Finding the Right Meditation Strategy for You

Meditation has been around for hundreds of years, and people have used it for just about everything, from healing to relaxation, and we keep finding new ways to utilize it and incorporate it into our daily lives. 

Some use it to sharpen their focus and attention whereas others use it as a means of connecting to their spiritual side when they’re looking for the answers to life’s many questions. 

For some, this may sound like a bunch of hearsay, but studies have shown that meditation can offer a variety of both physical and mental health benefits, so long as it’s practiced properly. 

On top of this, even though it’s used by a number of spiritual traditions, meditation doesn’t exactly belong to any faith or religion, and everyone’s free to use it if they believe it could help them, no matter what their religious affiliations are.

Despite there being no real “wrong” way to meditate, it’s important to note that there definitely are types of meditation out there, each with its own goal and purpose as well as some pro tips on how to properly practice it. 

Among those you’ll find meditation focused on mindfulness, spiritualism, mantras, relaxation visualization, and many, many more. 

Once you’re presented with all of these choices, it may be hard to figure out what it is that you need at this moment, and that’s a perfectly reasonable thing that could happen. 

Having too many choices can become overwhelming, which is why we implore you to keep reading and learn a bit more about some of these meditation techniques, and you may just find the one you were looking for.

Mindfulness 

This meditation method is strongly related to Buddhist teachings and is likely the most popular approach to meditation in the West. 

With mindfulness, one focuses on their thoughts as they make their way through our mind, and while they’re present, one must not interact with them or judge them. 

What mindfulness recommends is to simply observe these thoughts as they come and go, as it helps combine concentration with being aware of what you’re thinking as well as what you’re saying. 

To help with this strategy, you may want to find an object to focus on while you’re observing the sensations going on in your body while also controlling your breath. 

The main advantage this strategy has is that it doesn’t require a yoga teacher to lead you, and it’s particularly good for beginners just looking to start out with their yoga journey.

Mantra

Mantras are a common thing in a  variety of spiritual and religious teachings, including Hinduism and Buddhism, where they’re a mainstay for many of their religious rituals. 

A mantra meditation incorporates this as a means of clearing the mind, and a mantra doesn’t exactly have to be related to any religion or spiritual practice. 

Essentially, a mantra is a word you choose that helps you improve focus and concentration, with the most common one being “om“, due to its simplicity as well as the previous applications it’s had in yoga practices. 

Of course, you don’t exactly have to chant your mantra out loud, and you could simply think of the word instead. 

After a while, you may notice that you’ve become more alert and in tune with your surroundings, which helps with attaining deeper levels of understanding.

Visualization

Through this meditation practice, you may be able to improve feelings of relaxation and peace, all through the envisioning of positive scenes, figures from our lives, or images that we find to be soothing and relaxing. 

Visualization meditation requires one to imagine a scene or a person as vividly as they possibly can, utilizing all of their senses to add incredible amounts of detail to the mental image they’re generating. 

At times, this meditation practice can also be used to help you achieve certain goals you’ve had in mind, which can be done by visualizing that very image for extended periods of time. 

While it may not guarantee that you’ll reach your goals, it can help you improve focus, resolve, and motivation to keep those goals in mind for the future.

Spiritualism

The world is packed with loads of different spiritual practices, and each of them has similar, yet completely different approaches to connecting with the spiritual realm. 

In line with this, a spiritual meditation could depend immensely on one’s beliefs, although the end goal is always the same, that being achieving a connection with the spiritual realm as well as communicating with the higher power we believe in. 

Almost every religion out there has its own approach to spiritual meditation, and at their core, they’re all practically the same thing, the only difference being the God a person is trying to connect with. 

Even though a lot of religious practices need to be performed in a place of worship, you can practice spiritual meditation in your own home, and as long as you’re approaching it with a pure heart, you’ll reap the benefits of connecting to the spiritual realm.

Final word

Of course, there are dozens more meditation practices out there for you to explore, and if you haven’t yet found the one you’re looking for, there’s nothing stopping you from continuing your search. 

Meditation is one of the greatest forms of self-healing, and it’d be a shame to give up on your first try, so make sure you’ve given everything a shot before giving up.