How to Practice Meditation

What Is Meditation?

Meditation is a practise that has been used for centuries, that allows for the person to be in the present moment, rather than thinking about the past or future. Although many religions use this practise, it is not religious itself. There are many different techniques that can be done, from simply focusing on your breathing, to focusing your attention onto a specific thing. The idea is to be in touch with your body and mind, moment by moment.

Different Techniques

Mindfulness Meditation

One of the most popular techniques is mindfulness meditation. During mindfulness meditation you simply watch your thoughts pass, and do not react or judge them. 

An example of putting this into practise, is when someone has not replied to your text, and you make up a whole scenario in your head of why they haven’t yet. These emotions and self-created thoughts, could then affect your actions and mood in real life, however, with mindfulness practise you would be able to see these thoughts appear in your mind and simply watch them go by, rather than attach yourself to them. Or of course this practise is useful in general terms of not attaching yourself to every thought, causing stress or worry, it allows you to take a step back and let the thoughts float past.

Focused Meditation

Focused meditation involves concentrating intensely on a particular thing, generally 1 of the 5 senses. You can focus on something internal like your breath, counting in your head or something external, like a candle or an object. This practise can help with your attention span and focusing on a specific thing for a period of time.

Movement Meditation

This form of meditation can be done while walking, gardening, yoga or any type of movement. The idea is to relax and focus your mind on the activity you are doing, at that present time and be in touch with what you are doing with your body and movements.

Mantra Meditation

Mantra meditation is more known in religious settings like Hinduism and Buddhism. This type of meditation uses repetitive sounds, words or phrases. Many people will be aware of the practise of repeatedly humming the sound “om”

After doing this for a long period of time, after you stop, you will be much more aware of the experience around you. This method can be easier for people, as its simpler to repeat one thing for a long period of time.

Other types of meditation include Transcendental Meditation, Body Scan Meditation, Loving-kindness meditation and Visualization meditation.

Benefits Of Meditating

Organisations, clinics and medical services vouch for the many benefits from meditating. These benefits include helping with;

• Stress

• Anxiety

• Depression

• Increasing skills for managing stress

• Patience and tolerance

• Lowering blood pressure and heart rate

• Increasing self-awareness

• Sleep quality

• Quieting your mind

Read about more benefits here and here.

If you are more interested in the wellbeing side of meditation, check out Kent-Teach’s resource packed page on wellbeing.