Meditation for a deeper self-understanding

Meditation is often imagined as sitting cross-legged, focusing on our breath, perhaps humming a bit on the side to calm ourselves. But in reality, meditation can be used not only to calm ourselves, but also to understand and express ourselves. In fact, a study conducted with expert meditators identified at least 309 distinct meditation techniques with various purposes (Matko et al., 2021). Meditation can involve observing or becoming aware of something, changing the forms or sensations of the body or mind, including generating new emotions or qualities, or a combination of these. Meditation also seems to positively affect both our physical and mental health, including helping relieve chronic pain, improving our interpersonal relationships, and more.

Types of meditation

According to studies, various ways and purposes of meditating can be grouped into a list similar to the one below (Matko & Sedlmeier, 2019; Sedlmeier, 2022):

Breath-focused meditation: One object of meditation can be observing or controlling the breath. Breath can be observed in many ways, as we sit in a relaxed but alert position, such as by counting the breath, saying affirmations or mantras to fill the space between breaths, or focusing on the effects of the breath on the body, such as the abdomen. This can help focus our attention and create a calming, restful effect on the body and mind.

Observing body, thoughts, or emotions: we can also observe bodily sensations beyond breath, thoughts, and emotions that emerge, usually with what is referred to as “open awareness,” without reacting or changing the observed state. This could be done by scanning the body from feet to head, labeling changes in the body or thoughts (noticing our posture tilting, noticing a bickering thought coming).

Concentration meditation: We can also select another object, such as a visual object, a sound, silence, or another focal point, to develop deep concentration.

Practices to change body states: Studies show that when we are in a state of rest and peacefulness, this is often associated with a slowing of our breath. This also works the other way (Zaccaro et al, 2018): intentionally slowing the breath can put us into a resting state. Many practices use meditation to not only observe but also to influence body states through breath, posture, and to cultivate certain mental or bodily states, emotions, or sensations.

Mantra and repetition practices: across many religious and spiritual traditions, repeating sacred words, prayers, or phrases during meditation is believed to connect practitioners to their belief source.

Contemplative inquiry: Similarly to repeating mantras, some meditation practices repeat questions to investigate and gain an understanding about ourselves, such as repeating the question “Who am I”. In addition to mantras and questions, in modern meditation practices, repeating positive affirmations to generate self-reassurance, a sense of calm, and confidence is also common, such as “I trust myself,” “I give myself permission just to be,” and more.

Emotion cultivation meditation: Meditation is also used to intentionally generate certain emotions or states, most commonly loving-kindness, compassion, joy, and equanimity, through visualization, phrases, and directing our focus onto memories, images, or people associated with each. This practice is not only used to experience these states temporarily, but also to cultivate them more deeply in our lives so that we can access them more easily even when we are not meditating. Through meditation, we can deliberately spend more time and energy on positive qualities and experiences, which can consolidate associated thoughts, emotions, and memories in our minds and may make them easier to access in daily life (Fredrickson et al., 2008).

Devotional meditation/opening/surrender practices: In certain religions and spiritual belief systems, meditation can be used to express and practice devotion to one’s belief system.

Movement meditation: Some meditations involve moving the body. Common examples include “walking meditation” and “active meditation”. In walking meditation, different practices have specific guidelines for how to hold the arms and legs and for the walking pace. In active meditation (Osho, 2004; as noted by Sedlmeier, 2022), different body movements are combined with reflective components. Movement meditation can deepen our sense of immersion and serve as an alternative to meditation practices when remaining still doesn’t work well for us.

Effects of meditation

Meditation can be used to generate a gentle, calm, resting sensation in our minds and bodies, which can help us rest and restore. This relaxing effect can also help us cope with the challenging effects of chronic pain, anxiety, and depression. However, meditation can also go beyond relaxation. It can:

Help us focus our attention, and in time, can help us better focus on tasks other than meditation itself
Help us understand how our bodies and minds typically behave, including habits, thoughts, and emotion patterns
Help us cultivate positive emotions and qualities, including loving-kindness, compassion, joy, and equanimity, and with practice, help us access these more easily outside of meditation.
Help us connect to our common humanness and nature with an increased sense of relatedness to both.
Help us organize our inner narrative and express ourselves

How to meditate?

Meditation doesn’t have to be a perfect routine. We can start by finding short daily sessions or guides from apps or videos aligned with our purpose of meditation, reading and following blog articles with meditation steps, or booking a local meditation session to get started. We can start as early as 1-2 minutes each day to meditate, not just to relax, but also to understand and express ourselves.

Takeaways:

Meditation generates a calm, resting sensation that can help us rest and restore. But it also helps us understand and express ourselves.
Meditation improves attention, self-understanding, positive emotions and qualities, and a sense of connection with others.
There are many ways to meditate, including focusing on the breath and body, observing our thoughts and emotions, concentrating on an external object, repeating mantras and affirmations, or moving our bodies.
Meditation can also intentionally generate certain emotions or physical states, including loving-kindness, compassion, joy, and equanimity, through visualization, phrases, and directing our focus onto memories, images, or people associated with each.
Meditation is sometimes practiced as a way to practice devotion to religious or spiritual beliefs as well.
We can start meditating using short daily sessions or guides from apps, videos, articles, or local classes, and it can even be as short as 1-2 minutes.

References:

Fredrickson, B. L., Cohn, M. A., Coffey, K. A., Pek, J., & Finkel, S. M. (2008). Open hearts build lives: Positive emotions, induced through loving-kindness meditation, build consequential personal resources. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 95(5), 1045–1062. https://doi.org/10.1037/a0013262
Matko, K., & Sedlmeier, P. (2019). What is meditation? Proposing an empirically derived classification system. Frontiers in Psychology, 10, 2276. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2019.02276
Matko, K., Ott, U., & Sedlmeier, P. (2021). What do meditators do when they meditate? Proposing a novel basis for future meditation research. Mindfulness, 12(7), 1791–1811. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12671-021-01641-5
Sedlmeier, P. (2022). The psychology of meditation: Varieties, Effects, Theories, and Perspectives. Hogrefe Publishing GmbH.
Zaccaro, A., Piarulli, A., Laurino, M., Garbella, E., Menicucci, D., Neri, B., & Gemignani, A. (2018). How Breath-Control Can Change Your Life: A systematic review on Psycho-Physiological correlates of slow breathing. Frontiers in Human Neuroscience, 12, 353. https://doi.org/10.3389/fnhum.2018.00353

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