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Many types of meditation can help with a variety of diseases and disorders. This article will cover all about the commonly asked questions like- What is Meditation? What are the different types of Meditation? and lastly, How is Mediation helpful?
What is Meditation?
Meditation is practicing a state of mind that makes you aware of the surroundings and heightens your senses.
In ancient times, meditation was popular in the Eastern regions of the world. But due to the many benefits offered by meditation, it is now practiced widely all around the world.
The hectic schedule of our lives can make it difficult to concentrate on ourselves and take out time for our mental well-being. Doing meditation can help with these things.
Many types of meditation can be performed anywhere, on the subway, at a cafe, or before an important meeting.
Once you know how to perform meditation, the time for doing meditation also decreases, making it easier to perform.
Meditation can be considered an exercise for our mind that reduces our stress levels and makes us feel rejuvenated.
Many situations in our everyday life are so stressful that it can become difficult to relax for a single second, practicing mindfulness meditation can help in these situations.
Meditation practice has many different benefits:
- Increased body awareness
- Increased concentration
- Lesser negative thoughts
- Allows staying calm in stressful situations.
- Reduces Anxiety
- Increased attention span.
- Increased Self-esteem.
Once you start practicing meditation in your daily life, knowing the different types of meditation and how they are performed is a piece of essential information.
The different types of meditation are believed to provide relief in many diseases and health conditions like:
- Anxiety
- Depression
- Chronic Pain
- Hypertension
- Heart-related risks (Controls the cholesterol levels)
- Cancer
Below Are The Types Of Meditation And Their Benefits To Our Well-being:
1. Guided Meditation
As the name suggests, guided meditation is led by a person who knows meditation practice.
The meditation techniques required while performing Guided meditation are taught by the teacher.
Guided meditation is also known as visualization meditation where you are guided to make up mental images that help you feel more relaxed.
Guided meditation heightens the power of our senses and allows us to reach inner peace.
2. Mindfulness Meditation
Among the different types of meditation, Mindfulness meditation is widely used by people around the world to reduce stress and improve mental health1.
Mindfulness meditation can be done easily, at any place. For deep relaxation, people prefer to sit quietly at a place with low disturbances.
Mindfulness meditation makes the person aware of their thoughts without feeling the need to be judgmental.
Observing what is going around in our head and identifying the emotions can make us feel that it is necessary to gain a deeper understanding of our mental well-being.
3. Vipassana Meditation
Vipassana meditation is a type of meditation that was used in ancient traditions of India.
The meditation technique of Vipassana Meditation 2requires creating a link between the body and mind, by concentrating on the physical sensations of our body.
It is a 10-day course which requires giving up some things like mobile phones, and anything that can distract a person’s mind.
There are many Vipassana retreat at different places that offers this ten-day course and make sure all the conditions for the Vipassana meditation are met accordingly.
4. Transcendental Meditation
Transcendental Meditation is a type of silent meditation technique that keeps unwanted thoughts and emotions at bay by silently chanting a mantra.
The transcendental Meditation program is a seven-step course in which everyone is provided with a different mantra to chant.
By paying attention to the mantra, all the thoughts leave the mind for the time being and a state of calmness engulfs our body.
Transcendental meditation can be performed twice a day at any point after you have fully learned how to perform the practice by the instructor.
5. Loving Kindness Meditation (Metta Meditation)
Loving Kindness Meditation, also known as metta meditation is a type of meditation that makes the person feel good about oneself as well for others by speaking kind phrases.
Loving Kindness Meditation starts by sitting comfortably in a quiet place and speaking phrases that motivate you and makes you feel compassionate.
After speaking to oneself, the next step in Loving Kindness Meditation requires moving on to your family members, friends, or anyone you want to wish well for.
6. Mantra Meditation
Mantra Meditation is widely popular in Buddhist traditions as well as Hindu traditions, which require focusing on a mantra or phrase rather than your breathing.
Mantra meditation is also called Om meditation, as the word ‘Om’ is chanted repeatedly while performing the meditation.
Among the list of different types of meditation, Mantra Meditation 3is practiced often by people around the world.
All the mind’s attention is focused on the mantra which allows distracting thoughts to leave our mind.
7. Chakra Meditation
If you are a beginner in meditation practice, Chakra meditation is usually not the first type of meditation to try out.
‘Chakra’ is a Sanskrit word that means ‘wheel’. The chakras are the centers of energy in our bodies.
There are seven chakras present in our body at different locations and the meditation technique of Chakra Meditation requires focusing on these chakras.
The chakras have different colors associated with them so that it becomes easier to visualize them while performing Chakra meditation.
8. Yoga Meditation
As the name suggests, Yoga Meditation utilizes different yoga postures 4to direct positive energy through our body.
The postures and controlled breathing exercises allow staying in the present moment instead of getting distracted by other things.
Before starting with yoga meditation, it is advisable to consult doctors or meditation teachers to get a proper insight into what postures are beneficial for your body.
9. Focused Meditation
Our mind wanders to many places, which sometimes can become a difficult problem to solve.
Focused Meditation can solve this problem as it requires focusing on things by using the maximum power of senses.
Focused meditation is easy to practice. For example, focus on the tip of your pencil, or listen to the tick-tock of the clock.
It will be difficult in the beginning to focus on these things but with time your concentration power will increase drastically. It can be performed anywhere and whenever you need to be focused and concentrated.
10. Qigong Meditation
An ancient practice of meditation that was followed in China. It is a type of spiritual meditation that relaxes the body and improves physical health.
It is also used as a healing practice to produce energy in our body to improve mental as well as physical health.
11. Zen Meditation
The word ‘zen’ means ‘to concentrate’. It is a powerful meditation technique followed by people to experience a sense of awakening of their mind.
While all the other types of meditation are practiced to reduce stress and anxiety5, Zen meditation has a different technique that allows reaching deeper levels of our minds.
12. Taoist Meditation
Taoist Meditation uses the techniques of mindfulness, concentration, and visualization.
Taoist meditation helps in martial arts, and the famous Bruce Lee used the meditative practices of Taoism.
13. Movement Meditation
If you are not comfortable with sitting in one place for a long time to perform meditation techniques, Movement meditation is a more suitable option for you.
It is also known as Walking meditation as it requires a walk through a park or any type of movement that can allow you to connect with your mind.
14. Progressive Relaxation
Progressive relaxation is also called body scan meditation. The first step involved in the body scan meditations is to identify the part of the body which needs relaxing.
Then the muscles in the identified body part are tightened and then relaxed. This releases tension from the body and reduces stress.
15. Christian Meditation
This type of meditation is a little different from others.
While the other forms of meditation aim to achieve inner peace by focusing on our mind and body, Christian meditation is done by forming a relationship with Christ.
Praying to god and developing an understanding of God is the ultimate goal of Christian Meditation.
Types of Meditation – Conclusion
The list of types of meditation could go on and on as there are many meditation styles followed all around the world.
Meditation is an exercise that allows us to relax by paying attention to our bodily sensations and thoughts.
It is not necessary that meditation will help solve all your health-related problems but it will surely help in making you calm and more focused.
If you are suffering from any disease, it is mandatory to consult a doctor and follow the treatment, meditation can be performed on the sidelines but should not be considered as the full treatment of your disease.
If the doctor feels that meditation can be helpful in your condition and can by no means act as a threat to your health, then feel free to learn and practice types of meditation.
Frequently asked questions:
- Dhyāna (Sanskrit: ध्यान) in Hinduism means contemplation and meditation. Dhyana is taken up in Yoga practices and is a means to samadhi and self-knowledge.
- Shiva is also known as Adiyogi (the first Yogi), regarded as the patron god of yoga, meditation and the arts.
- Paramahansa Yogananda (born Mukunda Lal Ghosh; January 5, 1893 – March 7, 1952) was an Indian Hindu monk, yogi and guru who introduced millions to the teachings of meditation and Kriya Yoga through his organization Self-Realization Fellowship (SRF) / Yogoda Satsanga Society (YSS) of India.
If you liked this article, here is something you may like.
- Moreno, Carmen, et al. “How mental health care should change as a consequence of the COVID-19 pandemic.” The lancet psychiatry 7.9 (2020): 813-824. ↩︎
- MehdiNejad, Laleh. Vipassana Meditation, Self-Esteem, and Emotion Regulation. Diss. The Chicago School of Professional Psychology, 2020. ↩︎
- Alvarez-Perez, Yolanda, et al. “Effectiveness of mantra-based meditation on mental health: A systematic review and meta-analysis.” International journal of environmental research and public health 19.6 (2022): 3380. ↩︎
- Rishan, Fazil, et al. “Infinity yoga tutor: Yoga posture detection and correction system.” 2020 5th International conference on information technology research (ICITR). IEEE, 2020. ↩︎
- Chellappa, Sarah L., and Daniel Aeschbach. “Sleep and anxiety: From mechanisms to interventions.” Sleep medicine reviews 61 (2022): 101583. ↩︎
Last Updated on by Sathi Chakraborty, MSc Biology
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