Meditation

What meditation is, our approach to it and how you can begin practicing it.

Our approach to meditation

Stillness, presence and witnessing

Meditation can mean a lot of things, depending on who you talk to.

For some it’s just shutting your eyes and sitting in a certain position for a certain amount of time, for others it’s the repetition of a certain mantra to achieve certain state of mind. 

For us at TrueRelaxations meditation is essentially about witnessing. Just witnessing or being aware of the inner and outer aspects of yourself. This includes the world that is seemingly outside of you. In truth, all is contained in consciousness, and meditation can bring you closer to this experience and understanding.

To witness the contents of consciousness without judgement nor passion, that is to say the sensations, thoughts, feelings and how they appear and disappear. This is genuine meditation.

 

All Articles on Meditation

 

5 Zen Jewelry to Remind You to Be Here Now

Zen... A word and idea that has become integrated within most western languages. A term that has become somewhat of a cliché, something anyone can just throw out there in order to convey that special something, most often some kind of an intense mental focus. The word...

How to Start a Daily Meditation Practice

Mystics, yogis and sages have for thousands of years proclaimed the significance of turning your attention inward to the realm of thoughts, sensations and emotions, also known as meditation. In modern times the benefits of meditation has taken the world of science,...

9 Comfortable Clothes to Wear During Meditation (2022)

Being comfortable and relaxed is a big part of meditation. Your mind and thoughts are distracting as it is, and when you add the possibility of being distracted by uncomfortable clothes, well, this in turn can significantly lessen your chances of having an enjoyable...

Meditation Tables, Shrines and Altars (2022)

Meditation. Practice it for 8 weeks and your brain starts undergoing observable physical changes. Meditation, especially mindfulness, helps you to let go of redundant thoughts and tensions in body and mind by simply being aware of each moment as it unfolds, without...

Top 11 Meditation Cushions of 2022

Science has finally caught up to the wisdom of the ages. Meditation is simply good for you, physically, psychologically and spiritually. Some of these benefits, though not all of these are scientifically backed obviously, include: More self-awareness Intelligence...

The Benefits of Floating in Sensory Deprivation Tanks

Floating in a floatation tank can be a wonderfully relaxing and healing experience. In case you haven't heard about these flotation tanks, also known as isolation or sensory deprivation tanks, well you're about to find out in this article. These past decades there has...

Meditation Shawls: 10 Lovely Picks

One of the main aims of meditation is to come into a deeper recognition of who and what you are, and in doing so inducing a natural state of calm and serenity in your mind. We can enhance this experience by allowing ourselves to make use of some simple tools or...

Mala Beads: Meaning, Benefits and Meditations

Are you a regular practitioner of yoga or meditation? Do you oftentimes get too distracted by your own thoughts? Consider then if mala beads can be the tactile guidance you need. Mala beads, from the sanskrit "mala" meaning garland, are string of beads that are...

Buddhist-Inspired Home Décor

You've probably noticed that buddhist meditative practices have become mainstream in the West. Why? Well mainly because it offers simple, practical methods for cultivating greater awareness and presence of mind. The tools it offers, most of which aren't really bound...

3 Breathing Exercises to Relax and Rejuvenate You

Breath! So essential yet sometimes so overlooked. One can do a lot of things with the breath, or simply do nothing with it and let it function naturally and effortlessly, which isn’t a bad thing either. In fact vipassana meditation is precisely this “doing nothing” to...

10 Tips For Your First Silent Meditation Retreat

Are you about to embark on your first silent meditation retreat? Are you terrified at the thought of being alone with your thoughts? Does the idea of sitting for prolonged periods of time without talking make you feel uneasy? If you answered yes to any of these...

Acem Meditation vs Transcendental Meditation (TM)

Both Transcendental Meditation and Acem meditation are relatively young meditation techniques developed in the mid-twentieth century and involving the mental repetition of a mantra (which in Acem they refer to as a “method sound”). According to Wikipedia, a mantra is:...

Meditation Benches: How to Find the Right One (2022)

In some strange and unfortunate way one of our best inventions also happens to be one of our worst. What am I speaking of? Chairs of course! In a sense chairs have made our day-to-day living quite simple and comfortable for us primates walking around on our two legs....

7 Ways to Boost Creativity through Meditation

Meditation has many potential benefits to offer, but one of my favorites is its ability to increase creativity. The perspective and awareness that meditation brings are the keys to the way your mind processes new and changing information. These thought patterns are...

How to Stay Conscious During Sleep

Consciousness is all we have and essentially are. We perceive all things, the body, thoughts, feelings, the world, nature and what have you. When we sleep, we temporary are switched off to this marvelous miracle of the cosmos which is consciousness. In this guide I'll...

How to Breathe More Consciously

Breathing consciously. So simple yet so powerful. Why should become more conscious of the breath? An activity that happens by itself, automatically and naturally? Why not let it work its magic without bothering about it? Aren't there more pressing things to worry...

7 Careers that Focus on Relaxation

How would it feel to go to work each day and not be stressed out or feel like you are in the middle of a rat race? They say that when you do what you love, you never work a day in your life. Well, when you have a career with a focus on relaxation, you stand a much...

Six Benefits of Sitting in Lotus Position

In Hinduism and Buddhism, the lotus flower has been associated with beauty, purity, enlightenment, abundance and rebirth since ancient times. The Sanskrit word Padmasana is a combination of padma (lotus) and asana (pose, seat or throne). The lotus flower is a sacred...

How to Create a Sacred Meditation Altar in Your Home

Meditation can ultimately be done anytime, anywhere. Whether indoors, outdoors, in a tranquil forest or amid the chaos of the city, we can bring our awareness within, connecting with our breath, our physical body, a sacred mantra, the sensation in our pinky toes, a...

The Art of Meditating in the Bathroom

Usually we use the toilet, we’re rushing or our minds are distracted from the intention of visiting the bathroom: elimination. What if we began to think of this in a new light? The bathroom is a private place where you can shut the door, sit down and be still and...

How to Create a Meditation Space in Your Home

In the hustle and bustle of life, one of the most important things you can do for your own well-being is to create a serene meditation space in your home. Here is where you go to relax and unwind after a busy or tiresome day. It is a place of serenity just your own....

19 Mesmerizing Tealight Holders For Your Meditation Space

I don’t know about you guys but for me personally, sometimes tealights are like mini-beacons of serenity and comfort in my home, especially when its dull, grey and cold outside. There is something peculiarly mindful and meditative with tealights exuding their warmth...

How to Deal with Restlessness & Boredom During Meditation

Meditation means different things to different people. For me, someone who has used meditation mostly as a tool to discover more about my natural state of being, I regard the essence of meditation to simply be the: cultivation of conscious awareness of the present...

5 Simple Ways of Overcoming Overthinking

First things first, I sincerely believe that the majority of people are simply thinking too much. This modern and highly complex society of ours seems to be a world thats overthinking absolutely everything. This process can and does seep into the very experience of...

How Long Should I Meditate Each Day?

You can define meditation in many different ways. That is to say, there's a lot of techniques, philosophies and perspectives on what meditation actually is. While most casuals view meditation as a practice or activity that one undertakes for a certain amount of time...

How Meditation Can Change Your Identity

Most of us take ourselves to be our bodies and the chatting minds that occupies the body. In other words we feel like skin-encapsulated egos navigating a three-dimensional reality. That voice in our heads, we feel like that's kinda us, though maybe not completely. The...

How to Meditate Lying Down

Meditation is about bringing your attention to the immediacy of the present moment. Whether you're sitting, standing walking or lying down isn't the important part. For most people sitting meditation is probably the best way to start and subsequently maintain their...

How to Sit Properly During Meditation

Contrary to what many may think, meditation is not about posture, chanting OM or specific breathing techniques. Don't get me wrong, these things are great in their own ways and the lotus position is an attractive yogic invention but they are not essential to...

How to Know That Your Meditation is Working

The meditative state is hard to describe, some would go so far as to call it impossible to put into words. I've described meditation as the: cultivation of conscious awareness of the present moment, as it is. That is indeed a good description of the process of...

How to Stop Thinking During Meditation

One thing you should be clear about when it comes to meditation, is that you can't stop thoughts even if you're life depended upon it. Thoughts cannot be stopped by another thought or through sheer willpower. Whether you're aware of them or not thoughts are part and...

How to Breathe Properly During Meditation

Many newcomers to meditation think meditation is mostly about controlling and manipulating your breath, i.e. a breathing technique that delivers one to the desired meditative state. Although there are many kinds of breathing techniques, both in yoga and other sources,...

All About Transcendental Meditation (TM) and Its Benefits

Transcendental Meditation (TM) as was propagated and spread by the Indian guru Maharishi Mahesh Yogi in the late 1950's has its origins in the Vedas, a set of ancient Indian religious scriptures regarded as sacred in Hinduism, texts which contains hymns, philosophy...

The Meaning of Om (Aum)

Om, also known as Aum (ૐ, ॐ) is a holy sound, symbol and word of great power and meaning. Regarded as sacred in most Indian religions, especially Hinduism but also in Buddhism, Jainism and Sikhism, Aum is a holy sound that resonates the primal sound of the universe....

The Difference Between Yoga and Meditation

Many people get yoga and meditation confused as if they are one and the same thing. Though they are both intimately related, there is one key distinction between the two, namely, yoga is a system of practices, philosophies and a way of life developed in ancient India,...

17 Buddhist and Yoga Mudras for Wellbeing & Relaxation

If you look at images of the Buddhas, their hands are always in one mudra or another. Hands folded in the lap signify meditation; a palm held up facing outward signifies the act of teaching; and an open palm pointed downward represents generosity. Basically, a mudra...

The Neuroscience of Meditation

Meditation encompasses a family of complex practices that include mindfulness meditation, mantra meditation, yoga, tai chi, and chi gong. Of these practices, mindfulness meditation is one of the most popular. Jon Kabat-Zinn, a scientist who helped popularize...

Top 10 Digital Detox Getaway Destinations in the World

It’s true that most modern travelers’ most urgent question upon arriving at their destination is, “What’s the wi-fi password?”. Yet, there is a growing movement of people seeking the opposite  on their vacation—an escape from modern technology. Hence, they...

How to Combine Mindfulness with Positive Affirmations

I am loving and peaceful. You are loving and peaceful. We are loving and peaceful. An affirmation is simply a conscious thought that is stated in the form of a command. Ideally, they are positive, powerful and supportive. Using affirmations consistently over time can...

5 Ways Mindfulness Meditation Can Impact Psychological Health

If there is one common desire to all human beings on Earth, that desire is happiness: being able to recognise and enjoy the beauty in the experiences of life, in our relationships and in ourselves. At the same time, happiness seems to be the most unachievable goal out...

How to Merge the Mind with the Body

There’s something peculiar going on with us human beings. Some would call it a evolutionary misstep, others would call it a necessary springboard to higher states of consciousness. What am I talking about? Self-awareness of course. We’re self-aware in ways and degrees...

How to Live Life With Childlike Wonder as an Adult

Something happens when we grow up. The vast majority of us lose touch with the wonder and mystery that permeates life when we are children. Childhood is a time when the brain and mind is new to this realm of physical reality. Where just about each turn you make is...

How to Induce Instant Ecstasy Through Meditation

Instant ecstasy through meditation? A feeling of intense emotion and pleasure through meditative insight? Is it possible? Yes. The human mind is a powerful phenomena that has arisen in and from nature. Pleasure and pain? Both can be induced by the mind at will. If you...

How Mindfulness Can Improve Your Social Life

For some mindfulness seems like a hard to reach artform that can only be achieved by the dedicated. Staying grounded in the present moment and being self-aware may seem impractical or even impossible to incorporate into daily life, but it doesn't have to be....

3 Ingenious Ways to Quiet an Overthinking Mind

Can you silence your overthinking and noisy mind? That voice in your head that's always rambling on and on. You're aware of that voice I'm guessing. A voice that claims to be you but is it really? When it comes to silencing this mental noise, some would say yes that...

7 Spiritual & Subjective Benefits of Meditation

Meditation is a peculiar thing to do as a biological organism. Why should we stop and consider what and how we are, and not just function according to our nature, without any need to reflect and observe? Meditation is the conscious observing of the contents of...

All About Meditation Singing Bowls, Bells, Gongs & Cymbals

Sound healing works. It is one of the most ancient and natural forms of healing available out there and science is now starting to verify many of its potential benefits. Specific vibrations from different instruments, voices and digital technologies, can have a deeply...

How to Use Essential Oils for Meditation

To meditate is to say yes to existence. By saying yes to existence, you automatically open up your senses, clear the mind and allow each moment to unfold according to its spontaneous nature. Speaking of our senses, all five of them, are wonderful windows into reality...

How to Keep a Meditation Journal and Why You Should

Meditation, mindfulness in particular, is a way to cultivate conscious awareness of yourself, the world you're in and the moment as it is, here and now. By adding a contemplative aspect to your meditation practice, you allow yourself to both constructively reflect...

5 Ways Meditation Can Subdue Addiction

Addiction. I don't know about you but even the word itself has come to have such a heavy and nagging sound. Especially if you contrast it a word like meditation. Granted I'm biased, but I find meditation to be a lovely word, perhaps due to the similarity to the word...

7 Mantras to Alleviate Stress and Anxiety

We are all helplessly distracted by the innumerable things happening around us, and in today’s day and age there are more ways to be distracted than ever before. Thus the need to regain our minds and free ourselves from the stress and anxiety caused by the innumerable...

The 6 Best Meditation Apps of 2020

How did we go from meditating in dark and silent hermit caves with a quest of achieving spiritual enlightenment, to meditating in 15-story high-rise apartment buildings with headphones on trying to boost performance and productivity in our day-to-day life? Times have...

10 Scientifically Backed Benefits of Meditation

editation, the art and method of cultivating conscious awareness. Discover what it is, what it does and the proven ways it can benefit you. There’s a reason why meditation has taken the western world by storm these last couple of decades. The...

8 Serene Buddha Statues for the Home & Garden

The Buddha has become a powerful symbol of spiritual wisdom, serenity and compassion in western society this last century. This becomes especially apparent when visiting the homes and spaces of certain spiritually inclined individuals. How, you might be wondering?...

How to Combine Self-Massage with Meditation

Self-massage and meditation are two of my favorite everyday habits to combine. One of the main reasons why is that these two things are great ways to achieve deep relaxations of the body, mind and heart. Another big reason is that both meditation and self-massage are...

6 Best Guided Meditations for Sleep and Insomnia

Sleepless nights is a reality for many of us in today’s dynamic societies. The causes of insomnia are many and varied, ranging from medical conditions like allergies, bodily pains and breathing problems to psychological ailments like stress, depression and anxiety....

7 Meditative Ways of Being Aware of the Breath

Awareness of breath. Simple, yet one of the most powerful and oldest ways of meditation. Think about the prime importance of breath when it comes to life. Without food you could survive for months, without water for weeks, but without oxygen a couple minutes, maybe a...

Top 3 Morning Meditations to Start Your Day With

Life consists of days. Good days, bad days, ok days, stressful days, peaceful days, weird days... well you get it. While some factors that make up a day are beyond our control, others or most factors I dare say are within our reach to do something about, if we but...

All About the Candle Gazing Meditation Technique (Trāṭaka)

There are many ways of allowing for the meditative state to occur. The most well known way is to sit somewhere comfortable, like on a meditation cushion, with shut eyes, while turning the attention inward to the realm of thoughts and/or some physical sensation, like...

How to Use Healing Crystals for Meditation & Wellbeing

Crystals are not only mesmerising to look at but some people claim and believe that they have healing powers as well. You've probably heard or seen about the potential energetic powers of crystals, whether on a popular tv show or in a fantasy book, the notion is out...

7 Quick Micro-Meditations for Busy Days

Mindfulness is available to each of us, but because our lives are often super busy, we can tend to rush through our days in “survival-mode”. It may seem counterintuitive, but the days when we’re the busiest, most rushed and most frantic are the days we most need...

8 Life Habits to Promote Relaxation, Mindfulness and Mental Clarity

Are you fully here right now? Experiencing everything that this moment is offering? We’ve all had times when our whole world shifts and we need to scramble to keep up, but the good news is that there are simple habits you can develop that can keep you on track and...

10 Meditation Techniques and Which Might Suit You Best

There are many different ways to go about meditating. While some of these ways are intuitive and simple, like for example walking-, lying, standing- and sitting meditations, others are seemingly bit more complex, like say dynamic meditation or transcendental...

Top 18 Meditation Products for a Perfectly Serene Home

I challenge you to do something beautiful! Something spiritually sound for your home! That is, I encourage you to create the ultimate sanctuary of relaxation for yourself and your loved ones. If you are meditatively and/or spiritually inclined, you could start this...

7 Ways to Combine Mindfulness and Yoga

Mindfulness and yoga are like two peas in a pod. Although they come from separate teachings with different origins (though both originally from India ), both of these practices can be combined for maximum effectiveness. Yoga is much more than just a fitness regiment...

9 Meditative Tips & Tricks to Help You Sleep Better

Are you having troubles with sleep? Can't seem to fall into that sweet abode of silent serenity? Do you want to? Of course you do. Here are a handful of meditative tips infused with mindfulness to help you do precisely that. (That is when it's the right time of course...

How to Start and End Your Day with Meditation

Some people think that meditation is only reserved for certain moments during the day. While this may in some regards be true, that is if you consider meditation to be the act of formally sitting down on your favorite meditation cushion or bench wrapped around a cozy...

All About Gong Baths and Sound Healing

Sound healing is an ancient form of natural healing that has experienced a resurgence in popularity in recent times, mainly due to its potentially powerful effects on mental and physical well-being. Now let us begin this article by saying that everything vibrates at a...

The Anatomy of a Perfectly Meditative Home

Home is where the heart is, as the saying goes. Whether they’re located in the city, suburbs or countryside, our homes serve as both shelter and sanctuary. Home should be a safe, comfortable place to rest, nourish, celebrate and conduct our daily routines. Our homes...

Technology, Meditation and Nature: Finding the Perfect Balance

Imagine life without the internet. No Google, no GPS, no social media, no email, no connectivity whatsoever. Most people are highly addicted to the convenience provided by the ability to find the answer to just about any question with the touch of a button. The allure...

Mindfulness Meditation for the Beginner

With all the craze around mindfulness and being mindful, one is sometimes confounded by what it is essentially. According to the influential book “The Mindful Way Through Depression Mindfulness”, mindfulness is: “The awareness that emerges through paying attention on...

Top 5 Shower Curtains for a Meditative Bathroom

We all need occasional let-ups or moments of relief to cope with the hustle and bustle, the grind of everyday modern life. The intense workload at the office or at work can really wear you down if you're not careful. We recognize this troubling fact and wish to play a...

7+ Meditation Tools to Help Your Practice at Home

Ultimately, meditation is a simple practice. However, when you’re starting out, it can be overwhelming  to choose from the multitude of teachings and techniques out there. Different practices may suit us at different periods throughout our lives. Keeping the eyes...

Top 8 Floor Chairs for Meditation and Reading

Sitting meditation is one of the most common ways of meditating, however for some of us, to maintain a somewhat straight and correct posture for extended periods of time can be a struggle in and of itself. Though we had some unkind words to say about traditional...

10+ Gifts for Yogis and Avid Meditators

The holiday season is upon us. No matter what holiday you’re celebrating this month, and regardless of whether you are a religious, spiritual or secular person, chances are you’re celebrating. December is a month to reflect upon all the highs and lows of the year that...

How to Enter the Flow State (7 Meditative Tips)

Meditation and flow, some would argue two sides of the same coin. Whether that is true or not is up for grabs but what I've personally experienced is that by being meditatively aware of yourself and your surroundings you prime yourself to become more in tune with the...

5 Ailments in Which Relaxation Can Play a Vital Healing Role

Recent studies indicate that mindfulness techniques can soothe the actual brain patterns underlying pain and could contribute to the relief — or at least partial relief — of symptoms of various illnesses and conditions. Fadel Zeidan (Wake Forest Baptist Medical...

Self-Confidence Through Intuition and Mindfulness

Do you feel overwhelmingly self-conscious or shy? Do you constantly worry about what others are thinking of you? If you answered yes to either of those questions, you may be lacking self-confidence. Now it is important to know that genuine self-confidence is not an...

5 Meditative Items to Inspire Your Creativity

Creativity and spontaneity are the driving forces of life and when we’re not being naturally creative and spontaneous, this can at times result in a unpleasant sense of disconnection or disharmony with life. Sometimes we all fall into the habit of monotonous living,...

Our Thinking Selves and the Need for Relaxation and Meditation

Though I believe it’s important not to get completely caught up in our thoughts, mental chatter and the stories we tell ourselves, they do play a large role in our daily lives. It’s simply not possible to get rid of the mental processes our minds go through during...

How to Share Meditative and Spiritual Ideas with Your Children

Do you feel that you would like to begin sharing meditative and spiritual ideas with your children? Once your ‘Little Buddha’ is old enough to comprehend the bigger things in life, it is important to start giving him the tools he needs to navigate his spiritual...

How To Know Yourself: The Senses, Mind and Meditation

When it comes to being oneself, one must first come to know oneself. If you do not know who you are, experientially it will be quite a challenge to honestly be yourself. So then this brings us to that age-old maxim: “Know thyself”, as it was inscribed on the temple in...

10 Mesmerizing Meditation Necklaces to Gift a Friend

Objects and symbols can be powerful and in some cases they can carry a meaning which you personally feel spiritually connected with. To wear such spiritually and meditative infused jewelry can remind you to remain mindful and present in whatever situation life puts...

13 Beautiful Incense Holders for a Meditative Atmosphere

To really cultivate a meditative atmosphere in your home, incense is a great addition. Accompanied with other mindful items like meditation cushions, shawls, buddha statues and the like, incense can really spice things up in your meditation practice. Incense has been...

Meditative Music: Inducing Relaxation (Delta Waves Binaural Beats)

Meditation and Music can sometimes be mutually effective of relaxing ones overthinking mind! Music may come easier for some while meditation comes sweeter for others. I for one, both as an meditator and musician, have no difficulties with combining both of these...

Psychological Alchemy and the Art of Spiritual Healing

Life can be quite tough on some. The ways in the difficulties can pound up are quite frankly innumerable. Whether it is economical challenges, where you find yourself to be indebt simultaneously as you have a family to feed and clothe, or if it happens to be a...

The Four Layers of Consciousness

By directing your attention and awareness to the different layers or levels of consciousness, you gradually understand yourself more intuitively and more totally. Meditation becomes your natural way of being. The body, mind, heart and soul are all contained in consciousness.

Woman doing yoga in nature by the lake

The Body

First and foremost. Lay notice to the immediate presence of your body. The buzzing aliveness of your physical body. How it flows and grows with life. How immediate the senses are and how they operate ceaselessly.

The Mind

When you are familiar and relaxed with the recognition of your body, proceed to being aware of your mind, i.e. the thoughts. Just stay put and watch how they arise and fade away. Each thought somehow connected to the previous.

Woman in a thankful prayer pose out in nature during sunset

The Heart

The heart and the realm of feelings and emotions. The heart goes deeper than the mind. Remember that all of these levels or layers are connected, There cannot be one without the other.

The Soul

When you’ve meditated on the body, mind and heart. The only thing that remains is the soul, or the primordial feeling of simply being. also sometimes referred to as the I-thought.

Find where it resides, is it tangible? Is it who you are?

The Latest on Meditation

5 Zen Jewelry to Remind You to Be Here Now

5 Zen Jewelry to Remind You to Be Here Now

Zen... A word and idea that has become integrated within most western languages. A term that has become somewhat of a cliché, something anyone can just throw out there in order to convey that special something, most often some kind of an intense mental focus. The word...

How to Start a Daily Meditation Practice

How to Start a Daily Meditation Practice

Mystics, yogis and sages have for thousands of years proclaimed the significance of turning your attention inward to the realm of thoughts, sensations and emotions, also known as meditation. In modern times the benefits of meditation has taken the world of science,...

9 Comfortable Clothes to Wear During Meditation (2022)

9 Comfortable Clothes to Wear During Meditation (2022)

Being comfortable and relaxed is a big part of meditation. Your mind and thoughts are distracting as it is, and when you add the possibility of being distracted by uncomfortable clothes, well, this in turn can significantly lessen your chances of having an enjoyable...