Different Meditation Techniques

Meditation techniques are helping over 220 million Americans cope with the stresses and struggles of everyday life. The depressed find that meditation lifts their mood, while presenting a sense of connectedness and purpose. The anxious find that meditation helps them get past the steely grips of stress to reach a much calmer place. The angry find the benefits of meditation include better control over their dangerous emotions. The neurotic are better able to control their compulsive urges and reckless impulses with meditation as well.

Most of the modern techniques for mediation fall into one of two categories: Zen-based forms (which involve insight meditation) and Hinduism-based forms (which involve concentrative meditation). With Zen-based meditation, like vipassana or mindfulness meditation, you will become aware of the passing of thoughts and feelings, without becoming emotionally involved. The person meditating sits quietly and allows any thought to pass through the mind, while gently redirecting the focus to the here and now. Breathing and observing body sensations helps to block out distractions to achieve perfect concentration, although there is always a consciousness about the process of achieving meditation.

The concentrative method of meditation aims to help your ability to focus. To do this, you may focus on breath, a mental image, a physical object or a phrase. There are many different breathing methods. For instance, the fourfold breath asks you to breathe-in to a count of four, hold your breath for four seconds and then breathe-out for a count of four. When you are focusing on a mental image, you can choose anything from a beach scene to flames, but the image should have spiritual significance to you. Those meditating focus on items like rocks, flowers, candles or other items with significance attached. Other meditation techniques, such as mantra meditation may involve the repetition of a phrase like “I am that I am” or “Desire nothing — be content with everything.”

When learning meditation techniques, it’s a good idea to read a few books on meditation to learn the history behind this spiritual practice. Many people find they are busy but would like to devote 10-20 minutes per day to the study of meditation, so they purchase a meditation CD or DVD for help getting into the mood. Naturally, the best way to attain enlightenment is by taking meditation classes that are led by a trained teacher. You can find a center near you at www.shabhalasun.com.

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