To understand meditation, it’s essential to understand its purpose. So, why meditate? Meditation can be used for many things. Meditation has health benefits, such as reducing stress and anxiety through lowering your heart rate and clearing your mind of worries. There are also spiritual benefits, such as creating clarity within yourself by aligning your subconscious and conscious minds, assisting you in establishing congruence and authenticity.
Meditation can also be used to develop and grow feelings of gratitude, love, patience, and even forgiveness within yourself. Ultimately, meditation creates peace within our minds and spirits. This is produced by strengthening the patterns of thought in your mind, formed by the habit of slowing, focusing, or observing the mind.
While there are many practices, there are 4 primary types of meditation. There are also 3 categories known as focused (concentration) and open monitoring, with the third being mindfulness, which acts as a bridge for the previous two.
Article Topics
1. Transcendental Meditation
Transcendental Meditation is a form of mantra meditation that falls into the category of focused meditation. A mantra is a word, sound, or utterance that acts as the focus point of Transcendental Meditation. An example of an utterance you may already know is ‘Om.’ This type of meditation falls within the category of focused meditation and has become increasingly popular in recent years.
There are different purposes for the mantra in this form of mediation. Transcendental Meditation is a focused meditation, allowing the practitioner to focus on the mantra as an object. This, in turn, assists with removing the clutter of adjacent thoughts that crowd the mind, bringing consciousness to the present. Also to note, this is the more broadly used mantra meditation technique, but it stems from Vedic Meditation.
In addition, because there is a use of a mantra within Transcendental Meditation, the choice and meaning of the word can be utilized as a focal point, and when entering a state of consciousness, the meaning of the word can be used to influence the psychology of the practitioner. This is a technique similar to visualization.
2. Mindfulness Meditation
Mindfulness meditation is among the most popular meditation techniques in the West. The origins of mindfulness meditation come from Buddhist teachings. Mindfulness meditation begins with the practitioner focusing on either their body or their breath as it passes through their body. By creating this focus, there is also an awareness of what is happening in the present forming.
Using a body scan technique to focus on the body, starting with the toes and working their way through the body, the practitioner can create awareness of potentially stressed areas. Through that awareness, they can release that stress and continue mindfully through the body.
Utilizing breath as a focal point also develops the awareness and state of consciousness that mindfulness meditation provides. In this instance, the practitioner focuses on their breathing. A state of being present is developed by paying attention to the flow of air both in and out of the lungs and the pause in between.
In either case, random thoughts will no doubt invade the practitioner’s mind; when this occurs, a simple technique called ‘note-ing’ can be applied: observe the thought, lightly acknowledge it, and refocus the mind on either the breath or body.
Utilizing this technique, the practitioner develops a strength of focus that can be summoned to calm the mind from racing thoughts in the future. It also brings a state of consciousness, allowing the practitioner to observe emotions when they should arise.
3. Zen Meditation
Zen Meditation, also known as Zazen, literally means “seated meditation.” This type of meditation falls within the category of open monitoring meditation. Zen Meditation begins with focused meditation and then maneuvers into a state of open monitoring.
The purpose of Zen Meditation is to create an awareness of independent judgment, thought, and objective reality. There are three progressions or stages within Zen Meditation. The first is the creation of presence through mindfulness. The second is the creation of introspection (Koan) by allowing the consciousness to emerge freely. The third state is to observe the consciousness without judgment (Shikantaza).
The stages of Zen meditation are a learned progression. When observing the consciousness from a place of ‘non-thinking,’ the practitioner becomes objectively aware of the conditioning of their subconscious mind.
The most apparent benefit of Zen meditation is the ability to become an objective observer and consciously become aware of our true selves without judgment. Think back a time when you saw two friends arguing, both insisting on their point of view and you observed as a disinterested third party. What we do with that knowledge is up to us.
4. Movement Meditation
The most common form of movement meditation you are likely aware of is yoga. While this is the most common Western form (common in the West now but learned from the East) of movement meditation, other varieties of movement meditation stretch back (pun intended) thousands of years. One of the oldest forms of this type of meditation is QiGong. ‘Qi’, in Chinese, means energy, and ‘Gong’ means work. This is not only a work of the body but a work of the energy through and around the body.
Final Thoughts on the 4 Types of Meditation
As with all things, practice will improve your beginner meditation technique, which will, in turn, improve your well-being. It’s beneficial to begin with as little as 5 minutes a day. Many seasoned practitioners will meditate between 15 – 20 minutes twice a day. Consistency is also essential. We wish you good health, a strong mind, and a steadfast spirit on your journey!
(If you are looking for a more religious take on meditation, you might want to look into Taoist meditation!)
