Which Meditation Style is Right for You?

There are a plethora of meditation styles available which can support your overall wellness goals. With such an array of meditation styles, you may wonder which form would be most helpful for you to reduce stress or induce your next nirvana. Since each meditation style require different skills and mindsets, read on to see which one might be right for you.

1. Walking Meditation. Walking meditation allows the act of taking a foot step to become the very act of meditation itself. This form of meditation is especially helpful for someone who wants the benefits of practicing focused awareness without being seated and cross legged for too long. Walking meditation can also allow the practitioner to focus with curiosity on their surroundings and ask open ended questions as they meander upon the grass or carpet around them.
2. Zen Meditation. Zen is likely the form of meditation you most commonly think of when imagining traditional meditation, here the practitioner sits with their eyes closed and allows any thoughts that come to them to simply drift away. The goal is the focus on the sound and sensation of the breath floating in and out of the nostrils.
3. Mantra Meditation. For mantra meditation you might be seated or standing, posture is less important that the act of practicing focused awareness on a sequence of words or phrases. This is most traditionally done in Sanskrit but in new age and mindfulness traditions there are many English adaptations of empowering phrases. The words and integrating them into consciousness or offering them to a beloved deity is the goal of this form of meditation.
4. Chakra Meditation. A chakra is a Meridien or an energy line/lines that run in the body. Chakras intersect with the meridiens and fuel them. There are 7 chakras which run along the spine and through the head. By doing a meditation that visualizes each of them, any points of energy blocks can be opened and healed. Chakra meditation often involves a visualization.
5. Guided Imagery. Guided imagery is done by listening to a speaker or recording take the participant through a story like script that can inspire or address some underlying mental health needs usually with a positive psychology angle. Sometimes guided imagery also incorporates a focus on breathing.
6. Diaphragmatic Breathing Meditation. Diaphragmatic breathing meditation focuses on breathing deeply into the belly  to activate the calming abilities of the body. By using this slow abdominal breathing style, the parasympathetic nervous system can be activated and you can reduce the symptoms of stress and hyperarousal. This is something you can do anytime and anywhere to instantly stimulate your vagus nerve and lower stress responses associated with “fight-or-flight” mechanisms.
7. Progressive Muscle Relaxation. This is an active meditation with a somatic focus that is helpful in dispersing high levels of physical tension. In this style of mediation you will focus on squeezing and releasing different areas of the body and then relaxing them. The more that we tighten our muscles the more that we are able to relax upon release.
8. Loving Kindness Meditation. Loving kindness is a heart meditation which helps the meditator to offer forgiveness and love to any person in their life or to themselves. You might visualize love or tenderness coming from your heart or mouth and sending it out into others in the world.

Insight Timer is a great free app that offers many different options. Pick a meditation style, try it out and see how it feels. If it’s not working for you, simply try another one.