We spent most of our time at work. Work is something that you do in order to get your living. It is not like the old times when you need just little amount of money to live life. As civilization and countries are growing, living expenses are increasing day by day and we all have to work hard to get money for living. While we spent most of our time at work, we are exhausted and full of worries.
We are surrounded by too many things to accomplish, we worry about our work, we worry about our relationships and we worry about our financial condition. All these worries bring stress and anxiety in our lives. And because of stress and anxiety you are unable to understand yourself and your emotion and you will be mentally weak.
The best way to overcome all this is meditation. It ignites peace and harmony in you. Meditation lets you know yourself and it helps you to bring out the best of you. As you will go along on this journey you will feel that you are in control and you can control your flows and emotions. You will need to spare some little amount of time from your schedule to do meditation.
Meditation is a scientifically supported way to reduce stress and anxiety. It helps you to relax and you will feel more alive in your day to day life. When it comes to meditation there are many types of meditation, but there are some types that you should know to get started with.
Types of Meditations
Mindfulness meditation
Mindfulness meditation is one of the most popular forms of meditation. Mindfulness meditation originates from Buddhist teachings from ancient times. In this mindfulness meditation you pay attention to your thoughts. It means that you observe your thoughts and your flows as it passes through your mind. The important thing here is not to judge any thought. Also, you do not need to involve with that thought just let it pass. You have to observe and take note if you see any particular pattern.
This meditation combines focus and attention. You can concentrate on a single object or your breathing during meditation. This meditation can be done anywhere. You can do it in a quiet place where there are no distractions. The best part of this meditation is that you won’t need any teacher or guide and you can do it by yourself.
Spiritual meditation
Spiritual meditation is part of Hindu, Dao, and Christian culture. It is similar to prayers that you make for a deeper connection with god. Spiritual meditations help you to trust on universe or god. And then you will feel the energy and calmness of the universe inside you. You will start to feel that you are connected with it as a part of the universe.
During the practices of spiritual meditation, essential oils are commonly used to enlarge the whole spiritual experience. Cedar, sage, sandalwood, and myrrh are some of the popular options. You can practice spiritual meditation at home or in place of worship.
Focused meditation
As the name on this meditation suggests, it is about focus. In this meditation you concentrate on your all senses. This meditation has many forms. You can simply focus on your breathing while meditation or you can focus on external an object that helps you to concentrate. Some practices of focus meditation involve counting mala beads or staring at a candle flame. This meditation is ideal for people who have poor focus abilities and can’t do one work at a time.
This meditation looks simple but it can be hard for beginners. If you are just starting to meditate then probably it will be hard for you to focus. In beginning your mind will jump from one thought to another but you need to take your focus back from various thoughts. At first, you will only be able to concentrate for a couple of minutes but as you will practice this you will be more involved in meditation. And after that you will improve your focus.
Movement meditation
This meditation can be an interesting one. Most of the time movement means yoga and different poses of meditation. But in this movement yoga it is not about yoga it is about the movement of your body. This meditation may include walking through the woods, gardening, etc.
This meditation is about being mindful of your muscles as they move or the feeling of your feet against the floor as you move. Movement meditation involves gentle forms of motion and it is an active form of meditation where movement guides you. This meditation is useful to find peace in action. Movement meditation is ideal when you feel energetic. While doing this meditation all you have to do is to focus on all your moving parts of the body as you walk slowly. You have to feel the energy which causes the arm to extend outward. The slow movements in this meditation create calmness in mind, which is the ultimate goal of any meditation.
Mantra meditation
This is one of the popular forms of meditation in Hindu and Buddhist traditions. In this meditation special mantra, specific phrase, or specific word is chanted and you have to focus on this chanting. Mantra meditation uses repetitive sound to clear the mind. “Om” is a popular word that is used during mantra meditation.
In mantra meditation you don’t have to speak mantra loudly or quietly. After chanting the mantra for some time you will be more alert in yourself and you will be more tuned with your environment. This creates a deeper awareness of you. Mantra meditation can be easy for beginners because it is easier to focus on mantra then on the breath.
Transcendental meditation
Transcendental meditation is the most popular form of meditation around the world. Transcendental meditation is a customized form of mantra meditation and this practice includes mantra or series of words that are specific to each practitioner.
This mantra or a phrase is different for all individuals. Repetition of this phrase improves awareness and mindfulness in the practitioner. The ultimate goal of transcendental meditation is to achieve inner peace without concentration or effort.
We all have some stress and worries in life. Meditation can be a key element to shift your mind from worries and negative thoughts to reassurance and positive thoughts. It creates a sense of calm and inner harmony. Meditation can be difficult at first but after some practice you will be good at it and you will notice the changes in yourself. You can try different types of meditation as mentioned above. Then you will find what type of meditation works for you.