When you hear the word meditation, you may think of sitting in silence with your eyes closed, but meditation is so much more than that. It’s a practice that involves focusing your mind and awareness on the present moment.
Rather than trying to completely clear your mind, meditation is about allowing thoughts to pass through your head without judgement. Meditation is not about trying to control your emotions or thoughts, but instead observing them. This type of mindfulness practice is something you can do anywhere. Just like learning any other skill, meditation takes practice, but it is beneficial for your overall health and well-being in the short-term and the long-term.
Meditation is known to have powerful benefits for your mental and physical health. Practicing meditation has been shown to decrease symptoms of anxiety and depression, improve one’s ability to concentrate and problem solve, and increase positive emotions such as compassion. One study indicated meditation cut mind-wandering by 22% compared to those who didn’t practice meditation. The individuals who practiced meditation daily displayed an increase in self-awareness, imagination and creativity, as well as a better ability to regulate their emotions. Along with these mental health benefits, meditation has the potential to improve sleep and heart function, as well as lower blood pressure.
Although meditation can be as simple as a five-minute practice focused on your breathing, there are many other ways to practice meditation.
Guided meditation: This type of meditation is great for beginners. In guided meditations, there’s someone to lead you through the basic steps, and different practices may have themes like positivity, courage, release or gratitude.
Walking meditation: This involves being mindful of the physical sensations you feel in your body as you’re walking. Feeling the way your feet impact the ground and feeling the air on your skin are the main focuses of this meditation.
Movement meditation: Like a walking meditation, this is an active practice of meditation where you focus on the movements of your body in any form of gentle movement, such as yoga or pilates. Movement meditation can strengthen your mind-body connection.
Mantra meditation: This type of meditation involves repeating a word, phrase or sound. Some find it easier to focus on a mantra rather than on their breath when starting out with meditation.
Full body scan: The full body scan consists of paying attention and bringing awareness to bodily sensations as you move your focus from head to toe.
Breathwork: Breathwork is a simple meditation practice using different breathing exercises and staying mindful within them. Breathing exercises for this type of meditation could include the 4-7-8 breathing method, which is inhaling for 4 seconds, holding for 7 seconds and exhaling for 8 seconds. Another breathing technique is box breathing, which entails inhaling for 4 seconds, holding for 4 seconds, exhaling for 4 seconds, and holding for another 4 seconds.
Visualization meditation: This involves imagining a scene, an image or a figure that brings you calmness. You can also envision yourself succeeding at certain goals to increase focus or motivation.
Now that you know the benefits and types of meditation, it’s time to try it for yourself! If you need more guidance, check out our guided meditations here.
by: Megan DiPietro
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