Today I'm going to talk about almost every meditation technique I know. So that you
understand what's possible with meditation and so that you have the opportunity to practice in
the way that best suits you. How to meditate? Is a question that many people ask. However,
a better question would be, How should I START a meditation PRACTICE? Because there
are so many ways to meditate. And your journey with meditation will work out best for you,
if the way you approach meditation meets your particular requirements. Usually the answer one
gets if they ask the more general question, How to meditate? Are mere examples of one of the most
common meditations. They usually end up getting sent a random link to someone's guided breath
meditation. This is a poor and unsustainable way to become a meditation practitioner.
Because you really want a perspective and meditation techniques that can evolve over
time as you develop the SKILL of meditation. And I would also hope for you to discover how
deep and transformative this practice can be. So if you stick around until the end of the video
I'll say more about what I believe you need to know to become a great meditator. But, for now
let's jump into it and explore the many ways you can meditate. Here we go. Breath meditation. For
this technique you choose to focus on a specific sensation of the breath. It could be where the
breath is felt at the tip of the nose, in the rising and falling of the abdomen or, anywhere
else you might notice it. It is also possible to do this technique with a less narrow focus.
Within one session you might let your focus move naturally. Noticing the breath in the different
areas of your body, moment by moment. You can also do breath meditation by noticing the broader
field of sensations that we associate with the breath. A common challenge with this meditation
is the correct response to thoughts during this practice of focus. Many people don't know what
to do when they realize they have forgotten the breath or, when they notice they keep becoming
distracted. Mingyur Rinpoche has the best response to this that I've heard. He says something like,
thoughts can come, don't worry about the thoughts, but don't forget the object of meditation. So
if thoughts come it's really not a problem. Remember that you are training in awareness.
And that getting lost and coming back is a part of getting better at this. Just gently return to your
breath. And your concentration and alertness will develop over time. Meditation with the breath is a
very good technique that is often taught because it means the practice of peace and mindfulness
is never far away. You always have your breath with you, so you always have the opportunity to
ground yourself in and amongst the throes of your regular daily life. Sense object
meditation. For some the breath isn't an obvious or naturally equanimous sensation to notice.
Fortunately with the same technique you use to meditate on the breath you can return to focusing
on any other sensation as a practice of meditation too. You can focus on a sound or, field of sounds.
A bell, the general audio of the room you're in or, the sounds of nature are always nice. A
sight or, field of sights. Perhaps a candle, a ring or, a vista. I like emptying my mind and gazing
forth into the space before the sky. A smell or, field of smells. Incense, a flower. You could even
meditate on the smell of home baking. A physical sensation or, field of sensations. There's
meditation beads, body scans slash the changing sensations of the body. Or, even meditation on
areas of physical discomfort. A taste or, a field of tastes. You can mindfully drink a tea or,
eat a meal. Visualization meditation. To be honest I don't do this meditation a lot. And
let me be clear I don't want to try to explain how to do every meditation in this video. That
would be an unnecessary catalogue. But, I do see the use of having a reference to all the ways you
can meditate. Because this way if your curiosity is peaked, you are then empowered to continue on
without me but also without having missed out on something that might work really good for you. So
what can I say about visualization meditation? It's integral in many ancient traditions. And
some modern day spiritual type people love to engage this imaginative part of their mind whilst
they practice. For my own self the practice of meditation has always been most about meeting
what is already in front of me. For me, it's about learning how to overcome the difficulties
of this life, to live this life better. Feeling and Emotion meditation. Feeling feelings or meditation
with emotions can be dramatically transformative for the quality of your life. What are you feeling?
Notice your emotions as an energetic field of sensations. Be with that, without judgments. And
eventually the inner quality of your life can change profoundly. With meditation it
is an expected outcome that you'll develop a better ability to not take things personally,
to accept yourself without judgments and, to be with your emotions gracefully. The emotional
weather of our lives: Our moods, might be tumultuous. The more we tune into presence and the impermanent
reality of things, the more the momentum for chaos in our lives doesn't pick up. And naturally the
weather can become very mild. Our moods equanimous. Meditation on thoughts. This should really be
clarified as an advanced meditation technique. This idea that you can be aware of a thought,
without being lost in its storyline or, the meaning of it; can be confusing until you're a very skilled
meditator. You'll have to refresh your practice a lot so that you can sustain your awareness:
To discern the difference from being aware of the thought from actually just being lost in
and thinking through the thought. Being convinced of it. Again this is a very transformative practice.
If you actually succeed at this practice you can discover an entirely fresh dimension to 'Who' or,
perhaps, more precisely 'What' you take yourself to be. To see through the beguiling, consuming
nature of thoughts is to recognize the awakened or, liberated mind of the Buddha. The Nature of
Consciousness. It is to glimpse an experience of what meditators are talking about when they say
Enlightenment. So if you end up there, which can also be de-stabilizing given how radical of an
insight we're talking about... Ground yourself. By remembering, that morals and ethics still
matter. Suffering is as real as anything. And 'how you conduct yourself,' has an impact on your own
and other conscious being's well-being. Otherwise have fun exploring and recognizing the intrinsic,
spacious emptiness and, therefore freedom in every moment of being you. That is otherwise,
confined and smothered by concepts. Side effects may include: Rethinking your model of life.
Leaving behind negative patterns. And a powerful sense of freedom. Contemplation meditation. This
could also include koans. Whilst it is possible to recognize all thoughts as conscious experience
whilst they unfold, rather than coming under their spells of conceptualization... Another
popular practice is to more simply meditate on particular concepts. Perhaps, this practice is
closer to 'contemplation,' without trying to solve anything. But, the not trying to solve anything
usually means resting in awareness. And sometimes the concept contemplated, combined with an
unreaching awareness; results in experiential or, true meditative insight. Here one picks a
subject and then just rests and sees what occurs to them in response to the idea. This is different
to thinking through a problem as you simply evoke the topic, (you probably desire some development on)
and then see what occurs in your experience if you leave space on the other side of it, without
any striving or, craving. There's a lot of value one can add to their life here. Even without becoming
Enlightened. This is a practice for enlightening your life. Dialing up the lumens. As you start to
see some of the stories that rule your life, more clearly. People find this technique enables them to
let go or, move more freely about inhibitions. Perhaps, seeing an idea that once dominated
their life in a new light. Sometimes people even receive metaphorically ambiguous, inspirational
or, to be fair even very practical answers to the examined ideas. You can pick big topics.
Impermanence. How much time you have. What would make your life meaningful? Are you trying to find
happiness in Samsara? Can you fulfill the ego? What influence do you want to be in the lives of others?
How do you want to be in this world, for you? And: Where might you find deep rest in the experience
of life? Loving-kindness or Meta-meditation. The goal of meditation is to experience more peace
in this life and to be a greater source of peace for others. How do you become a more compassionate
person? By stepping into the conduct of a compassionate person. Generally speaking, a lot of
us could do with more kindness. And one of the main people we need to focus on being more kind towards
is ourselves. And then from there it becomes more natural to share the acceptance we find.
Unconditional love is rare. Contemplate that word. "Unconditional." Because we all deserve unconditional
love. Our worth and our possibilities should be thought of as; equal and deserved respectively.
That is how we will make this world anything good. By thinking about ourselves and others in this way.
When we inherent the ignorant model of being, 'That the ego exists and is solid and, responsible for
its fate.' We become suspended in a reality that is actually false. One where we must prove our worth.
And assert that we are enough in meaningless and arbitrary ways. These are the conditions of so much
self-hate and a large deficit of love. Discontent and the rejection of oneself is an experience that
is a disease. It's viral and affecting billions of people. Rest in empty and simple being.
Recognize that in just being here you are completely welcome. Meditation will connect us
to the truth that; 'Questions about our self-worth do not exist.' You are enough. There are no questions
about being. It just is. And actually, "You, just is." In a very natural and free way. Without ideas
about yourself you are free from suffering. Free from concern. You are whole and complete. Be that.
Guided meditation. Guided meditations can be a very effective way to practice.
With the use of someone else's voice a lot of the challenges to concentration are removed.
Focus is easier to apply if we don't have to split it with the responsibility of also conducting the
session. It is easy to really settle in and give ourselves completely to the meditation knowing the
progression is taken care of. The meditation guide is a further support for us as they will also take
up some of the responsibility of reminding us to return to the object of meditation when we
do get lost. You can experiment with different voices. There's guided meditations for every
other meditation technique too. If the guide is in the room they can also vibe off their awareness
of you to tailor the meditation to your needs, as you meditate. In good guided meditations you're
a little baby bird in safe hands, setting your wings to fly. It is still a good idea to learn how
to meditate on your own so that you don't become reliant on having the instructions being actively
delivered. Without this wisdom it'll be hard to bridge meditation into the rest of your life, where
spoken instructions would be awkward. But, always 'more meditation,' is good. And taking the easiest
approach for you at each step along the way is totally fine and very effective. Walking meditation
and other meditations involving movement. This would include yoga in its contemporary sense,
like on the mat moving through a progression WITH AWARENESS. A natural stepping stone to help you
locate some of the peace you find on the cushion, in the rest of your regular daily activities;
is to practice some kind of dynamic or, movement based meditation. It is also possible to have more
informal meditation sessions where you practice some element of mindfulness during your daily
activities. If you're interested in more about that you can watch this video. The goal of meditation is
not to remain blissed out and seated for the rest of your life. So, "No." Meditation is not limited to
sitting down. Try to find somewhere quiet and where you feel comfortable. Perhaps, somewhere relatively
flat. And take the sensations of your feet as you walk to be the object of your meditation.
Eventually you can open your awareness up to either transitory awareness of changing sensations
along the walk or, even more open to an unfocused and all accepting recognition of every sensation
that occurs during the walk. If you practice this and make this element of open and embodied
awareness a reality for you, you'll be able to practice meditation at any time of the day. Even
during conversations. Noting technique meditations. It's a good time to mention this technique which
is often used to support our awareness during other types of meditation but, that which could
also technically be used on its own as a practice. The technique of noting is when you apply a simple
label to whatever you happen to be aware of. If you were doing your basic breath meditation and
then you became distracted, experiencing thoughts about some other storyline: You could note this
by labeling it, "Thinking," and then return to your breath. If you were meditating on your
emotions, you might label them, "Happy... Sad... Static..." You can use whatever word or, words work for you.
But the main thing is that they better enable you to be aware of what's happening with you
in the present moment. Noting should enable you, during meditation to see more clearly what your
present reality is; rather than, getting lost in your experiences and not being mindful of a lot.
Sit down lay down or, move and use this technique. Just simply labeling what it is you happen to
notice, as a matter of experience. Staying mindful. Ultimately the goal will be, to just "be." Without
getting distracted and becoming mindless. And without the noting technique. Without the use
of labels. But, until then the noting technique is a renowned tool for developing mindfulness.
Choiceless awareness and Open awareness meditation. One concept people have about their 'sense of
awareness,' is that they must choose to become aware of a particular sensation. And many basic
meditations work with this uncontroversial opinion. Another way we might think about our awareness is
to realize, 'that regardless of a decision being made, there is always and already some occupying
sensation to notice in this present moment.' It is possible to focus the mind towards a field of
sensations, like the breath or, body; and recognize an experience of "Choiceless Awareness." It is also
possible to practice this 'Choiceless Awareness,' unconfined to a particular field of sensations.
And to take the experience of being conscious as that which one is aware of. When we are open
to noticing whatever happens to occur in our conscious experience we have started to practice
"Resting," slash "Relaxation," or "Open Awareness," meditation. Diana Winston's spectrum of awareness
rather conveniently and systematically moves through this natural progression of meditation,
by increasing mindfulness and insight to lead us to our final meditation... Non-dual meditation.
Glimpsing Spiritual Enlightenment. The radical inside of meditation is that, as a matter of
conscious experience and sensation; there is no separation between you and the experiences of
anything else that is. There is actually just this free-flowing and non-personal experience of being.
Which feels just as free if we can be mindful enough to recognize this reality in each moment.
This is where meditation becomes profoundly relieving and satisfying. Life can't get better
when you experience what is without judgments. And as we've seen, that you can meditate with thoughts;
this way of being is totally functional and can include the mindfulness of critical and
constructive thoughts too. What are you if you simply rest and be with what is? What is
there, actually? You need a very refined faculty of mindfulness to do this kind of meditation because
mindfulness is not something many of us are very sensitive to. You need to be able to recognize
and experience an experiential shift to actually be able to apply these types of meditation techniques.
Conceptual understanding is not enough here. Be here, without telling yourself a story about here.
Don't make up a conceptual story about what there is. Abandon your conceptualizations about being.
Just be.
Be very free.
Simply be. And even leave the very idea of "meditation," behind. Although this way
of meditating is commonly discussed in the context of particular ancient wisdom traditions,
what we're really noticing is the non-duality of conscious experience. So technically, the only thing
holding you back from having a big breakthrough like this the next time you go to practice;
is the requisite skill and education. Rest into being. Be without ideas. Rest into being.
Be without ideas. Bonus round! Less conventional meditations. I meditate every night transitioning
into sleep. It's one of my favorite ways to practice. I fall asleep incredibly naturally
and the experience of sleep becomes less jarring. And if not deeply expansive, at least
very interesting. You can meditate during dreaming and bend your reality in unconstrained ways. You
can be in between the waking and dream worlds too.
It's also possible to meditate during sex. The sensations are very vibrant and concepts fall away quite naturally
so there's relevant potential for experiencing the nature of mind there. It's also a perfect place to practice your
mindfulness and compassion with others. There's trance-like meditations as well or, meditations
that set out to attain unconventional and esoteric landscapes of experience such as 'bliss,'
'thoughtlessness,' and 'clarity.' So as to not ruffle any feathers, I should emphasize that it is in my
"personal experience," that it makes sense to mention mantra meditation and emotional elation, as well as
performative meditations, such as chanting, dancing and flow expression meditation techniques here.
In this video I explain the basic workings of meditation so that you understand what
the practice actually is. So that you can do the practice in many ways from the beginning. The point
of meditation is not to focus on the breath. That is just one tool for developing mindfulness. This
video is really accessible for anyone. Even without any prior knowledge of meditation.
And it will give you the tools to become a meditator for life. Still there are many more ways to
meditate that I don't normally talk a lot about on this channel, which is why I wanted to make
this video. That, and because I see a curiosity about different techniques come up a lot. Mingyur
Rinpoche says, "We need many different ways to meditate so that the practice doesn't become
dull, but remains fresh." So I might practice any of the meditation techniques mentioned in this video
anywhere from 0 to 100 times in a week. The great thing about knowing many ways to meditate
is that you become empowered. Having suitable options regardless of the circumstances of the day.
I recommend trying every meditation technique at least once. And if curious or, inspired: Many times
more! If you do just a different meditation technique each day for as long as you can,
you may have meditated more than you would have otherwise. And it's sure to have stayed easy and
interesting. What's more is that these are all profound and intimate aspects of being you. And
if you haven't looked a lot yet, each technique is an access; for particular and unifying discoveries.
Most of the videos on this channel are about non-dual meditation. I've created the videos I wish
I had when I got into meditation. When the path seemed hazy and hidden. So if you want to vanquish
those challenges and share the love, joy and peace of meditation, please share this video whenever you
see someone who would benefit from it. Please Like and Subscribe if you want more of this content to
be made. A sincere thank you for watching. And a special thanks to those of you who click the
buttons. And to those of whom support me on Patreon, through One-On-Ones and Kofi. Let me know the
meditations I've missed in the comments down below. And let me know the name of the meditation you do.