Skip to main content

Can you practice different forms of meditation together?


In contemplative traditions, you’ll find many examples where different forms of meditative practices are used together. For instance, in Buddhism mantra meditation, mindfulness meditation, visualisation meditation etc. are all used. This is also true within backspace the Roman Catholic tradition where they use mantra meditation (example the Rosary), mindfulness meditation in the form of contemplative prayer, and visualisation imagination prayer an example that used in the Ignatian tradition.
Remember that at the basic meditation is using an anchor of attention as a point to return to when the mind wanders. All the above forms of meditation use different types of anchors of attention to return to when the mind wanders.
Remember, it’s not a question of what meditation practice or anchors of attention you use. It’s about finding what best works for you to calm the mind. So if you find benefit from practising different forms of meditation together beneficial for you as they help you remain grounded in the present moment during your daily life. Then that’s okay as that is one of the purposes of most forms of meditation.
References

 Finding a suitable anchor of attention in meditation

Constructive meditation practices: The fascinating cognitive processes at work (part two)

 Deconstructive meditation practices: The fascinating cognitive processes at work (part three)

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Recreating Your Own Life

Everything has causes and effects, and that only understanding such causes and that nothing is unchanging can yield to spiritual freedom. Envisioning this death and rebirth can lead to liberation and serves us as an exercise to rehearse how the mind shapes our reality, embodiment and environment.  Such that realising that nothing is permanent and everything is changing has the power to awaken within us our ability to recreate our lives moment by moment.
Post a Comment
Read more

Discovering the patterns of your mind

When you meditate, sitting quietly, trying to focus, on your meditation anchor you start to notice what takes you away from your point of focus. Generally, this is a thought of some kind or another. Meditation practice is not intended to stop you from thinking but its purpose is to help you discover what and how you are thinking .
Post a Comment
Read more

Can I meditate if I have a breathing problem?

You can still meditate if you have a breathing problem. Remember that  meditation is not about the breath . It’s about familiarizing yourself with your own mind it’s about  awareness  and the  cultivation of mindfulness . To do this in meditation, we use what’s called a  meditation anchor  so that whenever the mind wanders, we have something to bring it back too.  An anchor can be a mantra, the body, sounds or an image it’s a point of focus to which you return when your mind wanders. Remember that meditation is not about what anchor you use.   But the anchor is simply there to remind us that no matter how many times or for how long your mind wonders the anchor is there in meditation as a reference to which we bring the mind back to the present moment over and over again.
Post a Comment
Read more