Methods of Meditation

As you all have an idea that meditation has thousands of benefits and since everybody is doing it they probably look for information, either online or on a bookstore and discover that there are a number of different ways of doing meditation. Then they wonder which of these ways is the best. Although there are hundreds – if not thousands – of types of meditation, this article will definitely help you navigate all the most popular ones and not the best type of meditation because there is no such thing, and I’m not here to create confusion. Scientifically meditation can be based on the way it focuses attention. Generally the two categories are: focused attention and open monitoring. The former focuses entirely on one object during the whole single session. This may be an internal or an external object. As the practitioner advances, ability to keep the flow of attention in the chosen object gets sufficiently stronger and stronger, and distractions generally become less common and short-lived. Both the depth and steadiness of his attention are gradually developed. Now comes the latter which instead of focusing the attention on any one object monitors all aspects of our experience, without any judgment or an attachment. All perceptions are recognized and seen for what they are. It is the process of some non-reactive monitoring of the content of experience from a certain moment to moment, without going into any of them. Other than these two I would like to propose another one, where the attention is not focused on anything in particular, but reposes on itself. Most of the meditation quotes you find speak of this state. This is actually the real purpose behind all of its kinds, and not a meditation type in itself. All traditional techniques of meditation recognize that the object of focus, and also the process of monitoring, is just a way to train the mind, so that effortless inner silence and deeper states of consciousness can be discovered. Eventually all the objects of focus and the process itself is left behind, and the one concept that explains the true self of the practitioner is the pure presence of mind.