Which Type of Meditation Style is Best For You?
While some may think that meditation requires nothing more than sitting silently, it isn’t necessarily as easy as it seems. The commitment needed to practice every day coupled with the challenge to empty your mind of everyday stressors can be discouraging. However, it doesn’t necessarily need to be.
Meditation has been scientifically proven to reduce stress and anxiety, improve health, and increase happiness. However, the most essential aspect of meditation is appealing to your spirit. It is an entirely subjective practice and there is no right or wrong way to meditate. By practicing every day and finding a style that compliments your soul – you’ll not only experience the joy in meditation, but you might just find you’re better at it then you thought!
The following is a list of the most common types of meditation. Discover which one speaks to you!
Types of Meditation
The following are the most common types of meditation styles. Before you begin, ask yourself a few questions:
- Do you find increased focus through movement?
- Does darkness help you to relax?
- Do you find sounds calming or distracting?
- Are you trying to focus your mind or empty it?
Answering these simple questions can help you to narrow down which type of meditation is most suited for you. If by the end of this article you still can’t decide – Why not try them all?
Focused Meditation
Who should try it: Excellent for true beginners or anyone who needs a little extra help focusing.
Focused meditation is a general label for any kind of meditation that concentrates on any of the five senses. While visualizations are the most popular, other aspects may include focusing on sounds or touch. In focused meditation, you’ll also commonly be asked to concentrate on the flow of your breath – as it moves in and out of your body and pulses energy throughout your body.
Spiritual Meditation
Who should try it: People who thrive in silence and are looking for spiritual growth.
Spiritual meditation, while similar to prayer, includes various elements to help practitioners reach a more reflective and contemplative state. In spiritual meditation, you embrace the silence around you – whether at home or a place of worship – and slowly begin to let your mind wander to an internal prayer or question. Some people find that the answer to their deepest question comes from outside themselves through the Divine, God, or Universe. Others find that simply allowing themselves to be comfortable within the silence brings the answer from within.
Mantra Meditation
Who should try it: People who dislike silence and find peace in repetition.
Despite popular belief, silence isn’t the only way to meditate. Mantra meditation uses a repetitive sound or set of sounds to clear the mind, as seen in the body mantra method. By reciting or chanting a mantra, your mind is able to focus on the rhythmic song and release the stressors of the day. With a long tradition in meditation, mantras can be sung loudly or whispered quietly. You can use an inspirational phrase or even a simple onomatopoeia like “Om” or “Aum.” Meditation is subjective and there’s no one right technique – it all depends on what the experience means to you personally.
Transcendental Meditation
Who should try it: People looking for a more structured meditation practice or those new to meditation but serious about maintaining the practice.
Founded by Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, Transcendental meditation is the most studied type by scientists. Made popular by celebrity followers like the Beatles, transcendental meditation is by far the most popular type with nearly 5 million practitioners worldwide. It uses a mantra or series of Sanskrit words to help the practitioner focus during meditation in lieu of just following breath. While some believe transcendental meditation and mantra meditation to be the same – transcendental meditation is slightly more organized and structured, with each student receiving a specific mantra based on a number of different factors such as birth year and sometimes gender. The official website for transcendental meditation states this form of meditation is “… a simple, natural, effortless procedure practiced 20 minutes twice each day while sitting comfortably with the eyes closed. It’s not a religion, philosophy, or lifestyle.”
Movement Meditation
Who should try it: Anyone who finds sitting still to be a distraction, finds peace through action, or is tired of sitting at a desk all day.
A fairly broad category, movement meditation is the active branch of meditation and incorporates some form of motion. Rather than getting your heart rate going, movement meditation utilizes walks through the woods, yoga, gardening, or even basic housecleaning to clear the mind. By allowing the gentle movements to guide you, your mind is free to wander and explore within itself.
Mindfulness Meditation
Who should try it: Anyone without access to a regular teacher.
Mindfulness meditation is an ongoing life practice and is the umbrella category for all techniques used to accept all that arises without judgement. Less of a separate activity and more a type of lifestyle, mindfulness meditation originates from Buddhist teachings and teaches the practitioner to address and release stress in the moment it is happening. It promotes a focused attention and observation of the world immediately around you and nurtures a tone of surrender to that which you cannot change. This daily meditation practice is generally best for those who don’t have access to a regular teacher as it can be practiced alone and further information and community support groups are easily found across the internet.
About the Author
The How's and Why's of Meditation
Silence befalls an ancient temple as rows of robed monks settle themselves, body, and mind. Eyes closed, legs pulled up into a lotus position, the eye of the mind turns inward. For hours they remain; their minds disciplined to ponder like this for long periods of time. This is not a feat for the average person.
Perhaps when people utter the word meditation, this image stirs in the imagination. Indeed, meditation has been a part of spiritual and religious practice for as long as mankind has been recording history. It does take years of steady practice to hold such a state of mind for hours at a time. However, meditation is something that is not only easily accessible to anyone, but you may already be doing it without realizing it.
Meditation simply means to think, contemplate or ponder. Throughout the world, it holds many different names, but the idea is the same: to enter a state of mind where it is easy to focus upon one thing. If you have ever found yourself daydreaming for any length of time, you are meditating. If you found yourself captivated by repetitive motion, the wheels and the sound of a passing train, for example, you were lulled into a meditative state. The same is true when you are reading a book and lose track of the time.
It is perfectly natural for your mind to slip into a trance and let the present moment go. When one intentionally practices meditation they engage in a discipline of training their mind and body. This practice can be applied to many different goals: relaxation, contacting spirits, building energy, enlightenment, self-contemplation, or empty mind, just to name a scant few.
