Meditation is similar to fitness. The difference is that fitness is for body training while meditation is for mind training. There are different meditation techniques across the globe based on local culture and philosophy followed by locals.
For example, Buddhists consider the meditation that is similar to something that is considered sports in the United States. It is not a single thing but a family of activities.
Also, there are different mental skills required for different techniques of meditation. Sitting for an hour with an empty mind is not simple to do. So to get you started on meditation following are some techniques by Assignment Geek that can be more effective for individuals.
Concentration Meditation:
This technique of meditation is all about focusing on a single thing or point. You can concentrate on your breath or repeat the same word for a specific time. Other examples of concentration meditation are listening to a song on repeat, staring at the flame of a candle, or counting the number of beads on mala.
As focusing on something is quite challenging so a beginner can start with a few minutes and then can increase the duration of focus with time.
If your mind wanders away from the focusing object, you become aware and refocus on the object in concentration meditation. This helps to improve your ability to concentrate.
Mindfulness Meditation:
In this kind of meditation, the individual focuses on the wandering thoughts of the mind. As thoughts drift through an individual’s mind, he/she tries to observe these thoughts. This activity intends to make you aware of every single mental note as soon as it is created. There is no purpose to get serious with these thoughts or judge these thoughts in mindfulness meditation.
You can observe the patterns of your thought through mindfulness as they move from one area to another. With time you will be aware of how quickly humans tend to judge behavior or thought as good or bad. Mindfulness meditation helps you to create an inner balance.
Other Meditation Techniques:
Other than the two major meditation techniques of concentration and mindfulness there are few more techniques. An example of such a technique is daily meditation by monks.
Buddhist monks follow a daily meditation technique by directly focusing on compassion cultivation. They use compassion to transform negative events by envisioning them and recasting them as positive energy.
Other famous meditation techniques are qigong, tai chi, and walking meditation.
Some meditation schools use the combination of mindfulness and concentration techniques to make it more effective for individuals.
Simple Meditation for Beginners:
Meditation exercise is one of the simple and easy exercies for beginners to introduce them to meditation techniques. The following are the steps for a meditation exercise.
- You can sit or lie making yourself fully comfortable. You can use a cushion or a meditation chair for this purpose as well.
- Once you are in a comfortable position either lying or sitting, close your eyes. You can use cooling eye masks for this purpose.
- Breathe naturally and do not make any effort to control your breath.
- Pay attention to your breath is the last thing you need to do during this exercise but do it for a few minutes at the start and increase the duration with time.
