Our full selection of articles exploring meditation.
One way you can cultivate gratitude in your life is with gratitude meditations. Over time, this process can help you internalize a greater sense of thankfulness and an enhanced appreciation for life. With gratitude, your default perspective will start to shift towards recognizing what you have, rather than what you don’t have. A gratitude affirmations…
A self love meditation is a way to internalize compassion and love for yourself. This short guided meditation for self love can help you start to rewire your brain for self love, positivity, and inherent worthiness. For some reason, we often tend to treat ourselves worse than we treat others. Forgiving ourselves is often harder…
A confidence meditation is one way to begin to trust yourself, and your own intuition, in a stronger way. This short meditation will help you make progress towards building trust and confidence in yourself. By repeating affirmations that promote trust in yourself and increased self-worth, you can internalize an enhanced sense of confidence. Over time,…
Movement meditation practices like yoga, walking meditation, and tai chi are a way to bring a more active energy to your meditation practice. We often think of meditation as a practice that happens in stillness – but it doesn’t have to be, as long as you’re still paying attention to the present moment, nonjudgmentally. Some…
This list of 35 interesting facts about meditation shows that there are 275 million meditators around the world, the most popular city for meditation is Melbourne, Australia, and many other fun meditation facts. You’ve no doubt heard many of the most popular facts about meditation. Perhaps you’ve heard meditation can make your body healthier, your…
Meditation journal prompts make meditation journaling easy. If you’re looking to get started journaling about your meditation experience, keep it simple: grab a piece of paper or open a new note on your phone, and jot a few notes down about your experience. To make it even easier, use a meditation journal template and prompts….
Water meditation techniques are any meditation method that focuses on water. It includes meditating near water, listening to the sounds of water, or even immersing yourself in water while you meditate. One of the most universally relaxing sounds we can hear as humans is the sound of running water. That’s why so many spas have…
What is the goal of meditation? Most meditators agree that the goal of meditation is to build awareness, increase peace and calm, and live more fully in the present moment. But beyond that, there’s a wide variety of answers. Each person comes to their meditation practice with their own set of goals. I meditate primarily because…
Harming others, on purpose or not, comes with being human. That’s why having the capacity to forgive yourself is so important. This 10-minute meditation will help you make progress towards forgiving yourself. As we go through this world, we make all kinds of mistakes. It happens every day. We hurt people we love, we hurt…
Not every meditation technique works perfectly for everyone. From Vipassana to Chakra meditation to Zazen to mantra meditation, there are many types of meditation practices to experiment with as you look for the technique that best connects with you. Oftentimes, experienced meditators go through multiple forms of meditation before settling on one that connects best with…
Why is meditation important? Meditation is a powerful tool to improve well-being by cultivating a calm state of mind and reducing mental chatter and stress. From improved focus, gratitude, and self-compassion, to less anger, stress, and anxiety, practicing mindfulness meditation has an incredible number of benefits. It’s easy to lose sight of just how powerful…
Dogs have a natural ability to live in the present. If you’re lucky enough to have a dog in your life, you may not even realize that you have a mindfulness guru living with you. Dogs also help us with mindfulness by reminding us to play and experience joy in our daily life. Dogs are…
What does meditation feel like? Meditation is an intensely personal experience. But generally, there tends to be three types of meditation sessions: calm and relaxing, “just okay,” and difficult and frustrating. Each creates a distinct feeling. The experience of meditation doesn’t only differ from person to person. The same person can have a wildly different…
The 5 stages of meditation are Optimism, The Slump, Unraveling, Abandoment, and Rediscovery. Building a meditation practice is hard work. Sometimes, setbacks occur. Failure is part of the process of building a sustainable meditation practice. Have you ever been trying to eat healthier, and then (inexplicably) found yourself in front of the pantry eating potato…
The main difference between contemplation and meditation is that meditation is a practice that focuses on clearing the mind, while contemplation is a more analytical and reflective practice that involves thinking deeply about a particular topic or concept. Sometimes, all you need is to understand your own thoughts. When that happens, you sit down and…
If you meditate before studying, it can help clear your mind and create a more receptive state for learning. Just 10 minutes may be enough to boost your focus and concentration ahead of your study session. If your mind tends to race when you’re supposed to be studying or before you take an exam, you’re…
When meditating, you should put your hands in the position that’s most comfortable for you. Common poses include one hand clasping the other, and each hand resting on one knee. There are also a number of ‘mudras’ you can try that carry meaning in some meditation traditions. Whether you’re just starting meditation or have been…
World Meditation Day happens every year on May 21. Let’s be honest: most of the “National this-and-that” days that show up on your social media feeds these days are marketing stunts. But World Meditation Day doesn’t have an agenda. It’s just a gentle reminder that if you’re looking for less stress and more calm, meditation…
Wondering how to meditate in a noisy place? Surprisingly, it’s possible, not only with noise-canceling headphones—but also by training your mind to observe noise differently. It’s hard enough meditating with all the thoughts your mind generates. Adding environmental noise on top of your normal mental chatter can create a distracting atmosphere where it feels almost…
Shaolin meditation techniques originated hundreds of years ago in China, and they show up frequently in movies and popular culture. But what exactly is Shaolin meditation? And how is it different from other meditation techniques? Meditation never looks cooler than when it’s being done by Shaolin monks. If you’ve seen a martial arts movie, you’ve…
