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So, you are meditation curious. With all the many ways to learn mindfulness and meditation these days, like many of us, you may be wondering where to begin.
Two Big Types of Meditation
Meditation scholars often clump mindfulness meditation practices into two sizable approaches that can be considered steps. These practices are:
(1) Focused attention is when you bring your awareness to an anchor point that is with you every moment of the day, such as the breath, a part of the body (e.g., palms of the hands, soles of the feet), or sound. In doing so, we train the mind to be where we choose it to be, which develops our attention control. Attention control is one of the mechanisms by which mindfulness meditation is theorized to work.
(2) Open monitoring focuses on bringing awareness to our physical sensations, emotions, or thoughts to see what is present there, as the entire human experience pretty much happens through those three channels. What is being shared with you through them, and do insights arise based on what is experienced at this moment?