The Best Meditations: Types of Meditation to Practice Mindfulness (Techniques and Basics)

You must be wondering what they are the best meditations! We have collected as many as 17 meditations for you, from basic to advanced, all of which focus on your peace of mind and mindfulness!

Meditation is a proven method to help you maintain a healthy state of mind, which is essential for quality relationships, health, and a productive life.

I present to you types of meditation to increase mindfulness or information about the techniques and basics of various meditations!

1. Basic meditation for beginners

This is an easy way to learn how to focus on your breathing and how to observe your feelings.

How to do basic meditation for beginners?

• Sit or lie down.
• Close your eyes.
• Breathe, but don't try to regulate your breathing.
• Let the breaths come and go.
• Pay attention to the sensations of breathing, pay attention to the rise and fall of the abdomen, chest, shoulders and inhalation and exit of air through the nostrils.
• When the thoughts leave, gently return to the breath.
• Do this for 3 minutes a day in the beginning and gradually increase this time.

2. Zazen

Zazen is a Buddhist practice of seated meditation. It involves three intertwined elements that are one thing for a Zen Buddhist: your sitting posture, your breathing, and the state of mind that comes from sitting and breathing.

How to do Zazen meditation?

Sit on a small cushion or folded blanket with your back slightly off the floor. Sit on the front third of the cushion. Take it the Zazen stance.

Depending on your flexibility, you can then do any of the following:

• Sit in the Burmese situation with legs crossed so that the bottoms of both legs lie flat on the floor and both knees touch the floor.
• Sit down in half lotus position so that the left leg rests on the right thigh. Place your right foot under your left foot.
• Sit in full lotus position with both legs resting on the opposite thigh.
• Hold your hands just above your feet with your palms facing the sky, with the bottoms of the fingers of one hand resting on the front of the fingers of the other hand and the tips of the thumbs touching.
• Push your head towards the sky. Release the tension in your shoulders and open your shoulder blades.
• Close your mouth, keep your teeth together, and let your tongue touch the sky.
• Breathe through your nose, focusing entirely on the rhythm of your breathing. If it's easier for you, count your breaths. Start at 10 and count to 1, then start again (inhale 10, exhale 9, etc.).
• Stay and focus on your posture and breathing. Your state of mind will be one with your body at this moment.

3. Qigong

Qigong means "inner life energy." It is a Chinese Taoist practice that combines various exercises with breathing techniques. For a meditation practice, you will focus your chi, which is your vital energy.

How to do Qigong meditation?

• Sit comfortably and straighten your spine.
• Relax every part of your body.
• Clear your thoughts by concentrating on long, deep breaths that expand your lower abdomen.
• Focus on your center, which is about two inches below your belly button. Your chi energy is concentrated there.
• As you continue to focus, feel the force of chi coursing through your body. When your concentration remains in your center, you will feel this force throughout your body without even trying to feel it.

4. Mindfulness

It can be done in any environment and is a stress-reducing technique. Like all meditation practices, mindfulness focuses on the state of mind and body.

How to do mindfulness meditation?

• Begin by sitting comfortably and closing your eyes.
• Focus on your breathing. Inhale slowly through your nose and exhale slowly.
• When disturbing thoughts enter your consciousness, do not judge them or cling to them.
• Let go of every thought, but do not focus on the cessation of thought; instead focus on your breathing.
• Treat all physical sensations and sensations as you would thoughts: observe them, then let them go and return to your breathing.
• Bring this practice into your daily activity, staying "in the moment" with each new breath.

5. Metta meditation

Metta meditation originates from Theravada Buddhism. It is about channeling certain feelings and thoughts. It is excellent for anyone suffering from depression, anger outbursts and negative thoughts.

How to do Metta meditation?

• Sit in a comfortable position and close your eyes.
• Focus thoughts and feelings of complete well-being and unconditional love on yourself.
• When you have directed enough love to yourself to begin to feel joy, choose a close friend or relative and direct the love to them.
• Direct kindness to a neutral acquaintance.
• Direct loving kindness towards someone you dislike.
• Move outward until you are sending loving kindness into space. You will experience joy and get rid of anger.

6. Chakra meditation

In Sanskrit chakra means wheel. A chakra is a wheel of energy. There are seven chakras. They start at the base of the spine and move up to the top of the head. Each chakra corresponds to bundles of nerves and major organs. Chakra meditation is about aligning and opening the chakras. Each chakra has a sound (mantra) and a color associated with it.

How to make chakra meditation?

• Get comfortable on the cushion.
•  Breathe evenly.
•  Close your eyes and focus on your root chakra by imagining a red wheel of energy. Focus on the physical location of the chakra. Repeat accordingly mantra.
• Imagine a picture of how energy flows. Continue until you get a clear picture of the red chakra energy flowing in the shape of a wheel.
• Continue down the path to the crown chakra. Devote sufficient time to each chakra.
• Wait until you get to know each chakra, continue meditation and self-awareness until you know when each chakra is blocked. You can then meditate on individual chakras.

7. Gazing meditation

This yogic meditation is directed outside of you.

How to do gazing meditation?

• Sit comfortably and focus your gaze on a single object, such as a candle, a symbol.
• Look while you can, don't blink; be relaxed.
• Keep your focus until your eyes start to feel uncomfortable, then close your eyes.
• Hold the image of the object in your mind for a few minutes, then open your eyes and start again.

8. Third eye meditation

With this practice, you will focus exclusively on the ajna chakra, which is the third eye on your forehead between the eyebrows.

How to do third eye meditation?

• If you are sitting with your legs crossed, focus your attention on the place between your eyebrows.
• Continue to shift your focus to the third eye whenever another thought arises.
• After a while, your mind will experience silence and the space between thoughts will lengthen.
• You can also try with your eyes closed, repeat mantra SHAM ajna, direct your concentration to the place between the eyebrows and imagine an indigo wheel.

9. Kundalini meditation

Kundalini yoga will release the snake-like energy coiled at the base of the spine. This energy will rise through the spine to the top of the head.

How to do Kundalini meditation?

• Close the left nostril and inhale long and deeply through the right. On the next breath, close the right nostril. Repeat and let your mind clear as you focus on your breathing.
• Kundalini Yoga System it requires a lot of learning and commitment. Proponents claim that Kundalini changes your physiology, brain waves and energy levels.

10. Nada yoga

Nada yoga is sound meditation.

How to do Nada yoga meditation?

• Simply take a comfortable meditative position, close your eyes and focus on the sound outside. You can choose from ambient music alpha waves, the sounds of a stream or any other soothing, steady sound.
• Once you have mastered listening to external sound, focus on listening to your body and mind.
• Eventually you will hear a sound that has no vibration: the sound of the universe - OM.

11. Exploring yourself

This meditation asks you about yourself, your self, or what you are talking about when you say "I do it." It originates from the Sanskrit meditation atma vichara, where you explore yourself. Self-enquiry is about the unity of body and mind.

How to do self-exploration meditation?

• Take a comfortable meditative position.
• When a thought or feeling arises, ask "Who feels this feeling?" or "Who thinks that thought?" The answer is of course "Me."
• Ask yourself "Who am I?" without trying to answer the question. In this way, you turn inward and redirect the question to yourself whenever something else comes up. By focusing on yourself, you achieve pure existence and self-awareness in space and time.

12. Tantra

Vijnanabhairava Tantra has more than 100 dharans or "things to meditate on." Most of them are advanced meditations that require you to already be familiar with basic meditative practices.

Below is a tantric meditation that comes from the Tantrika belief that the body is made of divine light.

How to do light meditation Tantra?

• Assume a comfortable meditative posture. Pay attention to your body sensations and conscious breathing.
• Focus on your right foot and imagine it is golden light. Think: "My foot is golden light."
• Go through the rest of the body, from the left leg to the ankles, thighs, pelvis, hips, buttocks, genitals, lower abdomen, lower spine, stomach, solar plexus, etc. to reach the brain and the crown of the head. Breathe the golden light into every part of your body.
• Repeat the affirmation that every part of the body is golden light. Finally, consider: "Even my body is light. I'm easy going." Breathe in golden light and breathe out golden light to the universe.

13. Taoist Emptiness Meditation

Chinese Taoist emptiness meditation emphasizes letting go of thoughts, emotions, and feelings as they arise.

How to do Taoist Emptiness Meditation?

• Sit in a cross-legged position, spine straight, eyes partially closed and looking at the tip of the nose.
• When a thought, emotion, or feeling arises, don't follow it. Make it leave as easily as it appears.
• Sit in a place of silence. Continue to focus on stillness, with no desire to take on thoughts, emotions, or sensations.

14. Vipassana

Vipassana is a traditional Buddhist meditation practice from which mindfulness emerges.

How to do Vipassana meditation?

• Like Zazen, sit on a mat with your back straight, spine straight and legs crossed.
• Focus on breathing and the movement of the breath through the nostrils; or focus on the rise and fall of your stomach.
• When emotions, feelings, thoughts and sounds arise, let them stay there, don't pay attention to them. Continue to focus on your breathing and let other things become background noise.
• If your perception catches your attention, note it down and label it. For example, a barking dog is "voice". The sound of the car is "traffic". The thought of something sad in your life is "thinking".
• Once you've labeled something, let it go and go back to breathing.

15. Mantra meditation

The mantra has no meaning. It is simply a word or symbol that you repeat to achieve a meditative state. Each mantra is a vibration that aligns your brain waves with the rising and falling waves of the universe (light waves, sound waves, radio waves, ocean waves).

How to do Mantra meditation?

• Sit in meditation posture.
• Choose a mantra. The most famous is Om, but there are other options such as om namah shivaya, ham, yam and rama. Repeat the mantra in your mind. Do this for a set amount of time, say five minutes at the beginning. If you want, you can match the mantra to the rhythm of your breathing or whisper it. Ultimately, the goal is to release all thoughts except the inner sound of the mantra.

16. Guided meditation

Guided meditation appeals to the same need that Transcendental Meditation (TM) does: the need for an instructor.

How to do a guided meditation?

• If you're using a smartphone, check out the meditation apps available for download.
• Guided meditations can also be accessed on YouTube. For example Kundalini Awakening features a guided Kundalini meditation.
• Follow guided meditation instructions and once you've mastered it, you can start meditating on your own.

17. Body scan meditation

In this version of mindfulness, you will notice what each part of your body is doing. University of Berkeley recommends that you devote 20 to 45 minutes a day, 3 to 6 days a week to this meditation.

How to do a body scan meditation?

• Start by sitting, standing or lying down and close your eyes if this helps you feel more calm.
• Whatever surface you touch, consider the feeling of your weight against it.
• Take a few deep breaths through your nostrils and notice the relaxation as you exhale.
• Now notice the sensations present in each part of the body. Note whatever you feel, or focus on your feet and move up.
• If there is any tension in any part of the body, release it by exhaling. Consider the whole body. Breathe in, experience total relaxation, and when you're ready, open your eyes.

Choose what calms you down

Meditation helps you overcome your tendency to think and dwell on negative thoughts. It increases your discipline, improves focus and observation skills, reduces anxiety and helps increase awareness of your body, mind and surroundings. No matter which meditation technique you choose, it will be a repetitive exercise brought closer to liberation, attention and enlightenment.