The Different Types of Meditation
It is easy to get lost and always find yourself tired and anxious from stress with how busy your surroundings are. One of the ways to fight this feeling is through meditation.
Meditation is one of the easiest ways to reconnect with your mental and spiritual self. It clears the mind and increases self-awareness, patience, and tolerance that help you feel renewed. However, like all things, meditation isn’t a one-size-fits-all process. In this blog post, we’ll be discussing the different types of meditation and their unique purpose so you can learn what works best for you and your needs.
Table of Contents
Kundalini Yoga
Yoga can also be a form of meditation, though it does require more physical activity. During kundalini yoga, the instructor tells the students mantras which they repeat while doing deep breathing exercises. Not only does this help in keeping you more focused, but it also reduces stress and body pain, especially in your lower back.
Wearing or keeping a tourmaline crystal during yoga is also a good way to further strengthen your practice. Tourmaline is a powerful stone well-suited for meditation – using one such as a watermelon tourmaline necklace helps remove energy blockages while soothing your emotions and balancing your energies. Doing yoga is best if you have more time on your hands so you can maximize both physical improvement and mental meditation.
Zazen
Zazen or Zen is a type of meditation originating from Buddhist practices. Similar to yoga, it is a practice that requires more focus and work as it consists of multiple steps and postures while performing breathing exercises. As it is more technical and requires following an actual process, those who do this usually follow an instructor. This meditation creates a physically and mentally safe space by placing the body in a comfortable position, putting your focus on breathing patterns, and simply observing thoughts that come to mind without judgment. This type of meditation can also be related to mindfulness meditation – although this is more intensive in the effort needed as both the body and mind move as one through exercises and reflection.
Transcendental
This type of meditation is considered to be pure in that it has the goal of rising above the current state of being that you are in. This implies choosing to improve the self not only on the physical level but most importantly in the spiritual sense. With transcendental meditation, you must have a mantra to focus on. This will serve as your guiding principle during the meditation process and is your ultimate goal. Your mantra may be something of your own (if you practice alone) or with an instructor who gives out specific mantras to focus on for the day.
Wearing something that strengthens your call to the mantra may also help such as a Buddhist mantra and heart sutra ring that aids in making your mantras stronger. It is inscribed with a six-syllable Sanskrit mantra to clear the mind and the heart sutra that directs its wearer closer to enlightenment and clarity. Practicing this meditation will help you achieve a higher plane of spiritual understanding for yourself.
Breathing Awareness
This type of meditation is helpful for those who struggle with breathing properly or find it difficult to catch their breath (especially during stressful days). Practicing this requires you to be mindful of your breathing and doing it slowly and deeply. Put your full attention to just how you’re breathing and ignore everything else. Doing this regularly will help invite a sense of calmness within yourself and reduce tendencies of overthinking, anxiety, stress, and negativities. This type of meditation will work best if you simply need to take a break and clear your mind.
Metta
Metta is known as the "loving-kindness" meditation. As the name implies, it is used to increase feelings of love and kindness not only for others but also for yourself. This type of meditation is especially helpful for those struggling with misunderstandings. While doing your breathing exercises, make sure to open your mind to accepting feelings of compassion and love, and openly accept this positive feeling. Repeat the message of accepting love and kindness a couple of times to reach this goal or use a rose quartz wand which will further help by clearing blockages in the heart and attracting feelings of love, tranquility, and understanding. Doing this meditation aids in removing negative feelings of anger and resentment especially towards others.
Body Scan
Also called the progressive relaxation technique, this type of meditation allows people to search for areas of tension or stress in their bodies and eliminate the pressure once found. To practice this, you need to either physically tense your muscles then relax them or mentally visualize a wave covering your body and clearing all the stress. Practicing progressive relaxation will continuously help relieve muscle stress and remove any chronic pain you may be experiencing.
Mindfulness and Awareness
This type of meditation helps someone stay focused and present at the moment. In doing so, you need to focus on feeling the now and observing your mind to allow every thought and action to come without having any sort of reaction or judgment. Observation and mindfulness are the key aspects of this type of meditation. Through it, you can sharpen your senses as you desire to feel everything during the moment.
To further aid this process, you can also use an amethyst crystal wand specifically made for meditation. Not only will it help in clarifying the mind, but it also targets the crown chakra, aiding in achieving higher levels of spiritual awareness. Practicing this type of meditation and using an amethyst wand will help reduce negative thoughts and emotions while also helping you focus more and boost your memory.
Get Rid of Stress: Ease Your Mind and Spirit
We just learned about seven types of meditation but don’t be overwhelmed! It’s normal to be confused when you are just starting to dip your toes into practicing meditation, so don’t be frustrated if things do not go exactly as planned. Just make sure to gauge what works best for you and continuously practice it to achieve the needs and goals you wish to pursue.
Remember that meditation is done primarily to ease the mind and the spirit – stressing over the practice will not help you at all. With all that said, do you remember when was the last time you meditated and what type of meditation it was? Let us know in the comments below!
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