What Are the Different Types of Meditation?

Meditation pays off in both the short run and over years of practice, according to Sara Schwartz, who wrote about the subject for the Huffington Post in 2013. Most people start to feel the difference within a few weeks of beginning. One study run by Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard University tracked people who meditated at least once a day for 30 days and found measurable drops in their stress levels and blood pressure, along with improvements in psychological conditions and ongoing health problems, all within eight weeks of starting (Schwartz, 2013).

Participants also described themselves as calmer and better able to stay with a task. Researchers add that the practice seems to encourage growth in the brain areas tied to how we handle stress, as well as self-esteem, self-confidence, perception, memory, concentration, empathy, and our basic sense of who we are (Schwartz, 2013).

Almost everyone has run across relaxation practices like yoga and meditation, yet few realize there is more than one kind of meditative technique. Fewer still know that sleep and meditation sit close to one another. Meditation is sometimes called a form of conscious sleep. When you meditate you slip into an altered state: you stay awake, but your senses grow quieter and your body goes still. Everybody sleeps. Not many people meditate, maybe for lack of time, maybe for lack of knowing where to begin.

The practice itself is ancient. Himalayan monks have worked with various meditative methods for as far back as anyone can trace. What makes these methods so useful is that they train you to clear away the negative, unhealthy, or intrusive thoughts that crowd your mind, which leaves room to concentrate. They also take down stress, loosen a tense body, lower blood pressure, and ease the symptoms of anxiety and depression.

No single technique fits every person. Meditation covers a whole range of approaches, so the work is finding the one that suits you. That is what this article is for: a walk through the different methods so you can see which might be yours. Consider this figure before you start: people who meditate are reported to cut their risk of hospitalization for coronary disease by roughly 87 percent and their risk of developing cancer by roughly 55 percent (Project-Meditation, 2015).

Basic meditation is about as plain as it gets. Find a quiet, private spot. Settle onto a comfortable yoga mat or a large pillow, ideally in a lotus position with your legs crossed: right foot resting over the left thigh, left foot over the right thigh. Shut your eyes and let the distractions fall away, whether that is a crying baby, a honking car, the television, the radio, or a pet underfoot. If the noise keeps breaking through, repeat a mantra such as 'I am strong' until your mind settles. Breathe deeply, drawing air up from the diaphragm and letting it out slowly.

Some people cannot keep their eyes closed, and that is fine. Leave them open and rest your gaze on something near you, the color of a lamp across the room, or the lamp itself. The point is to hold your attention on a shape, color, sound, or pattern without straining to think about it. It sounds trickier than it is, and after a while basic meditation becomes second nature.

Activity meditation is one most people have never heard named, though it works. The idea is to pick an activity that calms you down, something that pulls stress out of your day. Say your job is pressing on you. Take a day off and do something easy: book a manicure, a pedicure, or a massage. Spend the afternoon golfing or out on the water fishing. Cooking counts, and so do contact sports like football, basketball, and soccer, all of which can bleed off tension, settle the mind, and sharpen your focus.

Focused meditation has a stranger-sounding goal: to become thoughtless. Given that clearing the mind is the whole aim of meditation, the odd phrasing actually fits. Here you fix your attention on one specific action so that wandering thoughts and distractions get pushed out, or at least shrink back. As with the others, start by finding a quiet, private place where you can be comfortable, since comfort matters through the whole process.

Sit on your mat or pillow and close your eyes. Relax your body and empty your mind as best you can. Now listen to your breathing. That simply means paying attention to the sound of each inhale and exhale. Begin with long, deep breaths drawn from the diaphragm, the center of your abdomen, and notice how the breath grows lighter and quieter as you sink into a meditative state.

Dr. R. Y. Langham

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