Meditation Techniques: 6 Ways to Quiet Your Busy Mind
Meditation has so many benefits! Studies have proven its effectiveness in improving concentration, anxiety, stress, focus, depression, and the list goes on. The best part is it’s 100% completely totally free. But wait, there’s more, you can meditate anywhere with no special equipment! If meditation is so amazing and totally free why do so many people have trouble committing to a consistent practice?
Even though meditation is beneficial and free, meditation isn’t always easy. One of the biggest obstacles during meditation is the constant battle against your wandering mind. This was definitely my biggest struggle. I’m the type of person that has a million thoughts swirling around all the time. Don’t let this frustrate you. I’m going to give you six meditation techniques to give your mind an anchor, and allow your mind to focus.
The bonus here is that you will see this newfound focus spill over into your everyday life.
1. Visualization
Visualization is a meditation technique where you create a detailed mental picture of a particular item, event, person, or place. Visualization has long been used by athletes as a performance-enhancing technique. The benefit of using visualization during meditation is that your mind is occupied with your mental image, instead of any distractions.
During your meditation practice try visualizing a bright ball of light traveling from the top of your head to the base of your body as you inhale, and as you exhale visualize it traveling back up. Don’t overthink the mental picture, relax, and let the image flow naturally. The more vivid you make your visualization the better anchor it will be, and the less your mind will wander.
2. Body Scan Meditation
Body scan meditation is a mindfulness technique that brings our awareness and focus to our body. This is a great technique if you need to focus on relieving stress, releasing tension, and reducing aches and pains. This technique can help you to find and release areas of tension you didn’t even know you had.
While meditating mentally scan slowly and methodically through the body. Start at the top of the head and slowly move down through the toes. You want to break the body up into regions and scan each of them. For example: lower legs, upper legs, torso, arms, and neck/face. As you focus on each region note how the body feels in that area. Notice any sensations, tension, pressure, discomfort, etc. The goal isn’t to try to change anything or label the feeling, but to build awareness and mindfulness.