When most people think of meditation their mind immediately brings up pictures of sitting cross legged on a bare floor with the backs of their hands resting against the tops of their knees as they quietly but purposefully hum "ohhhmmmm". Yet, meditation can be so much more than that. Sure, that style might best suit your mind-set, but there's a whole world of ways to enter into a mindful state.
Today, we're going to look at how meditation helps and work out which style of meditation is best suited for you to get the best results.
How Does Meditation Help?
Meditation has been scientifically shown to lower stress, anxiety and negative feelings to help you build a stronger, calmer and more positive mind-set. All it requires is frequency, patience and dedication, but don't worry, these are all skills you'll build the further you get into your meditative practice.
A common barrier that stops people from meditating is the belief that they can't sit still in silence for prolonged periods of time. Though, it's important to realise that you don't meditate because you're already patient and calm, you meditate to become both those things. At the start you might need to push yourself a little harder, but over time your practice will gradually become easier, and the benefits will gradually become better.
What Forms of Meditation Are There?
As we've said, there are a variety of different ways to meditate which each have their different advantages and benefits. We're just going to look at a few of the most common and popular varieties, but a quick search of the web will bring up many others if none of these take your fancy.
· Guided Meditation
Most beginners find guided meditation to be the easiest to get into because you have someone directing your thoughts. This takes the pressure away from your focus which can easily drift off in a quiet, relaxed environment. Our minds are constantly looking for thoughts to fill any space, but once you learn how to tame this incessant need for business, that's where the benefits begin. Guided meditations can be on any subject or topic you like, and the experienced meditator will help you throughout the session using an audio track.
· Transcendental Meditation
Transcendental meditation (TM) holds the specific objective of obtaining a state of enlightenment. This is the mentality typically associated with Buddhist monks and habitual meditators. Enlightenment is the state of pure mental peace and quiet. It does this through its use of mantras which are chanted in your mind opposed to out loud. The mantras can be anything, but must hold a specific relevance to your life. For example, if you're looking to become less stressed, then you might chant "I am peaceful. I am content. I am calm" over and over within your mind. You can find a variety of mantras online, both in the original Sanskrit and English.
· Mindfulness Meditation
Lastly, we have mindfulness meditation. The biggest benefit of mindfulness meditation is that it can be practiced anywhere, anytime. All you need to do is bring yourself into the current moment and focus on the present opposed to the future or past.
Brainwave Meditation
It's easy to struggle to first enter into a meditative state, especially for beginners. However, one of the best ways is to through the use of sounds called binaural beats or isochronic tones. These sounds have been proven to help relax and calm the mind for certain situations. For instance, there are specific audios for focus, sleep, and peace. This is what's known as brainwave meditation as it tunes into your brainwaves naturally and alters them to put you into a specific mental state. If you have trouble getting into the right mind-set for meditation or simply want to enter into the right state quicker, then brainwave meditation could be the best route.
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