MEDITATION

WHAT IS MEDITATION?

Meditation is the art of focusing on something (such as a picture, a sound, an object of the imagination, or one’s own breathing) to encourage attention and awareness, as well as achieve a mentally clear and emotionally calm, stable state.

HEALTH BENEFITS OF MEDITATION

Meditation has become increasingly popular, with meditation sessions now being frequently carried out in schools and workplaces, as well as being practised by individuals.

Meditation can be used for all ages.

Many people start meditating to manage their stress and/or anxiety levels. While these are both excellent reasons to start meditation, the truth is there is a huge range of physical, mental, and emotional benefits to be got from meditation.

These include:

An increase in focus/decrease in the mind wandering
An increase in mental resilience
Decreases in blood pressure, heart rate and cholesterol levels, thanks to its stress-lowering properties
A reduction in aggression and irritability
An increase in positive emotions and compassion
Aids with sleep

TYPES OF MEDITATION

There are so many different ways to practice meditation, and which methods will work best depend very much on the individual practising them. Here are some commonly-practised meditation types.

BREATHING MEDITATION

Breathing meditation is arguably the most straightforward and versatile type of meditation. While doing any breathing meditation exercise, the aim is to remain focused on one’s own breath and to practise bringing one’s thoughts back to one’s breath whenever the mind wanders.

VISUALISATION

Visualisation meditation is similar to breathing meditation, except instead of focusing on breathing, the meditator is encouraged to create a mental picture of something on which to focus. This something could be a setting (a room, a garden, a favourite place), another person (a loved one, for instance) or an idea (love, joy, a positive thought).

Body Scan

Body scan meditation is an excellent technique for people who experience physical pain and tension throughout their bodies. It involves focusing on different parts of the body in a gradual sequence, travelling from the feet to the head.

As the meditator goes through body scanning exercises, they become aware of every single part of their body, including any aches, tension, or discomfort. In this way, they get to know their body better, which can lead to working out ways to better manage their physical issues.

LOVING~KINDNESS

Also known as Meditation for Compassion, loving-kindness meditation involves developing feelings of love and kindness towards yourself, your friends, your enemies, and eventually the entire world.

This meditation is done in stages, so the meditator can focus on developing that feeling of love/kindness for themselves before moving on to feeling it for their friends, for other people they know, and so on.

OBSERVING~THOUGHT MEDITATION

Also known as ‘noting’ or ‘thought-labelling’. This technique can be employed alongside techniques like breathing or visualisation meditation. When the meditator’s thoughts wander off, observing-thought meditation encourages the meditator to, rather than become consumed in the thought, notice that the thought is there, give it a simple label, then leave it and return to their point of focus.

The aim in doing this is for the meditator to actively practise disengaging with wandering thoughts. Much like when we bookmark an interesting web page or stick a label on a jar so we can forget about it and come back to it when we want to/are ready, we are imagining putting labels on these thoughts so we can put them away and forget about them until we might want to engage in them again.