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4 Meditation Practices That Also Promote Mindfulness

Transcendental meditation: Repeating a mantra, such as a word, sound, or phrase, is a part of transcendental meditation. In transcendental meditation the mantra allows you to concentrate and relax without having to exert much mental effort.  Some contemplatives call a mantra "that which protects the mind".  This practice helps ground our attention in the present to cultivate mindfulness.

Yoga: Yoga is a form of exercise as well as meditation. It involves a sequence of positions while concentrating on your breath, balance, and body alignment.  And this helps ground our awareness in the body and help us cultivate mindfulness.

Body scan: This easy-to-learn method of meditation which is ideal for beginners. During a body scan, you close your eyes and concentrate on one area of the body at a time, usually beginning with the toes and working your way up to the head. While doing this one makes a note of any feelings of tightness, relaxation stillness or other physical sensations in each body area. Practitioners will sometimes contract and then relax each body part individually.

Guided imagery meditation: This form of meditation as the name implies employs mental imagery to picture for example relaxing places and situations. This practice is usually guided by a teacher which walks you through such a process by guiding you to imagine the sights, smells, tastes, and sounds of each mental image sequentially.


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