Meditation Guide – Traditional To Tech, Beginner To Advanced

Meditation Basics

Before understanding how to do various techniques one must begin by first developing a willingness to explore the inner workings of the self.

Meditation is a vehicle for greater self-awareness and inner peace that can be attained to an amazing degree.

When learning how to meditate it is important to start off by building a foundation on the basics of posture, circulation and creating an appropriate meditative environment.

Posture during meditation plays a critical role because you don’t want limbs falling asleep during practice.

Traditional cross legged posture is preferred with the tops of the wrists resting on the knees with thumb and fore finger gently touching.

Sitting on a cushion, yoga block or small stool can ensure comfort and circulation by causing the hips to be higher than the knees and helping the spine to be as erect as possible.

For the best results and benefits from meditation a special area or room in the home is ideal.

Meditation isn’t something to be done while lying in bed or in a room where there might be numerous distractions from other people, phones or televisions.

Think soft music, a small fountain or just plain silence. Even better still try meditating in nature whenever possible.

When practicing meditation understand that whatever is happening during the practice is exactly right for the moment and that there is no right or wrong thought or feeling that may arise.

Note that any resistance felt to a type of technique may indicate a greater need for work in that particular area. In other words practice weaknesses as well as strengths.

Pick a technique that suits you and what you are trying to get accomplished. Remember that meditation is the opposite of instant gratification, it is a patient and mysterious unfolding.

Have fun and mix it up by trying different techniques and don’t be discouraged if certain results are not felt immediately.

1. Deep Breathing Meditation

To illicit the relaxation response, increase circulation, cardiovascular benefits and for emotional release.​​​​​

Having greater breathing control is one of the simplest yet most effective meditation skills a person can have to create better results in almost any activity or situation.

It is a foundation for improved performance in areas of life such as competitions, spiritual endeavors as well as in times of heightened stress in day to day life.

Deep breathing is easier said than done because most of us typically have very shallow breathing that is done primarily on a subconscious level.

Many professional athletes and spiritual gurus alike take breathing exercises very seriously and make them part of their daily routine.

Better breathing skills can be used very effectively as a tool to battle stress in daily life as well.

Life throws out many curve balls that can easily distract a person from their breath and breed a mental clutter that can cause stressful situations to become overwhelming, bad decisions to be made and problems to escalate.

Skills developed through the use of deep breathing techniques will help diffuse potentially stressful situations more rapidly and make solutions more easy to visualize.

Try A Deep Breathing Meditation guided by Dr. Deepak Chopra:

2. Contemplative Meditations

For learning to quiet the mind and sit in non-judgmental observance.

Contemplative techniques of meditation should be learned after deep breathing techniques as a starting point to beginning a meditation practice.

These are typically more traditional methods and help to develop the ability to observe without reaction and to accept things just as they are without trying to change them.

This style also helps one feel more connected to nature and their surroundings letting thoughts and feelings come and go freely without judgment or analysis.

This technique involves centering, quieting and ultimately clearing the mind during practice which is a useful beginning point to go into other types of meditation.

Your mind is still functioning it is just more clear and tranquil and not over thinking as is usually the case in day-to-day life.

Once you are able to calm and quiet the mind then you can begin to have better control over it.

Try this Mindfulness Of Thoughts meditation:

3. Visualization Meditation

For competition and performance enhancement, better mental focus, improved creativity and imagination.

Visualization is a type of mindfulness meditation technique that can be utilized to bring about a multitude of positive outcomes.

From greater inner peace or better performance results to material and financial abundance.

In order to use visualization techniques to the fullest, it is necessary to think of the mind as a very powerful tool of creation, this should not be difficult to do because of the simple fact that it is.

The concept of manifestation is also very important to understand before beginning a visualization practice.

Manifestation is the act of bringing an idea into physical reality by visualizing it and believing, with feeling, that this something already exists.

In other words for something to be manifested into reality it must first be a thought or idea.

Visualization meditation is the most powerful way to improve this power of manifestation ability.

Once the visualization has reached the point of total belief in every detail then ideas, tools and any other means necessary to bring the visualization into reality will begin to appear.

A Guided Visualization Technique

This technique is designed to be a blueprint to follow for cultivating the power of manifestation:

4. Energy Healing Meditation

To clear and balance the body’s energy, create more overall wellness and to better understand how energy relates to different aspects of self.

Meditations for the body’s energetic fields such as the chakras or kundalini are ancient practices designed to benefit emotional and spiritual well-being.

There is scientific proof that the true make up of a human being consists of an energy system that is actually larger than and encompasses the physical body. (source)

This bodily energy system is very important because it is the primary determinant of our inner health.

Blockages, malfunctions, and imbalances in energetic flow can cause unwanted circumstances that may include lack of energy, mood imbalances and even disease.

Our bodily energy is guided, directed and purified as necessary on primarily a subconscious level.

However, using meditation to become more aware of the body’s energetic level is very beneficial to balancing moods, emotions and healing undesired conditions.

Better knowing how energy flows through your body is the ultimate key to success, contentment, inner peace and self-realization.

By having optimal flowing energy you can heal yourself from negativity and discord and live in your highest vibration.

Try A Guided Reiki Healing Meditation:

5. Sound Meditation

Deep meditative states can be induced through a wide variety of sound meditation techniques.

Sound meditations such as gong, singing bowls or drumming circles induce meditative states by emitting vibrations that are indefensible to the human brain.

Researchers have found that most people are in the beta frequency most of the time while awake.

This is the state of stress, over thinking and the feelings of having too much to do with not enough time to do it.

A screeching chalkboard, unbridled noise from a bustling office, airport or train station are all sounds that produce beta stress waves.

Sound meditations are designed to combat this unwanted brain state by inducing calmer frequencies in the brain.

Frequencies such as the gamma wave associated with increased compassion, the alpha brain wave associated with relaxation, or the theta wave associated with increased creativity and intuition.

Try out this Binaural Beat Sound Meditation Session:

Modern Meditation With Apps And Technology Explained

Driven by a flood of recent scientific evidence, neuroscience technology, consumer demand, and new user interfaces (UI), meditation is taking on a whole new existence.

It’s becoming smarter, faster and more powerful as well as easier to practice meditation anywhere. Having time to hit the pause button and relax is becoming less of a novelty in the modern era and much more of a necessity.

Stress is not only bad for our health but for many other important factors such as relationships and overall quality of life. On the bright side a solution exists to combat stress and mental strife and that is meditation.

Some of the most exciting advancements in meditation are the technologies found in adding brainwave entrainment, binaural beats and isochronic tones.

These sound enhancements when combined with new user interfaces such as biosensors, smart phone apps and virtual reality are creating some super-powerful results driven meditation programs.

Some of the latest technologies for meditation can also adjust to your unique brain states and stress levels with AI-based functionality that enhances your progress.

The latest technological advancements in meditation are designed to go anywhere and fit active modern lifestyles.

So if a more traditional approach to meditation is not your style or you would very rarely be able to have the time to practice that way, not to worry, you can still meditate.

Meditation Apps With Biosensor Technology

A biosensor is a wearable device that translates biological output into electrical signals.

These signals can be tracked and integrated with digitally-based programs that use the data accumulated to constantly adjust to your ever-changing mental status.

Through the use of biosensors the following meditation apps provide you with individualized meditation sessions and feedback to personalize and enhance user experience.

1. Muse

Muse meditation headband is a brain sensing wearable that is integrated with a smartphone application.

This meditation aid helps the meditator be more certain about what their practice is accomplishing by offering real time data feedback on changing brain states in meditation.

Other valuable feedback includes graphs given after every session to enhance benefits and effectiveness.

Brainwave Meditations With Listening Technologies

The mind is known to produce brainwaves such as alpha, beta, theta, delta and gamma.

Some of the latest technologies in meditation use listening meditations to induce these various brainwaves for maximum results.

By directing the brain to produce certain waves you can actually train it to become healthier and more resilient.

Not only is this style of meditation pleasurable but also great for relaxation and mood stability.

3. Somadome

Somadome meditation pod is a personal high tech wellness sanctuary that adds colors and light to meditation which are ancient techniques associated with healing.

This system transforms harmful EMF frequencies that we are exposed to everyday from computers, cell phones, televisions and radio signals and transmutes them with color, light, and sound using binaural beats.

4. Mindplace

MindPlace offers biofeedback, light and sound devices for optimizing your state of mind.

Special high frequency signals allow precise synchronization between audio and visual stimulation.

The light part of the experience allows your mind to explore interesting and transformative spaces.

While the sound part utilizes binaural beats and isochronic tones to lead your mind toward many beneficial mind states.

Short Guided Meditation Apps For The Busy Person

Many meditation programs of the past have typically required larger time commitments and this has been viewed as a major deterrent to practicing regularly.

Recent medical studies, however, have shown that meditating even for 5 minutes per day has significantly more benefits than not practicing at all.

The following apps were created to allow busy people the time to meditate.

5. Simple Habit

Simple Habit meditation app is according to the company “on a mission to help people stress less”.

This system was developed by a group of Harvard psychologists and meditation experts.

They offer 5 minute personalized meditations for everyone no matter what their skill level.

It can be used for a wide range of specific instances such as ‘had a bad day’ and even ‘PMS’.

6. Sattva

Sattva meditation app and mood tracker with free guided meditations, timer and achievement trophies offers a growing list of meditations and sounds.

They believe that you can’t improve what you don’t track and hope to help you discover the best version of yourself by inspiring you to meditate regularly.

Virtual Reality Meditation Experiences

If there was ever something that lends itself well to virtual reality technology (VR) it would have to be meditation.

Not that there aren’t many other very useful ways to apply VR technology to different industries but VR seems like such a natural fit for meditation.

With virtual reality you can actually go to the places in your mind that you try to create through traditional meditation methods.

By strapping on a VR headset you can quickly and easily immerse yourself in a calm serene meditative environment.

7. Guided Meditation VR

Guided Meditation VR believes you deserve a brain vacation by offering virtual reality meditations in many lush environments that were built to refresh the mind.

With their program you can meditate at your own pace anywhere in the world you choose.

So you can find a perfect environment to relax in without ever leaving your home or office.

8. Relax VR

RelaxVR offers rest, relaxation and meditation with this VR application that was developed by experts in the fields of meditation and VR psychology.

Their sessions are based on the yoga nidra meditation technique which is one of the most popular and effective techniques for providing physical, mental and emotional relief.

Imagine if you could relax on a beautiful sandy beach, listening to a gentle guided meditation from wherever you may be.

A List Of Benefits From All Styles Of Meditation

As with anything in life the amount of benefits received from meditation will be directly reflected in the amount of consistency, diligence and dedication put forth to the practice.

Advanced and long term benefits from continued practice stay with you even when you are not meditating.

Eventually what can happen is that the practice itself becomes like second nature to you and the benefits become integrated with your whole life.

The following is a list of possible benefits from meditating regularly:

• Reduced stress
• More peace of mind
• Better cognitive abilities
• Reduced irritability
• Experience greater joy
• Better mental acuity
• Greater emotional intelligence
• Stronger spiritual connection
• Better ability to feel relaxed
• Find life’s purpose
• Discover hidden talents
• Stronger sense of self
• Feel more connected to nature
• Have greater compassion
• Feel more gratitude
• Reduce addictive behavior
• More mood stability
• Increased energy
• Improved Athletic Performance
• Better communication skills
• Overcome fears
• Improve relationships
• Feel greater wellness
• Improve self esteem
• Better quality of sleep​