How To Learn Meditation Techniques

You may be surprised to find out how many different meditation techniques there are. A few examples are:

• Buddhist Meditation
• Chakra Meditation
• Christian Meditation/Mysticism
• Imagery/Visualization Meditation
• Kabbalah Meditation
• Koans Meditation
• Repeating Positive words/ Positive Affirmations
• Shamanism Meditation
• Tai Chi Meditation
• Taoist Meditation
• Transcendental Meditation
• Vision Quest/Sweat Lodge Meditation
• Yoga Meditation (including Raja, Sahaja and Kiriya)
• Zazen Meditation
• Zen Meditation

The matter of choosing a meditation technique is usually personal preference. Some people try a few different techniques before finding one that fits their lifestyle and mind-set.

People learn to meditate because meditation offers:

• Relaxation
• Increased awareness
• Mental clarity
• Sense of peace
• Decreased stress, depression and anxiety
• Decreased physical problems such as heart conditions, high blood pressure, high cholesterol, and the production of free-radicals (cancer causing agents)
• Increased Immune system function

For more information about the benefits of meditation please see the Benefits of Meditation link.

If you are looking into meditation, you may be wondering where you can learn more about the different meditation techniques.

1. Go to the website, Learn to Meditate (link included). This is a great website that takes you through Eastern and Western Philosophies of meditation. It gives clear instructions on how to follow the various meditation techniques.

2. Go to the website, Meditation: A Reference Site for Meditation Techniques from Around the World. This is a great website that takes you through ways to meditate. It has clear instructions that are easy to follow and takes you through techniques such as vision quests.
3. Check out The Meditator's Handbook: A Comprehensive Guide to Eastern and Western Meditation Techniques by David Fontana. This book is a great introduction to the many kinds of meditation and actually has instructions about how to meditate. It goes over meditation techniques from shamanism, Christian mysticism, the Kabbalah, yoga, koans, zazen, kundalini, visualization and tai chi .
4. Read Learn to Meditate: A Practical Guide to Self-Discovery and Fulfillment by David Fontana. This book is another introduction to meditation techniques. It starts off with simple techniques for mediation, and works up to more complex techniques. It briefly covers some of the meditation philosophies used in various techniques.
5. Find a copy of Meditation Techniques of the Buddhist and Taoist Masters by Daniel Odier. This book takes you through Buddhist and Taoist meditation techniques and philosophies. It explains the mental disciplines and visualizations used in Buddhist and Taoist meditations.
6. If you want to learn about yoga meditation or tai chi, a class is probably your best bet. Your local gym probably offers yoga classes and may offer tai chi classes. You also may want to check out your local community college catalog or look on the Internet for local classes.
7. If you want to use meditation techniques that follows a religious philosophy such as Christian meditation/mysticism, Buddhism, Zen meditation, or Kabbalah meditation, you may want to find a church or a temple or a monastery and speak to someone about classes or books they'd recommend to teach you the meditation techniques.