I love the benefits I’ve experienced from meditating and am passionate about sharing this practice with others. There are so many different types of meditation to try and experiment with. Finding what works for you is the best guidance I can offer because what works for me may not work for others – however, the overarching benefits to be gained from practicing mediation remain the same.
Here are a few types of meditation that I personally enjoy practicing:
1. Open Monitoring
2. Mantra
3. Body-scan
4. Focused attention
5. Movement
Open Monitoring meditations involve the nonjudgmental monitoring of thoughts, sensations, and sounds. A common misconception with meditation is that you have to try to clear your mind. However, during a mindfulness meditation, you allow thoughts to pass through your mind, neither judging nor becoming involved with them. Instead, we maintain a broad awareness, observe, and take note of any patterns that emerge.
Mantra meditations use a repetitive focal point to clear the mind and anchor you to the present moment. Most prominently used in Hindu and Buddhist teachings, the most commonly used mantra is the word “om” – however, a mantra can be any word, sound, or phrase. The repetition can be chanted out loud or practiced silently in your head.
Body-scan meditations involve scanning the body one part at a time, feeling into the sensations of the body, noticing, and observing without judgment. Sometimes sensations are felt strongly and at other times no sensation is felt. Whether you start at the top of your head or the soles of your feet, you can flow your attention throughout your entire body, checking in with the sensations of each section, and acknowledging what is present without hooking into the sensation. If pain, tension, or discomfort are observed we can choose to be with it or shift our focus to another part of the body.
Focused attention meditations call for maintaining concentration on a single point of focus. This can be internal, such as your breath, or external, such as a fixed point in the room. It may seem like a simple exercise, however it can be challenging to maintain your focus for longer than a few minutes before you notice that your mind has wandered away. When your mind or attention wanders, gently bring it back to your chosen focus. This is considered part of the practice, the act of noticing the thoughts and gently but firmly bringing the breath back to the point of focus or anchor.
Movement meditations allow you to become more connected to the present moment through the physicality of movement. It’s an active form of meditation designed to increase body awareness, and can be achieved through any gentle form of movement, whether it be yoga, Qigong, or simply walking.
The Benefits of Meditation
Whichever practice you choose, the potential benefits of this practice include:
Stress reduction
Mental health boost
Improvements in memory and mental clarity
Enhanced willpower
Increased attention span
Decreased blood pressure
Promotes better quality sleep & lessens insomnia
Pain management
Greater compassion
In my own experience, in the form of Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction (MBSR), my practice has allowed me to manage menopause symptoms, relieve stress, improve my sleep, lower my blood pressure, and eat more mindfully, which enabled me to stabilize my weight.
As always, I'm here to help,
Lourdes
@lourdes_laifer
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