Meditation

Meditation is a mental, spiritual and emotional practice, through concentration in breathing, allows us to calm the mind and focus the thought in one place, here and now, giving the body a state of deep relaxation.

It goes back to the practices of Buddhist monks in the first millennium A.D. with the aim of achieving the liberation of the spirit. Meditation is a way to recover the essence of oneself and achieve inner peace.

There are many benefits of meditation. We achieve a better overall health: greater capacity for concentration and attention, increased energy, relaxation, mental and physical tranquility, greater control of emotions, improves memory, reduces stress and anxiety, among many other things.

TYPES OF MEDITATION:

• BUDDHIST MEDITATION: Also known as complete meditation. It is the most known and comes from the teachings of the Buddha. It consists in keeping the mind fully focused on the present moment, not in the past or future, right here and now with all the attention on the breath. It allows us to reconnect with our essence to leave thoughts and emotions behind.

• ZAZEN OR ZEN MEDITATION: It is the practice of sitting meditation, characteristic of Zen Buddhism. It emphasizes belly breathing (long, deep and soft) and the body position is more strict than any other type: the spine has to be straight, chin down, eyes open and hands on the belly. Zen meditation focuses on the experience of emptiness, of nothingness, and is characterized by wanting to suppress all unnecessary and superfluous.

• VIPASSANA MEDITATION: Also known as "penetrating meditation" is native to India and allows us to see things as they really are. "Vipassana" means clear vision. Its objective is to achieve the state of relaxation through inner knowledge and conscious observation of breathing. It focuses on the air entering and exiting through the nose.

• TRANSCENDENTAL MEDITATION: Its origin dates back to ancient India and is not related to religious beliefs. It is a type of meditation based on breathing and repetition of mantras. Each person repeats a sacred mantra for 20 minutes twice a day. No concentration or any kind of mental control is necessary and its goal is to achieve a state of calm.

• CHAKRA MEDITATION: This meditation works with the Chakras, which are the main energy centers that we have in the body and are visualized as spirals of energy that flow throughout the body. In Chakra meditation, sound and visualization techniques are used since the Chakras recharge the energy they give off.

• KUNDALINI MEDITATION: Its objective is to awaken the Kundalini energy that resides at the base of the spine. When the Kundalini energy is released, it circulates through the column and awakens the Chakras, producing a state of illumination. This meditation is based on the breathing and repetition of mantras.

• MANTRA MEDITATION: It consists in meditating through the repetition of a sacred song or mantra. We focus on breathing and, through the song and its vibrations, we can disconnect from our thoughts and free our minds. The most known mantra is OM.

• SUFFI MEDITATION: It is of Mohammedan origin and is also known as Islamic meditation. Its purpose is to awaken the spiritual centers that rest in silence in each human being. Sufi meditation seeks the achievement of maximum devotion to God. It focuses on the invocation of sacred phrases or repetition of mantras.

• KABBALAH MEDITATION: Religious meditation that began to be practiced by Jewish spiritual leaders who thought they were close to God. At first it is inhaled and exhaled in batches twice, pronouncing the "sh" sound when exhaling and the "mm" sound when inhaling, to calm the mind.

• DZOGCHEN MEDITATION: It is of Tibetan origin and is characterized by being the most natural. You meditate naturally without mantras or breathing exercises. Just sit, breathe and you are. It is a very deep contact with oneself. Its main objective is that everything you need look for it within you.

• TOGLEN MEDITATION: Buddhist based meditation with Tibetan influences. Its objective is to connect with the origin of an inner suffering in order to overcome it.