Loving-kindness meditation
This type is also known as Metta meditationTrusted Source. Its goal is to cultivate an attitude of love and kindness toward everything, even a person’s enemies and sources of stress.
While breathing deeply, an individual opens their mind to receive loving kindness. They then send messages of loving kindness to the world, specific people, or their loved ones.
In most forms of this meditation, the key is to repeat the message many times, until the individual feels an attitude of benevolence.
Progressive muscle relaxation
During a progressive relaxation session, practitioners start at one end of their body, usually their feet, and work through the whole body.
Some forms of progressive relaxation require someone to tense and then relax muscles. Others encourage a person to visualize a wave, drifting over their body to release tension.
Progressive relaxation can help to promote generalized feelings of calmness and relaxation. It may also help with chronic pain. Because it slowly and steadily relaxes the body, some people use this form of meditation to help them sleep.
Mindfulness meditation
Mindfulness is a form of meditation that urges practitioners to remain aware and present in the moment. Rather than dwelling on the past or dreading the future, mindfulness encourages awareness of an individual’s present surroundings.
Crucial to this is a lack of judgment. To illustrate, rather than reflecting on the annoyance of a long wait, a practitioner will simply note the wait without judgment.
Mindfulness meditation is something people can do almost anywhere. For example, while waiting in line at the grocery store, a person might calmly notice their surroundings, including the sights, sounds, and smells they experience.
A form of mindfulness is involved in most types of meditation. For instance, breath awareness encourages practitioners to be aware of their breathing, while progressive relaxation draws attention to areas of tension in the body.
Because mindfulness is a theme common to many types of meditation, it has been studied extensively. Research has found that it can:
reduce fixation on negative emotions
improve focus
improve memory
lessen impulsive and emotional reactions
increase relationship satisfaction