Learn Meditation Techniques

To learn how to meditate may seem like a daunting task if you're new to it, but the techniques are all fairly simple - and once you start practicing regularly, it will become much easier.

You don't need to be sitting with your legs crossed and your eyes half closed or surrounded by clouds of incense, in order to meditate. In fact, there's a wide range of meditative techniques, which you will need to choose from to fit in with your circumstances. In different situations, different meditations are more useful. But essentially there are two types of meditation: withdrawing and expanding.

Withdrawing Meditation

In the withdrawing type, the classic yogic meditation, the practitioner blocks out the world by concentrating, for example, on a word or phrase (mantra), a sound, an image or even just their own breathing.

The mind is calmed by turning away from the passing caravan of worldly existence and looking inwards at the life of the soul. If you have tried yoga, you may have already experienced this.

Once you've mastered ways of withdrawing, you will be able to give yourself a short and intense 'fix' during your day. This is great for releasing tension.

Expanding Meditation Techniques

In the expanding style of meditation, practiced by Zen masters, you maintain awareness of what's around you. It means developing your inner 'observer' so you can notice the surroundings and at the same time detach from them. While becoming completely absorbed in what you are doing, you are aware of the world around you.

This is the Zen meditation technique of 'mindfulness', a powerful and liberating concept. It's more difficult to master than withdrawing, but eventually expanding can allow you more freedom within your practice.