Meditation has been around for thousands of years. There is something to be said by ancient traditions that have stuck with the human race for such a long period of time. There have been countless “health tricks” and medications and there is not many that can be said to have lasted nearly as long. Some of the earliest written records of meditation were over 3,500 years ago.
Coming from the Hindu traditions of Vedantism around 1500 BCE. Each one of these people over thousands of years had to start their meditation journey somewhere. In this article, we go into detail for everything you will need to know how to meditate for beginners.
There are many different types of meditation that have been practiced over these many years. They all have the same core idea behind them and are practiced to achieve similar results.
Concentration Meditation
This type of meditation involves – candle flames, repeating a single word or chant. Counting beads on a mala. The most common method of “Concentration Meditation ” is focusing on following the breath. With concentration meditation, you refocus your thought each time you find yourself slipping into random thoughts that keep your mind busy. Refocus your attention on what you are focusing on(breath, candle, gong sound) and center your concentration once again. Beginners should try this method for 1-5 minutes in the beginning. Once the individual is advancing they should try to move to 10 minutes, 15 minutes, and more.
Mindfulness Meditation
With Mindfulness Meditation the student watches each passing thought. Noticing it without judging it. The idea with this type of meditation is to better understand the human subconscious mind. To understand how people take their thoughts and judge them. With a better understanding of your thoughts, you can take social situations and choose better how to respond by understanding your mind and the mind of others. An example would be; someone makes a comment the
These are the two main types and easiest for beginners.
Other
Other types include tai chi, walking meditation, and other forms of moving meditation.