Three Easy Meditation Techniques

Why look for easy meditation techniques? After all, doesn't good meditation practice take time and effort and self discipline? Perhaps, but before a person is ready to make that commitment he or she may want to have a little taste of what the results might be. In other words, start with one of these easy meditations and you might discover that you want more.

Mini-Meditation

This is the easiest and quickest of the three. Just find a quiet place and stop any time during your day to take several deep slow breaths. Close your eyes and let the tension drain from your body as you breath deeply through your nose. A minute later you're done.

Do this several times throughout the day. Although you'll get none of the more profound effects of deeper meditation, you will find that it relaxes you and clears your mind. To amplify the latter effect, choose to think about something encouraging as you go back to your work. Anything will work, because the point is primarily to change whatever is on your mind, to refocus your attention for the moment. This reminds you that you can choose where to place your attention.

Breath Watching

This is another easy meditation techniques which you can use in any quiet place. This one will take about five to ten minutes though. Just as with the first, you can start by closing your eyes and breathing deeply through your nose. You should also release tension from your muscles as much as you can. Sometimes tensing them up and then releasing helps.

This time you'll pay attention to your breath. After a few deep inhalations, just allow your breathing to fall into a comfortable and natural pattern. Pay attention to the air coming and going from your nostrils, and let other thoughts fade away.

When other thoughts and images do come into your consciousness, simply bring your attention gently back to your breath. Continue this for about five to ten minutes, or until your mind settles down and the intruding thoughts are less frequent. Then take a deep breath as you slowly open your eyes and reorient yourself to your surroundings.

This short meditation may make things appear a bit different - fresher or newer. Notice that you are still you without your thoughts. If you are interested and like the effect, this can be extended into a longer mediation session.

Use Brainwave Entrainment

Many years ago people noticed that certain music was conducive to a meditative state. It was later discovered that this was due to the effect the musical beats had on the brainwaves of the listener. Essentially it slowed them down into the "alpha" state which is associated with meditation - and also passed through every time you go into deeper brainwave patterns and finally sleep.

Eventually this knowledge was used to create brainwave entrainment technologies. You can buy it in the form of meditation CDs or MP3 recordings. Of the three of these easy meditation techniques, this is by far the easiest. You just put on headphones, play the CD, and it takes you into a meditative state. If you lay down these CDs will almost certainly put you to sleep as well.