What is Meditation?

What is meditation? The answer to that question can have many answers. There are two main types of meditation- “concentration” and “mindfulness“.

What Is Concentration Meditation?

Concentration meditation (say that quickly 3 times) is the type of meditation most of us think of when we hear the word meditation, and implies relaxing the body, concentrating on your thoughts, and shutting out the rest of the world. The goal is to not be aware of your body sensations, your surroundings, or worries.

There are many types of concentration meditation. they include:
1)  Visualization. Using mental images or pictures. This can be a pleasant place (real or imaginary), a special memory, or a process, such as visualizing the chakras or the white light
2)  Creative Visualization. Thinking of a future event that you would like to make into reality. Also can be used to solve problems.
3) Yantra. This is a visualization of a sacred geometric pattern.
4)  Mantra. Repeating a word or phrase such as “OM”. While any word or phrase can be used, primordial sounds such as Sansrit have the most power if we know how to use them.
4)  Prayer. This should be selfless prayer, asking for guidance and listening for the answer, or praying for a person or cause.
5)  Worship, devotion and praise for the Divine.
6)  Reflection. Meditating on a situation or a concept. For example, reflecting on “infinite space”.
7)  Breathing. Concentrating on slow regular breathing. Sometimes you count the the number of breaths, or breath in and out for a specific count. For example:  IN…1…2…3…4,  OUT…1…2…3…4.
8)  Nothingness.  For the really advanced, this is the ceasing of all thoughts.

What is Mindfulness Meditation?

The other main type of meditation is “mindfulness” or “insight” meditation. Systems using “mindfulness” include Buddhism, Zen, Gurdjieff, and Krishnamurti.

Mindfullness is being aware of yourself in the here and now. While this sounds easy, it is more difficult than concentration meditation. Most of the time, we are thinking of something else- worrying about yesterday, thinking of tomorrow, planning dinner, daydreaming, etc.

When we experience something new or unexpected- we are aware. In our normal daily life, we slip into autopilot. We are not aware of what we are doing, we are not HERE NOW- we are thinking of something else.

When you first learn to do something…for example, driving a car- you are aware. You are concentrating on steering, shifting gears, operating the gas pedal, etc. while trying not hit anything. You are AWARE of what you are doing. Once you get used to driving, everything changes. You are no longer aware of the mechanics of driving the car… you are listening to the radio, having a conversation, thinking about what you want for lunch…thinking of everything but what you are doing. You are on autopilot, unless something unusual happens…the car in front of you slams on its brakes. Then for a moment, you are aware again.

Try This Now

Be aware of yourself, right now, where you are. Look around at your surroundings, hear the sounds, smell the smells. But don’t analyze, don’t talk to yourself, and don’t think about anything else.

Just be aware…BE HERE NOW. Unless you have practiced this, you can only stay “mindful” for a few seconds, maybe a minute. Insight meditation takes much practice, but it can and should be practiced anywhere and anytime. It does not require a special place, or props such as candles, mats, music, etc. Instead, you practice it often during your normal daily life. Whenever you remember to, become AWARE. With practice, you can stay “aware” for longer periods of time.

Types Of Mindfulness Meditation

1)  Be AWARE of your bodily motions and posture. What is your posture RIGHT NOW? Where are your arms and legs? Is your head turned to the right or left? This type of awareness is easiest for beginners.
2)  Be AWARE of your 5 senses. What do you see, hear, smell, etc. It is important to observe impartially, don’t pass judgment of label anything. Just be aware.
3)  Be AWARE of your emotions. For example,while walking in the park you are startled by a large dog. You simply note “scared”. Objectively classify every emotion as “helpful” or “not helpful” on your path toward enlightenment. Do NOT judge yourself, or get into a guilt trip.
4)  Be AWARE of the cause of your emotions. In the example above, note “large dog barking”. Again , be objective.

Summary- What is Meditation?

There are many other varieties of both concentration and mindfulness meditation. We will explore some of these in other articles here at Meditation for Beginners 101. I hope this brief article helped you answer the question “What is Meditation?“.