What you should know about popular types of meditation, including their advantages, pitfalls, and attraction.
When many people tried meditation for the first time, one word described their experience: uncomfortable. They attempted to sit in the meant position and focus on nothing, but their minds wandered and were distracted. Then they would become frustrated because it wasn’t working.
The phrase meditation conjures up a variety of images. Some folks picture yoga clothes, incense, and people chanting “om,” while others envision an app that guides them through their chaotic stream of consciousness, or they see themselves reading, painting, or running. Meditation can be uncomfortable at first, similar to going to the gym. Training the mind takes time, just as it does for the body.
More individuals are meditating than ever before, and women meditate more than men. If you haven’t yet found a meditation practice that works for you, here are a few options.
Transcendental Meditation
Transcendental Meditation, or TM, is a spiritual form of meditation in which practitioners sit and breathe gently. When most people think of meditation, this is usually what comes to mind. A yogi in India created TM, and it later spread to the West. Through mental repetition of a personalised mantra, TM helps you “transcend” your current condition.
Since this style of meditation has been around since the 1950s, with a centralised educational foundation founded in the 1970s, there is a lot of scientific research on its benefits — lower blood pressure and stress. This means that TM provides a type of restful alertness; people who practice TM are alert but not overstimulated, which is something we could all use more of in our fast-paced, technologically advanced life.
The memory region of your brain [the hippocampus] becomes active and gradually expands, whereas the emotional memory component of your brain [the amygdala] shrinks with time. The consequence is improved memory recall without the activation of the fight-or-flight response: meditative activities assist in regulating the limbic system [and] reduce emotional incontinence.
What about the downsides of TM?
Physiologically, the advantages proven by peer-reviewed studies outweigh them without a doubt. The most obvious disadvantage, however, is its expense. A certified TM instructor assigns each mantra to a practitioner. This makes it far less accessible than other types of meditation.
Mindfulness and Grounding Meditations
Although mindfulness meditation is a popular technique in the wellness industry today, its origins are far older. Buddhist monks have been using mindfulness in their quest for enlightenment for over 2,600 years, and it has Eastern roots.
Simply put, mindfulness meditation is observing our feelings, thoughts, and sensations without judgement—in other words, being conscious of all of them. What distinguishes mindfulness meditation is that it does not deny that our minds are thought-producing engines in overdrive; rather, it instructs us to sit with these thoughts and find comfort—and thereby relieve stress—in their presence.
Mindfulness advantages include stress reduction, memory improvement, attention, lower emotional reactivity, and relationship pleasure.
It’s no surprise that mindfulness courses are now available everywhere, from digital apps to colouring books and military training.
Our lives of multitasking and being “on” all the time exhaust us. When we wake up in the morning and wash our teeth, we have extra time to take a deep breath. How many times have you jumped into the shower, stepped out, and wondered to yourself, “Did I even spend 15 minutes in there?”‘
Grounding is a practice that frequently complements mindfulness. Mindfulness is “paying attention, on purpose, and without judgement to what is happening right here, right now,” whereas grounding involves anchoring in our surroundings or headspace.
Micro moments are a simple method to start mindfulness practice if sitting on a cushion and letting your thoughts pass by without judgement isn’t your thing.
Flow State and Moving Meditation
Flow is defined as a state in which “people are so involved in an activity that nothing else seems to matter; the experience is so enjoyable that people will continue to do it even at great cost, just for the sake of doing it.”
Flow state meditation is a type of moving meditation that, unlike sitting and focusing on your breath, results in being in “the zone.” Flow state and moving meditation are distinct because they are frequently the polar opposites of what most people connect with meditation. Flow state meditation involves moving and immersing yourself in something so intense that your mind is focused on what you’re doing. This puts your mind at peace from day-to-day pressures and increases your concentration on the task at hand.
Because what captivates us differs from person to person, so do the many types of meditation. Some people do yoga, while others go for a walk, swim, or paint. The hazards of movement meditation differ depending on the one you choose. The most significant risk to our mental health is that the meditation we have chosen becomes a chore. However, there is a fine line between taking a day off (or five) and making your meditation practice a chore.
A task that is both interesting and challenging necessitates a certain level of mental ability. There will be no room for the niggles at the back of your mind to distract you. You focus solely on your work; this is not a particularly relaxing meditation state.
Tai chi, an ancient Chinese form of movement meditation, has been shown to improve physical well-being while decreasing stress. There are also bodily benefits. Tai chi has been shown to be more helpful than brisk walking in lowering cardiovascular disease risk factors in persons with hypertension. This technique relieves negative emotions, reduces depression, and decreases anxiety in seemingly healthy people. Tai chi combines mindfulness, deep breathing, and aerobic exercise to alleviate bad feelings in people of all ages.
Guided Imagery or Visualisation Meditation
Guided imagery is a type of meditation that emphasises concentrated relaxation. It relies on visualising or thinking of a specific location, experience, or even a sound or fragrance to relax your mind. This type of meditation can (but does not always) complement mindfulness and grounding practice. For instance, if you were told to close your eyes and imagine you were in a lavender field and could only smell lavender, you would think about lavender fields and their scent. You’d probably feel a sense of calm, peace, or attentiveness in the moment.
Our brains and bodies respond to what they are told. And if we’re instructed what to say through an audio app, it’s as close to a guarantee as we can get. A 30-minute guided-imaging session is just as effective as a 15-minute massage in terms of improving sleep quality. Guided imagery and progressive muscle relaxation—the technique of tensing and releasing muscle regions one at a time—were found to function well together for pain management.
The benefits of guided relaxation extend far beyond removing ourselves from stressful events or times; the practice has also been demonstrated to enhance athletic performance. “During [guided-imagery practice], the same parts of your brain are activated as if you were doing the actual activity, with the exception of the motor track in your brain. As a result, guided imagery meditation provides the benefit of repetitive practice without actually going through the physical motions.”
This all sounds wonderful, doesn’t it? However, as with all kinds of meditation, it is not suitable for everyone. For starters, a visualisation exercise is not recommended for people who are unable to see anything clearly or at all in their minds. Aside from that, if you’re not concentrated enough or able to visualise adequately, there’s reason to suppose that the frustration that comes with attempting may cause anxiety.
At the end of the day, meditation is about doing what works best for you in the present. Perhaps you should try TM first thing in the morning when your attention is at its peak, then move on to moving meditation at lunchtime when your energy is low. Perhaps the only thing that works is to have someone tell you what to do through headphones. If you believe something isn’t working, consider letting it go and trying something new.
