Meditation isn't a single technique. The same word covers practices that do completely different things: holding your attention on the breath, letting whatever comes up pass by, cultivating kindness toward others, or investigating what thoughts actually are.
Researchers have tried to sort them. A framework from the University of Wisconsin divides meditation into three families: practices that train attention, practices that build something up, such as kindness or compassion, and practices that investigate how experience and the self are put together. The families work in different ways, which is why they suit different people.
Pick the type that feels closest to you:
- Focused attention if you want to start simple.
- Open awareness if you want to let go of steering.
- Kindness and compassion if you want to build something up.
- Insight if you want to go further.
A first step today: sit for five minutes and count your breaths from one to ten. Start over at one every time you lose count.
There are many different types of meditation, and they do different things. The same word covers holding your attention on the breath, letting whatever comes up pass by, cultivating kindness toward others, and investigating what thoughts actually are. This article shows how researchers group meditation into families, four types with a first step for each, and how to choose the one that suits you. How to get started with the help of a voice is covered in guided meditation.
Meditation is several things with one name
Search for meditation and you'll find zen, transcendental meditation, vipassana, mindfulness, loving-kindness and much more. It's easy to assume these are different brands of the same product, and that you just need to find the best one. But the practices differ in what they train. Sitting and counting breaths is something else entirely from thinking kind thoughts about someone you find difficult.
It also means that if one type didn't work for you, that doesn't mean meditation isn't for you. If you got tired of sitting still and following your breath, you might enjoy a practice that has some content to it, and the other way around.
Three families of meditation
In 2008, Lutz, Slagter, Dunne and Davidson described two basic forms of meditation. In the first, you hold your attention on one thing, like the breath, and bring it back when it wanders. In the second, you don't hold on to anything; instead you notice everything that comes up, thoughts, sounds, feelings, without getting caught in it.
In 2015, Dahl, Lutz and Davidson built on this and proposed three families. The first, the attentional family, includes both basic forms and trains your ability to notice where your attention is. The second builds something up, such as kindness, compassion or a new way of seeing a situation. The third investigates how experience and the self are put together, as in the insight practices found in the Buddhist tradition.
It's a way of understanding what the practices do, not a ranking, and the researchers describe it as a proposal. But it's useful when you're choosing.
Four types of meditation
Pick the one closest to what you're looking for. You can always switch.
Focused attention. For you if you want to start simple. Rest your attention on one thing, usually the breath, and bring it back every time you notice it has wandered. Counting breaths in zen meditation belongs here, as does meditating on a word or a mantra repeated silently, as in transcendental meditation. Walking meditation, where your attention rests on your steps, suits you if you find it hard to sit still. First step: sit for five minutes and count your breaths from one to ten, and start over when you lose count.
Open awareness. For you if you want to let go of steering. Instead of holding on to the breath, you let everything come and go: sounds from the street, an itch, a thought about work. You notice it and let it pass. It's harder at first, so many people start with a few minutes of focused attention. First step: sit for five minutes and silently label whatever comes up, "sound," "thought," "feeling," and let it go.
Kindness and compassion. For you if you want the time to build something up. You silently wish others well, first yourself, then someone you like, then someone you barely know, and finally someone you find difficult. The practice is often called loving-kindness and exists in different forms in many traditions. First step: think of someone you like and silently repeat, for a few minutes: "may you be safe, may you be well."
Insight. For you if you want to go further, and it's the most demanding type. Here you investigate experience itself: what is a thought when it arrives, where is it, who is doing the thinking? Vipassana and other insight practices belong here. It usually requires a teacher and works best if you already have a habit. First step: find a group or teacher who teaches insight meditation and put a session in your calendar.
How to choose
Start with focused attention if you're unsure. It's the simplest, and it's the foundation for the others. Give a type two weeks before you judge it. The first thing you'll often notice is how restless your thoughts are, and that's not a sign you're doing it wrong.
If you have a faith, ask whether your tradition has its own forms of meditation. Many do, even if they aren't always called that. If difficult feelings or memories come up and won't let go, take a break and talk to someone you trust, or to a doctor or health professional.
A first step today: sit for five minutes and count your breaths from one to ten, and start over at one every time you lose count.
Mindfulness is the most studied form, and the next part of the series covers what mindfulness is and what it helps with.
This is the understanding and a first step. Atlas is where it becomes a habit. If you add Faith & spirituality as its own area, you'll find Silence and Looking back tonight there as suggestions to make your own. Try Atlas free for 7 days, and cancel whenever you like.