Aug 18, 2017
MEDITATION:
IT’S NOT ALL HIPPIES AND PATCHOULI – Why It Matters To Both Your Health AND Bottom Line
Links:
7 Types of Meditation (there are many more)
https://visualmeditation.co/7-types-of-meditation/
23 Types of Meditation (there are many more)
http://liveanddare.com/types-of-meditation/
Summary of Meditation Types and Practices
http://mentalhealthdaily.com/2015/03/24/types-of-meditation-extensive-list-of-techniques/
Summary of Meditation Effects on Brain:
More on the practice and science of meditation
http://www.bakadesuyo.com/2016/09/how-to-meditate/
Resources:
Happiness: A Guide to Developing Life's Most Important Skill. Matthieu Ricard. Little, Brown, 2006.
Mental Training Enhances Attentional Stability: Neural and Behavioral Evidence. Antoine Lutz et al. in Journal of Neuroscience. Vol. 29, No. 42, pages 13,418–13,427; October 21, 2009.
Mind Wandering and Attention during Focused Meditation: A Fine-Grained Temporal Analysis of Fluctuating Cognitive States. Wendy Hasenkamp et al. in NeuroImage, Vol. 59, No. 1, pages 750–760; January 2, 2012.
FROM OUR ARCHIVES
The Physiology of Meditation. Robert Keith Wallace and Herbert Benson; February 1972.
SCIENTIFIC AMERICAN ONLINE Watch talks by Davidson and Ricard at http://ScientificAmerican.com/nov2014/meditation
Broad categories or types of meditation
Specific practices
Science of meditation
How to choose and why
Example Creative meditation techniques enable us to consciously cultivate and strengthen specific qualities of mind. Patience, appreciation, sympathetic joy, gratitude, love, compassion, fearlessness, humility, tenderness, and other qualities associated with aspects of nature, Divinity, or the natural world are among the attributes that are most commonly cultivated.
Creative meditations invite us to actively nurture these strengths of character by thinking, speaking, and acting "as though" these qualities are more fully alive within us.
To decide what type of meditation you like best, I recommend doing some experimentation. You may want to try one particular type for 10 days, and if you don’t really like it, try another type. The only way to find the type that you enjoy the most is by testing the waters with some different techniques and observing how you respond.
The most popular types of meditation include: Vipassana (Mindfulness) and TM (Transcendental), but there are infinitely more meditations than these two. Nearly all types of meditations fit into a category of: concentration, open monitoring, or effortless awareness.
All types of meditation that involve enhancing concentration can be classified as “focused attention” technique. These practices involve focusing attention on one specific thing for the entire time with the goal of cultivating laser-like focus.
Any concentration meditation will involve consistent mental effort to build up the ability to focus without succumbing to distraction.
Certain practices may involve focusing on an external object (e.g. a pen), while others will involve focusing on the breath. In any regard, the goal is to direct 100% focus on one thing for the entire session. When the mind wanders, the focus is calmly brought back to the object. Over time, the mind wanders less and the ability to focus your attention improves for longer durations.
With this type of meditation, you aren’t focusing your attention on one specific object. In this case, you are letting your attention flow freely without judgment or attachment. In other words, you are simply observing all perceptions, thoughts, memories, and senses that you experience during your practice. Developing the quality of “open monitoring” is synonymous with mindfulness – you are “mindful” of your experience.
Being mindful of your perception allows you to observe your experience almost from a third-person perspective rather than first-person attachment. You notice all sensations that you’re feeling, but merely observe them rather than judge them or react positively or negatively. In Vipassana, qualities of concentration along with mindfulness are generally developed together.
This type of meditation is classified as “effortless” because it requires no mental effort or concentration. Some have called this subtype of meditation “pure being” or “transcendental” because it involves emptiness, introversion, and calmness. The goal with this specific type is to essentially help the meditator recognize their pure essence (e.g. “Pure Self”) or the true nature of the self by eliminating all thought.
The mind becomes a blank slate with consistent practice. Some have compared effortless transcending to giving the brain a massage or bath. The transcendental process helps the individual silence their mind and become aware of deep (arguably “purer”) states of consciousness. A person who has been practicing this specific type may experience a state of emptiness or nothingness and find that it feels great.
They Each do different things!
And science is now discovering that they have different effects on the brain.
…in one fMRI study, appropriately titled “Putting Feelings into Words” participants viewed pictures of people with emotional facial expressions. Predictably, each participant’s amygdala activated to the emotions in the picture. But when they were asked to name the emotion, the ventrolateral prefrontal cortex activated and reduced the emotional amygdala reactivity. In other words, consciously recognizing the emotions reduced their impact.
By Rick Nauert PhD
~ 2 min read
Be it mindfulness, zen, acem, meditation drumming, chakra, Buddhist, or transcendental meditation, there are countless ways to meditate. Researchers are now parsing how the brain works during different kinds of meditation.
“No one knows how the brain works when you meditate. That is why I’d like to study it,” says Jian Xu, M.D., a physician at St. Olavs Hospital and a researcher at the Department of Circulation and Medical Imaging at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU).
Along with colleagues at the University of Oslo and the University of Sydney, Xu’s research was recently published in the journal Frontiers in Human Neuroscience.
Different meditation techniques can actually be divided into two main groups. One type is concentrative meditation, where the meditating person focuses attention on his or her breathing or on specific thoughts, and in doing so, suppresses other thoughts.
The other type may be called nondirective meditation, where the person who is meditating effortlessly focuses on his or her breathing or on a meditation sound, but beyond that the mind is allowed to wander as it pleases. Some modern meditation methods are of this nondirective kind.
Fourteen people who had extensive experience with the Norwegian technique of Acem meditation were tested in an magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) machine. In addition to simple resting, they undertook two different mental meditation activities, nondirective meditation and a more concentrative meditation task.
The research team wanted to test people who were used to meditation because it meant fewer misunderstandings about what the subjects should actually be doing while they lay in the MRI machine.
Nondirective meditation led to higher activity than during rest in the part of the brain dedicated to processing self-related thoughts and feelings. When test subjects performed concentrative meditation, the activity in this part of the brain was almost the same as when they were just resting.
“I was surprised that the activity of the brain was greatest when the person’s thoughts wandered freely on their own, rather than when the brain worked to be more strongly focused,” said Xu.
“When the subjects stopped doing a specific task and were not really doing anything special, there was an increase in activity in the area of the brain where we process thoughts and feelings. It is described as a kind of resting network. And it was this area that was most active during nondirective meditation,” he said.
“The study indicates that nondirective meditation allows for more room to process memories and emotions than during concentrated meditation,” said Svend Davanger, M.D., Ph.D., a neuroscientist at the University of Oslo, and co-author of the study.
“This area of the brain has its highest activity when we rest. It represents a kind of basic operating system, a resting network that takes over when external tasks do not require our attention. It is remarkable that a mental task like nondirective meditation results in even higher activity in this network than regular rest,” said Davanger.
Acem meditation is a technique that falls under the category of nondirective meditation. Davanger believes that good research depends on having a team that can combine personal experience with meditation with a critical attitude towards results.
“Meditation is an activity that is practiced by millions of people. It is important that we find out how this really works,” said Davanger.
Source: Norwegian University of Science and Technology
It totally depends on why you want to meditate in the first place. If your goal is to become more relaxed, you have plenty of great options. If your goal is to become more focused, you’d want to use a concentrative type of meditation. Various other types like Vajrayana actually increase arousal rather than decrease it, so be careful with the type you choose.
Whether you believe in the spiritual aspect of each (e.g. kundalini) is a personal thing and highly subjective. Assuming you want to meditate, pick a practice that appeals to you and give it a shot. However, keep in mind that the science behind meditation is relatively new in terms of long-term neural and physiological changes. We do know that different types of meditation produce specific neural and physiological adaptations.
Therefore choosing one type may literally transform your brain in an entirely different way than another. Many people assume that the benefits of every type of meditation can be lumped into a collective pile, but clearly they cannot. Assuming you practice meditation for a long-term, be sure to choose a practice that you enjoy and that helps you achieve your particular goal.
Science clearly supports the idea that certain types of meditation can be beneficial for mental performance and physical health. That said, there are some dangers to be aware of such as: extensive meditation leading to social isolation, meditation worsening depression or anxiety, too much inward focus (not balanced with the external), and falsely thinking that all the answers are found by looking inwards.
Humans didn’t evolve to meditate, they evolved to seek out external things in their environment. While meditation has its place to help with spiritual endeavors, relaxation, and mental performance, too much meditation may lead to adverse experiences – especially for a novice. Also avoid trapping yourself in any new age “cult” thinking that meditation and the idea of enlightenment will solve all your problems; newsflash: it won’t.
If you’re just getting started, I recommend using the app called “Headspace” which is a form of Mindfulness meditation. The science supports mindfulness for reducing anxiety, depression, and other measures. The nice thing about this app is there is no religious, subjective, “spiritual” hocus pocus, mumbo jumbo, witchcraft, non-scientific voodoo. It simply guides you through the meditation process at a slow, safe pace.
By Giovanni 276 Commentsmeditation, mindfulness
Ok, so you know that meditation has dozens of benefits, and everybody is doing it. You look for information online or on a bookstore, and see that there are a LOT of different ways of doing meditation, dozens of meditation techniques, and some conflicting information. You wonder which way is best for you.
This article will help you navigate the sea of different practices of seated meditation, briefly explaining each of them, and pointing to further resources. There are literally hundreds – if not thousands – of types of meditation, so here I will explore only the most popular ones.
You can also check my walking meditation guide, for more dynamic meditation techniques. Or, if you already have some experience with meditation, you might enjoy reading about the meditation experiments I was doing while writing this post.
At the bottom of this page you will find a button to download a FREE PDF copy of this post, for easy reference.
The advice regarding the posture of meditation is very similar among the different styles of seated practice, so I will go in to more detail about it only once, when talking about the first technique (Zen meditation).
I have strived to include a “Is it for me?” section, with general observations about each practice. Keep in mind these are tentative; they are there to give some direction, and potentially any person could feel attracted to any of these modalities.
This article does NOT tell you which is “the best” type of meditation – because there is no such thing, and I’m not here to create controversy. Also, I have here focused more on meditative practices; I may write another article on other similar practices, that are more about relaxation or contemplation.
If you are a beginner, you may also enjoy the post on meditation tips and meditation for beginners – how to build the habit.
The “best” meditation is the meditation that works for you, at this stage in you life.3
Scientists usually classify
meditation based on the way they focus attention, into two
categories: Focused Attention and Open Monitoring. I’d like to
propose a third: Effortless Presence.
Focusing the attention on a single object during the whole meditation session. This object may be the breath, a mantra, visualization, part of the body, external object, etc. As the practitioner advances, his ability to keep the flow of attention in the chosen object gets stronger, and distractions become less common and short-lived. Both the depth and steadiness of his attention are developed.
Examples of these
are: Samatha (Buddhist meditation), some forms of Zazen,
Loving Kindness Meditation, Chakra Meditation, Kundalini
Meditation, Sound Meditation, Mantra Meditation, Pranayama, some
forms of Qigong, and many others.
Instead of focusing the attention on any one object, we keep it open, monitoring all aspects of our experience, without judgment or attachment. All perceptions, be them internal (thoughts, feelings, memory, etc.) or external (sound, smell, etc.), are recognized and seen for what they are. It is the process of non-reactive monitoring of the content of experience from moment to moment, without going into them. Examples are: Mindfulness meditation, Vipassana, as well as some types of Taoist Meditation.
It’s the state where the attention is not focused on anything in particular, but reposes on itself – quiet, empty, steady, and introverted. We can also call it “Choiceless Awareness” or “Pure Being”. Most of the meditation quotes you find speak of this state.
This is actually the true purpose behind all kinds of meditation, and not a meditation type in itself. All traditional techniques of meditation recognize that the object of focus, and even the process of monitoring, is just a means to train the mind, so that effortless inner silence and deeper states of consciousness can be discovered. Eventually both the object of focus and the process itself is left behind, and there is only left the true self of the practitioner, as “pure presence”.
In some techniques, this is the only focus, from the beginning. Examples are: the Self-Enquiry (“I am” meditation) of Ramana Maharishi; Dzogchen; Mahamudra; some forms of Taoist Meditation; and some advanced forms of Raja Yoga. In my point of view, this type of meditation always requires previous training to be effective, even though this is sometimes not expressly said (only implied).
Zazen (坐禅) means “seated Zen”, or “seated meditation”, in Japanese. It has its roots in the Chinese Zen Buddhism (Ch’an) tradition, tracing back to Indian monk Bodhidharma (6th century CE). In the West, its most popular forms comes from Dogen Zenji (1200~1253), the founder of Soto Zen movement in Japan. Similar modalities are practiced in the Rinzai school of Zen, in Japan and Korea.
Learn more:
Zazen is a very sober meditation style, and you can easily find a lot of strong communities practicing it, as well as plenty of information on the internet. There is a lot of emphasis in keeping the right posture, as an aid for concentration. It is usually practiced in Zen Buddhist centers (Sangha), with strong community support.
In many of them you will find it coupled with other elements of Buddhist practice: prostrations, a bit of ritualism, chanting, and group readings of the Buddha teachings. Some people will like this, others won’t. Personally, I practiced zazen in a Buddhist group for 3 years, and I found that those elements and a bit of formality can also help create a structure for the practice, and in themselves they are also meditative.
“Vipassana” is a Pali “insight” or “clear seeing”. It is a traditional Buddhist practice, dating back to 6th century BC. Vipassana-meditation, as taught in the last few decades, comes from the Theravada Buddhist tradition, and was popularized by S. N. Goenka and the Vipassana movement.
Due to the popularity of Vipassanā-meditation, the “mindfulness of breathing” has gained further popularity in the West as “mindfulness”.
[There is some conflicting information on how to practice Vipassana. In general, however, most teachers emphasize starting with mindfulness of breath in the first stages, to stabilize the mind and achieve “access concentration.” This is more like focused attention meditation. Then the practice moves on to developing “clear insight” on the bodily sensations and mental phenomena, observing them moment by moment and not clinging to any. Here goes an introduction, aimed for beginners. To know more I’d suggest following up the links provided or learning from a teacher (perhaps in a Vipassana retreat).]
Ideally, one is to sit on a cushion on the floor, cross-legged, with your spine erect; alternatively, a chair may be used, but the back should not be supported.
The first aspect is to develop concentration, through samatha practice. This is typically done through breathing awareness.
Focus all your attention, from moment to moment, on the movement of your breath. Notice the subtle sensations of the movement of the abdomen rising and falling. Alternatively, one can focus on the sensation of the air passing through the nostrils and touching the upper lips skin – though this requires a bit more practice, and is more advanced.
As you focus on the breath, you will notice that other perceptions and sensations continue to appear: sounds, feelings in the body, emotions, etc. Simply notice these phenomena as they emerge in the field of awareness, and then return to the sensation of breathing. The attention is kept in the object of concentration (the breathing), while these other thoughts or sensations are there simply as “background noise”.
The object that is the focus of the practice (for instance, the movement of the abdomen) is called the “primary object”. And a “secondary object” is anything else that arises in your field of perception – either through your five senses (sound, smell, itchiness in the body, etc.) or through the mind (thought, memory, feeling, etc.). If a secondary object hooks your attention and pulls it away, or if it causes desire or aversion to appear, you should focus on the secondary object for a moment or two, labeling it with a mental note, like “thinking”, “memory”, “hearing”, “desiring”. This practice is often called “noting”.
A mental note identifies an object in general but not in detail. When you’re aware of a sound, for example, label it “hearing” instead of “motorcycle,” “voices” or “barking dog.” If an unpleasant sensation arises, note “pain” or “feeling” instead of “knee pain” or “my back pain.” Then return your attention to the primary meditation object. When aware of a fragrance, say the mental note “smelling” for a moment or two. You don’t have to identify the scent.
When one has thus gained “access concentration”, the attention is then turned to the object of practice, which is normally thought or bodily sensations. One observes the objects of awareness without attachment, letting thoughts and sensations arise and pass away of their own accord. Mental labeling (explained above) is often use as a way to prevent you from being carried away by thoughts, and keep you in more objectively noticing them.
As a result one develops the clear seeing that the observed phenomena is pervaded by the three “marks of existence”: impermanence (annica), insatisfactoriness (dukkha) and emptiness of self (annata). As a result, equanimity, peace and inner freedom is developed in relation to these inputs.
Learn more:
Vipassana is an excellent meditation to help you ground yourself in your body, and understand how the processes of your mind work. It is a very popular style of meditation. You can find plenty of teachers, websites, and books about it, as well as 3~10 days retreats (donation based). The teaching of it is always free. There are no formalities or rituals attached to the practice.
If you are completely new to meditation, Vipassana or Mindfulness are probably good ways for you to start.
Mindfulness Meditation is an adaptation from traditional Buddhist meditation practices, especially Vipassana, but also having strong influence from other lineages (such as the Vietnamese Zen Buddhism from Thich Nhat Hanh). “Mindfulness” is the common western translation for the Buddhist term sati. Anapanasati, “mindfulness of breathing”, is part of the Buddhist practice of Vipassana or insight meditation, and other Buddhist meditational practices, such as zazen (source: Wikipedia).
One of the main influencers for Mindfulness in the West is John Kabat-Zinn. His Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction program (MBSR) – which he developed in 1979 at the University of Massachusetts Medical School – has been used in several hospitals and health clinic on the past decades.
Mindfulness meditation is the practice of intentionally focusing on the present moment, accepting and no3n-judgmentally paying attention to the sensations, thoughts, and emotions that arise.
For the “formal practice” time, sit on a cushion on the floor, or on a chair, with straight and unsupported back. Pay close attention to the movement of your breath. When you breath in, be aware that you are breathing in, and how it feels. When you breath out, be aware you are breathing out. Do like this for the length of your meditation practice, constantly redirecting the attention to the breath. Or you can move on to be paying attention to the sensations, thoughts and feelings that arise.
The effort is to not intentionally add anything to our present moment experience, but to be aware of what is going on, without losing ourselves in anything that arises.
Your mind will get distracted into going along with sounds, sensations, and thoughts. Whenever that happens, gently recognize that you have been distracted, and bring the attention back to the breathing, or to the objective noticing of that thought or sensation. There is a big different between being inside the thought/sensation, and simply being aware of it’s presence.
Learn to enjoy your practice. Once you are done, appreciate how different the body and mind feel.
There is also the practice of mindfulness during our daily activities: while eating, walking, and talking. For “daily life” meditation, the practice is to pay attention to what is going on in the present moment, to be aware of what is happening – and not living in “automatic mode”. If you are speaking, that means paying attention to the words you speak, how you speak them, and to listen with presence and attention. If you are walking, that means being more aware of your body movements, your feet touching the ground, the sounds you are hearing, etc.
Your effort in seated practice
supports your daily life practice, and vice-versa. They are both
equally important.
Learn more:
For the general public, this is perhaps the most advisable way to get started with meditation. It is the type of meditation that is most taught at schools and hospitals, as far as I am aware. The “mindfulness movement” as practiced nowadays in society at large, is not Buddhism, but an adaptation of Buddhist practices due to their benefits in good physical and mental health and general wellbeing.
For most people, Mindfulness Meditation may be the only type of meditation they will like, especially if their focus is only the physical and mental benefits of meditation, as it is usually taught dissociated from several of the eastern concepts and philosophies that traditionally accompanied the practice. And for that it is great – it will bring many good things to your life.
If your focus is a deeper transformation and spiritual development, however, then mindfulness meditation may be just an initial step for you. From here you can then move into Vipassana, Zazen, or other types of meditation.
Metta is a Pali word that means kindness, benevolence, and good will. This practice comes from the Buddhist traditions, especially the Theravada and Tibetan lineages. “Compassion meditation” is a contemporary scientific field that demonstrates the efficacy of mettaand related meditative practices.
Demonstrated benefits include: boosting one’s ability to empathize with others; development of positive emotions through compassion, including a more loving attitude towards oneself; increased self-acceptance; greater feeling of competence about one’s life; and increased feeling of purpose in life (read more in our other post).
One sits down in a meditation position, with closed eyes, and generates in his mind and heart feelings of kindness and benevolence. Start by developing loving-kindness towards yourself, then progressively towards others and all beings. Usually this progression is advised:
The feeling to be developed is that of wishing happiness and well-being for all. This practice may be aided by reciting specific words or sentences that evoke the “boundless warm-hearted feeling”, visualizing the suffering of others and sending love; or by imagining the state of another being, and wishing him happiness and peace.
The more you practice this meditation, the more joy you will experience. That is the secret of Mathieu Richard’s happiness.
“For one who attends properly to the liberation of the heart by benevolence, unarisen ill will does not arise and arisen ill will is abandoned.” – The Buddha9
In this article, Emma Seppälä, Ph.D explores the 18 scientifically proven benefits of Loving-Kindness meditation.
Learn more:
Are you sometimes too hard on yourself or on others? Or feel like you need to improve your relationships? Loving-kindness meditation will help you. It is beneficial both for selfless and self-centered people, and it will help increase your general level of happiness. You cannot feel loving-kindness and depression (or any other negative feeling) at the same time.
It is also often recommended, by Buddhist teachers, as an antidote to insomnia, nightmares, or anger issues.
A mantra is a syllable or word, usually without any particular meaning, that is repeated for the purpose of focusing your mind. It is not an affirmation used to convince yourself of something.
Some meditation teachers insist that both the choice of word, and its correct pronunciation, is very important, due to the “vibration” associated to the sound and meaning, and that for this reason an initiation into it is essential. Others say that the mantra itself is only a tool to focus the mind, and the chosen word is completely irrelevant.
Mantras are used in Hindu traditions, Buddhist traditions (especially Tibetan and “Pure Land” Buddhism), as well as in Jainism, Sikhism and Daoism (Taoism). Some people call mantra meditation “om meditation”, but that is just one of the mantras that can be used. A more devotion oriented practice of mantras is called japa, and consists of repeating sacred sounds (name of God) with love.
As most type of meditations, it is usually practiced sitting with spine erect, and eyes closed. The practitioner then repeats the mantra in his mind, silently, over and over again during the whole session.
Sometimes this practice is coupled with being aware of the breathing or coordinating with it. In other exercises, the mantra is actually whispered very lightly and softly, as an aid to concentration.
As you repeat the mantra, it
creates a mental vibration that allows the mind to experience
deeper levels of awareness. As you meditate, the mantra becomes
increasingly abstract and indistinct, until you’re finally led into
the field of pure consciousness from which the vibration
arose.
Repetition of the mantra helps you disconnect
from the thoughts filling your mind so that perhaps you may slip
into the gap between thoughts. The mantra is a tool to support your
meditation practice. Mantras can be viewed as ancient power words
with subtle intentions that help us connect to spirit, the source
of everything in the universe. (Deepak Chopra)
Here are some of the most well-known mantras from the Hindu & Buddhist traditions:
You may practice for a certain period of time, or for a set number of “repetitions” – traditionally 108 or 1008. In the latter case, beads are typically used for keeping count.
As the practice deepens, you may
find that the mantra continues “by itself” like the humming of the
mind. Or the mantra may even disappear, and you are left in a state
of deep inner peace.
Learn more:
People usually find that it is easier to focus with a mantra than with the breathing. Because a mantra is a word, and thoughts are usually perceived as words, it can be easier to keep the focus on a mantra rather than on the breathing. It is useful especially when the mind is racing with many thoughts, since it mantra meditation demands constant attention.
Meditating with a mantra can also make it simpler to integrate your meditative state into your daily life. In whatever activity you find yourself into, it can be as simple as repeating the mantra in your mind.
Transcendental Meditation is a specific form of Mantra Meditation introduced by Maharishi Mahesh Yogi in 1955 in India and the West. In the late 1960s and early 1970s, the Maharishi achieved fame as the guru to the Beatles, The Beach Boys and other celebrities.
It is a widely practiced form of
meditation, with over 5 million practitioners worldwide, and
there is a lot of scientific research, many sponsored by the
organization, demonstrating the benefits of the practice. There are
over 600 scientific papers, many of them peer-reviewed, and I have
used part of their research when composing my benefits of meditation page. However, there are also critics of
the Maharishi and his organization, and some accusation of cultish
behavior and doubtful research practices.
[Image from
NurseTalkSite.com]
Transcendental meditation is not taught freely. The only way of learning it is to pay to learn from one of their licensed instructors. The support given seems to be good, though.
In general, however, it is known that TM involves the use of a mantra and is practiced for 15–20 minutes twice per day while sitting with one’s eyes closed. The mantra is not unique, and is given to the practitioner based on his gender and age. They are also not “meaningless sounds” – rather, they are Tantric names of Hindu deities. This probably is irrelevant for most people.
This is the official site of the movement: TM site.
There is another similar technique, called Natural Stress Relief, which was created in 2003 by a former TM Teacher, and is much cheaper to learn (47 USD instead of 960 USD), and has stripped out some mystical elements of the practice of TM, such as the initiation (puja) and yogic flying (part of TM-Siddhi). You can learn more about NSR in comparison to TM here and here.
Personally I don’t feel comfortable advising anyone to try Transcendental Meditation anymore, especially if you are looking to go deep into meditation. To know more, check out this answer I wrote in Quora.
If you wish to try something similar, for a fraction of the cost or for free, have a look at NSR (above), or Mantra Meditation.
There is not one type of meditation which is “Yogic Meditation”, so here it is meant the several meditation types taught in the yoga tradition. Yoga means “union”. Tradition goes as far as 1700 B.C, and has as its highest goal spiritual purification and Self-Knowledge. Classical Yoga divides the practice into rules of conduct (yamas and niyamas), physical postures (asanas), breathing exercises (pranayama), and contemplative practices of meditation (pratyahara, dharana, dhyana, samadhi).
The Yoga tradition is the oldest meditation tradition on earth, and also the one with the widest variety of practices.
Here are some types of meditation practiced in Yoga. The most common and universal Yoga meditation one is the “third eye meditation”. Other popular ones involve concentrating on a chakra, repeating a mantra, visualization of light, or gazing meditations.
Yoga is a very rich tradition, with different lineages, so there are many other techniques. But the ones above are the most well-known; the others are more specific or complex.
For a start, this video is an excellent resource on how to do Yoga style meditation, and it combines breathing, body awareness, mantra, and chakra meditation.
Learn more:
With all these types of meditation in Yoga, you are likely to find one that you like. If you are a musician, perhaps nada yoga is something that will attract you. If you are a devotional person, kriya yoga is a good option. Kundalini and Chakra meditation should only be attempted with a teacher.
Probably the simplest one to try is the “third eye meditation”, which is simple and yields results fairly quickly. For the other types you would probably need more instruction, either of a teacher or a good book (see references above). Besides, Pranayama is definitely something anyone can benefit from.
Self-Enquiry is the English translation for the Sanskrit term atma vichara. It means to “investigate” our true nature, to find the answer to the “Who am I?” question, which culminates with the intimate knowledge of our true Self, our true being. We see references to this meditation in very old Indian texts; however, it was greatly popularized and expanded upon by the 20th-century Indian sage Ramana Maharshi (1879~1950).
The modern non-duality movement (or neo-advaita), which is greatly inspired in his teachings – as well as those of Nisargadatta Maharaj (1897~1981) and Papaji – strongly uses this technique and variations. Many contemporary teachers to employ this technique, the most famous ones being Mooji (whom I’ve personally been with and recommend), Adyashanti, and Eckhart Tolle.
This practice is very simple, but also very subtle. When explaining it, however, it may sound very abstract.
Your sense of “I” (or “ego”) is the center of your universe. It is there, in some form or another, behind all your thoughts, emotions, memories, and perceptions. Yet we are not clear about what this “I” is – about who we truly are, in essence – and confuse it with our body, our mind, our roles, our labels. It’s the biggest mystery in our lives.
With Self-Enquiry, the question
“Who I am?” is asked within yourself. You must reject any
verbal answers that may come, and use this question simply as a
tool to fix your attention in the subjective feeling of “I” or
“I am”. Become one with it, go deep into it. This will then reveal
your true “I”, your real self as pure consciousness, beyond all
limitation. It is not an intellectual pursuit, but a question to
bring the attention to the core element of your perception and
experience: the “I”. This is not your personality, but a pure,
subjective, feeling of existing – without any images or concepts
attached to it.
Whenever thoughts/feelings arise, you ask
yourself, “To whom does this arise?” or “Who is aware of _____
(anger, fear, pain, or whatever)?” The answer will be “It’s me!”.
From then you ask “Who am I?”, to bring the attention back to the
subjective feeling of self, of presence. It is pure existence,
objectless and choice-less awareness.
Another way of explaining this practice is to just focus the mind on your feeling of being, the non-verbal “I am” that shines inside of you. Keep it pure, without association with anything you perceive.
On all other types of
meditation, the “I” (yourself) is focusing on some object, internal
or external, physical or mental. In self-enquiry, the “I” is
focusing on itself, the subject. It is the attention turned towards
its source.
There is no special position to practice,
although the general suggestions about posture and environment are
helpful for beginners.
Learn more:
This meditation is very powerful in bringing inner freedom and peace; yet, if you don’t have previous experience with meditation, you may find it very hard to follow through. As an initial aid to give you a feeling for it, I would advise following some guided meditations from Mooji, in YouTube.
Daoism is a Chinese philosophy and religion, dating back to Lao Tzu (or Laozi). It emphasizes living in harmony with Nature, or Tao, and it’s main text is the Tao Te Ching, dating back to 6th century B.C. Later on some lineages of Taoism were also influenced by Buddhist meditation practices brought from India, especially on the 8th century C.E..
The chief characteristic of this type of meditation is the generation, transformation, and circulation of inner energy. The purpose is to quieten the body and mind, unify body and spirit, find inner peace, and harmonize with the Tao. Some styles of Taoist Meditation are specifically focused on improving health and giving longevity.
Image from InternalArtsInternational.com
There are several different types of Taoist meditation, and they are sometimes classified in three: “insight”, “concentrative”, and “visualization”. Here is a brief overview:
These meditations are
done seated cross-legged on the floor, with spine erect. The
eyes are kept half-closed and fixed on the point of the
nose.
Master Liu Sichuan emphasises that, although
not easy, ideally one should practice by “joining the breath
and the mind together”; for those that find this too hard, he would
recommend focusing on the lower abdomen (dantian).
Learn more:
People that are more connected with the body and nature may like to try Taoist meditation, and enjoy learning a bit about the philosophy behind it. Or if you are into martial arts or Tai Chi, this might be of your interest. However, Taoist centers and teachers are not as easy to find as Buddhist and Yoga ones, so it might be a challenge to follow through.
Qigong (also spelled chi kung, or chi gung) is a Chinese word that means “life energy cultivation”, and is a body-mind exercise for health, meditation, and martial arts training. It typically involves slow body movement, inner focus, and regulated breathing. Traditionally it was practiced and taught in secrecy in the Chinese Buddhist, Taoist and Confucianist traditions. In the 20th century, Qigong movement has incorporated and popularized Daoist meditation, and “mainly employs concentrative exercises but also favors the circulation of energy in an inner-alchemical mode” (Kohn 2008a:120).
For a deep study on Qigong history, theory, and philosophy, I recommend The Root of Chinese Qigong.
Daoist practices may also employ Qigong, but since Qigong is also applied in other Chinese philosophies, I decided to treat it as a separate subject.
There are thousands of different Qigong exercises cataloged, involving over 80 different types of breathing. Some are specific to martial arts (to energize and strengthen the body); others are for health (to nourish body functions or cure diseases); and others for meditation and spiritual cultivation. Qigong can be practiced in a static position (seated or standing), or through a dynamic set of movements – which is what you typically see in YouTube videos and on DVDs. The exercises that are done as a meditation, however, are normally done sitting down, and without movement.
To understand more about Qigong and learn how to do it, I’d recommend getting a book or DVD set from Dr. Yang Jwing Ming, such as this one. But here goes an introductory overview of the practice of seated Qigong meditation:
Other famous Qigong exercises are:
The first two are seated meditation, while the latter two are dynamic Qigong, integrating body stretches.
Learn more:
Qigong meditation may be more
attractive to people that like to integrate a more active body and
energy work into the practice. If seated meditation is
unbearable for you, and you prefer something a bit more active, try
some of the more dynamic forms of Qigong. Again, there are
several styles of Qigong out there, and you may need to try with
different teachers or DVDs to find the one that suits
you.
Some people have a taste of dynamic Qigong
through the practice of Tai Chi.
In Eastern traditions (Hinduism, Buddhism, Jainism, Daoism) meditation is usually practiced with the purpose of transcending the mind and attaining enlightenment. On the other hand, in the Christian tradition the goal of contemplative practices is, one may say, moral purification and deeper understanding of the Bible; or a closer intimacy with God/Christ, for the more mystic stream of the tradition.
Here are some forms of Christian contemplative practice:
To read more about this, check out our post on Contemplative Prayer and Christian Meditation.
Guided Meditation is, in great part, a modern phenomenon. It is an easier way to start, and you will find guided meditations ba
sed on several of the above traditions.
The practice of meditation requires some dose of determination and will-power. In the past, people that were into meditation were more committed to it, and also had strong ideals fuelling their motivation. Their life was more simple, with less distractions.
We live in very different times now. Our life is busier. Will power is a less common personal asset. Distractions are everywhere, and meditation is often sought as a means to develop better health, enhance performance, or improve oneself.
For these reasons, guided meditation can indeed be a good way to introduce you to the practice. Once you get the hang of it, and wish to take your practice to the next level, I would urge you to try meditation unassisted by audio. It is up to you to decide when you feel like taking this step.
Guided Meditation is like cooking with a recipe. It’s a good way to start, and you can eat the food you make like this. But once you understand the main principles and flavors, you can cook your own dish. It will have a different, unique taste; it will be tailored for you, and more powerful. And then you will not want to use the recipe anymore – unless if you are trying a dish of another cuisine.
[Image from BinauralBeatsMeditation.com]
Guided meditation usually comes in the form of audio (file, podcast, CD), and sometimes audio and video. You will find that any guided meditation will fall in one of below categories (with some overlap, obviously).
While they all have their merits, it is the first type that most naturally evolves into individual unguided practice.
Learn more:
If you feel traditional meditation is a bit too hard, or you are unsure where to start, then guided meditations can be the way for you to begin. Or if you are seeking some very specific experience or benefit – like improving self-esteem, working through a trauma, or just letting go of some tension in your body – you can also find some guided meditation that suits you.