One of the beautiful things about meditation is how many different methods and techniques there are to practice. With so many ways to meditate, chances are good you’ll find something that works for you! From teachers, experience, practice, and more practice… we’ve assembled this list of 8 easy and effective ways to meditate. Whether you’re just starting a meditation practice or are looking to expand your current practice, these methods and techniques are for everyone.
We, at Humble and Free, believe your meditation practice is yours alone and, as such, is something that you’ll develop over time by trying different methods and techniques in a regular practice.
Your meditation practice does not have to be perfect. Let me repeat that…
“your meditation practice DOES NOT have to be PERFECT!” (*big exhale*)
Now that’s out of the way, let’s address the proverbial elephant crowding the meditation headspace – the obsessive meditation purists. You know the kind. They’re always preaching, “you aren’t doing it right if you’re not doing…X, Y, Z.” Or, always touting, “this is the only way to do it right.”
There is way too much of this out there, and it’s all too easy for us to fall into the trap of believing that. This kind of thinking, behavior, and direction, I feel, is one of the reasons that prevent people from starting a meditation practice and makes maintaining one difficult.
You won’t find any of that here. Instead, just encouragement to accept meditation as a practice and like anything else the more you do it the better you get at it. The only ‘right’ practice is the one that works for you. Remember, there is no wrong to meditate
An effective meditation practice seeks to…
train attention
direct awareness
achieve mental clarity
calm emotions
attain a calm-stable state of being
find the empty space between thoughts
become the observer – the witness
calm the fluctuations of the mind
How frequently should I meditate?
Invite yourself to develop a daily practice, even if it’s only for 5 minutes. Make it part of your Morning Rituals!
When is the best time to meditate?
Honestly, whenever you can find time to. But, in our opinion, early in the morning is the best. You’ll get the greatest benefits and the purest quality of mediation when your body is in it’s most unaltered state.
8 Meditation Methods and Techniques
#1 Breathing Meditation
Sit quietly in a space free from distractions. Set a timer; 8 minutes is a good place to start. Gently close your eyes. Breath comfortably and naturally, bringing your awareness to the breath. Keep it there.
Feel into the sensations of your inhale. Recognize the subtle draft of air across your upper lip as your nostrils draw air in with each breath. Feel the expansion in your chest as your lungs fill and then collapse as you exhale.
Finding it difficult to maintain your concentration and focus? Try inhaling for a count of 4-seconds and exhaling for the same. It will help to establish rhythmic breathing and give your mind something easy to focus on.
If your mind wanders, avoid scolding yourself, instead recognize that it wandered and bring your focus back to your breath.
Still, having trouble with a restless mind? Try using a meditation mala or and a string of beads to count your breaths.
There is also something called Pranayama you can try. Pranayama is a term that encapsulates a various number of yogic breathing exercises that can also be implemented in your breathing mediation.
#2 Mantra Meditation
A mantra meditation includes the repetition of a chosen sound or phrase. This can be done chanting aloud, within your mind, or a bit of both. Take care and be intentional when selecting a mantra or sound to use.
If you don’t have a mentor or guru to assign you the ‘perfect’ mantra, no worries! There are many ancient mantras that practitioners have used for many generations. You can try one of these out and see what resonates with you in the most positive way… really whatever makes you feel good and you feel comfortable repeating many times. Check out these 21 mantras for meditation to get you started.
If sounds and chants aren’t your thing or feel weird. Don’t stress it! Try repeating something as simple as, “I am.” No one is saying you can’t or shouldn’t create your own mantra.
You have the intuition to know what you need better than anyone else. Aim for something positive, empowering, loving… whatever you want!
You can also try using a meditation mala or any string of beads to count your mantras as you repeat them.
#3 Body Scan Meditation
Instead of focusing on your breath or a repeated mantra, a body scan mediation invites you to direct your awareness to different parts or areas of your body. Doing so helps to create a clearer insight into one’s self – an improved self-awareness.
Begin with the crown of your head, bringing your awareness to the subtle sensations in your scalp. Work your way down to the eyes, lips, mouth, neck, shoulders, and eventually to bottoms of your feet. Take an inventory of your body. Invite yourself to begin sensing from the inside out. Raise your awareness to notice subtle differences across your body.
While practicing a moment may arise when your focus is somewhere on your body, but you can’t help from thinking about the itch you have on your leg! Here is were the discipline and focus comes in. Resist the urge to act. Allow yourself to acknowledge the itch then bring your awareness back to your shoulders. The itch, like everything else in life, is temporary.
You may have to do this several times through your meditation, but don’t judge yourself. Just continue to work at training your awareness. If you are in real pain though, like unbearable I’m freaking out kind of pain, then, by all means, give yourself a break. This is YOUR practice, after all.
This is a prevalent form of meditation known as Vipassana. If you’re looking for a real challenge, try out a 10-day silent Vipassana retreat!
#4 Moving Meditation
Sitting quietly and still isn’t for you? No worries! If you haven’t already done so, you can try one of these moving meditation practices.
Yoga
Tai Chi
The connection between your breath and your body’s movements is at the heart of any moving meditation. Allow yourself to create a rhythm. Draw your awareness inward. Feel into the changing sensations experienced with each posture, pose, and movement.
Patanjali, regarded as the father of modern yoga and author of the yoga sutras, defined yoga as “the inhibition of the modifications of the mind.” Fundamentally, yoga is a practice to limit or restrain our persistent mental chatter. Sounds like meditation, huh?
#5 Focused Attention
If your mind persistently wanders, try a focused mediation practice. This method provides a visual point to focus your attention on. A candle works well, as does the smoke from incense, and even a metronome can be used. You are free to get creative here!
Whatever you choose, set a timer and direct your gaze towards that subject. If thoughts arise, acknowledge them, and simply go back to staring. You’ll be surprised how easily a candle’s dancing flame can hold your attention.
#6 Sound Bath Meditation
This technique is nothing short of yummy. An expertly lead sound bath meditation has profound healing and relaxing benefits.
A sound bath is something best experienced in person, so your body can physically react to the sound waves. Usually done in a group setting, sound-baths include instruments such as gongs, crystal bowls, drums, cymbals, and tuning forks. Experiencing a sound bath from a master artist will transform your body into one big tuning fork.
If you allow it, with a clear mind, a sound bath can take you on a ride as you’ve never experienced before. Seek out one locally, go with an open mind, and be ready for unexpected revelations.
While there are benefits to experiencing this in person, you don’t HAVE to. There is an abundance of recorded sound baths that you can listen to through a nice pair of headphones in the comfort of your own home. A simple search of mediation music will give you plenty of options to choose from. Find one you like, lie back with a weighted eye mask on, and you’ll be on your way.
#7 Mindfulness Meditation
The practice of mindfulness is one of focusing your attention entirely on the present moment. Not thinking about yesterday, 5 minutes ago, tomorrow, 5 years from now… just the HERE and NOW. While this sounds easy enough, it takes practice, but it really opens up the potential to meditate more frequently.
You can create a mindful meditation out of just about any activity. Here are some ideas
Mindful Shower
Next time you shower give yourself a little more time than usual. If you allow it, your shower can easily become a meditative experience. Bring your awareness to the way beads of water hit and roll down your skin to the smell of aromatic shampoo as you massage your scalp, or the purifying feeling of rinsing body wash from your skin. The shower is a sensory overload and can be a tool to calm an otherwise noisy mind.
Mindful Brushing
Transform brushing your teeth into a mindful meditation. Focus all your attention on the task. While it’s tempting to multitask with your one free hand, try instead to brush intentionally and be present. Visualize each and every tooth as the bristles of your brush polish them clean. Feel the toothpaste tingle in your gums. Visualization of the task will help to deepen your mindfulness.
Mindful Walking
Go out for a 10-minute walk with nothing but yourself and the world around you (leave the phone behind). Bring your awareness to the earth beneath your feet, the wind on your cheek, the sound of birds in the trees, the color of the sky. Let go of all other thoughts and judgments. If interfering thoughts creep in, acknowledge them and let them go by bringing your attention back to the ground beneath your feet.
#8 Guided Meditation
If you struggle with meditating on your own, then a guided meditation may work best for you. A good guided meditation can also be a tool used to push your practice through obstacles you may be encountering. With this method, it’s important to find a leader whose voice is pleasant and who you find trust or comfort in.
The internet and our smartphones have brought free, guided meditations to our fingertips. Youtube is a great resource to use and an excellent place to start. Also, check out the app Headspace. They have a vast library of guided meditations sorted and organized in categories making it easy to pick something that will serve you best at the moment.
Tricks to Maintain Focus – Calming a Noisy Mind
A question that always comes up whenever talking about meditation is, “how do I stop the mind from wandering?”
It is challenging to do. Once we take a few moments to sit quietly, it’s like our mind freaks out and floods us with any and every thought we’ve had in the last 24-hours. Our mind challenges our ever attempt at emptiness and calm.
I’ve found that the best way to handle this is not to fight it. Instead, observe it’s happening. Become a witness to the chatter in your mind. Resist the urge to engage. Once you remove yourself from the thoughts and see them as noise, you will be more capable of transcending the noise to arrive at a state of calm.
A trick I use with some regularity is to visualize putting each thought into a balloon. I collect all the balloons into a bundle. Take a deep breath and on the exhale release the balloons watching them float away. This mental trick works every time. You can try it yourself, and if the balloons don’t work, try something different. I’ve done the same exercise before, but in place of balloons, I imagined the thoughts were letters going into envelopes and then being dropped into a mailbox.
Your Practice
Meditation is more reasonable to incorporate into your daily life than it seems. There are so many meditation methods and techniques available to try.
Find how and what works for you. If you find nothing here works, I encourage you to keep at it. Eventually, you’ll find or create a technique that does work and how wonderful it’ll be to share that with someone else.
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Always wanted to learn how to meditate. Your ways to meditate is very easy to follow! Thank you! @humbleandfree
Happy to help and inspire! Thanks for the comment!