Generally, meditation is the act of holding our attention on an intentionally chosen point of focus. Learning to rest the mind on a single, beneficial object or topic can support greater peace, happiness and ease. The difference is in the details. There are many meditation techniques.
Which type of meditation is best for you, at this moment, is likely the technique that resonates with you most. This is the meditation style you’re most likely to practice. As you read through the following list, note if there’s a type of meditation that seems to draw your attention. Note also that we might benefit from different meditation techniques at different times of day, or at different stages of our practice.
Whatever type of meditation you choose, practice with care and gentleness, stay within your window of tolerance, and if you need to, work with a teacher or guide.
Meditation Techniques for Focus & Concentration
Typically, the mind moves habitually and reactively, flying off to any exciting object that catches our attention. The untamed, unfocused state of mind can cause us (and others) pain and suffering.
Meditation teaches us to anchor the mind to a single intention. When the mind flies off, we recognize this and bring it back. Repeating this practice develops a more calm, steady mind that’s better able to stay present, focused and concentrated.
In this state of mind, many people find it easier to complete tasks. We may also become better listeners, more present in our relationships, and less vulnerable to emotional reactivity. The following styles of meditation are well-suited for improving focus and concentration.
Focused Attention Meditation
Focused attention meditation invites us to anchor the mind to a single object, and then practice holding it there. If and when the mind wanders, we return to the object of meditation as soon as we notice. The anchor to which we tether our attention can be the breath, the body, or any object such as a candle or an image.
- How To Practice Focused Attention Meditation: To meditate for improved concentration, choose an anchor for your practice. The most common meditation anchor is the breath. Set the intention to remain focused on your anchor. When you notice the mind has wandered, waste no time wondering why or criticizing yourself, just return your attention to the anchor as quickly as you can.
- Benefits:Research suggests even brief focused attention practice can reduce stress and improve relaxation and resilience. Focused attention practice may improve our ability to narrowly focus and increases the length of time we can hold that focus. Focused attention is especially helpful for beginners, as it establishes the steady, calm foundation that advanced meditations build on.
- Tips for Beginners: Focused attention is not about stopping thoughts or other distractions, those will always be there. Rather, it’s about relating to distractions in a new way, learning we don’t have to follow them.
Mantra Meditation
We can develop greater focus and concentration by using mantra as the object of meditation. Transcendental Meditation(™) is one form of mantra meditation, although not all mantra meditation is transcendental meditation. A mantra is a sacred syllable or sound. In the traditions that use mantra, saying it out loud is said to engage the body, speech and mind together, which can make distraction less likely.
- How To Practice: To practice Transcendental Meditation, you need a teacher. Your teacher will give you your mantra and meditation instructions. If you don’t have a mantra, you might try repeating any brief phrase that holds deep meaning for you.
- Benefits: In addition to improved focus, the benefits of mantra meditation have been linked in some studies to reduced stress and anxiety, lower blood pressure and improved immune function.
- Tips for Beginners: If you’re new to mantra meditation, speak slowly and softly. Let your breath guide the pace of your chanting. Allow sound and the sensation of the mantra’s vibration to help you stay present.
Meditation Techniques for Anxiety & Stress
Most forms of meditation can reduce stress and anxiety by calming and focusing the mind and grounding us in the present moment. That said, mindfulness meditation is particularly suited for calm and relaxation, especially if practiced as part of a mindfulness-based stress reduction program.
Mindfulness Meditation
Mindfulness meditation is a secular practice that was largely popularized in the 1970s by Jon Kabat-Zinn. His definition of mindfulness as “awareness that arises through paying attention, on purpose, in the present moment, non-judgmentally” remains at the heart of all mindfulness practices today.
- How To Practice: Mindfulness is a simple meditation technique that includes breath awareness, mindful body scans, mindfulness of sound, and mindful eating. Primarily, mindfulness meditation is the practice of presence in this moment, just as it is.
- Benefits: Mindfulness meditation is among the most studied meditation styles. Research has linked it to reduced stress and anxiety, but also improved cognition, memory and attention and several health benefits.
- Tips for Beginners: Beginners may find it easiest to start with guided meditation. Mindfulness of breathing is a good place for beginners to start.
Walking Meditation
Walking meditation is generally practiced as a form of mindfulness meditation. It can be helpful for stress reduction since it combines rhythmic forward movement with awareness. Walking meditation can make meditation more accessible for some by limiting the discomfort associated with sitting still.
- How To Practice: During walking meditation, we bring our awareness to the breath, the body and all the senses. By grounding our attention in the present moment, we limit the anxious energy and worry thinking that contributes to stress.
- Benefits: Studies have linked walking meditation to physical, mental and emotional benefits, including lower heart rate and blood pressure, lower levels of stress hormones and even better balance and creativity.
- Tips for Beginners: If you’re new to walking meditation, practice indoors or in a very quiet, controlled space. Walk slowly without shoes and choose just one point of focus, such as the sensation of your feet on the ground.
Advanced Meditation Techniques
All meditation techniques have the potential to be advanced. Even a seemingly simple mindful breathing meditation can offer us deep insights into the true nature of reality and the self.
That said, there are some styles of meditation that are better practiced once we’ve established the foundation of a calm, stable, equanimous mind. Open awareness and contemplation both make us more vulnerable to distraction, thus they are considered advanced meditation techniques.
Open Awareness Meditation
Often presented in opposition to focused attention meditation, open awareness meditation lets the object of our meditation be anything and everything that is arising in our awareness at this moment.
- How To Practice: To practice open awareness meditation, we open all our senses to the present moment. We note or observe whatever arises without attaching to anything nor pushing anything away. We do our best to give equal attention to all that is present, while staying present ourselves through the experience of the senses.
- Benefits: Often referred to in research as ‘open monitoring,’ this meditation technique may help us cultivate non-judgmental awareness, non-reactivity and discernment. It may also help us detach from autobiographical memory, making it easier for us to let go of old, unhelpful stories.
- Tips for Beginners: Beginners may find it challenging to know where to place their attention. That’s perfectly ok. If feeling overwhelmed, just place your attention on the breath. With practice, the mind tends to settle.
Contemplative Meditation
Contemplative meditation practices are considered advanced because it can be challenging to discern between meditation and thinking. In contemplative meditations, the object of focus is often one of spiritual concern. Meditators might contemplate a particular virtue, Zen koan, or question such as “Who am I?”
- How To Practice: Setting a clear intention is an important part of contemplative meditation. The intention establishes the boundary of the meditation and can help us discern when we are no longer meditating.
- Benefits: Contemplative meditation styles are practiced primarily to explore the nature of self and reality, which contemplative traditions describe as spiritual insight. Like other meditation styles, they have been linked to improved mental health, reduced stress, lower blood pressure and heart rate.
- Tips for Beginners: Those new to contemplative meditation should establish a clear intention, then monitor their focus alongside their contemplation. It helps to practice under the guidance of a teacher.
Compassion Meditation
Compassion practices open the heart to help us live with more grace, generosity and kindness. Loving-kindness, compassion and equanimity practices are all heart-based meditations.
Equalizing Self and Others Meditation
Equalizing self and others is traditionally practiced in Tibetan Buddhism as a preliminary to compassion meditation. This meditation technique helps us establish equanimity so that we might apply our compassion equally to all beings everywhere.
- How To Practice: The premise of ‘equalizing self and others’ is that everyone, just like us, only wants to be happy and free from their pain. This includes our loved ones, those we are not close to, and those we find challenging.
- Benefits: This heart-opening practice helps soften our sense of separateness by reminding us of the ways in which we are just like all others. It can reduce reactivity and judgmental attitudes, making it easier to offer kindness to all, equally.
- Tips for Beginners: Heart-based meditation practices can be challenging. Observe resistance as it arises, and practice self-compassion as needed.
Loving-Kindness Meditation
Loving-kindness meditation, also known as metta in Pali or Maitri in Sanskrit, has Buddhist origins but is practiced by those of all faiths and beliefs. This meditation technique can increase empathy and promote care and kindness for all beings, including ourselves.
- How To Practice: Loving-kindness meditation is often practiced in the form of sending well-wishes to others. Common phrases include, ‘may you be well,’ ‘may you be happy,’ ‘may you be safe’ and so on. We can send these wishes to loved ones, to strangers, to those who present us with challenges, and also to ourselves.
- Benefits: Metta meditation has been linked to people becoming kinder and less self-centered, having more positive emotions associated with others, and feeling greater overall happiness.
- Tips for Beginners: When meditating on your feelings for others, it can help to begin with someone you have no strong attraction or aversion to. Over time, you can work with those with whom you are more intimate.
Meditation Techniques for Beginners
Guided Meditation
Those who are new to meditation may find it helpful to begin with a guide. Nearly any meditation technique can be practiced with a guide. In this format, a live teacher, audio or video recording gives us instructions and prompts throughout the meditation practice, to help us stay focused.
- How To Practice: Choose a teacher or recording and listen in a safe and quiet space where you can be free from distractions. Select the meditation style that best matches your personal intention for practice.
- Benefits: Working with a guide can help us learn a new style of meditation. A guide can also help keep us focused on the intention. Guided meditation can be calming, stabilizing and heart-opening.
- Tips for Beginners: Do your best to balance the outward focus of listening to the guide with attention to your inner experience and how the meditation feels in your body.
Visualization Meditation
Visualization meditations use creative imagery to help us find calm, fall asleep or develop insight. Visualization is a good meditation technique for beginners because it gives the mind a job to do, limiting distraction.
- How To Practice: When working with visualization, set an intention or use a guide. Try your best to create a felt sense of the imagery, using the eyes of the heart versus the eyes in your head.
- Benefits: Studies suggest visualization meditations may reduce stress, anxiety and depression and help ease chronic pain.
- Tips for Beginners: As you begin, it’s ok if your visualization is fuzzy or lacking detail. Do your best to maintain focus and you’ll find you can hold the visualization more easily over time.
Meditation Techniques for Better Sleep
Body Scan Meditation
The body scan meditation is a type of mindfulness meditation, although it may also be practiced with an intention of gratitude, self-compassion, or to relax the body in preparation for sleep.
- How To Practice: To practice a body scan meditation for sleep begin at the head then slowly scan toward the feet. As you place your attention on each part of the body, invite in a sense of calm and relaxation.
- Benefits: Research suggests the mindful body scan can help people fall asleep and sleep better, including some people with chronic pain or other sleep disorders.
- Tips for Beginners: Practice the body scan for sleep while lying down in your bed. Find a gentle balance between remaining focused, yet allowing yourself to drift off to sleep.
Sleep Meditation
Sleep meditation is any meditation technique that’s practiced with the intent to help you fall asleep sooner or sleep more soundly.
- How To Practice: Many sleep meditations are in the form of guided practices. Using a guide allows you to relax your focus, and drift off to sleep as you are ready.
- Benefits: A consistent meditation practice at any time of day has been linked to improved sleep onset and sleep quality. Sleep meditation can be especially helpful for addressing ruminative thinking and preparing the body for sleep.
- Tips for Beginners: When meditating to fall asleep, try not to force the process. Stay present as much as possible, focusing on sensation in the body versus whether or not you’re asleep yet.
Daily Meditation Techniques to Try
Meditation can be practiced formally while standing, walking, seated or lying down. Mindful meditation techniques can also be practiced while living our daily lives. The key is to allow yourself to be fully present, no matter the activity you’re engaged in. To integrate mindfulness into daily living, try the following:
- Mindful dishwashing
- Mindful showering
- Mindful dog walking
- Mindful gardening
- Mindful listening
Conclusion
Meditation can be a grounding, calming practice that steadies the mind and offers more clarity and presence. Many people find these qualities make them kinder and less reactive, better focused, and more capable of remaining present with themselves and others, no matter life’s circumstances.
While the benefits of various meditation techniques differ slightly, each can support the above general outcomes with consistent practice. So, the meditation style that is best for you is the one you are most likely to practice every day. Choose the type of meditation that encourages curiosity and makes your heart sing.