When we talk about relaxing and calming exercises, meditation will always be on top of the list. Aside from it being a known ancient practice, it has been redeveloped and reinvented over the years to help people in clearing their minds and finding peace within themselves. It may also be known to be connected with numerous religions, it could still be practiced by anyone at any time of the day.
These days, however, the world has been facing a pandemic, leaving people to stay at home most of the time. This has resulted in numerous effects on the mental health conditions of almost everyone. It also affected the economy, leaving several people jobless and homeless. With all the negativities happening, it’s difficult to keep oneself mentally stable. This article will be reiterating the need for meditation, the different meditation types, and practicing meditation while in quarantine.
Meditation can be done even in the comfort of your own home. There might be some changes due to the current situation with the venue being the obvious one. You might not be able to do it alongside your friends or your instructor but some online meditation workshops are available for you to watch and follow.
Below are the nine common meditation types that one could practice alone or with companions:
- Mindfulness
Mindfulness meditation lets you practice concentrating on being aware of your surroundings. It emphasizes your senses and emotions of the environment you are in at the moment. It aims to increase your level of awareness, bring your attention to the current happenings, and being open-minded to everything that surrounds you. It is often characterized by intense breathing techniques, visualization, and other activities to train oneself to be fully aware of what’s around them.
2.Visualization
This meditation type makes good use of visual imagery wherein photo representations and symbolism of positive feelings such as delight, excitement, pleasure, contentment, euphoria, and more to produce a calming effect on the person. It is also a type of mindfulness meditation but it is more on training one’s mind to fixate on a specific thing – it could be a person, thing, event, or life goal and then imagining the results to reflect in the reality. This is a beneficial method especially if you’re one to look forward to the future the most and it also helps in being devoted to accomplishing the goal.
3.Mantra
As the name suggests, the mantra method utilizes phrases that usually consist of words that can be anything under the sun, whichever is comfortable. It could even just be a syllable or even the specific goal you have in mind that you want to achieve. It would be best if you learn more about breathing exercises and then start with deep breathing before you begin repeating the mantra as a way to condition yourself. This method enables you to concentrate on one thing at a time and building your determination to make things come true.
4.Progressive
It’s commonly more known as the progressive muscle relaxation technique because the goal is to remove the tension existing in your body and letting it rest and calm down. Tensing of the muscles usually occurs when the individual deals with numerous tasks and burdens resulting in more anxiety and stress. This technique involves tensing of muscles in almost all parts of the body when breathing in, then releasing all at once as you breathe out. This is done to every muscle group within your body. One advantage of this technique is that it helps you forget all your worries as soon as you finish doing it.
5.Loving-kindness
Often referred to as the metta meditation, loving-kindness trains you to increase the magnitude of kindness to yourself. It is also characterized by the usage of mantras to soothe the mind and eliminate negative feelings such as anger, grudge, and suffering. There are also mantras developed for this particular meditation type to train individuals on the value of gratitude and empathy.
6.Focusing
Focusing meditation lets you find a target for you to concentrate on which is a symbol of being aware of the present moment. Unlike the traditional common meditation does not let you focus on a thing to calm your mind while focusing meditation allows you to concentrate on one thing to boost your awareness of the environment.
7.Movement
Also called dynamic or active meditation, it is somewhat similar to focusing meditation. The obvious difference is that you are fixated on the movements to calm the mind. It uses even the faintest sound coming from the actions of others. Some people find other people in motion as a way to clear one’s thoughts out.
8.Spiritual
With meditation having its roots associated with religions, mostly in the Eastern part of the globe, it is guided through prayers and reflections. It lets you experience the truth and being freed from certain events that already happened and accepting their consequences. Furthermore, it also builds you to be freed from doubts, burdens, grudges and leaving everything to the god above.
9.Transcendental
This is another version of the mantra technique, but the mantra itself doesn’t mean or equate to anything; it is just a mere tool to calm the mind. It is usually done by silently repeating the mantra for 15-20 minutes a day and is best done to slow down the thoughts that enter quickly. For those curious, there are common myths about transcendental meditation that often misunderstand this technique.
Conclusion
The nine types are not the only ones that exist as the existing meditation techniques but remember not everything can work on you. It is advised that you experiment to discover which one’s the best for you. We all have to acknowledge that everyone is dealing with different matters and that one technique works for your friend don’t mean that it’s also right for you. As a result of these differing demands, you can look into the types and watch clips of how it is done. If you have found the best technique, you can register or join online meditation workshops to help you build your mental stability in these challenging times.
Author’s Bio:
Selena Thomas is a content writer who loves sharing tips on healthy lifestyles. A writer by day and a reader by night, she’s fond of writing articles that can help people in improving both physical and mental health.
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