Meditation Techniques: Definitions, Examples & Tips

​While this particular scenario may not be your exact situation, many of us have difficulty finding the time to better take care of ourselves. Whether you’re looking to reduce stress at work, find a way to fall asleep faster, or are just interested in meditation, meditation can be the answer. We’ll explore some meditation techniques to incorporate into your life today so that you can resolve some of these common challenges. 

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Meditation is a technique that encourages us to develop mindfulness and presence as a means to instill calmness and clarity into our bodies and our daily lives (Behan, 2020). Hundreds of meditation techniques exist today, all of which may cater to different types of feelings, situations, or sensations.

If you’re looking to de-stress, perhaps a mindfulness meditation technique may do the trick. If you’re dealing with difficult people or emotions, a Buddhist loving-kindness meditation technique may just be the right fit for you. Or, if you hope to cultivate more relaxation and joy in your daily life, you may want to explore several of the breathing options below to find the one(s) that is right for you. 

If you are just starting on your meditation journey, you may find it helpful to begin with breathing exercises. Breathing exercises are some of the most common activities in the meditation category and are particularly effective because they don’t take too much time to do. These types of meditation techniques encourage you to focus your attention on the moment at hand and allow you to be mindful of how you are feeling. Some of the benefits of breathing exercises include slowing down intrusive thoughts, increasing focus, and providing temporary stress relief. Let’s take a look at a few different types of breathing meditation techniques below.

1. Diaphragmatic Breathing Technique
This type of meditation technique is a form of belly breathing that involves using your stomach muscles and diaphragm to properly fill the lungs. This practice helps you slow your breathing, can lower your heart rate, and help you de-stress as it encourages relaxation (Ma et al., 2017). 

How to practice: 

• Find a comfortable place to lie down (e.g., bed, floor).
• Put a pillow underneath your head and knees (optional).
• Put one hand on your chest and one hand on your stomach beneath your ribs.
• Take a slow inhale through your nose allowing your lungs to fill with air and your stomach to press up.
• Try to keep your hands as still as possible.
• Slowly exhale through your mouth as your stomach lowers.
• Repeat your breathing for 3-5 minutes.

2. 4-7-8 Technique
This popular breathing technique can help reduce feelings of anxiety, encourage mindfulness, ease tense muscles, and promote calmness (Lin et al., 2020). 

How to practice: 

• Situate yourself in a relaxed position, whether that is sitting in a chair or on the floor.
• Inhale through your nose for 4 seconds.
• Hold your breath for 7 seconds.
• Exhale through your mouth for 8 seconds.
• When starting with this meditation technique, only repeat this practice 3-5 times and slowly increase the repetitions as needed.

    
3. Alternate Nostril Breathing Technique
​Derived from a South Asian yoga practice, this meditation technique supports breath control, lowers heart rate, and can improve cardiorespiratory functioning (Dhungel et al., 2008). 

How to practice:

• Sit in a comfortable position.
• Use your right thumb to softly close your right nostril.
• Now that your left nostril is open, take a deep breath and exhale through your left nostril.
• After you have exhaled, use your right ring finger to cover up your left nostril.
• Take a deep breath and exhale through your right nostril.
• Once you have taken a deep breath and exhaled from both sides, you may repeat the process a few more times as necessary for up to 10 minutes or until you feel relaxed.

For visual learners, here is a great video to use as a tutorial for this breathing technique.

As the name may denote, mindfulness meditation is all about being mindful of the present moment, rather than focusing any of your energy on the past or future. We may tend to spend much of our time ruminating on what happened earlier in the day or planning for what we’re doing this upcoming weekend, therefore, this technique encourages us to be here and now. Several mindfulness meditation techniques exist, so let’s go ahead and review some of these practices below.

Guided Meditation Technique
​This type of meditation technique allows us to become aware of our thoughts, emotions, and bodily sensations at the moment. Mindfulness guided meditations can promote relaxation, temporarily reduce stress and anxious thoughts, and improve focus (Melville et al., 2012). Guided meditations are meditation techniques that are well…guided by someone. Check out the practice guidelines below as well as an example video you may want to use. 
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How to practice: 

• Find a video that you would like to use for your guided meditation.
• Locate a quiet place and situate yourself in a comfortable position.
• Play the video and follow the directions of your instructor.
• Try to do your best to focus on the words of your guided meditation video, but also don’t be too hard on yourself if you notice that your thoughts are wandering—this takes practice.

Body Scan Meditation Technique
This meditation technique allows you to check in with your mind and bring awareness to different parts of the body. Body scans may help with reducing stress, relieving physical tension in your body, and improving sleep quality (Astin, 1997).
​
How to practice: 

• Give yourself about 10-20 minutes to complete this meditation technique.
• You may choose to lie down or sit up (if you feel as though you may fall asleep).
• It can be helpful to close your eyes to focus on each of your body parts as your complete the body scan.
• Start with some breathing exercises, slowly breathing in and then letting it out.
• It might be beneficial to start from your head and end the body scan at your feet, although you can bring attention to random body parts as well.
• At your own pace, bring attention to each body part, one at a time.
• For instance, if you begin with your head, notice the sensations or feelings in your head (e.g., the heaviness of your eyelids, the warmth of your skin, the dryness of your lips, etc.).
• The objective is to notice each of these sensations in the specific body part and release any tension through your breath.
• Once you complete your head, you may want to explore the feeling in your neck (e.g., how tense your muscles are or how good it feels to lay down).
• Continue exploring the rest of your body parts until you make it down to your feet and toes.
• Remember to move mindfully to each body part and practice your breathing as you recognize all of the sensations you are feeling.
• Pro tip: You may find it helpful to put on soft relaxing music, like binaural beats, or use a video to guide your body scan.

Buddhist teachings offer a multitude of meditation techniques that are aimed at cultivating inner peace, reducing stress levels and anger, and promoting loving-kindness (Bucknell & Kang, 2013). Check out some Buddhist meditation techniques below.

Samatha Meditation Technique
​This practice encourages us to focus on our breath as we aim to promote calmness in our bodies and remove cluttered thoughts from our minds. There are several ways to practice Samatha meditation, but one common technique is a seated breathing exercise. 

How to practice: 

• Find a comfortable position to sit down in.
• Keep your back and spine straight.
• Relax your shoulders and your face as you close your eyes.
• Breathe in slowly through the nose and when you’re ready, release your breath through pursed lips.
• Concentrate on the rise and fall of your breath.
• If you’re a visual person, you may want to picture a color you associate with calmness as you breathe in and visualize a color your associate with stress as you breathe out.

Metta Meditation Technique
This meditation technique focuses on increasing the feeling of loving-kindness to ourselves and others. Metta meditation is practiced by concentrating on things or people that we have loving-kindness for (e.g., our pets, our loved ones, ourselves). This allows us to release feelings of anger or tension, and slowly encourage positive energy and joy by reciting positive affirmations or thoughts about the subject we are focusing on. Let’s use this video here as an example of how to practice this meditation technique.

Transcendental Meditation is a type of meditation created by Maharishi Mahesh, a late yogi from India. Transcendental Meditations use mantras to concentrate on your breathing and reduce intrusive thoughts as you try to relax. This technique is aimed at transcending thinking and awareness into a state of dream-like consciousness. This practice has shown some evidence of reducing pain, lowering cortisol levels, and easing the effects of high blood pressure (Wallace, 1970). Visit the following link for an example of this meditation technique:

We all have those days where anxious thoughts and the stress of the day can cloud our minds. While we may find it helpful to take some time out of our day to practice some of the breathing exercises listed above, there are other meditative options to release stress and anxiety.

Walking Meditation Technique
Walking is often a mindless practice for many of us. We walk to get from one place to another dwelling on whatever is on our minds or thinking about what is next on our to-do list. Walking meditation, however, encourages us to be mindful about our walk and bring awareness to the moment, our bodies, and the environment that we are in (Hanh, 2011). The key here is to tune into your senses as you walk. 

How to practice: 

• Take a few minutes out of your day to get some fresh air and go outside.
• Choose a comfortable pace and location you can walk in.
• Start walking and notice how your body feels as you walk (e.g., the soreness in your legs, the relaxation in your gait, counting the number of steps you are taking).
• Observe what is happening in your environment (e.g., what color are the flowers, is it windy outside, how many cars have gone by, etc.).
• Listen to the sounds of the outdoors rather than the loud noise that may be going on inside your mind.
• Try to decipher any smells in the air.
• Come back to observing your body and focus on your pace, the rhythm of your breath, and how your limbs are feeling.
• Walk as long as you like (or have time for) as you concentrate your energy on the sensations in your body and the environment around you.

Visualization Technique
​Feeling stressed or anxious about a desired outcome? Visualization may be useful here. This technique allows you to use your imagination to picture the outcome before it happens. This type of meditation may often serve as a tool for manifestation. Check out this guided visualization meditation video for an example: 

• Astin, J. A. (1997). Stress reduction through mindfulness meditation. Psychotherapy and psychosomatics, 66(2), 97-106.
• Behan, C. (2020). The benefits of meditation and mindfulness practices during times of crisis such as COVID-19. Irish journal of psychological medicine, 37(4), 256-258.
• Bucknell, R., & Kang, C. (2013). The meditative way: readings in the theory and practice of Buddhist meditation. Routledge.
• Dhungel, K. U., Malhotra, V., Sarkar, D., & Prajapati, R. (2008). Effect of alternate nostril breathing exercise on cardiorespiratory functions. Nepal Med Coll J, 10(1), 25-27.
• Hanh, T. N. (2011). The long road turns to joy: A guide to walking meditation. Parallax Press.
• Lin, Z., Kunze, K., Ueki, A., & Inakage, M. (2020, February). AromaCue-A Scent Toolkit To Cope with Stress using the 4-7-8 Breathing Method. In Proceedings of the Fourteenth International Conference on Tangible, Embedded, and Embodied Interaction (pp. 265-272).
• Ma, X., Yue, Z. Q., Gong, Z. Q., Zhang, H., Duan, N. Y., Shi, Y. T., … & Li, Y. F. (2017). The effect of diaphragmatic breathing on attention, negative affect and stress in healthy adults. Frontiers in psychology, 874.
• Melville, G. W., Chang, D., Colagiuri, B., Marshall, P. W., & Cheema, B. S. (2012). Fifteen minutes of chair-based yoga postures or guided meditation performed in the office can elicit a relaxation response. Evidence-Based Complementary and Alternative Medicine, 2012.
• Wallace, R. K. (1970). Physiological effects of transcendental meditation. Science, 167(3926), 1751-1754.