Meditation Techniques
Every semester I run a meditation class for UVA’s recreation department. In the first class I review some of the techniques available for them to use.
Here is a list that I give them to assist them in their process. It by no means is complete, but it is a start!
1) Counting the breath – breathe in for a count of 3 to 6, exhale for same count. For a deeper level – breathe for a count of 4-6, hold for ½ the time, exhale for same count as inhalation, hold exhalation for ½ the count.
2) Ohm chant – repeat ohm over and over either silently or out loud.
3) Mantra meditation – repeat the mantra over and over, stilling the mind and focusing on the sound.
4) Theraveda style – listen to an internal rhythm, either a pulse, vibration, breath or a sway and become the rhythm.
5) Meditation of the Bubble – sitting at the bottom of clear water, each bubble is a thought and you watch it rise. Do not explore, follow or judge it. Just observe.
6) Candle light – stare into a flame and become the flame. Allow the mind to be blank and just observe the flame.
7) Lotus meditation – in the 1,000 petalled lotus, everything is connected. The center of the lotus becomes an object or event and each petal represents the connection. Look at the association/connection and follow the free flow association.
8) Who am I? – repeat “Who Am I?” and watch you answers and say, “no that is a feeling, not me”, “no, that is an image, not me”, “no, that is an illusion, not me”, etc.
9) Melt down meditation – lie on your back and imagine each individual part of your body can relax and let go – melt into the earth – until you are complete relaxed.
10) Safe harbor – allow you consciousness to drift until you find a safe place, where you are “at home”, “secure”, or “whole”. It can be a beach, temple, anywhere you resonate as a place you can be happy.
11) Tighten and release – direct your attention to each specific body part, tense it and then allow it to relax.
12) Guided meditation – allow a leader or teacher to guide you through a meditation.
13) Movement and dance – allow the movement of the body to begin to trance you out and follow the movement.
14) Walking meditation – when you are out walking, practice having the mind blank, either repeating a mantra, or just being where ever you are.
15) Tripping the 5th dimension – becoming the environment around you – and observing the crystalline clarity of the earth plane.
16) Energy breathing – Imagining white light (or any color light) running up and down the spine with each breath, flossing the energy.
17) Sa Ta Na Ma – tapping your thumb to each finger in sequence using one syllable for each finger, always having Sa as the index Ta the middle finger etc.
18) Concentrating energy to a specific body part – imagining white light and bringing it to a part of the body that needs the healing light.