
There are different types of meditations that are in practice. It’s hard to get the exact number though. However, you can always choose the one that fits your needs.
To make your decision easier, we have listed down 6 major types of meditations that you can choose from. Here you go.
1. Meditating while Watching Your Breath
Can practising meditation be as simple as paying attention to your breath for a couple of mins? Yes, it is.
Just relax in whatever position suits very well you, close your eyes, and start focusing on your breathing. Breathing through your nose gets your diaphragm engaged and circulates oxygen completely to the complete areas of your lungs.
Your mind will surely start to wonder, however, continue to simply re-focus your attention on the air that is going in and out of your nostrils. Do this for several mins, or much longer as you start feeling comfortable with the whole process.
2. An Empty Minded Meditation
Practicing meditating can produce a sort of “awareness without object” – an experience where all your thoughts are drained out from the busy mind. This particular technique involves sitting still, often in a “full lotus” or cross-legged position, and letting the mind go silent on its own. Initially, it can be quite difficult, particularly since any effort to calm the mind seems to just cause more busyness in the mind.
3. Walking Meditation
In this one of the popular types of meditation, the body surely gets involved. This meditation can be practiced either outside on the open ground, grass, garden or simply as a back and forth walking session within a room.
You must pay attention to the movements of your legs and breathing patterns as you walk, not to ignore the feeling you get around your feet area that is touching the ground. Whenever your mind starts wandering, keep bringing it back to the process of walking and breathing. Meditating outside in this way can be difficult because of the distractions. If you do it outside, finding a quiet place with a level ground is key to experience the best results.
4. Mindfulness Meditation
This is a practice, Buddhists call it Vipassana or Insight meditation, mindfulness is the process of becoming deeply aware of what is happening right now. Your focus should be on what’s happening in and around you at this very moment and become aware of all the thought processes and feelings that are taking your energy from moment to moment.
You can begin by paying attention to your breath and then shift your attention to the thoughts circulating inside your mind, the feelings within your body, and even the small sounds and visual sights around you. The key here is to watch without judging or analyzing.
5. Simple Mantra Meditation
A lot of people find it easier to keep their mind from wandering if they are specifically concentrating on some activities such as chanting. In these situations, a mantra can be very useful.
In this process, you repeat a word or phrase while you are sitting in a meditation position. This type of meditation is even recommended by experienced masters in many traditions. However, if you are practicing this alone, you could choose any word or phrase that suits you, and can select to either repeat it aloud or in your mind as you meditate.
6. Meditating about a Concept
Some of the meditation practices consist of contemplating an idea or scenario. For example, “meditation on impermanence,” in which you focus on the impermanent nature of all things, starting with your own thoughts and feelings as they arise and vanish.
In the Buddhist “meditation on the corpse,” you imagine a body in the ground, as it slowly rots away and gradually is fed on by worms. The technique is used to guide you to an understanding that your rationalizing mind might not bring you to.
There are few other forms of meditations you can try out, such as the “meditation on loving-kindness” or “object” meditation, and even meditating using popular brain-wave entrainment products.
Each type of meditation has its own benefits and effects. Because of this, you may discover that you would want to use different types of meditation during different situations.