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This release is the 3rd in the series of BEST OFs; the Best feelings of ‘CALM’ – exactly what we all need to help ease the stress of our busy world.
These tracks are perfectly aligned to suit programs related to health, well-being, relaxation, meditation, self-healing, breathing, yoga, stress-relief, escapism, reflection, religion, nature and tranquility.
Please release this album on the 101 Music Compilations label. 101 Music Pty Ltd® is the original publisher, IPI # 844063837.
All of these track titles and their alternate versions have been previously registered with your PRO from an earlier 101 Music Pty Ltd® album release. However, on this release all track titles DO HAVE a new ‘file name’, therefore you may require them to have a ‘unique’ PRO registration ID. I will leave the PRO registration requirements up to each sub-publisher for this release.
We have kept the same ISRC codes on each track title and their alternative versions as per their original release ISRC codes.
There’s no one single type of meditation, though techniques tend to overlap. “You can think of meditation like sports,” says Diana Winston, a mindfulness meditation teacher and director of mindfulness education at UCLA’s Mindful Awareness Research Program. “It’s a huge category. Just like there are so many different types of sports, there are so many varieties of meditation.”
Here’s a list of common types of meditation and how they are practiced.
Mindfulness Meditation This is the process of being fully present with what you are experiencing in the current moment — including your body and your thoughts — in a way that is concentrated, curious, and open. “I define mindfulness as paying attention to our present moment experiences with an openness, curiosity, and a willingness to be without experience,” Winston says. “It’s a way of helping us live more in the present moment, not being lost in the past and future.”
Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction This is a specific type of mindfulness meditation taught over an eight-week period using meditation and yoga. It usually involves group classes and daily mindfulness activities practiced at home. Researchers are currently studying its effects on stress
This is a specific type of mindfulness meditation taught over an eight-week period using meditation and yoga. It usually involves group classes and daily mindfulness activities practiced at home. Researchers are currently studying its effects on stress
and certain health conditions.
and certain health conditions.
Mindfulness-Based Cognitive Therapy This is another type of mindfulness meditation, which combines facets of mindfulness-based stress reduction with cognitive behavioral therapy. It is a common type of meditation for
This is another type of mindfulness meditation, which combines facets of mindfulness-based stress reduction with cognitive behavioral therapy. It is a common type of meditation for treating depression
Concentrative Meditation Different than mindfulness meditation, which encourages being present in a curious and open way, concentrative meditation keeps the mind fixated on one object, like the body as it sits on a chair. “It typically has you focus on one thing in order to concentrate, gather your focus, and calm your mind,” Winston says.
This is a type of concentrative meditation that uses a repeated calming word, thought, or phrase to prevent distracting thoughts. The mantra can be said out loud or simply thought.
Transcendental Meditation A style of mantra meditation that involves a personally assigned mantra, such as a word, a sound, or a small phrase, repeated in a specific way.
A style of mantra meditation that involves a personally assigned mantra, such as a word, a sound, or a small phrase, repeated in a specific way.
Guided Meditation Another method of concentrative meditation, in which you form mental pictures of situations that you find relaxing. “You might imagine that you’re in a beautiful garden with the birds chirping,” Winston says. “So you’re using your imagination to create states of being.”
Loving-Kindness and Compassion Meditation The practice of directing well wishes toward others and wishes to help oneself or another to suffer less. “You may wish them happiness or peace or that they’re at ease, and what that does is it may affect the other person, but it’s really about cultivating it within ourselves,” Winston explains.
Meditative Movement This includes the traditional Chinese practices of
This includes the traditional Chinese practices of qigong and tai chi, as well as some forms of yoga and dance. Generally, meditative movement is a term for forms of exercise that are done in conjunction with meditative attention to body sensations.
Winston notes that certain activities such as running or drawing, while not considered forms of meditation, can produce a meditative state for many people.
“I think of it as you’re using art or running to help create a meditative approach or meditative mind, but it’s not in and of itself a meditation,” she says.
Learn More About the Types of Meditation
Meditation 101: Techniques, Benefits, and a Beginner’s How-to
by: Inner IDEA
How To Meditate Effectively with Guided Meditation Tips for Beginners
Meditation is an approach to training the mind, similar to the way that fitness is an approach to training the body. But many meditation techniques exist — so how do you learn how to meditate?
“In Buddhist tradition, the word ‘meditation’ is equivalent to a word like ‘sports’ in the U.S. It’s a family of activities, not a single thing,” University of Wisconsin neuroscience lab director Richard J. Davidson, Ph.D., told The New York Times. And different meditation practices require different mental skills.
It’s extremely difficult for a beginner to sit for hours and think of nothing or have an “empty mind.” We have some tools such as a beginner meditation DVD or a brain-sensing headband to help you through this process when you are just starting to learn how to best meditate. In general, the easiest way to begin meditating is by focusing on the breath. An example of one of the most common approaches to meditation is concentration.
Concentration Meditation
Concentration meditation involves focusing on a single point. This could entail following the breath, repeating a single word or mantra, staring at a candle flame, listening to a repetitive gong, or counting beads on a mala. Since focusing the mind is challenging, a beginner might meditate for only a few minutes and then work up to longer durations.
In this form of meditation, you simply refocus your awareness on the chosen object of attention each time you notice your mind wandering. Rather than pursuing random thoughts, you simply let them go. Through this process, your ability to concentrate improves.
Mindfulness Meditation
Mindfulness meditation encourages the practitioner to observe wandering thoughts as they drift through the mind. The intention is not to get involved with the thoughts or to judge them, but simply to be aware of each mental note as it arises.
When you meditate through mindfulness meditation, you can see how your thoughts and feelings tend to move in particular patterns. Over time, you can become more aware of the human tendency to quickly judge an experience as good or bad, pleasant or unpleasant. With practice, an inner balance develops.
In some schools of meditation, students practice a combination of concentration and mindfulness. Many disciplines call for stillness — to a greater or lesser degree, depending on the teacher.
Other Meditation Techniques
There are various other meditation techniques. For example, a daily meditation practice among Buddhist monks focuses directly on the cultivation of compassion. This involves envisioning negative events and recasting them in a positive light by transforming them through compassion. There are also moving meditation techniques, such as tai chi, qigong, and walking meditation.
Benefits of Meditation
If relaxation is not the goal of meditation, it is often a result. In the 1970s, Herbert Benson, MD, a researcher at Harvard University Medical School, coined the term “relaxation response” after conducting research on people who practiced transcendental meditation. The relaxation response, in Benson’s words, is “an opposite, involuntary response that causes a reduction in the activity of the sympathetic nervous system.”
Since then, studies on the relaxation response have documented the following short-term benefits to the nervous system:
- Lower blood pressure
- Improved blood circulation
- Lower heart rate
- Less perspiration
- Slower respiratory rate
- Less anxiety
- Lower blood cortisol levels
- More feelings of well-being
- Less stress
- Deeper relaxation
Contemporary researchers are now exploring whether a consistent meditation practice yields long-term benefits, and noting positive effects on brain and immune function among meditators. Yet it’s worth repeating that the purpose of meditation is not to achieve benefits. To put it as an Eastern philosopher may say, the goal of meditation is no goal. It’s simply to be present.
In Buddhist philosophy, the ultimate benefit of meditation is liberation of the mind from attachment to things it cannot control, such as external circumstances or strong internal emotions. The liberated or “enlightened” practitioner no longer needlessly follows desires or clings to experiences, but instead maintains a calm mind and sense of inner harmony.
How to Meditate: Simple Meditation for Beginners
This meditation exercise is an excellent introduction to meditation techniques.
- Sit or lie comfortably. You may even want to invest in a meditation chair or cushion.
- Close your eyes. We recommend using one of our Cooling Eye Masks or Restorative Eye Pillows if lying down.
- Make no effort to control the breath; simply breathe naturally.
- Focus your attention on the breath and on how the body moves with each inhalation and exhalation. Notice the movement of your body as you breathe. Observe your chest, shoulders, rib cage, and belly. Simply focus your attention on your breath without controlling its pace or intensity. If your mind wanders, return your focus back to your breath.
Maintain this meditation practice for two to three minutes to start, and then try it for longer periods.
After you have found an effective way to meditate, browse Gaiam’s Meditation Shop for all the necessary products to help perfect your meditation techniques.
