Meditation Styles and Techniques

Welcome to Meditation

So, here I am, friends, to impart the wisdom I’ve acquired through trainings and just my own personal experience. I’ve collected a large number of meditation styles and techniques that I suggest to anybody first starting out in their meditation practice. I hope it helps make a difference for you in your journey!

So, FIRST OFF, my biggest piece of advice that I give to people just starting out, or even somebody coming back to their meditation practice after an ‘extended leave’ of sorts- Start at 3 minutes. If that’s difficult, drop it down to one. I will give you styles of meditation in here that you can practice a 1-minute meditation, no problem. From everything I’ve seen and heard from my beginners, this is the biggest hindrance. Everybody wants to jump in at a 20-minute meditation and they either have trouble getting past the first few minutes and get discouraged OR, because we have put so much pressure on ourselves to carve out 30 minutes of time, we never even start. Or if we are returning to our practice after an extended period, we sometimes allow the ego to put it’s two cents in, and it tells us, “Well, you left off at 20 minutes, it’ll be easy to start there again.” And let me just humble myself enough to admit that I have been guilty of both things, too, friends!

The thing is, that the mind is a muscle in it’s own right, in the fact that we can’t just jump in and expect it to do things it’s not been made to do before or in a long time. If you are just starting out at the gym, are you going to go over to the Smith machine, throw on 300 lbs. and just expect yourself to be able to handle it? I certainly hope not! And in the same respect, if you haven’t been to the gym in 6 months, but have decided this needs to become a habit again, are you going to just jump back in at all the same weights you left off at? Again, I would hope not (not to say some of us, me included, haven’t attempted to feed the ego by doing this exact thing- usually with disappointing results). When we start out with any kind of workout, we should spend the first few sessions playing a game of discovery- What are my goals? What weight am I capable of lifting? How many reps/sets do I need to incorporate to meet my goals? All these same principles apply to meditation, too- it is, after all, a workout for the mind! 

So, before we really dive deep, I want you to ask yourself these questions. What are my goals for my meditation practice? Maybe it’s better mindfulness, increased calm, or even a better connection between body and mind (I’ll do another article of the things that have been accomplished through a consistent meditation practice- until then, I encourage you to investigate some examples yourself, you might be amazed). Next, ask yourself, how much time do I have to set aside for a practice? What time of day works best for me? Try to be realistic in how much time you’ll need starting out (to help from intimidating yourself) and try to set the same time every day to execute. In the beginning, especially, setting that specific time every day will help you make meditation a habit, but don’t stress if it can’t work EVERY day. Allowing ourselves some grace is an essential part in a healthy practice, and those are the days we just need to try to either do a different time or find smaller opportunities for quick meditation, maybe using a different technique than we usually do. 

With all of that said and done, here’s my list of techniques, tips, and styles that I recommend to those just starting out with meditation!

In Regard to Posture

Not many people know that Yoga was initially created to help strengthen the core to help with sitting long periods of time in meditation. If you have problems with core strength or chronic back problems, I highly encourage you to pick up either yoga or some sort of strength training to assist you in strengthening the core, as many meditation practices truly benefit from sitting upright and erect- this is, in part, because laying down can encourage us to accidently slip in to sleep as we meditate, and then we aren’t getting all of the benefits of our practice. With that said, though, while you work on the core strength, don’t be afraid to lay down, you will just have to be aware of yourself to ensure you don’t take the trance to a slumber.  We want to lay on the back, arms resting along the sides of the body, feet spread apart in a comfortable position, resting off to either side (also known as savasana or corpse pose in yoga).

If you have back problems and lying flat on your back is painful, I recommend investing in a wedge to help incline you a little more while also assisting in keeping you in alignment. If we are in a sitting position, we can do so in a chair or on the floor. If in a chair, we want to be in a chair that is sturdy and firm to help us sit up straight and so that we don’t accidently go slumping comfortably into our favorite armchair, and we want both feet planted firmly on the floor. If we are sitting on the floor, we want to either sit in easy pose (crisscross, applesauce) or in Lotus pose (each foot crossed over to the little pocket between the hips and the quads on the opposite side- please do not attempt this until the body is ready, IOW, if the feet can’t cross over and stay for extended periods, if it’s painful or you experience a sensation of numbness, etc.). Another helpful tool if we choose to sit on the floor is a meditation pillow- this will help elevate the bottom from the floor, allowing the knees to drop slightly and can make keeping proper alignment easier! And no matter which variation you chose, we just allow the hands to rest on the knees and can be accompanied by several different mudras (hand ‘poses’) to help us elevate our practice!

Mudras I Recommend to Beginners

We will start with the basic hands down on the knees- yes, this is a recognized mudra! Placing the palms down represents and is supposed to also bring the sense of grounding to your practice.

The next mudra I like to present to beginners, especially those lying down, is the Samadhi mudra. This is accomplished by folding the hands one on top of the next, palms ‘up’ (toward the face), and touching the tips of the thumbs, pressing them together gently. This mudra symbolizes unity between the individual soul and the universal soul and promotes deep meditation. Also, by keeping the thumbs together, it makes it easier for us to recognize if we are starting to fall asleep, as the thumbs will slip from each other if we become too relaxed!

The final mudra I’ll leave my beginners with is the classic Gyan mudra- resting the hands, palms up on the knees, touching the thumb to the tip of the index finger, the last three fingers out straight. This is probably the single most universally recognized mudra and is supposed to aid in concentration and memory and assist in influencing a state of calm. Another good one to assist in staying awake, though, I will say that I find the Samadhi mudra is the most effective for this in my own experience and the one I recommend most if you’re fatigued and trying to practice.

Mindfulness Meditation

When we practice mindfulness meditation, we focus in on every sensation within and without the body, from breathing, feeling the air fill the lungs, how the air feels on our skin, feeling the pressure of our feet on the floor, how we are emotionally feeling in the moment, and we actively work on redirecting our focus to these things any time the mind starts to get distracted. My biggest thing in directing this stye of meditation is offering yourself forgiveness anytime the mind does start to wonder- when you’re first starting out, this is going to happen! All we can do is show ourselves some grace, focus back in, and continue as we were- the increased focus will come with the regularity in our practice! This is a great one if you’re tight on time- just stop, take a minute to FEEL everything the body is feeling, check in with yourself, how are YOU feeling, take a few deep breaths, focusing on the air filling the lungs and then on how it feels then leaving the body, and then continue about your day! No prep work or elaborate space needed!

Guided Meditation

Do you have an allotted amount of time carved out for your practice and/or a specific thing you’re wanting to address? I always HIGHLY recommend a guided meditation for my beginners, especially if you’re working within these perimeters! A guided meditation is a meditation, typically with an objective, led by an experienced practitioner. This person, as the name would suggest, guides you through the steps of coming into your meditation practice. They will typically start out with some type of breathing exercise to help you come fully into the moment and settle into your practice and will then take you through a series of verbal and/or visual cues to assist you in working through your practice. There are hundreds of options out there on YouTube and other social sites, apps, or even sites like my own where you can find content to work with. I, admittedly, am pretty picky about the guided meditations I use, but you should be too! Find a practitioner that you connect with! Just as we are all different in our own individual ways, so too will your preferences for your guided meditations be! I, personally, am particular about the sound of the person’s voice, and how they go about directing the meditation. I’ve found, also, that I prefer visual practices, being taken on a journey, in my meditations. Find what you like and a handful of creators that you like as a result and allow yourself to be guided on your journey!

Body Scan Meditation

This one is self-explanatory. Take a moment, close your eyes, and just check in with the body. Start with a few deep breaths and then we look at the body as a whole- how does it feel, what sensations do you feel? Then we really get into it, starting from the bottom, feeling the feet pressing into the floor. Evaluate how the feet feel as a whole. Now how each feel individually as a whole. Next, we break it down further, by checking in with each toe, the bottom of the foot, the top, the back/the Achilles tendon, then move it up into the ankle. Finally, do an all over examination again, taking note if anything feels different than it did when we initially took inventory.

And we just go through from there, checking in with each part as a whole and then breaking it down into the finer details of each part, working up to the calves, the knees, the thighs/quads, the groin, buttocks, lower abdomen and back, upper abdomen, mid-back, chest, shoulders/upper back, arms, neck, the face, and then finally ending off at the head. After completing the body scan, we take a quick note of the body as a whole again, end with a few more cleansing breaths, and then continue about our day! And please note, this can be as long or as short a practice as you want/need it to be! It sounds like a lot, but doing this on your own, just doing a quick scan, can be so beneficial and can be done in just a few short minutes!

Forest Bathing

By this I’m not talking about bathing in some mystical stream in your local forest- it’s as simple as just going out in nature and allowing yourself to ‘soak’ it in! The Japanese coined the term in the 80’s and, since then, loads of research has been done to support this style of meditation, showing time and again that by just putting yourself into a nature based setting and taking a moment to be fully present in that setting has many benefits such as improved mental health, physical health (increased vitamin D), sleep at night, and an increased sense of  connection during times of social isolation. Being ‘one with nature’, turns out, is incredibly healing!

Prayer

Almost all religious sects utilize prayer, and it can be used as a powerful meditation tool. When talking to your higher power, try to put yourself in a safe, quiet space, and just take a few minutes to talk it out. Some use specific prayers and if this is the case, work on not just saying the words, but taking the time to feel them, weigh them, fully take in the power of those words.

Gratefulness Meditation

This is another that is great for my people always on the run. Literally, all you’re doing is taking time to list everything you’re grateful for. You can say it, think it, or write it down and watch as that list increases day by day as you gain a renewed view of your blessings! Every time we acknowledge the things we have instead of the things we don’t, it triggers something in the brain that eventually starts to actively look for little things to be grateful for! Actively practicing gratefulness has been shown to improve mood and physical health, assist in better quality of sleep, decrease anxiety and depression, and improve relationships with others and ourselves!

Journaling

This is my last suggestion in this particular article for my friends out here looking to start a meditation practice. Journaling is a great exercise in reflection and this in turn can assist in processing our emotions, setting goals, and prioritizing what we do with our every day. In short, it’s its own type of meditation. There are several types of journaling that you can pick up too, making it versatile and easy for anybody to pick up! I think another article will have to be dedicated to the different types of journaling (there are that many!), but a few of the ones I’ll recommend are gratitude journaling, reflective journaling (writing down thoughts and experiences and then taking time to reflect), and dream journaling (many things to be interpreted about what’s going on in the subconscious in dreams). 

Well friends, while I know that the thought alone of starting up a meditation practice can be daunting and downright intimidating, I hope I’ve offered clarity and, most importantly, good options for you so that you might feel more comfortable in starting up your own practice. The benefits are too plentiful to not at least try, right? Hoping, I leave you feeling better informed and confident, I wish you all the best! Namaste from Sonja