People have used meditation for thousands of years to help improve concentration, increase self awareness and for the relief of stress. Although meditation originated in the eastern world it has become more and more popular in the western world where ordinary people are turning to alternative medicine methods to help relieve the symptoms of stress related ailments.

Essentially there are four types of meditation

There are many meditation techniques, some of which have been adapted to meet our society needs. Despite this they remain effective and can be undertaken at home no matter how old or busy you are.

1. Concentrative - focus on an object. This can be your breath, a candle, light etc
2. Generative - Metta bhavana - uses memory, imagination, and awareness of body sensation. Requires support of experienced teacher to undertake effectively.
3. Receptive - A balance needs to be struck between consciously guiding attention and being aware of and receptive to whatever experience in arising at the time of meditation.
4. Reflective - Being able to repeatedly turn your attention to a theme but being open to whatever arises from the experience.

These techniques can be broken down into meditation exercises

Breaking this list down further to concentrate on those exercises which are commonly used at home by the ordinary person include:

• Mindfullness Meditation

  Focus is on whatever is happening around you in the present and being aware of the thoughts and true feelings during the process of meditating. You must not be judgemental of your thoughts.

  You can start your meditation by concentrating on your breath and then expand your thought to other thoughts in your mind or sights and sounds around you. Mindfulness heightens our sensitivity and enables us to perform task more efficiently.

• Simple Meditation

  For this exercise it is necessary to empty all the thoughts from your mind allowing it to rest. You need to sit upright in a comfortable place where you are unlikely to be disturbed for 10 – 20 minutes on a daily basis. This is a popular exercise for those new to meditation.

• Standing Meditation

  With this exercise the focus is on standing. You need to stand erect with your feet apart. Focus is on allowing tension to drop away from you while energy travels up from your feet through your body to the top of your head revitalising the body.

• Walking Meditation

  Focus is on breathing slowly and movement while walking upright or dancing with your mind in the present. This is based on the mindfulness exercises.

• Visualisation Meditation

  Focus is on the imagination creating mental images of things involving all the senses. This can be used beneficially for phobias or fear of an event. You need to do it as clearly and in as much detail as possible and you need to practice and keep doing it to reinforce the message to the brain. If phobias are strong it may be beneficial to seek support of an experienced teacher in meditation.

The exercise you chose will depend very much on your ability to control your mind around other activities or events and the time available.

Meditation is a free and simple means of:

• Controlling the ill effects of stress
• Improving ability to manage that stressful situation at work
• Getting a good nights sleep
• Improving that feeling of wellbeing
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