9 Types of Meditation: When To Practice Each one of Them

9 Types of Meditation: When To Practice Each one of Them

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Chapters

0:00 Introduction
0:33 Mindfulness meditation
1:02 Focused meditation
1:28 Movement meditation
1:54 Spiritual meditation
2:25 Mantra meditation
2:57 Transcendental meditation
3:20 Progressive relaxation
3:48 Loving-kindness meditation
4:10 Visualization meditation

Meditation is a practice in which an individual uses a technique – such as mindfulness, or focusing the mind on a particular object, thought, or activity – to train attention and awareness, and achieve a mentally clear and emotionally calm and stable state.[1][2][3][4][web 1][web 2]

Meditation is practiced in numerous religious traditions. The earliest records of meditation (dhyana) are found in the Upanishads, and meditation plays a salient role in the contemplative repertoire of Jainism, Buddhism and Hinduism.[5] Since the 19th century, Asian meditative techniques have spread to other cultures where they have also found application in non-spiritual contexts, such as business and health.

Meditation may significantly reduce stress, anxiety, depression, and pain,[6] and enhance peace, perception,[7] self-concept, and well-being.[8][9][10] Research is ongoing to better understand the effects of meditation on health (psychological, neurological, and cardiovascular) and other areas.
Difficulties in defining meditation
No universally accepted definition

Meditation has proven difficult to define as it covers a wide range of dissimilar practices in different traditions. In popular usage, the word “meditation” and the phrase “meditative practice” are often used imprecisely to designate practices found across many cultures.[18][19] These can include almost anything that is claimed to train the attention of mind or to teach calm or compassion.[20] There remains no definition of necessary and sufficient criteria for meditation that has achieved universal or widespread acceptance within the modern scientific community. In 1971, Claudio Naranjo noted that “The word ‘meditation’ has been used to designate a variety of practices that differ enough from one another so that we may find trouble in defining what meditation is.”[21]: 6  A 2009 study noted a “persistent lack of consensus in the literature” and a “seeming intractability of defining meditation”.[22]
Separation of technique from tradition

Some of the difficulty in precisely defining meditation has been in recognizing the particularities of the many various traditions;[23] and theories and practice can differ within a tradition.[24] Taylor noted that even within a faith such as “Hindu” or “Buddhist”, schools and individual teachers may teach distinct types of meditation.[25]: 2  Ornstein noted that “Most techniques of meditation do not exist as solitary practices but are only artificially separable from an entire system of practice and belief.”[26]: 143  For instance, while monks meditate as part of their everyday lives, they also engage the codified rules and live together in monasteries in specific cultural settings that go along with their meditative practices.
Dictionary definitions

Dictionaries give both the original Latin meaning of “think[ing] deeply about (something)”;[web 2] as well as the popular usage of “focusing one’s mind for a period of time”,[web 2] “the act of giving your attention to only one thing, either as a religious activity or as a way of becoming calm and relaxed”,[web 3] and “to engage in mental exercise (such as concentrating on one’s breathing or repetition of a mantra) for the purpose of reaching a heightened level of spiritual awareness.”[web 1]