Meditation offers time for relaxation and increased mindfulness in a distressing way where our senses are already dulled in today’s competitive environment, giving good relief from day-to-day stress.
Yoga Instructors, spiritual leaders, and mental health specialists have designed many techniques of meditation. All these types and techniques are designed to suit many people irrespective of their personality or way of lifestyle. For somebody who meditates, the training offers an opportunity to improve physical wellbeing, along with mental prosperity. In any case, there is no “right way” to meditate, which means individuals can investigate the various kinds until they discover one that works for them.
Meditation techniques:
Meditation or yoga teachers have various thoughts regarding how often and how long an individual must practice meditation. It is fine to mix-match the different techniques or to test various methodologies until the correct one is found. Within each type of meditation, there are a few subtypes.
Different techniques of meditation-
Spiritual Meditation
When the meditation is practiced with a deeper religious context, where elements like a silent, spoken, or chanted prayer, support a deeper connection with the divine. In non-theistic conventions, for example, Buddhism and Taoism, meditation is progressively centered around mindfulness and self-realization. In that sense, non-theistic spiritual meditation especially emphasizes the progress of becoming a better human being.
Mindfulness Meditation
Mindfulness meditation can be instrumental in helping us see how our brains work. This self-information fills in as a foundation for beating disappointment, depression, prejudice, and a large number of different resentments that prevent us from living more joyful lives. The most popular focal point of mindfulness meditation is the breath; un-judged perception of physical sensations is another common technique. At whatever point you discover your thoughts are wandering, basically notice them without judgment, and take your concentration back to your breath.
Focused Meditation
This technique exclusively requires us to focus solely on whatever it is that we are doing: it is specifically the reverse of performing multiple tasks. Whatever the object of your meditation, you should concentrate your whole consideration on it. At the point when you’re eating, you’re mindful of the sensations associated with eating; when you’re working out, you’re mindful of the sensations associated with working out.
Visualization Meditation
In a basic manner, we can close our eyes and envision a delightful mountain lake, an open sky, a natural scene, or whatever other representation that addresses us. In other words, we can visualize ourselves being getting relaxed and enjoying the peace, beauty, and scenery around us. This deep relaxing thought and experience increase compassion and wisdom. A few people think visualization meditation is a sort of break from the world since we envision something that isn’t generally there.
Movement Meditation
Numerous types of meditation urge you to stay in one position, yet movement meditation centers around body movements. This strategy can likewise be related to yoga or tai chi and other martial arts practices. When you are able to meditate during your body movements, you can grow your attention to pretty much everybody part that keeps you moving.
Benefits of meditation
When you learn meditation techniques from a qualified yoga and meditation practitioner, you can fully enjoy its benefits with quick results. Here is the list of benefits of meditation-
- Build a new way to manage your stress
- Gives you a new perspective to handle the stressful situations
- Teaches you to live the present moment
- Reduced negativity and increased self-awareness
- Improved decision-making power
- Increases patience and endurance
- Boosts creativity and imagination
Common meditation symbols
Symbols play an important part in yoga tradition and practice. Symbols help an individual to facilitate the connection with the various universal forces. It helps meditation practitioner gain direct access to these forces, assists them in gaining a higher state of consciousness, develops optimistic behavior and bring deeper insight into one’s life.
Common meditation symbols are explained here-
Om/Aum Symbol
This is the most common meditative symbol. It is also considered one of the most sacred symbols in the yoga tradition. It represents the consciousness of the universe condensed into a sound. It is the first uttered word and it helps to open the third eye. It is often used to open or close a yoga or meditation class.
Lotus flower symbol
It is believed that meditation helps to raise the heart above the obstacles and help it to bloom, in the same way as the lotus flower blooms above the muddy water. In Buddhism, the petals symbolize the opening of the heart. It gives the message that any person can overcome the difficult situations he/she is facing and can reconnect the light surrounding them.
Mandala Symbol
This meditation symbol represents the universe, the circle of life. In yoga, the mandala symbol represents the unity and harmony of the mind, body, and symbol. Meditation practitioners focus on a mandala to draw them deeper into concentration.
Chakras
The literal meaning of chakras is the “wheel”. These wheels represent the energy centers of the body. There are seven major chakras in the body that can be harmonized through meditation. Yoga has asanas that work to increase the flow of energy into a specific chakra.
Namaste
This symbol is often used to open & close meditation sessions. Ancient Sanskrit greeting meaning “the divine spirit within me recognizes the driving spirit in you.”