Recently, I came across an excellent podcast called Huna Trainer.

Huna is a Hawaiian spiritual philosophy. In many ways, it's similar to much of the self-help schools of thought out there, but Huna has a certain poetic beauty to it that is missing from other teachers.

Each episode of this podcast, and the message board community, is filled with profound suggestions on how to approach one's life differently.

Check it out.

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Six Types Of Meditation
By Steven Gillman

There are so many different types of meditation. How many? Who knows, but enough so that you can find the one that's right for you. To get your search started, here are six types of meditation you can try.

1. Breath watching. Can meditating be as simple as paying attention to your breath for a few minutes? You bet. Relax in whatever position works best for you, close your eyes and start to pay attention to your breathing. Breathing through your nose gets your diaphragm involved and gets oxygen all the way to the bottom of your lungs. As your mind wanders, just re-focus your attention on the air going in and out of your nose. Just do this for several minutes, or longer as you get used to it.

2. An empty mind meditation. Meditating can create a kind of "awareness without object," an emptying of all thoughts from your mind. The techniques for doing this involve sitting still, often in a "full lotus" or cross-legged position, and letting the mind go silent on its own. It can be difficult, particularly since any effort seems to just cause more business in the mind.

3. Walking meditations. This one gets the body involved. It can be outside or simply as a back and forth pacing in a room. Pay attention to the movement of your legs and breathing and body as you walk, and to the feeling of your feet contacting the ground. When your mind wanders, just keep bringing it back to the process of walking and breathing. Meditating outside in this way can be difficult because of the distractions. If you do it outside, find a quiet place with level ground.

4. Mindfulness meditation. A practice Buddhists call vipassana or insight meditation, mindfulness is the art of becoming deeply aware of what is here right now. You focus on what's happening in and around you at this very moment, and become aware of all the thoughts and feelings that are taking your energy from moment to moment. You can start by watching your breath, and then move your attention to the thoughts going through your mind, the feelings in your body, and even the sounds and sights around you. The key is to watch without judging or analyzing.

5. Simple mantra meditation. Many people find it easier to keep their mind from wandering if they concentrate on something specific. A mantra can help. This is a word or phrase you repeat as you sit in meditation, and is chosen for you by an experienced master in some traditions. If you are working on this alone, you can use any word or phrase that works for you, and can choose to either repeat it aloud or in your head as you meditate.

6. Meditating on a concept. Some meditative practices involve contemplation of an idea or scenario. An example is the "meditation on impermanence," in which you focus on the impermanent nature of all things, starting with your thoughts and feelings as they come and go. In the Buddhist "meditation on the corpse," you think about a body in the ground, as it slowly rots away and is fed on by worms. The technique is used to guide you to an understanding that your rationalizing mind might not bring you to.

There are many other meditations you can try, such as the "meditation on loving-kindness" or "object" meditation, and even meditating using brain wave entrainment products. Each type has its own advantages and effects. For this reason, you may find that at different times and for different purposes you want to use several different types of meditation.

Steve Gillman has meditated and studied meditation for over twenty years. You can find a good mindfulness exercise and subscribe to The Meditation Newsletter at: TheMeditationSite.com

Article Source: EzineArticles.com

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Trying to find a helpful guided meditation is such an individual thing. It's all about finding a speaker whose voice you respond to, music that soothes and words which are, not just meaningful, but create images you can ease into.

I'm a huge fan of author Sanaya Roman, a woman who channels a spirit named Orin. Over the weekend, I was looking around her Web site and found the meditation room. On this page, I found several, beautiful guided meditations. While none of the meditations are longer than 5 minutes, I found myself lingering on each for awhile after they ended.

While I've read all of her books, I'm tempted to order one or two of her CD programs. Somewhere on the Web site, I read they will be offering mp3 downloads in 2007. I can't wait.

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One thing I need to do more of is meditate.

These days, I'm on a serious quest to find a meditation technique that I feel most comfortable with. I've been reading a lot, listening to a lot of audio books and searching the Web wanting to get an ideas I can try for myself.

One of the things I want to do is spend the next year trying out every meditation in the book Meditation Week by Week: 52 Meditations to Help You Grow in Peace and Awareness. Every Monday, I will post the meditation instructions and every Sunday I'll post about my experience using the meditation.


Meditation 1: Become Conscious of the Environment:

Sit comfortably, and allow your eyes to travel around the garden or open space in which you are sitting. Try to avoid thinking about what you are seeing when you do this. Simply look. Take it the colors, the shapes of everything you see and the relation of each object to the surroundings, including the empty space surrounding and defining it. Don't forget to look up and down as well as from side to side. Look at the panorama for the first time as if seeing it for the first time. Don't label or judge anything you see. If thoughts come to mind, try gently to let them go.

Now, switch attention to your hearing. Focus upon sounds without trying to identify them. Then do the same with tactile sensations--the warmth of the sun, the feel of the breeze, the touch of the grass.

Finally, try to take in sights, sounds and sensations all together; again try not to let thoughts intrude.

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