Meditation has been used since ages. It has unimaginable benefits for both physical and mental health. Meditation helps keep you relaxed, removes anxiety and much more. Modern science has started studying meditation and its benefits in recent decades. As meditation does not seem like something more than just breathing but thanks to modern technology like EEG and fMRI, we can see how it impacts our brain. There are a lot of advantages of meditation that have been well defined in modern studies. Meditation Is one of the best ways of managing stress. Meditation is both religious and non-religious. We are going to see the different types of meditation and the impacts further in this blog. Now, let us see what meditation is.
What is Meditation?
Meditation is a way to train our brain to focus and get detached from reflexive thinking. It is a way of clearing the mind and to attain a stable state of mind. Meditation helps you focus on thoughts that are necessary and avoid the ones which are meaningless. Meditation is not something that came in trend recently. Meditation is a very old practice that dates back to Upanishads (Sanskrit texts from Hinduism). Meditation is followed in many Religions like Hinduism, Buddhism, Jainism, Christianity, Judaism and Islam. But to follow meditation, you do not have to be religious to practice meditation.
Before learning method of meditation, we will see some type of meditation that are followed in Modern era:
The meditation now used is a mix of ancient practices and modern adaptation. There are types of meditation which are done for different benefits. Type of Meditation defines suitability also. Such as stress relief, Focus, Intuition, Deep Relaxation, Mental Clarity etc.
- Mindfulness Meditation: Also known as Vipassana, this meditation practice originates from Buddhism, which helps in reducing stress, improving awareness and focus. To perform this Meditation, a person needs to sit and observe their thoughts without engaging with the thoughts.
- Transcendental Meditation: Originated from Ancient Vedic Tradition, this meditation helps in reducing stress, improving mental clarity. To practice this Meditation, you need to sit with eyes closed and chant a Mantra.
- Guided Meditation: This form of meditation is done in the presence of a guidance or a teacher. This is the basic type of meditation in which the meditator learns to meditate through some audio guidance, video reference. This helps in improving sleep, enhancing emotional healing etc.
- Loving-Kindness Meditation: As the name comes from the way it heals emotionally, increases empathy and reduces anger, this Meditation finds its origin from Buddhism. To perform this meditation, a person needs to sit with peace and chant “may I be happy, may I be healthy.”
- Body Scan Meditation: Helps in reducing stress, improving sleep and relieving physical pain, it Is done without sitting, that is you need to lie down and focus on your body from head to toe.
- Zen Meditation: Finding its roots from Japan (Zen Buddhism) this meditation improves patience, discipline and deepens self-awareness. To perform this meditation, sit back straight with half lotus position and focus on breathing or a paradox question.
- Chakra Meditation: mostly Popular in Hindu Tantric Tradition, it helps in activating seven chakras in the body. it balances emotion, used in energy healing and enhancing spiritual growth. For practicing, sit in a quiet place and focus on each chakra one by one.
- Yoga Meditation: As Suggested by the name, yoga meditation is performed while doing Yoga asanas with focused breathing. Helps in reducing stress, increasing flexibility and enhancing mental clarity.
- Sound Meditation: Used for healing therapies and spiritual practices, this meditation uses sound vibration to reach a meditative state.
- Walking Meditation: Originated from Buddhism, this meditation helps in improving focus and calmness and reducing stress. To perform this meditation, walk slowly and focus on each step along with being aware of the surroundings.
- Third Eye Meditation: it originates from Hindu and Yogic tradition providing benefits like increasing inner vision, increasing intuition. To perform Third eye meditation, sit in a comfortable position and focus between your eyebrows while visualizing a bright light expanding.
How to meditate:
We saw what meditation is and the types of meditation. Now let us focus on How to Start Meditation for Beginners.
Meditation word itself seems to be some kind of a big deal but once you start it, this won’t feel much of a challenge. Here, we are giving some steps to enter in this world of peace and harmony. The Guided mediation steps are:
First of all, you need to find a quiet room in which you would not be disturbed. This can be a small corner in your house or your own bedroom as you find comfortable.
Sit comfortably with your back straight and if not able to sit then you may lie down also, keeping in mind that your back should be straight.
Start with some deep breaths to start off your meditation and then slowly focus on your natural breathing. Thoughts would come and go. Try not to focus on your thoughts but if it happens to be, start with a deep breath again.
Start with 2-5 minutes and increase the time duration according to your comfort. If needed you may chant some Mantras for increasing focus.
Doing meditation daily or periodically may help increase your focus, decrease stress and enhance observing skills.
Advantages of Meditation:
Meditation not only improves focus and decreases stress; it also has some other benefits. Meditation Benefits are discussed below points by points: –
- Helps in reducing stress and anxiety by reducing cortisol level that helps in calming racing thoughts.
- Meditation helps in increasing attention span as we focus on our own breathing. It also improves cognitive function.
- Helps in regulating emotions that fuels inner peace. Also increases mindfulness and self-awareness.
- With reduced stress and a calm mind, you can sleep better. Hence meditation perks also involve better sleep.
- Meditation decreases stress and anxiety resulting in an improved mental well being that reduces the risk of any heart disease and also reduces risk of blood pressure fluctuation.
- Meditation helps in reducing inflammation in the body that boosts our immune system.
- Meditation helps cure depression by increasing the amount of dopamine and serotonin.
Mediation does much more than what we think of. It is not something that comes up suddenly, Meditation has been practiced a lot since ancient times and we read about it in many of our manuscripts as well. Meditation is a way of knowing yourself. This blog has only provided an insight on this topic. If you want to completely submerge in this world then you may need to research more and take help from some professionals that will help you with Guided Meditation.
