Types of Meditation

There are many types of meditation, but they are not as “separate” as we may think, just originating from different cultures with similar goals and methods more alike than different.  Noise vs. quiet, moving vs. still, standing vs. sitting and active vs. passive are some ways to distinguish various types.  Common breakdowns include Shamanic drumming or “sound bath”, mantras, breathwork (pranayama), Transcendental meditation, Vipassana, mindfulness, Zen, yoga or Tai Chi as movement-based, and chakra meditations.  In fact, shamans in early civilizations were “meditating” before any of the major world religions were even developed, as they were trying to communicate with spirits, so meditation has some pretty ancient roots. 

The end results are usually pushing towards “emptiness”, “expansiveness”, “tranquility”, “enlightenment” or “insights” (or any combination of those), but all with a goal of some kind of transformation.  Also, what works well for one is a struggle for another.  Meditations are truly analogous to the martial arts; there are different styles, people often get proficient in one, some are able to start out in several, and all have a common goal – to beat your opponent or just to improve yourself regardless of winning or losing.  

Daily Classes Online: Meditation Series Combining Tai Chi, yoga, chi gung, pranayama and drumming

Meditation can be to overcome a problem for some, or a life-changing transformative experience for others.  One style of meditation can better prepare you for another and as you become proficient you will see more similarities than differences.   Like mixed martial arts making a more well-rounded fighter, those able to mentally transform easily through moving meditations, focused meditations, mantras, breathing (or pranayama’s) and Zen meditations, all have stronger likelihood for overall transformative success.

Stick with the martial arts analogy for a moment:  An expert wrestler or ground fighter who specializes in only that, will likely be able to beat you by locking you up or choking you out.  An expert boxer will knock you out with their hands.  An expert kickboxer will knock you out with their feet.  But let’s say there’s really good fighter who’s not an expert in any one style for very good in general across all styles.  They have more options to use, even if not an expert in any of them. 

All lifelong practitioners of only one style may likely reach their goal (whatever type of transformative experience) but they often are only able to see it through one lens learning one experience.  The lens could be chi gung, mantric chanting, the graceful movement of Tai Chi, the incredible strength and balance of yoga or the amazing ability to actually to think of nothing in Zen.  But these lens’ are separated artificially by limits of individual cultures, timelines and biases through history. After all, a well-rounded martial artist who is only “great” can use Jiu Jitsu to take the expert kickboxer to the ground, or knock out the master ground fighter with a roundhouse kick to the head.  A great meditator has multiple transformations across “emptiness”, “expansiveness”, “tranquility”, “enlightenment” or “insights”.  

The goal of transformation is always there.  How you do it is up to you, but it behooves one’s self to embrace a strong foundation in all styles so you can experience the overlap and compounded effect.  The risk of experiencing meditation through one lens is missing opportunities where 1 + 1 = 3 for combined synergistic effects.  People often struggles to organize protocols and practices for integrated meditations for the full effect — here is a free curriculum we use throughout our online classes and on-demand videos to give you ideas.

So you came to this article for “types” of meditation, but now you understand that beyond academic purposes, “types” don’t mean much of anything beyond the lens they offer to view different experiences (all which overlap to different degrees).  Bruce Lee said it best in relation to the martial arts, “Absorb what is useful, discard what is useless and add what is specifically your own” – except he wasn’t just talking about martial arts.  Apply this to whatever you learn in life and cultivate an iron foundation allowing different things to be in that “iron” mixture.

Our personal practice uses breathwork (pranayama) as an entry point to moving meditation combinations of Tai Chi and yoga while allowing for Zen “empty states” in some classes while aiming towards “epiphany” or “enlightenment” meditations on others.  We always return back to chi gung for energy cultivation and use sound bath or Shamanic drumming when working on meridian and chakra points on the body.  And most importantly, tying the experiences to major life goals in this life and the next.  Remember, it’s not the “style” that makes the person, it’s the person that makes the style.  And the style does not need to be any one single “lens” to experience it through.  Take off the glasses to see meditation for what it really is – changing the mind to achieve deep transformations. 

See you soon,

Ryan