What Are The Best Meditation Types That Can Help Treat Depression? The antique practice of meditation used for centuries in India and China. This method shows promise as a therapy for depression. The dozens of various types of meditation all seek a state of exacerbated attention and that could have far-ranging benefits for people with depression and anxiety. Understanding how to operate your thoughts takes time, strength, and commitment.
Keep in mind that acquiring a meditation practice doesn’t mean you abandon medications and other treatments for depression that you may already be using. Meditation, particularly mindfulness meditation, has been shown to help treat depression. It should be used as a part of conventional medical care under the supervision of a physician, and not as a substitute for conventional medical care.
Yoga
Best Meditation Types That Can Help Treat Depression
Yoga, an ancient practice and meditation, has become increasingly famous in today’s busy society. For many people, yoga delivers a retreat from their chaotic and active lives. This is accurate whether you’re practicing yoga on a mat in a bedroom, in an ashram in India, or even in New York City’s Times Square. Yoga gives many different mental and physical benefits. Yoga combines physical postures with breathing methods and meditation, and it seems to have an effect on depression and anxiety.
Studies have established that Kundalini yoga in particular, which incorporates chanting, helps treat many disorders. Kundalini yoga includes specific techniques to manage fear, banish anger, and replace negative thoughts with positive ones. Talk to your doctor before starting yoga. Unlike meditation, which is generally safe, yoga can cause injury, although this isn’t common. Make sure you practice yoga with a qualified instructor.
Walking meditation
Best Meditation Types That Can Help Treat Depression
Walking, of course, is useful for both your physical and mental health. But a walking meditation may take you to another level. Aerobic walking coupled with Buddhist meditation three times a week for 12 weeks not only reduced depression but also improved flexibility and balance in a small group of older adults in one study. For many people, slow, formal walking meditation is an acquired taste. But the more you practice, even for short periods of time, the more it is likely to grow on you.
Keep in mind that you can also bring mindfulness to walking at any speed in your everyday life, and even to running, though of course, the pace of your steps and breath will change. In fact, over time, you can try to bring the same degree of awareness to any everyday activity, experiencing the sense of presence that is available to us at every moment as our lives unfold.
Repetitive activity
Best Meditation Types That Can Help Treat Depression
Cleaning up may not be a formal meditation practice, but repetitive activity including scrubbing pots and pans may induce a certain calmer mental state if you do it mindfully. At least one study supports this idea, finding that “mindful dishwashers” did show more mindfulness and less nervousness than those who didn’t wash up mindfully.
It’s the repetitive action that doesn’t require any real thought. It’s the same as physical exercise. You’re using the exercise or the manual labor as a way of calming your mind, focusing, and removing all of the extraneous thoughts that most of us have during waking hours.
Chanting
Best Meditation Types That Can Help Treat Depression
Many meditation traditions use chanting or periodic chimes of a gong as a way to focus the mind. Chanting is a modality to arrive at the same type of meditative state. One study found that “active-type meditative practices” like chanting and yoga seemed to activate parts of the brain involved in the regulation of mood and emotional control.
Visualization
Best Meditation Types That Can Help Treat Depression
Different people learned that concentrating on pleasant portrayals rather than negative ones stimulates peace. One of the best meditation types that can help treat depression.Visualization or guided imagery meditation can be led by another person, or you can direct your own session using one of the scores of recordings available online. Imagery can similarly, be utilized to shift how you recall negative memories. Imagining delighted endings in place of such memories a process called restricting resulted in better integrity of life and self-esteem in at least one study.
Breath awareness meditation
Best Meditation Types That Can Help Treat Depression
Awareness of your breath is an essential element of many different forms of meditation, particularly mindfulness meditation. Mindfulness meditation utilizes the object of your breath to concentrate on, to help with mind activity. Breath awareness meditation may also be called mindful breathing.
As little as 15 minutes a day of focusing on inhaling and exhaling can harvest mood benefits, including lessened sentimental reactivity. And you don’t necessarily have to set aside personal time to pay attention to your breathing. Multiple people find ways to integrate awareness of their breath throughout the day. It can be done sitting, standing, or lying down, and with your eyes open or closed.
Mindfulness meditation
This is a subset of mindfulness meditation that blends meditation with cognitive behavioral therapy or CBT. CBT is one of the most widely used forms of therapy for depression and concentrates on shifting damaging thinking and behavior habits. MBCT was first cultivated to prevent relapses in people with recurrent depression.
More recent information indicates that it may also assist people with active depression. A recent study of the identical behavioral activation with mindfulness, which contains behavioral therapy with a mindfulness practice, established that it lessened symptoms of depression like changes in rest, appetite, and attitude.
Mantra Meditation
Mantra is a Sanskrit term, with “man” meaning “mind” and “tra” meaning “release.” Think of a mantra like a word or phrase you repeat during meditation as a tool to help release your mind. It can make a lot of difference, particularly if you have difficulty focusing or getting in the right frame of mind. Numerous people have discovered that using a mantra can improve attention and promote concentration. Since it assists you in staying focused, it could lead to improved outcomes from meditation.
Help Treat Yourself
- Increased Self-awareness: Meditation enhances self-reflection, aiding in a better understanding of one’s thoughts and emotions, which in turn improves decision-making.
- Reduced Anxiety: By promoting relaxation and mind calmness, meditation helps in managing thoughts, significantly reducing anxiety.
- A Greater Sense of Peace: Focusing on the present moment through meditation fosters a peaceful mind, letting go of past regrets and future worries.
- Increased Self-compassion: Meditation cultivates a non-judgmental awareness, leading to increased kindness towards oneself and others.
- A More Positive Attitude: Regular practice helps manage stress, fostering an optimistic outlook even amidst challenges.
- Enhanced Resilience: Meditation builds a resilient mind, better equipped to cope with life’s adversities.
- Improved Physical Health: Benefits extend to physical health including lowered blood pressure, better sleep, and a strengthened immune system.
- Enhanced Concentration and Focus: Practices like Mantra meditation improve concentration, boosting productivity and performance.
- Spiritual Growth: Meditation can be a pathway to exploring deeper states of consciousness and spiritual connection.
- Improved Relationships: The self-awareness and compassion gained through meditation contribute to enriched interpersonal relationships.
Incorporating meditation as a part of a holistic approach to managing depression can be a transformative experience. It’s essential to explore these practices under professional guidance to ensure a safe and beneficial journey towards improved mental health.
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Note: This article is for informational purposes only and is not intended to diagnose, treat, or cure any disease. Always consult a healthcare professional before taking any supplement or making any changes to your diet or lifestyle.
Resources:
- How to Meditate – Mindful.org
- Daily Calm | 10 Minute Mindfulness Meditation | Be Present – YouTube
- Meditation – Wikipedia
- 5-Minute Meditation You Can Do Anywhere – YouTube
- Meditation: What It Is, Benefits & Types – Cleveland Clinic
- Meditation: A simple, fast way to reduce stress – Mayo Clinic
- A Guide on How to Meditate for Stress Reduction and More – Everyday Health
- What is Meditation – Headspace
- Meditation and Mindfulness: What You Need To Know | NCCIH
