When we think of meditation, our mind is usually occupied by an image of a person with crossed legs, a straight back and one hand on each of his knees, breathing in and out deeply. Some of us are probably even thinking of such a person levitating in mid-air.
These are all general images related to meditation, but, did you know that there are actually many different types of meditation? There are hundreds of methods and new ones are propping up almost every day. All of these are beneficial to us in different ways.
Here, I am going to take some time out and talk about some popular methods of meditation.
Zen
Zen meditation or Zazen is a type of meditation that focuses on the method of breathing of the meditating individual. This makes it quite similar to the Vipassana method of meditation which is quite popular as well.
The two styles of meditation are quite similar, although the Zen method is stricter. It focuses on breathing through the stomach and not the nose, which is where the breathing in Vipassana is focused.
Sometimes, the mediator is also supposed to chant some mantras in this type of meditation.
Transcendental Meditation
One extremely popular type of meditation is Transcendental meditation. It is a type of meditation that is most often taken up by people who are new to meditation and are serious about sticking to it for a long time.
Transcendental Meditation or TM for short, is a mantra based meditation in which the mantras are assigned to the mediator in accordance with their age, gender etc.
MultiMeditation
Multimeditation is a fairly new form of meditation that rapidly gaining attention from meditation.
In Multimeditation, the mediator is supposed to take benefits from many types of meditations by combining them all into one type of practice. Some of the types of meditation it uses are: knowledge about the mandala, concentration meditation, fractal art and natural sounds.
Multimeditation is a practice that is easy to follow by beginners and experts in meditation.
Kundalini Yoga
This type of meditation is best suited for experienced individuals that want to tap into the deepest parts of their spiritual selves.
Kundalini Yoga is supposed to enlighten you and alter your consciousness by tapping into a certain resource of energy at the Centre of your body. To do this, the technique uses Mantras, Mudras (hand placement) and breathing techniques.
Chakra Meditation
Chakras are supposedly different energy reserves in the body. Every individual is said to have seven of these reserves in their bodies and these chakras are associated with different colors, sounds and elements.
This is a very powerful form of meditation that makes you tap into each chakra in your body and direct the flow of its energy to a specific point in your body, usually for healing purposes or to focus the enrgy on that part of the body.
The method uses hand placements, visualization techniques and sounds for this purpose.