Meditation techniques: Find the best technique for you
The Netherlands has a rather hectic society. Consequently, we are a country with one of the highest productivity rates, but of course this is because everyone works hard. Unfortunately, this means that sometimes there is no peace and quiet in your life. Meditation can change this and brings all kinds of benefits.
In this article, I will discuss the different types of meditation techniques out there and what benefits they have.
To truly enjoy meditation, it is important to find a form that suits you. Whereas some people do best sitting and doing nothing, others need to totally experience a moment with all the senses they have in order to unwind. Still others benefit from repeating mantras.
Seated meditation
Sitting meditation is the most well-known form of meditation available. There are several ways you can perform seated meditation. For example, you can sit cross-legged with your fingertips together, or you can simply sit on a chair, the edge of your bed or couch.
During seated meditation, you focus your attention on your breathing and stay in the here and now. If this is difficult, you can also count each breath until you reach the 10th and then start over again.
Sedentary meditation has benefits for both adults and adolescents ( 1). In adolescents, for example, it can help reduce psychological and behavioral problems. This may be because seated meditation provides greater insight into thoughts and moods.
In adults, seated meditation also provides greater insight into thoughts and moods. Sitting meditation helps reduce wandering thoughts about past experiences and emotions, improve self-compassion and generally feel better.
Also, seated meditation helps to better cope with difficult emotions.
Do you often struggle with emotions that ruin your entire mood or that you’d rather suppress? If so, seated meditation can be the first step toward acknowledging and processing those emotions.
Mantra Meditation
Mantra meditation gives your brain something to do. This makes thoughts less likely to impose themselves on you while you are meditating. In addition, the sounds also create a vibration in your body which gives an extra relaxing effect.
The "Uncle" mantra is the most well-known and also creates the most vibration ( 2). Among other things, you can feel this in your nose, and because of the nasal sound, you also feel the sound in your head. In addition, this mantra helps you maintain calm breathing during meditation.
In mantra meditation, you also set an intention before you begin ( 3). For example, you might set the intention to have a good day. If you find it difficult to set an intention, “letting go” is always a good one.
You practice this form of meditation in a quiet space where there are few distractions. Usually this is a dark or dimly lit room. For example, some people like to use candles instead of lamps. Dimming a lamp, of course, also works well.
During mantra meditation you sit in cross-legged chair. If you find this difficult, you can sit on a cushion. Then you focus on your breathing; you don't have to control it but mainly experience it. Then you start with your mantra. Then you feel it not only at your nose, but also in your belly. If not, sit up straighter.
Sometimes when you don't feel like using the mantra for a while, you can quietly stop to use your mantra completely internally or focus on your breathing.
Mantra meditation helps to reduce stress, lower your blood pressure, lower your heart rate, suffer less from anxiety and depression and generally feel better.
Do you mainly want to relax, but find that your thoughts keep bothering you? Then mantra meditation might be the solution to creating more peace of mind.
Yoga meditation
Yoga meditation means that during yoga you focus on your breathing and do not use yoga to get stronger and more flexible, which are nice side effects.
Yoga meditation involves making the connection between your body and brain stronger. This is because yoga makes you feel what your body can do. Through the different poses, you become aware of every muscle and the strength your body actually has.
Yoga meditation has all kinds of benefits, such as stress relief. A study of informal caregivers who care for people with dementia shows that yoga meditation can alleviate the stress associated with this role and reduce symptoms of depression—even with just one yoga meditation session per week ( 3b).
Yoga meditation can also be practiced in a group setting. A study ( 4) in which a family with children who have ADHD practiced yoga meditation showed that this has benefits for the children’s behavior, their self-confidence, and the parent-child relationship. The parents were also less stressed, more satisfied, and had more influence over their child’s behavior.
Do you often feel like your life is happening in your head and you take your body for granted? Then you can strengthen your connection with your body and senses with yoga meditation. In groups, this can also strengthen bonds between participants. There are also fun yoga meditation exercises that require a partner.
Mindfulness meditation
Mindfulness meditation is a form of meditation that allows you to fully experience a particular event in that moment without being bothered by thoughts. Mindfulness meditation is usually applied during household chores or at work to ensure that worries do not bother you.
But you can also apply mindfulness meditation when you're just engaged in something enjoyable to fully experience that feeling and not let it be ruined by thoughts about the future or an unpleasant memory.
In mindfulness meditation, you first begin by shifting your attention to your breathing. Next, you move to the feeling of your body and then to everything around you. When you're out with friends you really listen to them and don't let thoughts distract you. That way you are completely in the here and now.
Mindfulness meditation reduces stress, helps manage chronic pain, strengthens your immune system, reduces anxiety and depression, reduces rumination, promotes greater self-compassion, and can improve relationships ( 5).
Are you busy, busy, busy daily and find that life actually flies by you when you want to be more attentive to your partner or child? With mindfulness meditation, you live in the here and now and can tighten bonds.
Love and kindness meditation
If you feel you lack some love and self-love, this form of meditation can help. It is sometimes said that you must first love yourself before you can properly love another. This love and kindness meditation provides both.
In this form of meditation, you sit as in seated meditation and first focus on your breathing. Then you allow feelings of kindness and benevolence to pass through you. Initially for yourself.
The following stages are advised in love and kindness meditation:
- Yourself
- A good friend
- A neutral person
- A difficult person
- All of the above at the same time
- Gradually the entire universe.
This may sound a bit floaty, so I'll make it a little more tangible. For example, if you meditate while being with a close friend you will probably already automatically smile. That love and kindness is automatic. Then you can do this with someone around you with whom you have neutral feelings, such as a colleague. By turning the kind feelings "on" with your colleague the daily interaction can already change making life a lot more pleasant.
Eventually, you can spread that kindness to your workplace, the city you live in, the country and so on. As a result, you find that you may make different choices in life. You clean up litter in the street, you participate in social things like neighborhood day.
Research shows that performing love and kindness meditation causes you to have more positive feelings throughout the day which in turn affects increasing your personal strengths ( 6). For example, you are more in the here and now, are better able to tighten bonds and therefore have a better social network and you suffer less illness.
Do you lack self-confidence, feel like few people are there for you, and are you very good at putting yourself down even when you’ve actually done something good? If so, this love and kindness meditation can help boost your self-confidence and strengthen your bonds with your social circle.
Would you like to learn more about how mental changes can improve your life? Then come to a seminar or check out the training programs offered by the Hypnosis Institute of the Netherlands.
Sources:
http://pediatrics.aappublications.org/content/124/3/e532.short
http://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s12671-012-0139-9
http://www.finerminds.com/spirituality/mantras-for-meditation/
http://www.wikihow.com/Perform-Mantra-Meditation
http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/jclp.10259/abstract
http://ccp.sagepub.com/content/9/4/479.short
http://psycnet.apa.org/psycinfo/2008-14857-004