra meditation helps connect our emotional and physical parts.
For chakra meditation, you need to place your hands on particular spots and give over to sound used to support visualization techniques that connect you with the chakras.
7. Yoga Meditation
By so far, you might have noticed that yoga is meditation - and vice versa - meditation is yoga. There is an array of styles and classes of yoga, but each of them involves performing a series of controlled breathing exercises and postures to achieve the state of mediation.
Before choosing a style, speak to your doctor to find which one suits your health condition.
The Wrap Up
There is no doubt about the huge significance of meditation when it comes to reaping health benefits. And the best part is that meditation is constantly evolving to suit individuals' needs and deliver desired remedies.
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