There are many ways to practice meditation. Vipassana meditation, Zazen meditation, Chakra meditation... each of these practices targets a different part of the body and mind to which it will bring its benefits. MyZen TV reviews for you the main meditation practices and their benefits.

Can we say that there are as many types of meditation as there are people on this planet? Not far from it! With meditation, there is a solution to every problem. If you know which type of meditation to choose.

Vipassana Meditation

The Vipassana meditation technique is one of the oldest in existence. It originated in India more than 2500 years ago. Its goal is the suppression of mental pollution in order to achieve total well-being. It is practiced through self-observation. By focusing on our bodily sensations which are in regular interaction with our mind. By exploring our deepest self, we come to find the intersection between our mind and our body. Through this experience, we become aware of our impure thoughts and come to dissolve them in order to await wholeness.

Kundalini Meditation

This type of meditation is performed in 4 steps: shaking, dancing, standing and relaxing. Its goal is to make our energies circulate along the path of our spine, starting from the first chakra, at the intersection of our legs, to the last one, at the top of our head. By mastering this vital and powerful source of energy, we come to be aware of our bodies, our thoughts and our emotions. This practice of Kundalini is however not recommended for people suffering from bipolar disorders or depression because the awakening of our energies can be a rather brutal shock for more emotionally fragile people.

Tonglen Meditation

Tonglen meditation is the meditation of acceptance. Tonglen means "to take and to give". Everyone encounters painful events in their lives that leave scars forever. The loss of a loved one, a break-up, illness: we tend to suppress our intense pain for fear of being overwhelmed. But holding in our emotions is destructive. By meditating, we learn to accept them in order to better live with them by paying special attention to our breathing and by developing our sympathy for others.

Zazen Meditation

As the name suggests, this meditation focuses on Zen. "Za" means "sitting" and "zen" means meditation. Zazen corresponds to the very famous posture adopted by the Buddha during his meditations and which has remained engraved in the collective imagination as the basic posture of meditation. The zazen meditation is practiced in two stages, from 20 to 50 minutes, each one interspersed with a meditative walk of about 10 minutes, the kinhin. In temples, zazen is practiced twice a day, in the morning and in the evening.

Zen Buddhist monk Kodo Sawaki practicing Zazen meditation (1920) © Antai-ji (Hyogo, Japan) archives

Chakra meditation

Chakras. We hear about them every day, but do you really know what they are? The word chakras, in Sanskrit, could be translated as "junction points of energy channels". According to Buddhist culture, the human body has 7 chakras, which means 7 energy centers in the whole body. Chakra meditation invites us to focus on the sounds to visualize and connect to each of our chakras in order to reach a state of interconnection between our body and our emotions.

The 7 chakras © Peter Weltevrede

Find all our meditation, yoga and well-being programs on our streaming platform MyZen TV!