Although meditation came from religious practices, it is now being used for stress management and healing. It's part of modern psychotherapy and medicine.

There are a lot of meditation practices that you can try. In this post, I describe some meditation practices that I have tried and some that I am still practicing.

For all of these practices, look for a quiet, comfortable place to sit where you're likely not to get disturbed. You can sit on a chair or cross legged on a cushion on a floor.

A note for beginners: it's OK to be distracted during meditation. It's actually part of the practice. When you get distracted, notice what distracted you and just go back to doing the practice.

Breathing Meditation

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1. Close your eyes and notice your breath.

2. Just let your breath be. Don't try to control it.

3. Follow it as it goes though your nostrils and to your belly and as it goes out.

4. When you get distracted, notice what distracted you and come back to your breath.

5. Start with 5 minutes a day. You can extend the practice to 10 minutes and even longer after a week.

Leaves on a Stream Meditation

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1. Close your eyes. Imagine you are next to a flowing stream. You see leaves flowing and getting carried away by the water towards the river.

2. As you look at the stream, notice the thoughts, feelings, and sensations that come up.

3. Every time you notice a thought, feeling or sensation imagine putting it on a leaf. Watch the leaf go by.

4. When you get distracted, go back to the practice.

5. Do this until you notice the distance between you and your thoughts, feelings, and sensations.

Clouds in the Sky Meditation

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1. Close your eyes. Imagine you are lying on the ground and looking at the sky.

2. As you watch the sky imagine clouds passing by.

3. Notice the thoughts, feelings, and sensations that come up as you look at clouds.

4. Each time a thought, feeling or sensation comes up, place it on a cloud.

5. When you get distracted, go back to placing thoughts, feelings, and sensations on the clouds.

6. Do this for at least fifteen minutes and continue longer if you enjoy the practice.

The White Room Meditation

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1. Close your eyes. Imagine your mind is a long white room with a door at each end.

2. Imagine your thoughts are going into the room from one door and going out the other door.

3. Don't 'push' the thoughts out of the room. Let the thought stay in the room as long as it likes and observe what it does while it's in it. Then wait for it to get out of the room on its own.

4. Keep on doing this until you've noticed the distance between you and your thoughts.

Loving Kindness Meditation

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1. Close your eyes. Imagine a person that has shown you love and care is in front of you.

2. Imagine saying warm wishes to this person like, "May you be happy. May you be healthy. May you have peace." You can customize the phrases if you wish. Focus on the images and feelings that come up when you say these phrases. Let the images become vivid and feelings become stronger.

3. Do this for 5 to 10 minutes a day for 2 days to 2 weeks.

4. After doing this, follow steps 1 to 3 for each of the following people:

   A stranger that you've passed by on the street or your commute.
   A close friend of yours.
   A large group of people, like the people in your neighborhood, city and even all people in the world.

Finally, practice this meditation with all of the people above every day.

Thanks for reading. I hope you found something useful in my post.

May you have a meaningful life.

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