Today the benefits of meditation are no secret. It has been proven that the practice can help you live a happy and successful life. It can also help you cope with anxiety and stress and has a positive effect on your health and well-being.
Meditation transcends different religions and cultures. It doesn’t matter what faith you hold to practice meditation. It is more about becoming focused, mindful, and peaceful, more aware of our thoughts, actions, and how our choices affect others.
Practicing meditation can genuinely change your life for the better. You may not reach enlightenment but learn to become more mindful. Your meditative practice may be long or short as you may like, but the results will be surprising. Just as there are lots of reasons to practice meditation, there are different techniques to do it. Here we have put together the five best meditation techniques to calm your mind and create inner harmony.
1. Mantra Meditation
A mantra is any repeated syllable, word, or phrase used during meditation. Chanting or repeating a mantra is called Japa that instills a profound sense of calm. Mantra meditation is practiced to protect your minds from unwelcome distractions and also for deeper spiritual purposes. In Hinduism, mantra chanting during meditation is done to connect with the Divine. However, according to Buddhism, mantra repetition helps keep the mind focused and evokes positivity.
Mantra meditation involves chanting of mantras while concentrating on the breath, chakras, certain abstract concepts, feelings, and visualization. But, if you cannot chant a mantra, it can be listened to also. You can chant lots of mantras while meditating. However, choose the one that is best for you. You can also use positive affirmations like “I am content at this moment”, or Sanskrit peace mantra “ Om” or “Om Shanti” or the Buddhist mantra “Om Mani Padme Hum“. Chanting mantras or using positive affirmations can help you deepen your meditation practice.
2. Mindfulness Meditation
Mindfulness is a state of mind that involves being fully focussed on the present moment so that you can accept your feelings, thoughts, sensations without any judgment. Further, you can also learn to train your mind to slow down. Mindfulness gives you an opportunity for self-reflection and to learn about different ways to be in a relationship with yourself.
Mindfulness meditation can help reduce stress and anxiety, promote empathy, and improve attention and memory. You don’t need any props or any kind of preparation to practice it. All you need is just a comfortable place to sit and a few minutes to spare. Above all, the practice allows you to train your mind to fully experience the present moment free from distraction or judgment and integrate that awareness into your daily life.
3. Vipassana Meditation
Vipassana means “insight” or “to see things as they are” and is usually called awareness meditation. It is one of the oldest Indian meditation techniques. Gautam Buddha is known to have later rediscovered it. After attaining enlightenment, Gautam Buddha spent the rest of his life teaching the principles of Vipassana.
Vipassana entails training your mind with the help of certain exercises that make you aware of your life experiences. The technique enables the practitioner to experience peace by purifying the mind and freeing it from suffering. Apart from this, Vipassana can also help you attain high levels of achievement in all spheres of life. It is a practice that clearly takes you on a journey to self-exploration.
Most importantly, Vipassana teaches to accept the challenges life brings by observing the fluid nature of thoughts and feelings. In addition to that, it pushes us to contemplate various key areas of human existence – impermanence, suffering, and non-self. It also makes us understand the fact that our happiness does not rely on the external circumstances that are always in a state of flux.
Vipassana meditation is most commonly taught in silent retreats with instructions on mindfulness. It is practiced in different ways through different interpretations. As we go deeper into a meditative state, we center ourselves by focusing on the rise and fall of the abdomen. While focussing on your breath, you maintain awareness of your surroundings and try to accept the various distractions around you. During the practice, your mind wanders and you feel a lot of strong emotions. However, you acknowledge and accept these thoughts without any resistance, or reaction, and let them pass and go away.
4. Transcendental Meditation
Transcendental meditation does not require any concentration or contemplation. Practitioners are asked to breathe normally and focus silently on a mantra. During the practice, your thinking process is transcended and the meditator achieves stillness, calm, stability, and a complete absence of physical boundaries. Although it is not a mantra-based meditation and is more about transcending or going beyond the thinking process, it does involve the use of a mantra. All you need to do is sit with your eyes close and silently chant your mantra. Repeating a mantra helps the mind to settle down and achieve a higher sense of stillness and consciousness.
5. Zen Meditation
Zen meditation or “sitting meditation” is rooted in Buddhist psychology and its goal is to control your attention. This Buddhist discipline encourages a sense of presence and alertness. Other forms of meditation mainly focus on relaxation and relieving stress, however, Zen meditation delves deeper. The practice can help you unearth the inner clarity of your mind and experience awakening.
The main goal of Zen meditation is to sit in a comfortable position, focus on breathing, and observe thoughts mindfully without any judgment. It involves keeping the eyes partially open, which is very different from other forms of meditation in which the eyes are kept closed. Most of the practitioners learn this meditation under a teacher as this practice involves specific steps and postures.
It is imperative to use proper seating positions, and hand gestures to derive the full benefits of the practice. Traditionally Zen meditation is done in two ways – by focusing your attention on the breath and by just sitting (Shikantaza) in which no specific object is used for meditation. In Shikantaza, the practitioner remains as much as possible in the “now” observing their thoughts without dwelling on anything in particular.
Benefits of Meditation
- Trains your mind to focus and redirect your thoughts.
- Increases awareness of yourself and your surroundings.
- Reduces stress and controls anxiety, phobias, and obsessive-compulsive behaviors.
- Helps create a positive outlook on life.
- Enhances self-awareness and helps you know yourself better.
- Increases your attention span.
- Improves your memory and mental clarity.
- Increases empathy and compassion towards others.
- Helps develop self-control and willpower to avoid triggers for unwanted behaviors.
- Controls the racing mind that can interfere with sleep and improves sleep quality.
- Reduces the perception of pain in the brain.
- Decreases blood pressure and wards off cardiovascular diseases.
Tips to Help You Meditate Better
1. Try to focus on the moment and not on the results. Initially, it might be difficult to stay in the present moment. However, enjoying the practice good or bad, right or wrong is the key to successful meditation.
2. Do your meditation practice around the same time, each day, and preferably at the same spot. This will help you build your meditation routine.
3. The best time to meditate is morning. However, you can meditate anytime in the afternoon or evening also. Find a time that is in sync with your schedule.
4. Start by sitting for a few minutes. Gradually, increase the time, as you become familiar with the training and find more stillness.
5. If you are new to the practice, start with a guided meditation.
6. It is recommended to do the practice at the same place every day for consistency, but sometimes it is not possible. Therefore, you can meditate in the park, at work, and even while traveling. It does not matter where you are as long as your mind is undisturbed.
7. If sitting cross-legged feels uncomfortable, find a position that works optimally for you. Most importantly, make sure your back is upright, whether you meditate on a sofa, chair, or on the floor. This can be done by putting a cushion, or a rolled-up towel underneath.
8. If you are a beginner, you will experience negative emotions such as restlessness, irritation, and anxiety. Do not resist these emotions. Instead, allow them to come and go and give them full attention.
9. When you finish your practice, observe how you feel physically, emotionally, and mentally. Do you feel calmer? Does your mind feel more clear? If you can find a connection between your meditation practice and feel good then you will ensure you take out time each day it.
10. Keep reminding yourself about the benefits of meditation.
11. Take a few minutes to unwind before starting your practice. This can help to keep your mind from wandering and focus more clearly. Start with a few breaths to calm down your mind and body.
12. Remember to breathe deeply which will help both your mind and body to relax.
13. The best direction to meditate is facing east or northeast.
The Takeaway
Lastly, keep experimenting with the different styles and discover the one style that suits you, as it is better to do any meditation than no meditation. Start with a few sessions per week to one session every day. Meditation cannot guarantee everlasting happiness and stress-free life. You cannot avoid the various challenges life throws at you every day. But with meditation, you can choose how to perceive the circumstances happening around you and how to react to them.
With regular practice, meditation can bring a subtle, intangible but deeper change in your life. It will enhance your sense of awareness and understanding which will eventually change the way you feel about yourself, your environment, and also others around you.
